Report: Captive deal talks renewed

The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported Tuesday that Israel and Hizbullah have secretly renewed the negotiations in order to complete the second stage of the captive deal, in which Israel is expected to receive information on the fate of captive navigator Ron Arad. In return, Israel is expected to release Lebanese prisoners held in its jails, including the Haran family murderer, Samir Kuntar. The report is based on Palestinian sources. However, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who toured the northern front Tuesday, was asked about the reports and declined comment, saying it was improper to address them at this time. “It wouldn’t be proper to address this here before there is any genuine development we can report,” he said, and stressed the importance of remaining alert across the border for fear of Hizbullah attacks. Not Giving Up Missing airman’s family contacts Iranians / Roee Nahmias Ron Arad’s brother tells Arabic-language newspaper family engaged in direct contacts with Iranian, Lebanese officials in bid to secure information about missing airman Full Story German mediator Ernst Uhrlau brought the first stage of the deal to its successful completion. Now the Germans are trying to complete the second stage of the deal. According to the sources, the German mediator is very close to receiving valuable information on Ron Arad's fate and "The negotiations may reveal surprising details connected to him." The sources expect real progress in the deal in the next few weeks. The first stage of the deal between Israel and Hizbullah was completed at the end of January 2004, when Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as well as Lebanese prisoners in exchange for Israeli citizen Elhanan Tennenbaum and the bodies of three IDF soldiers abducted and killed by Hizbullah terrorists at Israel's northern border. As part of the deal, Israel released more than 400 prisoners and delivered the bodies of 59 Lebanese terrorists killed in the northern border. Will Nasrallah deliver the information? The second stage of the deal was expected to be completed after a short while, but has been stuck ever since, after Hizbullah failed to deliver any significant information on Ron Arad's fate. Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on various occasions that his organization will exert efforts to obtain new and reliable details on Ron Arad, in the hope to collect a very heavy price from Israel. During the first stage, most of the prisoners released by Israel were scheduled to be released shortly after the implementation of the deal. In the past, Nasrallah already announced that negotiations between his organization and Israel on completing the second part of the captive deal had been renewed and that "The German mediator has already arrived in Lebanon to meet with organization officials." When the first stage of the deal was completed, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had said that "I have no other words to define the decision to bring the sons back to their homeland but as a Jewish decision based on Jewish heritage and applying to every person whose life can be saved and who can be brought to burial in Israel." "The Israeli government will not allow any enemy or any terror organization to turn abduction and ransom into a system," he added.

Report: Captive deal talks renewed

Palestinian sources tell London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper that German negotiator very close to receiving valuable information on fate of captive navigator Ron Arad; Mofaz declines comment on POW deal