Hezbollah Hands Over Purported Israeli Remains

By ISABEL KERSHNER
Published: June 2, 2008

JERUSALEM — Hezbollah handed over to Israel on Sunday what it said were the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in the 2006 war in Lebanon. The move was seen in Israel as an apparent gesture of good will and a possible prelude to a prisoner swap involving two Israeli soldiers whose capture by Hezbollah set off the month-long war.

Hezbollah, the militant Shiite group in Lebanon, transferred the remains in a coffin-like container across the Lebanese-Israel border via intermediaries of the International Committee of the Red Cross. At the same time, Israel sent back across the border a Lebanese civilian, Nissim Nasser, 41, who had completed a six-year prison term in Israel for spying for Hezbollah.

While the deportation of the civilian was expected, Hezbollah’s delivery came as a surprise to the Red Cross officials, who passed the body parts on to the Israeli authorities to begin the process of identification.

“I can confirm that we got a box with human remains,” said Helge Kvam, a spokesman for the Red Cross in Jerusalem. “The prisoner expulsion was planned to happen today at 11 a.m. But it was a surprise to us that there would be a double handover,” he said.

The Israeli prime minister’s office would not immediately comment on whether the exchange had been coordinated with Hezbollah.

But the fact that it took place fueled speculation here that a more significant prisoner swap might be in the works.

The two Israeli soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, were captured while on patrol just inside the Israeli border with Lebanon in July 2006. Both were wounded in the ambush by Hezbollah, and the militant group has not provided any proof that they are still alive.

Israel and Hezbollah have been holding indirect contacts through a German mediator acting under the auspices of the United Nations.

One hint of progress came last week when Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, declared in a speech in Beirut that the handful of Lebanese prisoners remaining in Israel “are our commitment, and Samir Kuntar and his brothers will soon return to Lebanon.”

Mr. Kuntar, the most notorious of the Lebanese prisoners in Israel, was sentenced to life for killing four Israelis, including a 4-year-old girl, during a terrorist raid in Nahariya in 1979.

Many Israelis abhor the notion of Mr. Kuntar’s release. But Zvi Rish, a Tel Aviv lawyer who represented Mr. Kuntar successfully in his bid to be allowed to undertake university studies while in jail, said that the prisoner had “paid the price” for his crime. It would be a “fatal mistake” not to release Mr. Kuntar in a deal for the two soldiers, Mr. Rish said, adding that holding on to him would only lead to further kidnapping attempts by Hezbollah.

Mr. Nasrallah’s recent speech differed sharply in tone from an earlier address in January. Then, he gloated that his group held Israeli soldiers’ remains. “I am not talking about regular body parts,” he said. “I tell the Israelis, we have the heads of your soldiers, we have hands, we have legs.”

The former military chief rabbi of Israel, Yisrael Weiss, told Israel Radio on Sunday that some soldiers killed during the war were buried were missing body parts. “We unfortunately have a very organized listing of what was missing from each soldier,” he said.

Also on Sunday, a spokesman for the Israeli Housing Ministry said it was moving ahead with plans for the construction of 800 apartments in Har Homa and Pisgat Zeev, two Jewish suburbs in East Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim the territory, which Israel annexed after the 1967 war, as part of a future state.

The spokesman, Eran Sidis, said the plans for the 800 units had been announced before, but are now becoming “more operational.”

Palestinian officials condemned the announcement. “This decision will affect all the efforts to continue the peace process,” said a senior Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat. Israel’s continued settlement activity has drawn criticism from American officials as well.

But Israeli officials said the plans should not affect talks with the Palestinians. Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said that in any final status agreement, Jewish neighborhoods within the Jerusalem city limits would remain part of Israel. “Everyone understands this, including the Palestinians themselves,” he said.
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