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Last update - 13:33 14/10/2007
Israel denies report that abducted IDF soldiers were turned over to Iran
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent and Service
Tags: Eldad Regev 

Officials in the Prime Minister's Office denied a report published Sunday according to which Israel Defense Forces soldiers abducted last year by Hezbollah were transferred to Iran shortly after their capture.

According to the report in the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Asharq Alawsat, neither Eldad Regev nor Ehud Goldwasser are still alive, but negotiations are being made between Iran and Germany to secure the return of their bodies.

The PMO officials called the report "another dissemination of misinformation."
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The report came amid information of a secret deal between Berlin and Tehran over the release of senior Iranian intelligence officer Kazem Darabi, who is accused of orchestrating the murder of an Iranian Kurdish leader and three of his associates in a Berlin restaurant in 1992.

A source close to Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Darabi's release from incarceration in Germany would be carried out as part of secret negotiations with Berlin in return for the IDF soldiers' remains, said the report.

If the report is correct, it would not be the first time Germany served as party to negotiations for the release of abducted IDF soldiers. In 2004, German intelligence chief Ernst Urlau conducted the talks that led to the release by Hezbollah of Israeli Elhanan Tenenbaum and the bodies of IDF soldiers Adi Avitan, Benny Avraham and Omar Suad.

Israel last week denied a report claiming it believes Goldwasser and Regev were killed during their abduction by Hezbollah last July.

The denial came in response to a report in the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat, in which a French diplomatic source was quoted as saying Israel believes Goldwasser and Regev had died from wounds incurred in the cross-border attack.

Jerusalem said there was no change in its assumption that the two soldiers whose kidnapping by the Lebanese Islamic group sparked the Second Lebanon War were still alive.

Israel believes Hezbollah's refusal to allow visits to the soldiers were a "maneuver" to hide their fate, al-Hayat's sources said.

