Israel to Swap Lebanese Prisoner for Soldiers' Remains

Israel's cabinet today gave final approval for a prisoner swap tomorrow, in which it will give up a notorious Lebanese militant in return for two Israeli soldiers who are presumed dead.

The capture of the soldiers, Eldad Regev, 27, and Ehud Goldwasser, 32, two years ago sparked a month-long war in Lebanon that claimed nearly 1,200 lives. Although at first Israel hoped the reservists survived the ambush, it now believes both are dead. Their remains will be returned to Israel at 9am through the Rosh Hanikra crossing at the border in northern Israel.

In return, Israel was due tonight to pardon a Lebanese prisoner, Samir Quntar, who has spent nearly three decades in Israeli jails for murder and attempted murder. In 1979, at the age of 16, he was one of four militants who sailed from Lebanon into the coast at Nahariya on a rubber dinghy and then attacked an apartment block. They broke into a flat and dragged out a man, Danny Haran, and his four-year-old daughter Einat. Quntar, according to witnesses, shot and killed Haran and then beat his daughter to death. Haran's wife Smadar hid in their bedroom with their second daughter, Yael, who was two, but as she tried to silence the child's cries she accidentally smothered her to death.

Quntar is one of five Lebanese prisoners who will be handed back tomorrow. In addition, Israel will deliver the remains of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters who have been killed in recent years. The agreement was negotiated through a German mediator.

Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, was to sign the pardon. "It's not a happy choice," Peres said before the cabinet vote. "On one hand, we have the most terrible murderer. On the other hand, we have our commitment to our boys who were sent to fight for their country. It is our moral duty and our heartfelt wish to see them come back."

The Israeli military has always insisted it will bring back soldiers captured or lost in combat. Isaac Herzog, a cabinet minister, said: "Clearly we opted for a resolution that fulfills our prime rule since the creation of the state of Israel, and this is to bring our sons home, despite the toll."

The cabinet decision was not unanimous: three ministers voted against, saying it might affect the current indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to secure the release of Gilad Shalit, another Israeli soldier who was captured near Gaza two years ago and who is believed to be alive.

In Lebanon, Hassan Nasrullah, the Hizbullah leader, is expected to paint the agreement as a victory for his movement. One Hizbullah official, Sheik Nabil Kaouk, said today that the prisoner swap showed "Israel's humiliating failure".

Bassem Quntar, Samir's brother, said he believed the release would boost the credibility of armed resistance across the region. Although he has grown up every day surrounded by images and tales of his elder brother, he has not met him.

"This exchange will raise the big question: is resistance a way to liberate land, to secure sovereignty and, at least in Palestine, to negotiate with some power in your hands in order to reach your goals? The answer is yes," he said.

"Hizbullah has closed this file and no-one can say it was for the sake of Syria or Iran and or argue that they don't accept the use of Hizbullah's weapons to release prisoners. This was a national Lebanese cause." Kuntar is expected to be flown up to Beirut from the border once he is handed over.

It is not the first time Israel has agreed to a prisoner swap, both for captured soldiers and those killed in combat. In 1985 Israel gave up 1,150 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners in return for three captured soldiers.

Under the latest agreement, Hizbullah was also to provide information about Ron Arad, an Israeli aviator who was shot down over Lebanon in 1986 and is believed to have been held for two years before he was killed. At the weekend, Hizbullah handed over parts of Arad's diary and a set of bleak photographs taken some time after his capture, which showed him alive. Israel had long regarded the prisoner Kuntar as the final "bargaining chip" for news of Arad's fate. It is still unclear, however, when or how Arad died.