Prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah set to take place on Wednesday

The prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hezbollah will take place on Wednesday at the Rosh Hanikra border crossing between Israel and Lebanon. Gerhard Konrad, the German mediator who brokered the deal, is expected to give Israel a report from Hezbollah on missing air force navigator Ron Arad on Saturday, while Israel is to release a report on an Iranian journalist and three Iranian diplomats who were killed during the first Lebanon War. The report on Arad will be examined by Israeli intelligence officials before it is presented to the cabinet early next week, ahead of the final vote over the exchange scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

Israel's chief negotiator, Ofer Dekel, has been shuttling between Israel and Europe in recent weeks to finalise the deal and will head to Europe again this weekend to obtain the report on Arad. Israel will next week release an official statement on the plans to release Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar and four Hezbollah members held in Israel, in return for captured soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

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