Al-Manar TV: Nasrullah links prisoners deal with Israel to Qintar
The secretary of the Lebanese Hizbullah party Sheikh Hassan Nasrullah has announced his commitment to all declared conditions to exchange prisoners with Israel including the release of Samir al-Qintar who has been detained by Israel since 1979.
In statements quoted by al-Manar TV, Nasrullah said that "the conditions set by Hizbullah party and its demands have become defined and declared and we are committed to it under all circumstances." He explained that he will take his final position after he will be notified officially of the decision of the Israeli government by the German mediator.
He added that his party depends on what is said by channels of negotiations in order to take a final position concerning the implications of the file as a whole. On Saturday, Nasrullah stressed that the exchange with Israel should include all Lebanese prisoners, otherwise it will not be made.
It is, however, expected that Israel's rejection to include the first Lebanese prisoner Samir Qintar with the list will lead to obstructing the deal which witnessed delays that lasted for several months, after the Israeli government approved by one vote majority the agreement which was made through German mediation.
The Israeli foreign minister Shalom Silvan ruled out releasing Samir Qintar. He said in a meeting with Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ana Maria Palacio that "Israel has also its own red lines and can not be crossed."
In a press statement, Gideon Ezra, the Minister Without Portfolio in the Israeli government said that Qintar was not among the names over which negotiations were made. He expressed Israel's insistence to its stand concerning Qintar. The agreement with Hizbullah was maintained at a time when scores of families of the Israeli killing and prisoners in South Lebanon went out in a march of protest against the agreement.
Samir Qintar ( 41 year old), member of the Palestinian Liberation Front ( led by Abu al-Abbas) was sentenced to 547 year imprisonment in 1980 after he was accused of sneaking in 1979 to Naharya north of Israel and killing of three Israelis.