"Israel" to free five Palestinians as part of Hizbullah prisoner swap

Source: Daily Star, 4-8-2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (al-Quds): "Israel's" Cabinet approved Sunday the release of five Palestinian prisoners, a final step in an UN-brokered prisoner exchange with the Lebanese Hizbullah, a top "Israeli" government official said. The mostly symbolic action will see the release of five Palestinians convicted on minor charges and who were already due for release soon. None was implicated in deadly attacks on "Israelis", the official told AFP.
The release of an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners was part of an agreement concluded last month that saw "Israel" trade five Lebanese prisoners and the remains of some 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters for the bodies of two "Israeli" soldiers capture in 2006.
One of the Lebanese prisoners freed was Samir Kintar, "Israel's" longest-serving Arab prisoner, who was convicted of killing three civilians in a 1979 raid.
The prisoner exchange was celebrated across Lebanon as a victory for Hizbullah, but mourned in "Israel", where the fate of the two soldiers was not known until their black coffins arrived at the border.