Israel-Hezbollah Prisoner Swap?

In the next few days, Israel will release more than 400 Arab prisoners in exchange for an Israeli businessman and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers held by the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, officials said Saturday.

The announcement of the planned swap came after years of German-brokered negotiations. Further talks are planned to help Israel win information on its most famous MIA, airman Ron Arad, who is not part of the deal.

Israel is to release 35 prisoners from Arab countries and about 400 Palestinians - Israel's most significant release of Palestinian prisoners since Ariel Sharon became prime minister three years ago.

Hezbollah is to free Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers, all captured by the guerrilla group in October 2000.

German government mediator Ernst Uhrlau, announcing the deal in Berlin on Saturday, said it would be concluded "within a week."

The fate of prisoners is an emotionally charged issue for the Palestinians. Israel currently holds more than 7,000 so-called security prisoners, most rounded up in military offensives in the past three years.

"If 400 Palestinian political prisoners are released, that would bring joy to 400 Palestinian homes," said Kadoura Fares, a Palestinian Cabinet minister and top official in Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

Israeli and German officials did not give a list of Palestinians to be freed.

Israel captured most of its Lebanese prisoners during its invasions and occupation of Lebanese territory from 1982 to 2000.

The top Lebanese to be freed are Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani, two guerrilla leaders kidnapped by Israel from south Lebanon in 1989 and 1994.

Also to be released are 21 other Lebanese, five Syrians, three Moroccans, three Sudanese and one Libyan. Steven Smyrek, a 32-year-old German imprisoned in Israel since 1997 for membership in Hezbollah, is also on the list.

Hezbollah guerrillas captured the three Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese-Israeli border in October 2000. Israel has declared Adi Avitan, Beni Avraham and Omar Sawaid dead. But their families still hold out hope they are alive.

Israel TV channels showed footage of the father of one of the soldiers screaming on the phone with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.

"You've been negotiating with Hezbollah for months and they never told you whether our boys are alive or dead?" shouted Haim Avraham.

The businessman, Tannenbaum, was kidnapped in the United Arab Emirates, reportedly lured there to take part in a shady business deal.

Israel will also pass along information on 24 Lebanese listed as missing in action and return the bodies of 59 Lebanese killed in battle. Israel will hand over maps of land mines planted by Israel and its allies in Lebanon.

Israel's Channel One TV said the swap would take place in either Frankfurt or Munich in Germany, while all Palestinian prisoners would be freed within Israel or the Palestinian territories.

Initially, Hezbollah also sought the release of Samir Kantar, who has been held in an Israeli prison since 1979 for killing three members of an Israeli family.

Uhrlau said Saturday that Kantar could be freed in the next two or three months.

Sharon's office said Kantar would only be released after Israel receives information on Arad, who was shot down over Lebanon in 1986, and Uhrlau said more Arab and Palestinian prisoners could also be released then.

Arad's exclusion from the initial deal has drawn furious protests.

There have been no known signs of life from Arad since 1988, but his relatives believe he is still alive, and the Israeli military has not declared him dead.

Yuval Steinitz, a senior lawmaker from Sharon's ruling Likud Party, told Israel TV he opposed the deal for not including Arad, adding that "we are in effect releasing bargaining chips that we could use in freeing Ron Arad."