Cabinet authorizes prisoner exchange deal

The cabinet on Tuesday voted to authorize the prisoner exchange deal with Hizbullah. With preparations for the imminent swap nearly complete, the government gave its overwhelming support for the agreement despite having declared one of the key stipulations for the implementation for the deal, a report by Hizbullah providing intelligence on the fate of MIA navigator Ron Arad, as lacking and insufficient. Only three ministers voted against the agreement, which will see the repatriation of captive Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in return for the release of terrorist Samir Kuntar and four additional Hizbullah fighters arrested during the Second Lebanon War. Israel will also return the bodies of 190 combatants. Israel believes both Goldwasser and Regev are dead, with evidence suggesting they were killed either during the abduction raid itself or shortly thereafter of their wounds. Hizbullah kidnapped the two in a brazen cross-border attack on a military patrol convoy on July 12th 2006. The incident sparked the Second Lebanon War, in which one of the chief stated objectives was retreiving the captives. Chief Military Rabbi Brigadier-General Avi Ronsky has also said there is sufficient intelligence information to declare the captives "killed in action." Among those who objected to the deal on Tuesday was Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, who said that despite his personal objection to the deal, he would sign the necessary papers to release Kuntar. "My position on the matter is well known and it has not changed. However, I will respect the government's decision and will sign the necessary documents for Samir Kuntar's release within the hour, after which they will be transferred to the president for the pardon," said Professor Friedmann. Countdown begins (Video: Infolive.tv) President Shimon Peres' office said on Tuesday that the president would only sign the papers to pardon Samir Kuntar after the cabinet approves the prisoner exchange deal and after meeting with Nina Keren, whose son Danny Haran was murdered by Kuntar in 1979. Deputy Prime Minister and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai said that “with all the pain and difficulty involved, the families shouldn't end up like the Arad family. We are paying a smaller price than we have had to pay in the past.” Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog said: “We will bring the boys home even if the other side parades in the streets. Our moral justice will prevail.” Ehud Goldwasser's father, Shlomo, said Tuesday that if his son comes home in a coffin Hezbollah must pay the price. "Our basic assumption has been that they were kidnapped alive. If they return in coffins it would mean they were killed. Those who killed them must pay with their lives and should join Imad Mugniyah if that is the case." Red Cross meets with Kuntar Meanwhile, the Syria-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command said on Tuesday it doesn't want its fighters' bodies repatriated as part of the prisoner swap. Spokesman Anwar Raja said the PFLP-GC has urged Hizbullah to exclude the remains of its fighters from the swap, saying the organization wants its members' bodies to remain on ''Palestinian land.'' Also on Tuesday, representatives of the Red Cross have met with the Lebanese prisoners ahead of their release. The humanitarian organization's spokeswoman in Israel, Yael Segev-Eitan, told Ynet: "Over the course of the past 24 hours we have completed our interviews with the five Lebanese prisoners, the four taken captive during the Lebanon War and the prisoner Samir Kuntar. The process of their release and return to Lebanon from Israel was explained to them." Segev-Eitan said that the Red Cross has already prepared for the transportation of the bodies to Lebanon and that nine of the organization's vehicles – seven trucks and two jeeps brought over from Jordan – were already stationed at an IDF base to this end. "We will wait for the army's authorization to begin the identification process, comparing the names given to us by the army with the names we have. And afterwards we will match up the lists to the coffins of some 200 bodies buried at Amiad. After the Red Cross finishes verifying the identity of the deceased, the coffins will be loaded onto the trucks ahead of their transfer to Lebanon early Wednesday morning. Last week, soldiers from the Engineering Corps as well as 100 men from the Military Rabbinate began the process of exhuming the terrorists’ bodies from the cemetery for enemy combatants at Kibbutz Amiad. AP contributed to this report

Cabinet authorizes prisoner exchange deal

Overwhelming support for prisoner swap agreement at cabinet vote despite dissatisfaction with Hizbullah intelligence report on Ron Arad, deal expected to be carried out on Wednesday.