Annan: Israel, Hezbollah agree on U.N. mediation for soldiers' release

[IndianaGreen]

Annan: Israel, Hezbollah agree on U.N. mediation for soldiers' release

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to indirect talks for the release of two abducted Israeli soldiers and that he would appoint a mediator.

It would be the first time that Israel has publicly agreed to indirect contacts with the Lebanese guerrilla group over winning the release of the two soldiers, snatched in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Their capture sparked a massive Israeli offensive against Hezbollah that lasted 34 days until a U.N.-arranged cease-fire.

Hezbollah has said it would only free the two Israelis as part of a swap for Arab prisoners held by Israel. The Islamic militant group also has said it is ready for mediation to arrange an exchange. Israel has insisted it wants an unconditional release of the soldiers.

Annan told a press conference in Jeddah that both sides had agreed for the U.N. secretary-general to negotiate between them on the issue of the soldiers, according to an Arabic translation of his comments.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/09/04/mideast.annan.ap/index.html

[Kagemusha]

1. Already outdated, Israel denies

Officials: UN to help free troops, not mediate talks

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/758579.html

Because there will be no negotiations, Israel does not require a mediator.

[MADem]

2. No proof of life yet, per Jesse....and he's been there for AWHILE

...Jesse Jackson to Hezbollah: Show proof soldiers are alive
U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson on Monday met with Hezbollah officials in Lebanon and called on them to show proof that the two captured Israeli soldiers are still alive.

Jackson's talks coincided with a report in an Egyptian newspaper that Hezbollah refuses to open negotiations on prisoner exchange as long as Israel blockades Lebanon and Israeli soldiers remain in south Lebanon. According to the Monday report in the the Egyptian state-sponsored newspaper Al Hayat, Lebanese sources said that Hezbollah's position was presented to German spy chief Ernest Urlau during his visit to Beirut over the weekend.

Jackson said that if Hezbollah showed proof the soldiers were alive, the move could jump-start negotiations that might lead to the soldiers' release. He said there were indications the two soldiers captured July 12 were alive, but said their continued detention is "becoming a magnet to attract a second round" of war....Jackson has been in the Middle East for a week and half as head of a 10-member ecumenical delegation representing Jewish, Muslim, Roman Catholic and Protestant groups. His mission to gain the soldiers' release has taken him to Israel and Syria, and to Lebanon twice.

Jackson declined to name the Hezbollah officials he met with, but said he was hoping for a response later Monday to his call to prove the soldiers are alive, possibly with video evidence.

"My impression is if Hezbollah shows a sign of life or shows the soldiers, that it will trigger a response," Jackson told said on the terrace of a hotel overlooking Beirut's skyline. "They ought to show signs of life, and video evidence, because it would jump-start a framework to start talks."...

[bemildred]

3. Israel: Annan's help not needed in prisoner swap

Israel has asked UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to assist in securing the release of two Israeli soldiers seized by Hezbollah, and not to mediate negotiations to free them, officials said on Monday.

Annan said on Monday he would appoint a secret envoy to work for the release of the soldiers.

"A mediator is not needed," a government official said. "The UN resolution determines that the soldiers will be released unconditionally. The UN Secretary-General will assist and not mediate."

Annan on Monday said that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to begin negotiations moderated by the UN on a prisoner exchange that would see the release of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers abducted in July.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/758579.html

[IndianaGreen]

4. Does Israel want the IDF soldiers released or...

are they more important as a pretext for war?

[bemildred]

5. You got me.

I think it's embarassing to be negotiating after all the blather during the war, but I have no idea what comes next. The one thing that seems indicative to me is that they are asshole deep in debt, and more war won't help that at all, so I'm hopeful that in the end there will be negotiations, and perhaps some prisoners will get to go home and some issues will be settled. But there are no guarantees with these fools.

[breakaleg]

6. Good question. They went to war to free these soldiers and now it

looks like they don't want to negotiate to have them freed for fear they will seem weak. Kind of puts to question how much those soldiers had to do with the start of the war at all.