Israel and Hezbollah to swap prisoners?

BERLIN, May 28 (UPI) -- Israel and Hezbollah are nearing a prisoner-swap deal brokered by Germany, according to a report.

The online version of German newsmagazine Der Spiegel said Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah in 2006, would be exchanged for five Lebanese terrorists held in Israeli prisons.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah himself indicated that the report was true. In a speech released Tuesday, he said one of the Lebanese prisoners, Samir Quntar, would "soon be among us."

The deal was brokered by a German spy who enjoys great respect from both parties; the man, identified by Der Spiegel only as Gerhard C., is a seasoned Middle East expert working for Germany's Federal Intelligence Service.

C. has also been part of a team of German intelligence officials that brokered a massive prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah in 2004, when 435 Lebanese and Palestinians were released in exchange for an Israeli businessman and the remains of three Israeli soldiers.

It remains unsure, however, whether Regev and Goldwasser are still alive; Israeli authorities noted blood at the scene of the kidnapping, which sparked Israel's 33-day war with Lebanon in the summer of 2006.