Hizbullah gave "Israel" information on airman missing since 1986 - report

Source: Daily Star, 17-10-2007
BEIRUT: Hizbullah turned over to "Israel" on Monday papers dating back to the capture of Ron Arad, an "Israeli" airman who disappeared after his plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986, Al-Akhbar newspaper said on Tuesday. According to the daily, the papers had been penned in Arad`s handwriting.
"Israel" and Hizbullah exchanged the remains of an "Israeli" civilian for a captive Lebanese fighter and the bodies of two of his comrades on Monday during an exchange at the Naqoura border crossing.
The bodies of two Hizbullah fighters, Ali Wezwaz from Mais al-Jabal and Mohammad Dimashqiyeh from Aita al-Jabal, along with Lebanese fighter Hassan Naim Akil, were exchanged on Monday in return for the body of "Israeli" citizen Gabriel Dwait, an Ethiopian Jewish immigrant who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea on January 20, 2005.
"Israel" said the bodies of two Lebanese militants it handed over Monday had been casualties of the war last summer and that the Hizbullah captive was released for medical reasons.
A correspondent for The Daily Star visited Akil`s home on Tuesday in the southern region of Jibbayn.
"After 16 months of detention in "Israeli" prisons, thank God my son has returned home," said Fatmeh Hassan Hammoud, Akil`s mother. "I hope that that all detainees will be freed soon."
Akil`s eldest daughter Fatimah expressed gratitude to Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
"If it weren`t for [Nasrallah], dad would not be here with us," she said.
As for Akil, he did not give any comments to the media except to say: "Thank God my mother is still alive."
Hizbullah described the swap "as an expression of humanitarian goodwill by both sides."
Monday`s exchange was the fourth between Hizbullah and "Israel" in recent years.
Hizbullah also said it had transmitted to a UN mediator some "information relating to humanitarian issues that are of common interest" to "Israel" and the militant group.
"Hizbullah hopes that this goodwill gesture will help bring about progress to end all issues pertaining to the prisoners and the detainees," the group said on Monday.
Both Lebanese observers and "Israeli" media speculated the statement could refer either to Arad or to the two "Israeli" soldiers that Hizbullah abducted July 12, 2006, triggering the 34-day war.
"Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday said the return of two soldiers being held by Hizbullah in Lebanon was far off, dashing hopes that a prisoner swap a day earlier would pave the way for a bigger exchange.
In a speech broadcast on national radio, Olmert urged caution, saying it would be a long time before "Israel" brought home the two soldiers, Ehud "Udi" Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
Hizbullah has repeatedly said the two soldiers would be freed only in exchange for freedom of all Lebanese prisoners held by "Israel".
"Israel" is holding at least six Lebanese prisoners, including Samir Kantar, who has been imprisoned since 1979 for killing three members of an "Israeli" family.