KEY POINTS:
JERUSALEM - A prisoner convicted of spying for Hizbollah was released to Lebanon by Israel yesterday in return for what the guerrilla group said were the remains of dead Israeli soldiers.
The cross-border moves raised speculation that Israel could be preparing to trade other prisoners for the two soldiers, whether dead or alive, whose abduction triggered the 2006 Lebanon war.
The Hizbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, predicted last week that Israel would soon free Lebanese prisoners including Samir Kuntar, who is serving multiple life sentences for murdering four Israelis - including a 28-year-old civilian and his 4-year-old daughter - in 1979.
In Beirut, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister, who has been mediating between the two enemies, said he was happy with yesterday's developments and that he hoped "these preliminary steps have created a positive dynamism in these secret talks".
The man released yesterday and driven from a jail in central Israel to the border town of Rosh Hanikra was Nasim Nisr, an Israeli of Lebanese descent who had already served a six-year sentence for espionage and was being held in administrative detention, possibly as a bargaining chip.
The 39-year-old prisoner was shown live on Lebanese television arriving at the southern village of Naqoura and hugging weeping relatives, including his mother, a Lebanese Jew who converted to Islam.
He briefly praised Nasrallah and said he hoped other Lebanese prisoners would be released. Because of his Jewish descent, Nisr, whose father was a Shiite Muslim, qualified for Israeli citizenship, and had moved to Israel in 1991.
The box of remains released by Hizbollah was checked by the Israeli military for booby traps before being transported to Tel Aviv for evaluation.
- INDEPENDENT
