Body of Israeli exchanged for Hezbollah prisoner, 2 dead guerrillas on Lebanon-Israel border

Israel exchanged a Hezbollah prisoner and the bodies of two Lebanese fighters for the corpse of an Israeli civilian Monday, a move that could pave the way for a deal involving the Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked the Israel-Hezbollah war.

In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said the swap was "in the framework of negotiations to return the captured soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser."

Hezbollah has insisted the soldiers would only be released in exchange for the freedom of all Lebanese prisoners held in Israel. But Monday's swap could be a sign the Shiite Muslim militant group is willing to negotiate at a time when it is trying to soften its image ahead of Lebanon's presidential elections.

The exchange, the fourth between Hezbollah and Israel in recent years, took place Monday evening at Naqoura on the Mediterranean coastline on the heavily guarded border.

An Israeli military vehicle carrying the bodies of the Lebanese crossed into the no man's land along the border at sundown and returned shortly afterward, crossing paths with Lebanese ambulances headed the other way.

The statement from Olmert's office said that in addition to the body of an Israeli who drowned in Lebanon nearly three years ago, "Hezbollah gave Israel additional information about another affair, and it will be checked soon." It did not elaborate.

Israel handed over the bodies of two militants killed in the war last summer and a captive Hezbollah guerrilla, who was released for medical reasons, the statement said.

The state-run news agency in Beirut identified the freed Hezbollah guerrilla as Hassan Naim Akil, who was captured during last year's war. He was brought across the border in a black Mercedes, peering out of the window and smiling.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said, "We believe that this is an example of what a future deal with the Hezbollah would look like that will bring about the release of all the Israelis held in Lebanon. I would like to thank the U.N. and the International Red Cross who helped make this happen."

Former Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said the deal "has an element of balance and should be welcomed." He said the significance should not be exaggerated, but "it is important that a route of communication has been opened."

Haim Malka, deputy director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the exchange would "likely set the stage for a more extensive swap," including the two captive soldiers.

"There is significant pressure on both the Israeli government and Hezbollah to resolve this issue. Since the end of the war last year, efforts have been made to broker a swap. ... This signals that progress is being made," he said.

David Schenker, senior Arab politics fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the swap was another confidence-building measure and confirmed Hezbollah's power in Lebanon.

"They get a boost from every prisoner they can get back... If a state is actively dealing with Hezbollah, which so many people call a state-within-a-state, it certainly confirms their stature in Lebanon," he said.

Bilal Saab, a Middle East security researcher at the Brookings Institution, said the presidential elections in Lebanon may be behind Hezbollah's gesture.

The Lebanese parliament failed to elect a president last month because of a boycott by the Hezbollah-led opposition, and the vote was rescheduled for Oct. 23.

"Hezbollah will undoubtedly consider it another victory under its belt and will seek to sell it internally by pushing harder for a presidential compromise candidate," said Saab.

The U.N. Security Council resolution that halted the war had demanded that Hezbollah turn over the seized Israeli soldiers. Their capture in July 2006 sparked the 34-day war between Hezbollah and Israel in which up to 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon. Israel lost about 160 people in the fighting, most of them soldiers.

Hezbollah has not released any details on the conditions of the two soldiers.

Israeli TV stations said the body of the Israeli citizen handed over Monday was a Jewish immigrant from Ethiopia, Gabriel Dwait, who drowned in 2005.

On the Lebanese side of the border, about 100 people gathered to await the exchange. A crowd of people, some weeping, mobbed the vehicles carrying the Lebanese bodies as they crossed the last checkpoint. Two women in black showered the ambulances with rice.

Among those waiting was Hussein Wizwaz, in his 60s, who said he came after hearing from Hezbollah that the body of his son would be repatriated. Ali Wizwaz, 32, was killed in a ground battle with Israeli troops in the border village of Maroun al-Ras, his father said.

"I heard on television that there will be some prisoner exchange," the man said, adding that he contacted a Hezbollah office and was told the bodies of his son and another guerrilla, Mohammed Dimashqiyeh, were being returned.

Dimashqiyeh's aunt, Maryam Saad, waved her nephew's portrait over her head and wept. "Whether him or others, I will not be upset," she said. "All our prisoners and martyrs are equal and the same."

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Associated Press Reporters Mark Lavie in Jerusalem and Lily Hindy in New York contributed to this report.