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| Israel Releases 400 Palestinian Prisoners |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 02/02/2004 |
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Israel released more than 400 prisoners last Thursday in a long-awaited swap with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah in exchange for the return of an Israeli businessman and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers. The German-brokered exchange was completed despite a suicide bombing earlier on a bus in Jerusalem that killed at least 10 bystanders and wounded about 50 in the deadliest attack on Israel in four months. The blast occurred near Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's official residence, but he was not in the area at the time. "We are releasing another 400 Palestinians with a very heavy heart, because we know that these 400 will return very quickly to the cycle of violence," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled said in Jerusalem. The release of the 400 Palestinians at checkpoints into the West Bank and Gaza Strip was the first stage of the swap. Jubilant relatives greeted the freed Palestinian prisoners at checkpoints into the West Bank and Gaza Strip with cheers of thanks to Hezbollah, Israel's arch enemy. Crowds waved Hezbollah flags. The final stage of the swap took place in Germany, under tight security at Cologne's Wahn military airport, with the departure of a German air force carrying prisoners released from an Israeli jail to Lebanon, including Shiite cleric Abdel Karim Obeid and Lebanese guerrilla leader Mustafa Dirani. Minutes later, an Israeli jet departed with Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of the three soldiers. |
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