A Historic Prisoner Swap

Building Confidence: A Historic Prisoner Swap

 

Introduction

 

Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared Sunday that Israel and the Palestinians have never been closer to making peace — even as a widening corruption probe brings him closer than ever to being ousted from office.

 

To help build confidence between the two sides, Olmert agreed in a one-on-one meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to release an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, an Israeli official said.

 

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Following the commencement of the truce period between Hamas and Israel, people on both sides of the divide have had considerable difficulties with confidence in the truce as well as trust in the intentions of the opposition.  This is only natural.  Trust is built over weeks, months, years, or especially decades of mutual satisfaction in the performance of one’s adversary.  How can somebody compare the confidence that they feel in a complete stranger about whom they know absolutely nothing to the comfort one feels when alone with one’s mother who has supported him or her for their entire life?  You can’t.  All you can do is build trust over time and hope for the best.  So, it is fortunate that Israel and Palestine could find another agreement to bolster the confidence of the people.

 

Repeated rounds of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks since a peace conference in Annapolis, Md., last year have produced little change on the ground.

 

Israel has continued its contentious construction of homes on lands the Palestinians want for a future state, and has done little to scale back a network of roadblocks in the West Bank that hinder Palestinian movement and have severely handicapped prospects for the Palestinian economy.

 

Israel, meanwhile, says Abbas hasn't done enough to curb militants bent on attacking Israel, and the Palestinian president remains powerless against Hamas militants who wrested control of the Gaza Strip last year. Abbas rules only the West Bank, but Israel says no peace deal could be implemented as long as Hamas holds sway in Gaza.

 

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Largely, the conditions in Palesrael have remained roughly the same for a fairly long time.  The Palestinians have been lobbing rockets into Israel, especially Southern Israel, and the Israelis have periodically been raiding Palestine and Southern Lebanon both on the ground and from the air.  As conditions on the ground continue to frustrate both sides, Israel and Palestine are induced to take negative actions towards one another including violence that breed further mistrust and negative impacts.  It appears to be a never-ending cycle.   So far, about the only alteration to the status quo has been the declaration of a six month truce to curb violence at least for a while as well as to provide a more positive atmosphere for further peace discussions.

 

After the meeting, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said Israel was committed to "try to reach a historic agreement by the end of this year." Such an agreement, he said, "would outline what a two-state solution would look like."

 

That's a far less ambitious aim than the original objective set at the U.S.-hosted conference of reaching a detailed final deal by December.

 

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It has been a longstanding goal to have a final peace agreement drafted by the end of 2009.  At one point, Abbas suggested his desire to resign his post if an agreement cannot be reached relatively soon.  I suggest that people should both set their sights high as well as be understanding that such measures take time.  This is, perhaps, the most difficult peace treaty in all of human history.  The Palestinian movement has drawn the whole world into the fray at least a dozen different times, perhaps literally.  For example, Usama Bin Ladin claims to be fighting for the freedom of Palestine as well as against every nation on Earth.  With so many different parties and advisors for the peace process, it is inevitable that there will be a variety of opinions as to what would constitute the most ideal treaty.  Somehow, these ideals must be reconciled into a single, feasible, stable peace agreement.  This is anything but easy, and I especially appreciate the efforts of those willing to sit through years of agony assisting to open a new chapter of peace and brotherhood in the Middle East.

 

Background: The Release of Palestinian POWs

 

As a "gesture" to Abbas, Olmert "agreed in principle" to release some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners it holds, Regev said.

 

Because many Palestinian families have members in Israeli jails, prisoner releases are of paramount importance to the Palestinian people. Previous releases designed to bolster Abbas' standing among the Palestinian people haven't satisfied the Palestinians, because they have numbered in the dozens or hundreds.

 

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Israel has only released a few dozen Palestinians in a goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, many with only months left to serve on their sentences.

 

There are some 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and their release is one of the most emotionally charged issues for Palestinians.

