2008 Israel–Hezbollah prisoner exchange IV

The 2008 Israel–Hezbollah prisoner exchange took place on 16 July 2008 when

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

transferred the coffins of two

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i soldiers in exchange for 5 Lebanese militants held by Israel as well as the bodies of 199 militants captured in Lebanon or Israel.

Exchange

Hezbollah released the remains of two captured

i soldiers

Ehud Goldwasser Ehud "Udi" Goldwasser ( he, אהוד גולדווסר; 18 July 1975 – 12 July 2006) was an Israeli soldier who was abducted in Israel by Hezbollah along with Eldad Regev on 12 July 2006, sparking the 2006 Lebanon War. His rank was First Sergeant ...

and

Eldad Regev Eldad Regev ( he, אלדד רגב, 16 August 1980 – 12 July 2006) was an Israeli soldier abducted by Hezbollah fighters along with Ehud Goldwasser on 12 July 2006 in Israel near the Lebanese border, sparking the 2006 Lebanon War. His rank ...

. In exchange, Israel returned

Palestine Liberation Front The Palestinian Liberation Front ( ar, جبهة التحرير الفلسطينية, PLF) is a Palestinian political faction. Since 1997, the PLF has been a designated terrorist organization by the United States and by Canada since 2003. The P ...

militant

Samir Kuntar Samir Kuntar ( ar, سمير القنطار, also transcribed ''Sameer'', ''Kantar'', ''Quntar'', ''Qantar''; 20 July 1962 – 19 December 2015) was a Lebanese Druze member of the Palestine Liberation Front and Hezbollah. He was convicted of ter ...

, who was convicted of murder in Israel,

Nasim Nisr Nasim Nisr (also spelled Nissim Nasser; ar, نسيم نصر; he, נסים נסר; born 1968), is a Lebanese and former Israeli citizen who was convicted of spying for Hezbollah. Biography Nisr was born in Lebanon in 1968 to a Muslim father and a ...

, a Lebanese man of Jewish heritage who had immigrated to Israel and spied for Hezbollah, and Mahir Kourani, Mohammad Surour, Hussain Sulaiman and Khadr Zaidan, four Hezbollah militants taken prisoner by Israel in the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Leva ...

. Israel also returned the remains of about 200 Lebanese and Palestinian militants killed whose bodies had been brought to Israel and buried there. Eight of these were Hezbollah fighters killed in the 2006 war. It has long been the general policy of Israel not to return the remains of killed militants that had engaged in "hostile terrorist activity" to their families for burial. The exchange deal was carried out in accordance with the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

and UN observers. On 1 June 2008, Israel released the Lebanese prisoner

Nissim Nasser Nasim Nisr (also spelled Nissim Nasser; ar, نسيم نصر; he, נסים נסר; born 1968), is a Lebanese and former Israeli citizen who was convicted of spying for Hezbollah. Biography Nisr was born in Lebanon in 1968 to a Muslim father and a ...

in exchange for the remains of Israeli soldiers killed during the 2006 war. In October 2007, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to exchange a civilian Hezbollah member kidnapped in 2006 and the remains of two Hezbollah fighters killed and brought to Israel for the remains of Gabriel Dwait, an Israeli resident who drowned and washed ashore in Lebanon. The released prisoner was 50-year-old Hassan Naim Aqil, a former Hezbollah guerrilla who did not fight in the Second Lebanon War.

Reactions

Although news of Kuntar's release was met with celebration at a Hezbollah rally in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

, Israeli experts believe that the majority of Lebanese people were not pleased with this exchange. The reason for this is because they see this as a victory for Hezbollah, whom they see as an enemy. In

Gaza City Gaza (;''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1998), , p. 761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza...". ar, غَزَّة ', ), also referred to as Gaza City, i ...

, many Palestinians celebrated the news of the exchange by handing out sweets. Israel's deputy

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

, Majalli Wehbi, called the Beirut celebrations "shameful", stating that "Kuntar's fans laud a man who prides himself on smashing a child's skull". The foreign ministry also released a

public diplomacy In international relations, public diplomacy or people's diplomacy, broadly speaking, is any of the various government-sponsored efforts aimed at communicating directly with foreign publics to establish a dialogue designed to inform and influen ...

video in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

claiming Israel's moral victory in the swap. There was a mixed reaction worldwide, with many American news outlets criticizing the release of Kuntar and condemning the way he was praised in Lebanon.

References

External links

Prisoner Exchange: Saying goodbye to Udi, Eldad

Ynetnews Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 Israel-Hezbollah Prisoner Swap 2006 Lebanon War 2008 in Israel 2008 in Lebanon Israeli prisoner exchanges Iran–Israel proxy conflict Hezbollah–Israel conflict Israeli–Lebanese conflict

Exchange

Reactions

See also

References

External links