Arab prisoners and abducted Israeli head home

BEIRUT - German mediators flew a kidnapped Israeli and the remains of three soldiers out of Lebanon yesterday.

At the same time hundreds of Arab prisoners began a journey home from Israel in a swap deal with Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas.

Three wooden coffins were loaded on a German plane at Beirut airport. Captive businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum boarded the same aircraft before it set off for Cologne.

Minutes later, a group of more than 30 Arabs were flown out of Israel towards the same German air base.

Buses started carrying the first of 400 Palestinian prisoners towards home from a Negev desert prison.

Most of the Arabs being flown from Israel were Lebanese, expected to return home later in the day. A German convert to Islam was also being freed.

But the go-ahead for the exchange will still depend on identification by Israeli forensic scientists of the remains of the soldiers, who were abducted on a border patrol in 2000.

Tannenbaum, whose hair appeared to have greyed during more than three years captivity, said he had gone to Lebanon to seek information on Israeli airman Ron Arad, shot down in 1986, as well as for business.

The Hizbollah had treated him well.

"I think they are okay," he said before boarding the plane.

The 400 Palestinian prisoners, among more than 7500 held by Israel, were to be taken to military stockades near the West Bank and Gaza Strip to await release.

Some Israelis were concerned the deal could encourage more kidnappings by Hizbollah, branded as terrorists by Washington.

But Palestinians were happy to have their loved ones back.

"I am so excited. I want to hug my son because I have not seen him for so long. I want to find a wife for him now," said Azem Dweik, waiting for his son, a militant, in the West Bank city of Hebron. "I will tell him to shun violence."

Two prominent Lebanese militia activists, Sheikh Abdel-Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani, who were abducted in 1989 and 1994 to help secure Arad's release, were among those to go back to Lebanon.

But there was bitterness that the longest-serving prisoner, Samir al-Qantar, was not to be freed yet.

His release could hang on whether Israel gets information on Arad, who Israelis say was handed by Lebanese guerrillas to their Iranian backers and might still be alive.

How the swap works

* Israel is releasing about 400 Palestinians, 23 Lebanese, 12 prisoners from Sudan, Syria, Morocco and Libya, and a German convert to Islam. It is also handing over the bodies of 59 Lebanese guerrillas.

* Among Lebanese being freed are prominent militia figures Sheikh Abdel-Karim Obeid, captured in 1989, and Mustafa Dirani, captured in 1994. Both were seized to help secure the release of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad, shot down over Lebanon in 1986.

* In return, Israel is receiving the remains of three soldiers, presumed to have been killed after being captured on a border patrol in 2000. It is also getting back businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum, who was abducted the same year when a Hizbollah agent enticed him to Abu Dhabi for a business deal.

- REUTERS