 

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One of the major bones of contention between the parties has historically been the status of Palestinian POWs.  Israel holds thousands of POWs, and Palestine continuously prefers to see at least some of them returning home to their families.  This is difficult for Israel as many of them have been involved in violent attacks, and not all of the attacks have been up to the highest standards of conduct for war, allegedly.  Although the Geneva Convention does not apply to sub-national groups such as Hezbollah or Hamas, I suggest that the drafters of the Geneva Convention had fairly definite ideas of what they would like to see in the future during warfare regardless of the national or sub-national distinction.  Does it make torture better to have the perpetrators being from a sub-national group?  Arguably, it does not matter one bit.  Given the existence of attacks upon Israeli citizens and other forms of what could be designated malfeasance, it is difficult to get the Israeli public interested in a general amnesty and emptying of the Israeli prisons, a virtual necessity for a longstanding and stable peace agreement.

 

The Terms of the Agreement

 

The Israeli government said it will swap prisoners with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah on Wednesday, closing a chapter between the enemies two years after they fought an inconclusive war.

 

The prison service said Sunday Israel would free five Lebanese, including the perpetrator of one of the most notorious attacks in Israeli history. In exchange, Hezbollah will return two soldiers it captured in a cross-border raid that sparked the 2006 war. Israel believes the soldiers are dead.

 

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The final agreement was to exchange five Lebanese for two Israelis, and Israel did not officially declare whether the POWs were alive or dead until they were in Israeli possession.  This may have been discussed, and Israel may have failed to officially disclose these facts until the day of the transfer to save their nation and the families of the soldiers some grief.  The two soldiers were eventually determined to be deceased.

 

Israel said it would also release four Hezbollah prisoners captured in the 2006 war. Israel also is expected to turn over the bodies of some 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters. Military crews dug up the bodies from an Israeli cemetery last week in preparation for the exchange.

 

In return, Israel is to receive the two soldiers captured by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid on July 12, 2006, that set off a fierce 34-day war. More than 1,000 Lebanese, most of them civilians, were killed in the fighting, according to Lebanese officials, while 159 Israelis were killed, including 40 civilians killed by Hezbollah rockets.

 

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This agreement was at least partially brokered by a German UN mediator, and the EU has been stepping up their efforts towards peaceful resolutions in the Middle East in recent years, a much appreciated development.

 

After nearly two years of negotiations through German mediators, Israel's government approved the release on June 29, but it took several weeks to work out final arrangements.

 

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A U.N.-appointed German official mediated the swap agreement after 18 months of shuttling between the two sides, which shun each other.

 

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Reports of an Israeli Air Force Navigator

 

The Israeli announcement came a day after the government received a report from Hezbollah on a missing Israeli soldier who disappeared in Lebanon two decades ago. That report was one of the last sticking points.

 

In the report, Hezbollah said it does not know what happened to Ron Arad, an Israeli air force navigator who was captured alive after his fighter jet went down in Lebanon in 1986, Israeli officials said.

 

According to the document, Hezbollah believes that Arad is dead, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the report was not released to the public. The Israeli Cabinet is expected to discuss the report on Tuesday.

 

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Roughly at the same time as the POW exchange, Hezbollah released a report upon the fate of Rod Arad, and Israeli airman who has been missing for roughly 20 years.  Israel places a high level of priority upon bringing home all of its soldiers whether dead or alive, and Ron Arad is probably the most famous missing Israeli in a 61 year history of war and disappearances.

 

Israeli officials said the report contains two new pictures of Arad and parts of a diary he kept in the 1980s. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the material has not been made public, said the diary and the pictures had only "sentimental value" and did not shed light on Arad's fate. The Hezbollah report offered some new lines of inquiry, but no definite information, they said.

 

A letter from Arad was delivered to his family during that time and a videotaped message Arad recorded in the late 1980s was released several years ago. But he has not been heard from since then.

 

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While this accounting has been deemed by some to be unacceptable, Israel was given a rare chance to look into the presumed passing of one of its legendary fighters.  While there has been no definite closure of this case, the facts have been better assessed at this time.

 

The Release of Samir Kantar

 

In return for the release of the two Israeli POWs, Israel agreed to release Samir Kantar among others, a very controversial decision.

