Tuesday October 16, 2007

I've Been Thinking:

It was a 3 for 1 deal.
That was the trade.
Two dead Lebanese Hezbollah bodies and one live Hezbollah prisoner for one dead Israeli body.

Yesterday Hezbollah and Israel completed a transfer.
The Lebanese had been killed this past summer in the war between Hezbollah and Israel. The Israeli was a civilian who had drowned in 2005. The current carried the body north where it was scooped up by Hezbollah.

The significance of this deal is enormous.
It is a dry run for Goldwasser and Regev, Israeli soldiers kidnapped last summer. If Lebanon and Israel could agree on this deal it means they can move ahead and agree on the exchange of the two most recent abductees.
Hezbollah has been known to be very difficult and to drive a very hard bargain in negotiations. Everything must be handled through third party negotiators - Israel does not negotiate with Hezbollah directly.

The success of this trade should be seen as a hopeful first step toward achieving even more difficult objectives.
This was a real time trial run.
This was proof that both parties are willing to put out in order to get back that which is important to them.

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