Sayyed Nasrallah offers to facilitate further prisoner swaps with "Israel", says Ban
Source: AFP, 23-7-2008
UNITED NATIONS: Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has spelled out his terms for further prisoner swaps with "Israel", according to a letter from UN chief Ban Ki-moon to the president of the Security Council seen on Wednesday. Ban said he had received a letter from the Lebanese Shiite leader indicating "his readiness for participation in the remaining humanitarian cases of "Israeli" MIA [missing in action] of the 1980s," the UN chief said in his letter addressed to Vietnam's UN Ambassador Le Luong Minh, the council chair this month.
But Ban said Nasrallah made it clear that his positive attitude would depend on "the nature and extent of "Israeli" humanitarian moves on behalf of Palestinian and Arab victims." Nasrallah stated that a "minimum requirement" would be the release of "hundreds" of "minors, women and elderly people being held in "Israeli" detention" as well as detainees suffering from health handicaps and injuries, according to Ban's letter.
Ban said Nasrallah's letter stressed that these cases "would have to be resolved now, in order to secure Hizbullah's further support in other humanitarian issues."
Ban quoted Nasrallah's letter as saying the Hizbullah chief informed him that further prisoner releases by "Israel" should "be adequate to the high level of government commitment to the Secretary General of the United Nations and to the importance of results achieved under the UN facilitation."
In other direct quotes from Nasrallah's July 7 letter, Ban said the Hizbullah leader referred to "the high number of innocent victims caused by the summer 2006 war with "Israel"."
Last week, "Israel" handed over its last five Lebanese prisoners, including the longest-serving Arab prisoner in "Israeli" prisons Samir Kontar, and the bodies of 199 Lebanese, Palestinian and Arab fighters.
In exchange Hizbullah returned the bodies of "Israeli" soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who were captured on July 12, 2006..
"I strongly commend the "Israeli" readiness to engage in another release of Palestinian detainees and welcome Hizbullah's willingness in principle to further contribute to the solution of the humanitarian cases," Ban said in his letter.
"I hope that the forthcoming releases promote further humanitarian moves and call upon all sides to faithfully contribute to the process," the UN chief added.
Speaking to a crowd of thousands of ecstatic supporters in the southern suburbs of Beirut last week, Nasrallah, making his first public appearance in a year, said the release of Kontar and four Hizbullah fighters marked the dawn of a new era.
"The era of defeats has ended and now we embark on an era of victories," said Nasrallah, who has became a revered leader - in a region beset by corrupt and ineffectual politicians - since Hizbullah fighters drove "Israeli" forces out of Lebanon in 2000.
"Our only concern is to defend our country, its territory, its water and its people and are open to all discussion for a national defense strategy to do that," Nasrallah said.
"This people and this nation and this country that gave a clear picture to the world ... cannot be defeated," he added.
UNITED NATIONS: Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has spelled out his terms for further prisoner swaps with "Israel", according to a letter from UN chief Ban Ki-moon to the president of the Security Council seen on Wednesday. Ban said he had received a letter from the Lebanese Shiite leader indicating "his readiness for participation in the remaining humanitarian cases of "Israeli" MIA [missing in action] of the 1980s," the UN chief said in his letter addressed to Vietnam's UN Ambassador Le Luong Minh, the council chair this month.
But Ban said Nasrallah made it clear that his positive attitude would depend on "the nature and extent of "Israeli" humanitarian moves on behalf of Palestinian and Arab victims." Nasrallah stated that a "minimum requirement" would be the release of "hundreds" of "minors, women and elderly people being held in "Israeli" detention" as well as detainees suffering from health handicaps and injuries, according to Ban's letter.
Ban said Nasrallah's letter stressed that these cases "would have to be resolved now, in order to secure Hizbullah's further support in other humanitarian issues."
Ban quoted Nasrallah's letter as saying the Hizbullah chief informed him that further prisoner releases by "Israel" should "be adequate to the high level of government commitment to the Secretary General of the United Nations and to the importance of results achieved under the UN facilitation."
In other direct quotes from Nasrallah's July 7 letter, Ban said the Hizbullah leader referred to "the high number of innocent victims caused by the summer 2006 war with "Israel"."
Last week, "Israel" handed over its last five Lebanese prisoners, including the longest-serving Arab prisoner in "Israeli" prisons Samir Kontar, and the bodies of 199 Lebanese, Palestinian and Arab fighters.
In exchange Hizbullah returned the bodies of "Israeli" soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who were captured on July 12, 2006..
"I strongly commend the "Israeli" readiness to engage in another release of Palestinian detainees and welcome Hizbullah's willingness in principle to further contribute to the solution of the humanitarian cases," Ban said in his letter.
"I hope that the forthcoming releases promote further humanitarian moves and call upon all sides to faithfully contribute to the process," the UN chief added.
Speaking to a crowd of thousands of ecstatic supporters in the southern suburbs of Beirut last week, Nasrallah, making his first public appearance in a year, said the release of Kontar and four Hizbullah fighters marked the dawn of a new era.
"The era of defeats has ended and now we embark on an era of victories," said Nasrallah, who has became a revered leader - in a region beset by corrupt and ineffectual politicians - since Hizbullah fighters drove "Israeli" forces out of Lebanon in 2000.
"Our only concern is to defend our country, its territory, its water and its people and are open to all discussion for a national defense strategy to do that," Nasrallah said.
"This people and this nation and this country that gave a clear picture to the world ... cannot be defeated," he added.
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