BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 30 -- A top Hezbollah official said Saturday that Germany was still moderating negotiations with Israel continued for exchanging four Israeli prisoners with 19 Lebanese and a number of Arab detainees still held by Israel.
Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's deputy secretary-general, denied knowledge of any Austrian mediation to secure such a swap but said "negotiations continue and the letters between us and Israel through the Germans also continue."
Qassem, who made his comments during an interview with al-Mostqbal newspaper, was referring to reports that Austria began a mediation between Hezbollah and Israel for a prisoners exchange. Germany was the first country to try mediate a swap between the two sides as it did a number of times in the past years.
Asked if Israel responded positively to Hezbollah's swap conditions, Qassem said: "We heard some Israeli responses and we replied to them and we have to wait for other answers."
Hezbollah chief Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah proposed to exchange the four Israeli prisoners for all Lebanese, Palestinian and other Arab detainees held by Israel, along with bodies of guerrillas who were killed or went missing during previous clashes with Israeli forces, and complete maps of landmines left behind by Israeli forces when they withdrew from south Lebanon on May 24.
On Oct. 7, Hezbollah guerrillas captured three Israeli soldiers from the disputed border area of the Shabaa farms, which Israel retained after its May pullout. A week later, Nasrallah announced that a former army colonel had been captured after being lured from Europe into Beirut. While Hezbollah said the army colonel was an agent of the Israeli Mossad intelligence service, Israel insists that he is a businessman.
Qassem said any progress in the swap negotiations was up to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak who might conclude such a deal if he thinks that it could help him politically in the coming general elections.
