Olmert denies plan to declare captured soldiers dead

Source: AFP, 19-02-2008
OCCUPIED AL-QUDS: "Israeli" Premier Ehud Olmert on Sunday denied reports he planned to declare that two "Israeli" soldiers captured by Hizbullah in 2006 were dead.
The German weekly Der Spiegel reported on its Web site Olmert was considering declaring Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev as dead, stirring a storm of criticism in "Israel".
"I will continue to act on the basis they are alive as long as we don't get any other information," Olmert said in a speech before the Jewish Conference of Presidents.
The two "Israeli" servicemen were seized by Hizbullah fighters in a border clash on July 12, 2006. "Israel" used the border incident as a pretext to act on its war agenda by a devastating 34-day war on Lebanon.
Secret negotiations by the two sides on a prisoner exchange started before the war now including the latest prisoners captured by Hizbullah, have been holding.
But there has been no sign of life from the two reservist soldiers, while an "Israeli" military report has said that they were likely to be dead or in serious condition after the Hizbullah raid on their patrol jeep.