 

The Israeli prison service said that on Wednesday it will free Samir Kantar, a Lebanese man serving multiple life terms for a 1979 attack. After infiltrating Israel, he killed a policeman, then kidnapped a man and his 4-year-old daughter and killed them outside their home.

 

Israel says Kantar brutally beat the girl to death, though he has denied the accusation. As the attack unfolded, the girl's mother hid inside a crawl space inside their home and accidentally smothered their 2-year-old daughter, fearing Kantar would find them.

 

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In the dead of night on April 22, 1979, Kantar and three other gunmen made their way in a rubber dinghy from Lebanon to the sleepy Israeli coastal town of Nahariya, five miles south of the border.

 

There, in a hail of gunfire and exploding grenades, they killed a policeman who stumbled upon them, then burst into the apartment of Danny Haran, herding him and his 4-year-old daughter out of the house at gunpoint to the beach below, where they were killed.

 

The attack is seared in Israel's collective consciousness because witnesses recounted that Kantar shot Danny Haran in front of his child, then killed her by smashing her skull against a rock with his rifle butt.

 

Haran's wife, Smadar, who had fled into a crawl space in the family apartment with her 2-year-old daughter, accidentally smothered the child with her hand while trying to stifle her cries.

 

Kantar, who acted on behalf of a militant Palestinian faction, denies killing the older child and has never expressed remorse over the incident. He was 16 years old at the time.

 

Two members of his squad were killed in the raid, and the third, taken alive, was released in a 1985 prisoner swap.

 

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Such excessively brutal attacks raise intense feelings of disapproval within a community, especially among the victim’s family and friends.  However, in Israel, this exchange was largely supported as a “necessary evil.”

 

His release has stirred emotional opposition from relatives of victims of the attack and others. Israel's Supreme Court last week turned down an appeal against his release from children of the dead police officer.

 

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Efraim Halevy, the former head of Israel's spy agency, said the deal was unfortunate, but necessary to bring some closure for Israelis.

 

"If you want to get your men back, one way or another it will involve negotiation of sorts," Halevy said. "You can't get something back without dealing with the other side."

 

Halevy played a central role in one of Israel's most controversial deals while he served as the Mossad director in 1997.

 

After a botched attempt to kill Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Jordan , Israel agreed to released Hamas leader Yassin in exchange for two Mossad agents who were seized after the failed assassination attempt.

 

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The Red Cross Facilitation of the Trade

 

Part of this exchange has been the negotiation, and part of this trade has been logistical.  After an agreement has been made, somebody has to sit around and make the deal happen.  The Red Cross has apparently agreed to play the middlemen on this particular occasion.

 

In Jerusalem, Red Cross spokesman Helge Kvam confirmed that Israel had approached his organization about assisting in the upcoming swap with Hezbollah.

 

He said several technical issues still had to be resolved. The Red Cross must interview the Lebanese prisoners to ensure they want to return to their country. It also would need to bring in enough trucks, most likely from Jordan, if the sides ask it to transport the prisoners and bodies across the Israel-Lebanese border.

 

"The ICRC confirms we have been approached by Israeli authorities and we have informed them that we are ready to act as a neutral intermediary, as the neutral link between Israel and Hezbollah," he said.

 

"The reason this is important to us is for the families on both sides. It's extremely important that even if they only get mortal remains, they can bury them according them to their traditions and religions."

 

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The International Committee of the Red Cross brought the men to the border town of Naqoura. After changing into military fatigues, they appeared on a red carpet flanked by a Hezbollah honor guard.

 

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A Day of Mourning; A Day of Celebration

 

While Kuntar will be greeted in Lebanon by big celebrations led by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah , Israel is expecting to receive the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev , the soldiers whose capture sparked the 2006 war.

 

As Hezbollah rejoices, Israel will mourn.

 

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The day promised to be fraught with tension and tears in Israel, where the servicemen were presumed to be dead. In Lebanon, militant Samir Kantar was expected to receive a hero's welcome upon his return to his homeland after being convicted in a deadly 1979 rampage.

 

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While this day promised to be a celebration for Lebanon, it had little hope at that time of being anything but a painful reminder of the costs of war for Israelis.

