Israel, Lebanese group swap inmates

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israel set in motion Wednesday an emotional prisoner swap with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah that will bring home a kidnapped businessman and the remains of three soldiers.\nThe deal boosts Hezbollah's standing in the region because of its success in freeing Palestinian prisoners, while Israel also wins its first pledge of concrete information about an airman captured in 1986 in Lebanon.\nAn Israeli forensics team, including Israel's chief pathologist, medics and rabbis, flew to Germany on Wednesday. In the evening, a busload of Arab prisoners and one German left a northern Israeli prison for Israel's international airport after saying goodbye to cellmates.\nUnder the German-mediated swap, expected Thursday, Israel is releasing 436 prisoners in exchange for businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum, who was kidnapped by Hezbollah three years ago, and three soldiers who are presumed dead.\nMost of the prisoners are Palestinians, but 36, including two Lebanese guerrilla leaders, are from other countries. The 36 were to arrive at a German air base early Thursday, along with chief Israeli mediator Ilan Biran and Israeli military officials.\nAt the same time, Tannenbaum and the bodies of the soldiers were to arrive at the air base after a flight from Beirut, Lebanon.\nIsraeli military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they received information that the bodies of the soldiers had been preserved in formaldehyde, which could speed up the identification process. The forensics team also brought along dental records and other evidence.\nPositive identification is to set off the rest of the events. Israel will free 400 Palestinians into the West Bank and Gaza, turn over the remains of 59 Lebanese militants at the border with Lebanon and release the 36 non-Palestinian prisoners in Germany. One German man accused of belonging to Hezbollah is included in the deal.\nHowever, an Israeli military official warned that "complications could occur at any time."\nThe official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the crucial stage would be after the planes reach Germany and the identification process begins.\nSince Israel's founding in 1948, the country has participated in several dozen prisoner exchanges with its Arab neighbors, many of them lopsided in the Arabs' favor. In 1985, Israel freed 1,150 Palestinians in exchange for three soldiers held in Lebanon.\nThere is opposition to this deal among both Israelis and Palestinians.\nSome Israelis complain the price is too high and hands Hezbollah a victory that could help it destabilize the area.\nMany Palestinians expressed disappointment with the deal, complaining no prominent uprising figures are included. Also, most of the 400 were scheduled to be released this year.\n"The Palestinians had hoped that the deal would include prisoners with long sentences, that it would include the sick, or those with life sentences," said Fadwa Barghouti, the wife of the most prominent Palestinian prisoner, Marwan Barghouti, on trial for his alleged role in attacks that killed 26 Israelis. He is not included in the deal.\nIn Berlin, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's spokesman, Bela Anda, declined to discuss details of the exchange. However, he said Germany "is thankful to be able to contribute to humanitarian progress here, to the extent that it is possible."\nIsrael scheduled a memorial service Thursday evening for the three soldiers upon their return. President Moshe Katsav, joined by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other senior officials, are to preside over the ceremony.\nThe soldiers, Beni Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Souad, captured in October 2000 after a Hezbollah roadside bomb hit their jeep during a patrol along the Lebanese border, are presumed dead. But their families were clinging to hopes the men might somehow return alive.\nTannenbaum, who was also captured in October 2000 while conducting a questionable business deal in an Arab country, faces police and security service questioning. Israeli officials would say only that Tannenbaum's first stop would be a hospital for medical treatment. The former Israeli colonel was reportedly tortured in captivity.\nAfter the swap is completed, the sides are to launch a second stage of negotiations. Israel is supposed to receive within three months concrete information about the fate of airman Ron Arad, who was shot down over Lebanon in 1986 and captured alive.\nIn exchange, Israel would release Samir Kantar, a Lebanese militant who has been in an Israeli prison since 1979 for killing three Israelis.\nThe most prominent Arabs being released are Lebanese guerrilla leaders Mustafi Dirani and Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid. They were kidnapped in 1994 and 1989, respectively, as bargaining chips for Arad.