Latest Swap Deals Between Hezbollah and Israel

Latest Swap Deals Between Hezbollah and Israel

Hanan Awarekeh Readers Number : 438

16/07/2008 At a rally marking the Muslim Hijri New Year, which was held at the Sayyed Al-Shuhada mosque in Beirut’s southern suburb, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said, “With resistance… as I promised in the past, we will go from victory to victory, and it will come with the help of intelligence, blood and will.” Indeed, “Operation Al-Redwan” is the latest victory achieved by the Hezbollah resistance movement and is one of the fulfilled promises that were made by the leader of the resistance, Sayyed Nasrallah. “Operation Al-Redwan” is not the first distinctive swap deal between Israel and Hezbollah. One of the most significant and historic exchange deals took place in 2004. On January 29, 2004, two planes left Cologne, Germany, after the swap deal – one touching down in Beirut to be received by an enthusiastic official and popular gathering, while the other landing in Tel Aviv, amid feelings of frustration and humiliation. On that day, Hezbollah handed the German mediator the bodies of three Israeli occupation soldiers killed in an operation in 2000 and a former intelligence officer named Elhanan Tenenbaum. In its turn, Israel released dozens of Lebanese, Palestinian, Arab and European detainees from Israeli jails, including Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeid, Abu Ali Mustapha Dirani, Anwar Yassine, Stephan Smyrek, a German, held in Israel in charges of collaborating with Hezbollah and others. Israel also released the bodies of 59 Lebanese resistance martyrs. In Lebanon, then President Emile Lahoud, Sayyed Nasrallah, then Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (assassinated in February, 2005), Speaker Nabih Berri and others embraced the freed detainees in a red carpet welcome as a Lebanese army band played patriotic music at the airport. In Beirut, the former Israeli intelligence officer moved across the tarmac toward the aircraft headed for Germany, saying "My name is Elhanan Tenenbaum, and I am an Israeli citizen." Tenenbaum declined to discuss the circumstances of his capture in 2000 but spoke about how he was treated in captivity. "Very good, very good. Thank you. I was treated very well by the Hezbollah," he said. Samir Kintar, whom Israel released in this year’s Redwan Operation was supposed to be among those released in 2004, but Israel changed its mind to pressure Hezbollah to give information about Israeli airman Ron Arad. Sayyed Nasrallah said that the Israeli enemy had committed a stupid mistake that will force it in the future to hand over Kintar and others. On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in “Operation Sincere Promise” near the border with occupied Palestine. "Fulfilling its pledge to liberate the prisoners and detainees, the Islamic Resistance... captured two Israeli soldiers at the border with occupied Palestine," the Hezbollah statement said. Israel launched its futile war against Lebanon with the announced objective to free the two soldiers. Sayyed Nasrallah told the Israelis through the media that nothing can return the soldiers except for indirect negotiations and a swap deal. His eminence’s pledge was fulfilled as all his previous vows. HEZBOLLAH MAKES ‘GOOD WILL’ GESTURE SWAP WITH ISRAEL On October 15, 2007, Israel and Hezbollah completed a limited prisoners exchange. Israel had transferred two bodies of Islamic resistance martyrs who fell in the 2006 Israeli aggression against Lebanon and Lebanese detainee identified as Hassan Naim Aqil. In return Hezbollah handed the body of a drowned Israeli settler who was swept to Lebanese shore from Haifa. U.N. and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) officials conducted the exchange at the Naqoura crossing. In a statement, Hezbollah said that the exchange came as a humanitarian good will gesture between both sides. "Hezbollah hopes that such good intentions would make the longed for progress to end all pending issues related to prisoners and detainees, God willing," Hezbollah's statement added. NISR RELEASED IN FRAMEWORK OF OPERATION AL-REDWAN Moreover, Lebanese detainee Nassim Nisr was released on June 1st, 2008 from the Nitzan (Ramle) Prison in Ramallah, in the framework of a swap deal between Hezbollah and Israel. Hezbollah senior official, Hajj Wafiq Safa, announced that Hezbollah has handed the ICRC some body parts of Israeli soldiers who were killed in Lebanon during the 2006 aggression. Safa refused to give further details "for the safety and secrecy of the ongoing swap negotiation." Meanwhile, the ICRC representative who escorted Nisr into Lebanon thanked Hezbollah "for the gesture the party made today" adding that it was a very important move. The Israeli withdrawal in 2000 from most Lebanese territories, the 2004 swap deal, the “Divine Victory” in 2006, “Operation Al-Redwan” in 2008 and God willing, more victories to come through resistance till the occupied Shebaa Farms, Kafarshouba hill and the Seven Towns and every inch of our land is liberated by the spirit of self -sacrifice. "We will not leave. We will stay in our land, in our villages and in our cities, even if our homes are destroyed… we will not tolerate the Israeli scheme…The resistance is ready to make a victory for Lebanon that will change the face of this region,” Sayyed Nasrallah vowed.