 

Political Divisions from the Trade

 

In the first hours after Hezbollah fighters captured two Israeli soldiers in a 2006 cross-border raid from Lebanon , Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made it clear that he wouldn't bargain for their freedom.

 

"We will not give in to extortion, and we will not negotiate with terrorists regarding the lives of Israeli soldiers," Olmert said as Israeli warplanes prepared to bomb Beirut nearly two years ago. "That was true yesterday, and it is true today."

 

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Critics have said that by trading bodies for prisoners, Israel is giving militants little incentive to keep captured soldiers alive. This concern is an immediate and powerful one because Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip are holding a third Israeli soldier, also seized two years ago but believed to be alive.

 

This would not be the first time that Israel has paid a high price to return its troops. On several occasions, it released hundreds or thousands of prisoners in exchange for small numbers of Israeli soldiers, some of them dead.

 

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Like every step in the Palestinian peace process to date, considerable controversy has surrounded this particular trade.  In 2006, even Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was opposed to such a trade.  However, time has a way of changing such opinions.  There is a difficult line to be drawn between taking a hard stance on terror and also allowing for peace and reconciliation.  Almost everybody has an opinion on such matters, and many people like to assert their opinion after the facts have developed further to show how their newfound opinion is superior.  While it is relatively easy to review history in hindsight, making the political decisions that are necessary in the heat of battle is considerably more complicated.  Should Israel have negotiated for their release day one?  Perhaps.  Perhaps, this would not have place the significant deterrent to such behavior that will best benefit Israel over the long haul.  We will never know what might have happened if Israel had negotiated sooner; the Israeli soldiers might have been beyond the care of the best of doctors at the conclusion of the raid, and their lives might have been forfeited regardless of such a change in policy.

 

After the costly, 34-day war failed to cripple the militant group or secure the return of the captured soldiers, the two sides now have agreed to a prisoner swap that's meant to bring some closure in both countries. Israel will turn over a militant whom it's held 29 years and expects in return the bodies of the two soldiers, who Israel thinks are dead.

 

In reaching the deal with Hezbollah , Israel has reignited a debate about the war and the country's nebulous policy of dealing with its adversaries.

 

If Israel was going to end up cutting a deal with Hezbollah , did 160 Israelis— and more than 1,000 Lebanese civilians— die in vain during the war?

 

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That is a really good question: did those people die in vain?  At the time, I was not supportive of the Israeli military operation in Lebanon believing it to stall the positive peace developments, but the Israelis have a long tradition of retribution for what they believe to be injustices on the part of Palestinian and other Islamic neighbors.  At the time, I believed that an escalation in violence is simply that, an escalation in violence.  But, again, we do not know what might have happened in the absence of such retribution.  Perhaps, the Palestinians would have been emboldened and would have followed this raid with escalated rocket fire into Israel and cross border raids that would have resulted in a larger body count on both sides of the divide.

 

Won't freeing a notorious Lebanese killer as part of the deal encourage Hezbollah and other militant groups to try to capture more Israelis?

 

Is Israel making hollow promises when it vows never to negotiate with terrorists?

 

On the last point, as Hezbollah well knew when it captured the soldiers, the answer is yes.

 

Israel has a long history of cutting deals with its worst enemies.

 

In the last three decades, a McClatchy review found, Israel has released about 7,000 prisoners to secure freedom for 19 Israelis and to repatriate the bodies of eight others.

 

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It is important to note that Israel has existed under a constant state of warfare for the past 61 years, and some exchanges along the way were probably inevitable.  Such exchanges bring some closure to the families of the deceased and the living.  And, how does one justify keeping Palestinian militants in prison for their entire lives, especially when some Palestinian militants are extremely young such as 16?  You really can’t justify this, but neither can you justify going “too easy” upon extremist movements.  Somewhere, a line must be drawn, and I believe that the Olmert administration has done a very good job of drawing lines despite my preference being in opposition on a few, isolated occasions.  It is easy to judge one another from the comfort of one’s Lazy-Boy while watching CNN and drinking an imported beer, but being stuck in the driver’s seat of a nation such as Israel is nowhere near as easy.