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      1.   Islamic SAVAGES playing games 09:42  |  GrossedOut 14/10/07
      2.   IT SEEMS TO ME THAT 10:02  |  indrajaya 14/10/07
      3.   Islam 10:09  |  Jonny 14/10/07
      4.   Barbarism of Terrorists Revealed! 10:11  |  Dagma 14/10/07
      5.   Send them into oblivion 10:18  |  Michael 14/10/07
      6.   Heart wrenching: how do the families survive this? 10:19  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 14/10/07
      7.   Response to grossed out 10:23  |  . 14/10/07
      8.   RETAKE LEBANON, NO MORE HIZBOLLAH, NO MORE KATYSHAS, NO SUFFERING 10:26  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 14/10/07
      9.   Goldwasser/Regev 10:57  |  Mel McManus 14/10/07
      10.   A Dirty War..... 10:58  |  Dolly 14/10/07
      11.   one day, barbaric, totalitarian Iran will pay 11:02  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/10/07
      12.   The Face of Modern Islam 11:03  |  Star of David 14/10/07
      13.   we are all hizbullah 11:04  |  Marcelo 14/10/07
      14.   A thousand dead Lebanese civilians paid for these two deaths 11:04  |  Natallie Durson 14/10/07
      15.   Islam at its Best 11:10  |  Portoraeli 14/10/07
      16.   That means Syria was also involved 11:14  |  Gary 14/10/07
      17.   Iran has had it coming for 28 years 11:16  |  SystemF 14/10/07
      18.   What now? 11:20  |  Esther 14/10/07
      19.   Hezbollah launched their raid.. 11:22  |  George 14/10/07
      20.   Nataly Durson 11:23  |  Star of David 14/10/07
      21.   GERMANY! 11:27  |  Arie 14/10/07
      22.   no..8...voice of no reason 11:32  |  ravi 14/10/07
      23.   Gary 11:33  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 14/10/07
      24.   Re Natallie #14 11:36  |  Esther 14/10/07
      25.   What do we .. 11:39  |  Steve Mcgarret 14/10/07
      26.   is it ok for israel to abduct others? 11:40  |  justaquestion 14/10/07
      27.   SAMUEL P. HUNTINGTON IS RIGHT 11:44  |  Iskander 14/10/07
      28.   Ravi 11:44  |  punjabiwali 14/10/07
      29.   Limitless evil 11:46  |  Esther 14/10/07
      30.   Idiots. 11:54  |  David 14/10/07
      31.   Re #26: just-who-are-you-talking-about? 12:05  |  Esther 14/10/07
      32.   Judgement 12:06  |  Shlomo 14/10/07
      33.   Natallie asking the wrong question 12:08  |  RightClick 14/10/07
      34.   28...whoever you are... 12:17  |  ravi 14/10/07
      35.   #33, rightclick 12:22  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/10/07
      36.   #11, Ms Kohn 12:33  |  Hannah 14/10/07
      37.   IRAN HAS A HISTORY OF KIDNAPPING PEOPLE 12:35  |  ATTACK IRAN NOW 14/10/07
      38.   ISLAM AND JUDEASM= DEATH, no ones better than the other 12:35  |  VIPER 14/10/07
      39.   #11 Cipora Julianna Kohn. Thanks for the template. 12:39  |  Hubal 14/10/07
      40.   nazirallah`s life insurance policy getting expensive 12:42  |  don 14/10/07
      41.   #23 think before you post, indeed 12:43  |  Oddvark 14/10/07
      42.   To justaquestion # 26 - Should Israel abduct others? 12:49  |  Dagma 14/10/07
      43.   abducted IDF soldiers taken to Iran..... 12:52  |  Judah N. Wenkel 14/10/07
      44.   abducted IDF soldiers taken to Iran..... 12:57  |  Judah N. Wenkel 14/10/07
      45.   To all sentimental zionist posters 13:02  |  Hannah 14/10/07
      46.   Israel always pays high price 13:06  |  Hilda 14/10/07
      47.   jews 13:12  |  haim 14/10/07
      48.   Hanna 36 13:15  |  Dennis M Starkman 14/10/07
      49.   Natalie Durson 13:19  |  JewishHeart 14/10/07
      50.   # 11 since when do israeli give something 13:24  |  Kris 14/10/07
      51.   #36, Hannah 13:31  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/10/07
      52.   prove your accusations! 13:32  |  Shahin 14/10/07
      53.   #48, Dennis 13:37  |  Hannah 14/10/07
      54.   Hannah Displays Her Heart of Gold 13:40  |  Ruth 14/10/07
      55.   #51, Ms Kohn 14:06  |  Hannah 14/10/07
      56.   No 6 Margie 14:09  |  Steve 14/10/07
      57.   Crazy Hannah speaking in muttered terms 14:11  |  Hannah 14/10/07
      58.   Oddvark 14:13  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 14/10/07
      59.   Crazy Hannah Alert (aka SnottyNose),#14, 22, 220, 2220 14:14  |  Hannah 14/10/07
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      61.   We should be thankful to Germany 14:53  |  Tosefta 14/10/07
      62.   Steve a small detail 14:58  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 14/10/07
      63.   "56 Steve re Margie who sees herself as a peacemaker 14:59  |  Labhras 14/10/07
      64.   DOGMA 4 THIS IS NEWS TO YOU? 15:02  |  JON FEIGENBAUM 14/10/07
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      66.   IDF = Terrorists = Who Cares what happened to them... 15:13  |  POP 14/10/07
      67.   To Hannah # 45 - Who cares a hoot........ 15:20  |  Dagma 14/10/07
      68.   Democrats and Republicans 15:27  |  Ethel 14/10/07
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      70.   # 61 Tosefta 15:34  |  Lynn 14/10/07
      71.   Ethel of Chicago 15:37  |  Lynn 14/10/07
      72.   #61 Tosefta 15:37  |  Sarah 14/10/07
      73.   Arab Hannah 15:42  |  Sarah 14/10/07
      74.   I am a liberal 15:48  |  Ethel 14/10/07
      75.   Lynn 15:50  |  Ethel 14/10/07
      76.   #62 Margie is dishonest or uninformed???? 15:52  |  Labhras 14/10/07
      77.   Wrong use of the word "denies" 15:55  |  James 14/10/07
      78.   Yes, Hannah, I know you despise and hate us 15:59  |  Dennis M Starkman 14/10/07
      79.   A shameful gamble by Germany 16:00  |  Jonathan S 14/10/07
      80.   Iran and Israel (Lynn #70) 16:02  |  Tosefta 14/10/07
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