Today's Situation

A MINI-DEAL, October 16, 2007

One story dominates the front pages of the Israeli papers on Tuesday - the handover by Israel of two bodies of Hizbollah fighters killed in the Second Lebanon War and a Lebanese man taken prisoner during that war, in exchange for the return of a drowned Israeli civilian whose body washed ashore in southern Lebanon. But it is the implications of that small-scale exchange which form the bulk of the coverage.

According to Haaretz, which reports that, as part of the deal, Hizbollah handed Israel information on the fate of missing airman Ron Arad, says in its lead headline that the could finally end 21 years of uncertainty regarding Arad's fate.

Ynet reports that the information Israel received from Hizbollah on Ron Arad as part of the swap is documents written by the missing navigator shortly after he was taken hostage. Citing a report in Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar, Ynet says that the documents were transferred to Israel for examination and were the catalyst to Arad's brother and Yuval leaving for Berlin, to try to convince senior German officials not to release Iranian spay agent Kazem Darabi and Lebanese citizen Abbas Rahil.

On Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made his first public comment on the deal, telling a conference on immigration in Ashdod that the exchange 'proves that the State of Israel will not for one moment drop the efforts to find out what happened to its sons and return them to their families'

According to Ynet, the prime minister added: 'For years our enemies have been trying to raise the prices paid by Israel for pieces of information - and moreover for receiving kidnapped soldiers and citizens or, God forbid, bodies. This is an ugly and cynical trade in the feelings and sensitivity of the Israeli society. Sometimes we have no choice but to pay heavy prices. I believe, however, that yesterday's move was carried out in a balanced manner and with a price the State of Israel can bear.'

Olmert also appeared to quash any hope that yesterday's deal is part of a process that will lead to the return of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, who were captured by Hizbollah in July 2006.

'Yesterday we went through a certain stage in the process [of returning Regev and Goldwasser]. Unfortunately, however, the road leading to their return … is still long.'

Israel Radio, however, reports that the exchange could be the first move prior to an eventual larger deal with the organization that will include the release of Regev and Goldwasser.

In other news, Olmert caused something of a storm on Monday, when he questioned whether it was necessary for Israel to annex the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem after the Six-Day Way. The irony of the fact the comments came at a Knesset memorial ceremony for one of the most rightist politicians in recent Israeli history - Rehavam Zeevi, whose was slain by Palestinian terrorists - was not lost.

Olmert's comments are his first on the controversy surrounding the future of the capital, which has been thrown into the spotlight by the ongoing talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and by a plan floated by deputy PM Haim Ramon for the division of the city.

Reactions to Olmert's comments were fast and furious: Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu told Army Radio that he objected to internationalizing the city, saying it would allow Hamas and Islamic Jihad a foothold in the city. According to Ynet, even televangelist Pat Robertson got in on the act, saying the United States will risk God's wrath if it forces Israel to surrender part of Jerusalem to the Palestinians. 'He that touches Jerusalem touches the apple of God's eye,' Robertson said on the daily religious news-and-talk program he hosts from his Christian Broadcasting Network.

On the diplomatic front, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday morning, leaving behind her more questions than answers on the planned Middle East summit in Annapolis.

After meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, Rice said that the conference must be serious and have content, but did not say whether that meant they sides would have to thrash out a joint declaration before the gathering. According to Haaretz, progress has been so slow that the U.S. has effectively frozen the as-yet unsent invitations to the summit and is now saying that the deadline for the summit it early December.

Rice told American reports in Israel that there was no need to set a timetable for the completion of the negotiation on the permanent agreement between Israel and the Palestinians as a condition for the Annapolis conference.

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