 

"Is it worthwhile?" asked Yossi Kuperwasser , the retired brigadier general who served as the head of the Israeli military's intelligence branch during the 2006 war. "In my mind, strategically speaking, it's not worthwhile. We're giving the bad guys power and enough chips to get what they want. It's a pity. It's a real pity."

 

Kuperwasser and other critics worry that the deal will strengthen the hand of Hamas militants in their Egyptian-brokered talks with Israel over the release of Gilad Shalit , the Israeli soldier whom Palestinian militants from Gaza captured two weeks before the Lebanon war broke out.

 

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In the past, the militaries of the world have tended towards some of the more stern approaches to such exchanges.  Military men are accustomed to losses, and this may help them to place their emotions in the back of their minds and to deal more at arm’s length with the emotional ramifications of these actions.  On the other hand, the general public has been more forgiving, generally speaking.  However, even some members of the public have been cynical regarding this exchange.

 

"Had we done a fantastic job in the war it would be much easier to pay the price," said Segev, the author most recently of "1967: Israel , the War and the Year That Transformed the Middle East ."

 

"It's not a very good deal," Segev said. "It makes much more sense to exchange dead bodies for dead bodies. But it is an inevitable deal because of the emotional and irrational traditional values which direct many of our beliefs."

 

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This deal has been especially difficult to argue in Israel where a variety of factors have entered into the discussions including Israeli culture and tradition.

 

Several factors came into play for Israel in the deal.

 

First and foremost, a mix of Jewish tradition and Israeli culture put tremendous pressure on Olmert to secure the release of the soldiers and hostages, dead or alive.

 

"You could see this as a weakness when you're dealing with Hezbollah and Hamas , who cynically exploit the pain, anguish and suffering of the families," Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said. "But you can also see this as a sign of strength that says something positive about Israel , our society and the value we place upon our people: You don't leave a soldier behind enemy lines."

 

Olmert also had to face an emotionally charged public-relations campaign led by the soldiers' relatives, some of whom called on Israel from the very start to free Kuntar.

 

And the prime minister is looking to secure diplomatic achievements that could help him rebuild his popularity as he tries to fend off a corruption investigation that's threatening to force him from office.

 

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Although polls show Israelis solidly endorse the exchange, many see Kantar as the embodiment of evil.

 

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A grim mood prevailed in Israel, where the prisoner swap was widely seen as a painful necessity two years after the capture of the two Israeli army reservists sparked a 34-day war in which about 1,200 people in Lebanon and 159 Israelis were killed.

 

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For some Lebanese, the swap showed the futility of the conflict with Israel two summers ago. "There shouldn't have been a war in 2006. A lot of lives were lost," said Rami Nasereddine, 18, lamenting Israel's refusal to trade captives at the time.

 

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The family of Kantar’s alleged victims were particularly unhappy with these results.

 

Haran's widow has said she was devastated by the decision to free Kantar, but understood it. Haran's 82-year-old mother was less forgiving.

 

"He is not sorry," Nina Keren said, tears rolling down her cheeks. "How can a government give him freedom?"

 

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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had particularly harsh words for Kanter.

 

"Woe betide the people who celebrate the release of a beastly man who bludgeoned the skull of a 4-year-old toddler," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a statement before a private meeting with the families of the soldiers.

 

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The Big Day

 

On the big day, Israel moved the POWs to a position closer to the border for the trade considerably ahead of schedule.  Also, Israel prepared to review the bodies of the two Israeli soldiers for forensic evidence of their authenticity.  Israel was not going to allow themselves to be fooled by substitutes.

 

Israel moved five Lebanese prisoners to a military base near the Lebanese border before dawn Wednesday, preparing to trade them for two Israeli soldiers captured by Lebanese guerrillas two years ago.

 

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"We'll know in two hours what we'll get," Goldwasser's father, Shlomo, said early Wednesday. Until that time, he said, addressing reporters outside his home, the family will "be looking at the clock."

 

"It's a very difficult day for us," said Regev's father, Eldad, outside his house in Kiryat Motzkin, a coastal town an hour south of the Lebanese border.

