Nearby agreement to release al-Qintar

Israeli media sources expected a nearby agreement between Israel and Hizbullah to release the Lebanese prisoner Samir al-Qintar for getting information concerning the Israeli pilot Ron Arad who is considered by Tel Aviv as missing since the downing of his plane in 1986.

Channel II in the Israeli TV said that the negotiations between Hizbullah and Israel which are being made at a German mediation is about to be concluded in a detente. It expected the release of al- Qintar ( 41 year old) within weeks, but indicated that most of the information on this deal are censored for publications due to its great sensitivity.

According to the channel, the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon asked members of his government not to leave Israel in the coming days in order to take part in voting dedicated to this issue.

The current negotiations over releasing al-Qintar came as a second phase of the prisoners exchange deal between Hizbullah and Israel in January this year which stated that al-Qintar will be released after 3 months for the parties to give information about Arad.

Iran hopes through the second phase to negotiate over knowing the fate of four of its diplomats who were kidnapped during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

Israel in the first phase refused to release al-Qintar - who is held by Israel since 1979 and sentenced to 453 years imprisonment.

In the first phase, Israel released 400 Palestinians, including 30 Arabs, 23 Lebanese and one German for the Lebanese Hizbullah's party release of the reserve Israeli officer Alhanan Tananbaun and returning back the remains of three Israeli soldiers killed in 2000.