Israel: Terrorist Release Certain to Increase Violence

Israel might have taken a step forward but with recent events the country has also taken two steps back. Two years ago, two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped on the Lebanese border by terrorist group Hezbollah. The group had kept the soldiers’ well-being from anyone though evidence found at the scene indicated the soldiers suffered major injuries. Shlomo Goldwasser is the father of one of the kidnapped soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser; he continued to have hope that his son was still alive.

Last week, however, this was found to be the furthest thing from the truth. In a deal with Israel, Hezbollah agreed to turn over the bodies of Goldwasser and fellow soldier Eldad Regev in return for murderer Samir Kantar who killed his daughter and another man in 1979. Kantar has been in Israel prison ever since. The current deal was negotiated by German intelligence and forensic experts confirmed the remains did indeed belong to the soldiers. Goldwasser had hope that he would receive his son. He lost that hope when Hezbollah turned over two black coffins in exchange for the prisoner.

A neighbor of the Regev family said through tears “It’s the saddest day for Israel. They kept us waiting until the last second to learn the fate of our sons”. The recent deal had been in negotiations for weeks with the Israel cabinet finally agreeing in full. Hezbollah celebrated the deal as a victory. A website for the terrorist group claimed the prisoners were to be dressed in military uniforms.

Hezbollah supporters and fellow terrorist group Hamas stated, “Today is a great victory for the resistance movements and for Hezbollah. It shows that the only successful way to free the prisoners is by kidnapping soldiers”. Gerhard C., a member of the German intelligence agency spent months on negotiations traveling between the U.N., New York and the middle east. Prime Minister Olmert was already under fire due to alleged corruption in his administration. He had been under pressure not to come to an agreement with Hezbollah.

In response to the continued attacks upon Israel, the Israeli’s attacked attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 and Lebanon is still yet to fully recover. Olmert ordered an attack in order to secure the release of the two kidnapped soldiers but the move was poorly executed as the soldiers were not released. After 34 days of war, Hezbollah was still holding the soldiers. The power of the leader of Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, had increased power after the kidnapping and attacks that followed.

Still remaining is a classified report giving to Gerhard C. during negotiations about the fate of a future soldier, Ron Arad, who left his plane during a bombing in 1986 in Lebanon. Finding out the details and circumstances of this soldier and the events that day were a priority for the Israeli government. After reading several dozen pages, this report was deemed useless after finding out that it only stated Arad had been moved frequently and then lost.

Olmert stated “the report is completely inadequate”. It is doubtful that clarity on Arad’s death will ever be provided. Last weeks deal by Olmert was plagued by corruption investigations and the deal is attributed to Israel’s domestic weakness.