 

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On both sides of the border, substantial preparations were made to allow for celebrations or grieving where appropriate.  All in all, it was about as well orchestrated as such an occasion could be.  Given the circumstances, Israel had little choice but to provide solace and grieve.  It would have been nice to have a happier event, but such events are all too common during warfare, especially prolonged, guerilla wars.

 

A large, framed photograph of his son hung at the entrance to the building. On the upper left hand side appeared the message, "Eldad, we haven't forgotten, and we're waiting for the day you return home."

 

On Tuesday, Hezbollah's commander in south Lebanon, Sheik Nabil Kaouk, called the swap an "official admission of defeat" for Israel. Red, white and green Lebanese flags, yellow Hezbollah flags and welcome banners hung in south Lebanese villages where the coffins carrying the returned bodies will be driven in a convoy from the border toward the capital, Beirut.

 

Hezbollah supporters have set up a makeshift stage in the coastal town of Naqoura, where a brief ceremony will be held. An official ceremony will follow at Beirut Airport and will be attended by Lebanon's president, prime minister and parliament speaker. Later, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is to address what is expected to be a huge celebration at the group's stronghold south of Beirut.

 

Hezbollah has given no evidence that its Israeli captives are alive and has not allowed the Red Cross to see them. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last month that Israel believes the men did not survive.

 

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The Lebanese men returned to a hero’s welcome.

 

Five Lebanese freed from captivity in Israel were flown to a heroes' welcome in Beirut on Wednesday after Hezbollah returned the bodies of two Israeli soldiers seized in a cross-border raid in 2006.

 

"This is a moment of divine victory," said Sayyed Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed, a senior Hezbollah leader, told cheering crowds.

 

Two Lebanese army helicopters then flew the men to Beirut, where President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri kissed them at the airport.

 

"Your return is a new victory," Suleiman declared.

 

Tens of thousands of flag-waving Hezbollah supporters gathered in Beirut ahead of a rally to celebrate the release of Qantar and four Hezbollah fighters captured in the 2006 war.

 

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On the other hand, the return of the Israeli soldiers was followed by forensics tests to verify their authenticity and mourning.

 

Hezbollah earlier handed over two black coffins containing the Israeli soldiers in Naqoura.

 

The Israeli army said forensic teams had identified the bodies as those of its missing men. Hezbollah had never disclosed whether they were alive or dead, but Israeli officials had said they were badly wounded at the time of their capture.

 

The release of the Lebanese prisoners, said by Hezbollah to be the last held in Israel, closes a file that has motivated repeated attempts by Shi'ite guerrillas over the past quarter of a century to capture Israelis to use as bargaining counters.

 

The fathers of the two Israeli soldiers spoke of their pain at watching the transfer of their sons' coffins on television.

 

"It is not easy to see this, although there was not much surprise to it. But ... confronting this reality was difficult, yes," Shlomo Goldwasser told Israel radio.

 

Zvi Regev said on Army Radio: "It was a terrible thing to see, really terrible. I was always optimistic, and I hoped all the time that I would meet Eldad and hug him."

 

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Both sides of the exchange were quick to extol the merits for their side, and I suggest that neither side came out particularly more ahead than the other; it was a good deal for both sides.

 

Hezbollah has dubbed the exchange "Operation Radwan," in honor of "Hajj Radwan," or Imad Moughniyah, the group's military commander assassinated in Syria in February.

 

Yellow Hezbollah flags fluttered across south Lebanon and on the coastal highway from Naqoura to Beirut. "Liberation of the captives: a new dawn for Lebanon and Palestine," a banner read.

 

Olmert said the exchange revealed "the moral and ethical might of the people of Israel."

 

"It was due to this might that we decided to recover our sons, despite the heavy price of releasing a despicable murderer," his statement said.

 

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said the Hezbollah deal strengthened its own hand in demanding freedom for hundreds of prisoners in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

 

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All in all, I would call it a good day, but it came at a high emotional cost for the Israeli side.  This was inevitable at some point, but it is still very unfortunate.

 

Military Israeli Funerals: Some Consolation

 

Thousands of mourners gathered Thursday in a northern Israeli town to bury the first of two soldiers returned in a prisoner exchange with Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas.

