Israel set to exhume bodies of Hezbollah guerillas ahead of swap - Haaretz

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Last update - 16:41 07/07/2008

Israel set to exhume bodies of Hezbollah guerillas ahead of swap

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies

Israel is set to begin exhuming the bodies of Hezbollah fighters buried in the cemetery for enemy dead at Amiad ahead of a swap deal with the Lebanon-based guerrilla group, a military official said on Sunday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the army would begin exhuming the bodies on Monday as part of the deal for the release of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers captured by the militant group two years ago.

Hezbollah abducted IDF reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser in a 2006 cross-border raid that triggered the 34-day Second Lebanon War.

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The official Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported on Sunday that the first phase of the anticipated prisoner swap could begin as early as Thursday.

There was no official confirmation of the report from any other source.

The exchange is to occur over three phases, the first of which will include the release of Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar and three other prisoners, according to the Ma'an report.

The second phase, Ma'an reported, will begin six days later and the third a few days after that. The report does not detail at which stage Hezbollah will release Goldwasser and Regev.

In an indication the exchange may be imminent, Major-General Gabi Eizenkot, the IDF officer in charge implementing the swap, declared the Amiad cemetery in the north where the bodies of enemy fighters are buried to be a "closed military zone."

Soldiers have begun clearing weeds and bushes that have grown over the graves, and on Friday members of the army's Rabbinate unit, who will have to exhume the bodies, received emergency call up orders. However, the orders for the exhumations have yet to be given.

Defense sources said Sunday that the remains of approximately 200 Lebanese would be transferred to Lebanon at the Rosh Hanikra border crossing.

The remains are those of 10 Hezbollah fighters, as well as Lebanese civilians killed by IDF fire in the security zone in southern Lebanon or along the border with Israel. In addition, the deal includes the remains of dozens of Palestinians belonging to various militant organizations.

The process of exhuming the bodies and checking their identity is expected to take several days, and is a task handled by the Military Rabbinate.

"This is work that requires precision," one of the reservists told Haaretz on Sunday. "We receive the list of names and work accordingly. The cemetery is orderly, the graves are numbered, each body is buried in a coffin and wrapped in nylon. The digger will assist us in our work, but there is also a lot of work that needs to be done by hand and it will not be easy because we are expecting hot days ahead. We will do the job with the necessary reverence and we will move the remains into new coffins.

"We do not discuss the deal among ourselves," he added, "whether it is worthwhile or not. Our job is to do what we are assigned to do. We are waiting for the return of IDF soldiers so they can receive the honor they deserve."

Prior to the deal's completion, a number of legal procedures still need to be addressed in Israel.

In order to pardon Samir Kuntar, who was convicted of the murder of civilians in Nahariya in 1979, Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann will have to sign an order. Although Friedmann is opposed to the deal, he is expected to undertake this act, which is purely technical.

The matter will then be brought before President Shimon Peres. Afterward, 48 hours will be allowed for petitions against the pardon to be brought before the High Court of Justice.

Israel says exchange must be completed within 10 days of deal

Haaretz has learned that Israel has informed Hezbollah it will require ten days to complete the prisoner exchange from the time the agreement is signed.

This request was one of a number passed by Ofer Dekel, Israel's negotiator in charge of prisoner exchanges, to UN-appointed German mediator, Gerhard Konrad, during their meeting in Europe last Thursday.

Negotiator Dekel also passed on a list of questions and demands for Hezbollah regarding the group's report about missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad. Hezbollah has until now only provided Konrad with an outline of the report.

The prisoner exchange will get under way only after Hezbollah deals with Israel's requests and under the condition that Israel finds the militant group's response satisfactory.

The swap will comprise several steps: Both sides will sign the agreement, after which there will be an exchange of reports. Hezbollah's report on Arad is expected to say that the group did not manage to locate Arad, who was shot down near Sidon in 1986, but will detail its activities and conclude that the navigator died in Lebanon more than a decade ago.

In return for the report on Arad, Dekel will hand the German negotiators a report to Hezbollah and probably also to Iran focusing on the fate of four Iranian diplomats who disappeared in Lebanon in July 1982.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's deputy secretary general, on Sunday met with the families of the four missing Iranian diplomats. Qassem told them that Israel kidnapped the four, a claim that has in the past been made by Iran. He also updated the families on Hezbollah's efforts to gather information on the diplomats' whereabouts and told them a clearer picture of their fate would soon emerge.

