Israeli-Hezbollah Prisoner Swap Complete

The Israeli-Hezbollah prisoner swap was completed today at the Israeli border. Hezbollah returned the bodies of 2 Israeli Defense Soliders that went missing in the 2006 Lebanese War. The fate of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser remained unknown until this morning, when the Red Cross carried two black coffins across the border into Israel and they were immediately identified.

In return for  Regev and Goldwasser’s remains, Israel released 5 Lebanese prisoners, one being infamous murder Samir Kuntar.  In 1979, Kuntar killed four Israeli citizens including a police officer. He held a father and his four-year old daughter hostage before shooting the father in front of his daughter and then smashing her head against a rock with the butt of his gun. A second child died of suffocation. To most of Israel, Kuntar is known as the "embodiement of evil" and a cold-hearted murderer, and yet the vote to release him from prison passed overwhelmingly 22-3.  The Israeli government is also returning 199 remains of enemy soliders that have fallen throughout the years in Israeli territory.

In Israel, it is a mornful day for the nation, as the fate of two war heros is finally known and their bodies can be laid to rest. To the Hezbollah, today is day of celebration, as the group prepares massive parties, parades and festivities for the four prisoners. This swap is considerd to be a victory against Israel.  

America’s Stance Against Terrorist Negotiation 

U.S. President George W. Bush has taken the position that America will not negotiate with terrorist, and yet to some, this deal with Hezbollah may seem like a very much like negotiation. Hezbollah believes they are defeating Israel, When Israel trades 199 bodies and 5 prisioners, one being a notorious muderer, for 2 soliders whom Hezbollah would not indicate whether they were still alive, Israel is giving these terriost groups no incentive to keep their prisoners alive, trading alive murders for dead soldiers. 

What do you think? Did Israel make the right decision in this prisoner swap? Should Israel participate in future negotiations with Hezbollah? Is getting Regev and Goldwasser’s remains returned worth releasing Kuntar, who will probably continue on to kill many more people?  

Submitted by: josiah, July 16th, 2008 Topic: Israel Forums
Tags: Israel, israel, Israeli Defense Force, Kuntar, Prisioner Swap

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3 Comments

Irishwanderer commented on July 17, 2008:

Such sadness that these families don't know the saviour at this time. POW/MIA here in the USA does all it can to find the remains of missing soldiers. Giving live criminals back their liberty for the possibility of a live soldier is going a bit too far however Isreal will use this example in the future to demonstrate that terrorist's will do anything just to harrass Israel and score political points. The Propaganda value of this criminal to the Lebaneze is immense.I seems silly for the Knesset to allow such Propaganda value to go unchallanged. Maybe the days of Peace for Isreal are coming but at what cost.

Ahava commented on July 16, 2008:

I dont think that Israel should deal with Hizbulla in any form. While the thought getting two of their soldiers returned is optimistic, I dont think that releasing Kuntar was worth it. He should be rotting in prison until the day he dies. There should be no negotiations.

MissEmma88 commented on July 16, 2008:

That's a tricky situation because Hizbullah wouldn't specify if the soldiers were alive, although there was implications that one of them was dead.

But how could Israel not attempt to get back the second, not knowing if he was alive? I think someone's life is too big of a risk to not even attempt some sort of deal. It's extremely sad seeing footage of 2 coffins crossing into Israel...

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