 

Ehud Goldwasser was one of the soldiers whose remains were returned by Hezbollah in exchange for five Lebanese prisoners and the remains of some 200 Arab fighters.

 

His wooden coffin was lowered into the ground in Nahariya by soldiers wearing the purple caps of an elite brigade. His widower, Karnit Goldwasser, held on to her late husband's father as each wiped away tears.

 

In keeping with Jewish tradition, Goldwasser's father Shlomo wore a shirt ripped at the front, to signify mourning. Later, an Israeli military rabbi recited the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer of mourning.

 

Another funeral is expected later on Thursday for Eldad Regev, the other soldier returned on Wednesday.

 

The prisoner exchange with Hezbollah closed a painful chapter from Israel's 2006 war against the militant group, which began after Lebanese guerrillas kidnapped the two soldiers in a cross-border raid.

 

A somber air hung over Israel Thursday. Radios played soft, subdued music and newspapers published a picture of Karnit Goldwasser hugging Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as they touched the coffin.

 

Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak, his voice breaking, told soldiers at the funeral that if "the worst will happen to any of you," Israel will "will make every possible and legitimate effort" to bring them home.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080717/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_soldiers_funerals

 

At long last, two Israeli heroes have returned home and been returned to the Earth from whence they came.  Ashes to ashes; dust to dust.

Reviews

[Gandré]

I find it amazing that you, as an US American, are so very concerned for Israel. I personally find what is happening there sad, and soon we might have a nuclear war. I believe that Israel is ready for military action against Iran's nuclear capacity.

Aren't we Europeans to blame for what has been done to the world after World War II ? I think the nation of Israel they made was not neccessary. There is not another state in the world that is founded on its religion! I find it terrible and feel absolutely ashamed for Nazi time and Holocaust. We Germans will never will forget the Holocaust! And it never can't be diminished such as "This happened a long time ago...."

But.....all this religion madness now in Middle East !

Jews say Abraham is only their forefather. But he was born in Iraq, and he is the father of 4 folks. My gosh! This is the ultimate jewish arrogance to say so.


What of the genetic makeup of Jews, they are, in my opinion, more clever than all the others races, because they have been persecuted already for thousands of years..... So, success is written in their genes! Intelligence. I have a huge respect for intelligence.

But couldn't we hear something different here....another political situation........another reality?

What about the pope??

I would love it if you write about him. He apologized recently personally (just in a cathedral) for all the sexual abuse crimes that catholic priests have committed upon children. But, I find it outrageously arrogant what he did not do; he should have been knelt upon his knees and asked for forgiveness for all those children (or even now adults) that have been raped and abused by the Catholic clergy!! He did not invite the victims to his apology. Of course, there were so many thousands of thousand cases........at least few representands of victimes should have bene ivited there. This is the arrogance of catholic church!

They don't folollow their own advice! That is why the Catholic church is "dead "for me. I can't have any respect for it! All those lies and all this hypocrisy. It was well hidden. And so live several of them, sadly, double moral. I have seen.

I have allways known this. I was sent to the church by my family in Slovakia. I was supposed to write for the priest's matrikulation register of this small place where I lived. And, I went there. I felt very insecure... I sensed that I did not want to be there, I was 12 years old. This priest with his alcoholic breath offered me wine, but I didn't drink any. And he touched my hair, and he was so very close to my body, it was like he is invading my personal space.

I just thought, I sensed ...... that I want to be out of the place. I had an argument with my "family" where I lived about this. They didn't understand. And, I was not able really to talk about it.

I think....my gosh......what a crime......with the victims. There has been such a harm done. I wasn't able to talk about a simple observation that the priest was stinking with alcohol upon his breath..... How could those poor souls have been able to say such an intimate experience that they have been sexually abused by priests when sex is something catholic church doesn't talk about?

I think you should write for us about such topics. We have now had more than enough of this Middle East thing. We do not need to know every detail of a funeral in Israel. You do such a wonderful analysis... for us but, please pick a different topic - something radically different. I would appreciate this.
l.gandr