The final phase of the exchange would see Hezbollah return captured soldiers Regev and Goldwasser, believed to be dead, for five Lebanese prisoners and the remains of around 200 Lebanese, Palestinian and Arab infiltrators to northern Israel.

High Court rejects petition against swap deal

The High Court of Justice on Sunday rejected a petition requesting that the prisoner swap with Hezbollah be canceled.

The petition was submitted by the relatives of 12 Iranian Jews who disappeared in the 1990s while immigrating to Israel.

The appeal asked the court not to release to Hezbollah information on the missing Iranian diplomats, on the grounds that it would destroy any chance for the Iranian Jews to find out what happened to their missing relatives.

Related articles:

Waltz with Nasrallah

Hezbollah expected to report Arad died in Lebanon over a decade ago

Mother of Kuntar victim: This monster will be a Lebanon hero

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1.	?what about Kuntar?	11:42	\|	Vogel	06/07/08

2.	demands??	12:02	\|	Imad	06/07/08

3.	Israel is in no position to set demands	14:21	\|	Dan	06/07/08

4.	Dan # 2	15:54	\|	Sabra	06/07/08

5.	To #4: Sabra, the problem is how to get them back	17:19	\|	Rolandus	06/07/08

6.	Israel might as well seek the best deal possible	17:22	\|	Mark Lincoln	06/07/08

7.	Israel confirming IDF bodies are their theirs?	18:52	\|	MARK KLEIN, M.D.	06/07/08

8.	Israeli demands - what a joke	19:23	\|	Barry	06/07/08

9.	hizz.	19:36	\|	THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT	06/07/08

10.	Hezbollah-Israel swap	19:39	\|	Ralph	06/07/08

11.	Imad, we have a right to disagree to a deal	19:48	\|	Dan	06/07/08

12.	Trade	19:49	\|	Jane	06/07/08

13.	Dan #11	20:50	\|	Jane	06/07/08

14.	Change culture of Hezbollah-Israel, see: Lebanon	21:37	\|	John Isenhower	06/07/08

15.	Imad, were you privy to the writing ot the document? did you see	22:14	\|	Pervert	06/07/08

16.	To Imad # 2 -- `Stolen Palestinian Lands`.....!	22:59	\|	Dolly	06/07/08

17.	Seeing is Believing...	23:07	\|	Natasha	06/07/08

18.	#4 Sabra is no Sabra	23:49	\|	dyinglikeflies	06/07/08

19.	Everyone keeps saying `It`s a bad precedent`	00:01	\|	Bernie	07/07/08

20.	Imad 2	00:44	\|	ChanahS	07/07/08

21.	To dyinglikeflies:obvious YOU are not an Israeli	00:46	\|	Arie	07/07/08

22.	free	01:00	\|	issam	07/07/08

23.	Kidnapping civilian bodies?	01:00	\|	Guy From NYC	07/07/08

24.	Be careful who you righteously condemn...	01:20	\|	Don Camillo	07/07/08

25.	Bernie	03:55	\|	Jane	07/07/08

26.	Arie, the bones of millions are not worth one life	05:16	\|	dyinglikeflies	07/07/08

27.	A decision that might cost many victims.	07:12	\|	Jean Van Daem	07/07/08

28.	#21 Not all soldiers would want to be traded	08:45	\|	DesMnsDave	07/07/08

29.	Jane, About the Prisoners ...	09:39	\|	Bernie	07/07/08

30.	BOTH PARTIES TRADE THE DEATHS, NO PROBLEM	11:24	\|	indrajaya	07/07/08

31.	Exchange	12:32	\|	Mark	07/07/08

32.	# 31, MARK	12:58	\|	indrajaya	07/07/08

33.	#31 because Israel trust Hizbollah word	13:13	\|	Danish	07/07/08

34.	To 32 & 33	08:52	\|	Charles	08/07/08

35.	GETTING AHEAD OF YOURSELF`S;THOSE BODIES WILL HAVE TO BE KEPT IN	17:46	\|	glenna	09/07/08

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