Prisoners deal going nowhere
A delay in the prisoners exchange deal might trigger "other options" that abolish the prospects for agreement. Mohalhel Fakih reports
Hizbullah has warned Israel against "hesitation" in carrying out a long-delayed prisoners exchange deal. The group threatened to resort to "other options" if German-mediated negotiations fail, possibly putting flame to tinder dry tensions between Lebanon, Syria and Israel. The Lebanese-Israeli border has already witnessed another flare-up, despite US pressure on Damascus and Beirut to disarm Hizbullah.
"The Israelis are hesitating to complete the prisoner exchange," Hizbullah's Secretary-General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah said on 28 October at an iftar ceremony. "Time is pressing, which means that we could turn towards a new choice."
Saying the Muslim Shi'ite group could no longer "tolerate Israeli wavering", Nasrallah echoed previous threats to capture more Israeli soldiers. The group, which spearheaded an armed campaign to oust Israel from southern Lebanon in May 2000, captured three Israeli soldiers five months after that from the occupied Shebaa Farms region, and later announced it was also holding Israeli reserve colonel Elhanan Tannenbaum.
Nasrallah pledged that some 20 Lebanese detained in Israel would return home "with or without" a deal. He said agreement had been reached with Israel on the exchange of all Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian, and Palestinian -- the latter termed "Arab" in Israeli parlance -- detainees, for the four Israelis held by Hizbullah. Hizbullah's chief insisted that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had "committed" to the deal, which includes the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners and the bodies of Lebanese and Palestinian fighters, as well as information on over 300 missing Lebanese and Palestinians, although there was no accord on the names of the Palestinians to be freed.
"Up to this moment we have not received any name lists," Nasrallah said. Deadlocked negotiations have dispelled speculation, even by Israeli officials, that a deal would be completed soon.
"I hope that we are closer than ever to reaching some kind of agreement," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said last week. But Israel has been embroiled in a public debate about a possible exchange, with growing calls to abandon the negotiations, which are not expected to include missing airman Ron Arad, whose warplane was downed over Lebanon in 1986. Hizbullah denied knowledge of his whereabouts, but his family is now saying no agreement should be concluded without him.
Israel had reportedly decided to free Muslim Shi'ite leaders Sheikh Abdel-Karim Obeid and Hajj Mustafa Dirani, even if Arad was not released. They were both kidnapped by Israel troops from inside Lebanon to be used as bargaining chips in any deal.
There is also opposition among some Israeli circles against carrying out a "costly" swap with Hizbullah for the three soldiers, who are presumed dead, and Tannenbaum. The reserve colonel is believed to have been involved in drug-trafficking and illicit business deals.
Hizbullah's number two, Sheikh Naim Qassem, denied that stalled negotiations were related to the 27 October attack on Israeli posts in the Shebaa Farms. The group's deputy secretary-general insisted Hizbullah fighters bombarded the border posts to retaliate for almost daily Israeli violation of Lebanese airspace.
On Sunday, four Israeli fighter jets entered Lebanon's skies, despite repeated condemnation by the United Nations. They flew at low altitude over Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, North Lebanon and South Lebanon, drawing anti-aircraft fire from Hizbullah, which boasts a significant military presence along the frontier.
The party's chief warned Israel that the breaches and "pressure" would not scare them. He said Hizbullah's rocket strike on 27 October amounted to a message that Hizbullah "was not frightened", and will press ahead with its struggle to end Israel's occupation of the Shebaa Farms region.
Israel raided the outskirts of Lebanese villages following that attack, which followed strong US and Israeli condemnations of Hizbullah's activities. Hours after the Shebaa Farms strike, the Lebanese army said that it agreed with the Syrian military on ways to face "enemy threats to which both Syria and Lebanon are exposed". The army did not give any details about the agreement, or about the meeting that brought together Syrian Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Hassan Turkmani and his Lebanese counterpart General Michel Soleiman.
Israel's raid on Ein Sabeh near Damascus in early October roused regional tensions. Syria warned that Jewish settlements in the occupied Golan Heights might be attacked. The raid also resulted in concern in Beirut. Lebanese officials said both countries are now targeted by Israel.
They have also been coming under heavy US pressure. The State Department on Thursday confirmed it was ready to support a sanctions bill that Congress is about to approve. "That's a decision the president is going to have to make, so I don't want to try to anticipate that right now. All I'd say is that our position remains that we don't oppose passage of the legislation," William Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He was referring to the Syria Accountability Act, which the House has passed and the Senate is expected to approve soon. It proposes sanctions against Syria over allegations that Damascus sponsors terrorism, "occupies" Lebanon, and has not been securing its border with Iraq. High on the bill's agenda is to rebuke Damascus for backing Hizbullah.
"The main US and Israeli demand is to get rid of Hizbullah," the group's politburo MP Mohammed Raad said on Sunday. He also told an iftar ceremony that the only reason Israel would carry out negotiations to swap prisoners is because "the resistance has caught the enemy in a principal weak point." He vowed that the detainees will "return home to continue their struggle anew".
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 6 - 12 November 2003 (Issue No. 663)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/663/re3.htm