Israeli cabinet to vote on Hezbollah prisoner deal; Gilad Shalit?s family mark second anniversary of his kidnapping

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that the cabinet will vote on Sunday over a prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah involving the two abducted IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. PM Olmert met yesterday with Karnit Goldwasser, the wife of Ehud, and said that he had not yet decided whether he supports the exchange. The vote in the cabinet will mark an important step towards the implementation of the prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah that has been delayed for several days due to disagreements between Israeli security chiefs and political leaders.

The families of the abducted reservists have been pressurising PM Olmert to bring the issue to a vote before the cabinet since the beginning of the week. After hearing about the decision to allow a cabinet vote, Karnit Goldwasser said, "In my eyes, this is the first relevant opportunity to bring Udi and Eldad home." Analysts predict that if the vote goes ahead as scheduled, the cabinet is likely to approve the proposed prisoner swap. Israeli Labour ministers are expected to support the deal along with the Pensioner party. Kadima ministers seem undecided on the idea and Shas is not expected to vote against it. Several ministers said this week that they had not yet decided on their stance because they had not been fully informed of the details involving a swap.

The outline of the deal involves the release of four Hezbollah terrorists captured in the Second Lebanon War; the release of Samir Kutar who has been imprisoned since 1979 for the killing of an Israeli family in Israel's northern town of Nahariya and the return of the remains of eight Lebanese citizens buried in Israel. In addition, following the exchange, Israel would release Palestinian prisoners according to its parameters of who to release and the number of prisoners to release.

In addition to negotiations with Hezbollah, negotiations continue over the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit who is held in Gaza. Today marks the second anniversary for his kidnapping from an Israeli military outpost in near kibbutz Kerem Shalom. The anniversary was marked by Shalit's family and friends in a rally held in Jerusalem. Earlier yesterday, PM Olmert met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo and the two dedicated most of the meeting to discuss the ongoing efforts to release Shalit. Following the meeting, President Mubarak announced the Egypt will not open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza in the coming days in order to maintain the pressure on Hamas to reach a deal.

Israel's chief negotiator Ofer Dekel will arrive in Egypt tomorrow to begin intensive talks over the release of Shalit. Dekel will conduct indirect negotiations with a Hamas delegation through Egyptian mediators. Currently, disagreements between the sides remain over the identity of the Palestinian prisoners Hamas demands. Israel rejects the demand to release Palestinian terrorists who were involved in deadly terror attacks. The talks tomorrow are expected to concentrate on this issue and reach some willingness from Hamas to compromise.

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