IRAN TALKS FAIL

Gunbattle at Palestinian camp in Lebanon kills two JULY 19,08

EIN AL-HILWEH, Lebanon (Reuters) - Two people were killed on Saturday in a gunbattle between members of the Fatah faction and Sunni Islamist militants at a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon, camp officials said. One man was shot while trying to intervene to halt the clash at Ein al-Hilweh camp between Fatah and Jund al-Sham, a small al Qaeda-inspired Islamist group. The second dead man was a member of the group.Another Jund al-Sham fighter was seriously wounded in the fighting at the camp, which is near the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon.Sunni Islamist groups have substantial influence in the camp, which is off limits to Lebanese security forces.(Writing by Tom Perry in Beirut, editing by Mary Gabriel)

IRAN TALKS FAIL
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8890085&ch=4226714&src=news

Iran nuclear talks stall — even with US at table By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer JULY 19,08

GENEVA - A U.S. decision to bend policy and sit down with Iran at nuclear talks fizzled Saturday, with Iran stonewalling Washington and five other world powers on their call to freeze uranium enrichment. In response, the six gave Iran two weeks to respond to their demand, setting the stage for a new round of U.N. sanctions.

Officials and diplomats refused to characterize the timeframe as an ultimatum, but it appeared clear that Iran now has a de-facto deadline to show flexibility.EU envoy Javier Solana said that Iran still has to answer a request made on behalf of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany to refrain from any new nuclear activity.We have not gotten all the answers to the questions, Solana told reporters. He said the two-week timeframe was meant to give Iran the space to come up with the answers that will allow us to continue.He said the contact might be on the phone, or through aides, reflecting the lack of success of Saturday's highest-level discussions.A Western diplomat familiar with the substance of the talks was blunter.Unless Iran shows some flexibility on suspension, he said, the six powers will look to strengthen measures in the U.N. and the European Union — shorthand for economic and political sanctions. He demanded anonymity because his information on the outcome of the closed meeting was confidential, along with the planned response if Iran remains defiant.Chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili evaded the issue of suspension, demanded as part of the six-power proposal that carries a commitment of no new U.N. sanctions in exchange for an Iranian pledge to stop expanding its enrichment program.Instead he spoke in generalities about the need for cooperation that reflected Iran's reluctance to focus on the six-power offer.Iran is calling on the Western powers to resume the dialogue, he said.Iran already is under three sets of U.N. sanctions for its refusal to suspend enrichment, which can generate both nuclear fuel and the fissile material at the core of nuclear warheads. While Tehran says it has a right to enrich for peaceful purposes, the sanctions reflect international concern that it might use its program to make weapons.

The offer delivered to Iranian officials last month by Solana envisions a six-week commitment from Iran to stop expanding enrichment and from their interlocutors to agree to a moratorium on new sanctions for up to six weeks.That is meant to create the framework for formal negotiations which the six nations hope would secure Iran's commitment to an indefinite ban on enrichment.Iran's apparent stonewalling was an indirect affront to the U.S., which had sent Undersecretary of State William Burns to the talks in hopes the first-time American presence would encourage concessions.

Recent Iranian statements had suggested the country is looking to improve ties with the United States, with officials speaking positively of deliberations by the Bush administration to open an interests section — an informal diplomatic presence — in Tehran after closing its embassy decades ago.Burns' decision to attend the Geneva talks showed that Washington was willing to accept something less than fully dismantling the program as it had always demanded — at least as a first step.U.S officials had insisted Burns was at the table to listen only, describing his presence as a one-time occasion. But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said otherwise. Burns delivered a clear simple message when it was his turn to speak, McCormack told reporters in Washington. He cited Burns as telling the his Tehran counterpart: Iran must suspend uranium enrichment to have negotiations involving the United States.
Iran needed now to make a choice between cooperation, which would bring benefits to all, and confrontation, which can only led to further isolation, McCormack said. Iran and the United States broke off diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Official contacts between the two countries are extremely rare. Keyvan Imani, a member of the Iranian delegation, said Tehran had not yet received a proposal from the U.S. on a representation but would study it positively if it did. He downplayed the presence of Burns — even though the Americans had previously said they would not talk with the Iranians on nuclear issues unless Tehran was ready to stop all enrichment activity. He is (just) a member of the delegation of the six countries engaging Iran on the nuclear issue, Imani said. He also cast doubt over the value of talks less then an hour after they started. Suspension — there is no chance for that, he told reporters gathered in the courtyard of Geneva's ornate City Hall, the venue of the negotiations. Associated Press Writer Bradley S. Klapper contributed to this report from Geneva.

Powers wield sanction threat after Iran stalemate By Mark John and Parisa Hafezi JULY 19,08

GENEVA (Reuters) - Major powers gave Iran two weeks to answer calls to rein in its nuclear programme on Saturday or face tougher sanctions after talks ended in stalemate despite unprecedented U.S. participation. A U.S. State Department spokesman said Washington hoped Iran now understood that it had a choice between cooperation and confrontation, which can only lead to further isolation.But prospects of ending a row that has triggered regional tensions and rattled oil markets looked dim as Iran's top nuclear negotiator insisted Tehran would not even discuss a demand to freeze uranium enrichment at the next meeting.We still didn't get the answer we were looking for, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after some six hours of talks in Geneva with Iran's Saeed Jalili and envoys from the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain -- the so-called sextet of world powers.Solana said he hoped for a clear answer from Tehran in around two weeks to a month-old sextet offer of trade and technical incentives to halt enrichment.Asked whether Tehran would otherwise face a new round of the U.N. Security Council sanctions that analysts say are already beginning to bite on its economy, he told a news conference:The Iranians know very well what will continue to happen if nothing happens otherwise.Diplomats said the presence of senior U.S. envoy William Burns at the talks underlined the unity of major powers in the dispute, and stressed that patience was running out with Iran.

There is nothing more to talk about. The Iranians are running the risk of foreclosing their options, said one diplomat in Gevena, warning they risked going down the path which means further measures in the EU and the U.N.Solana said he hoped for more contacts with Iran telephonically or physically, but officials made clear that any subsequent contacts would be at a lower level than Saturday's talks.

COOPERATION OR CONFRONTATION

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: We hope the Iranian people understand that their leaders need to make a choice between cooperation, which would bring benefits to all, and confrontation, which can only lead to further isolation.The U.N. has imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran in a stand-off that goes back to the revelation in 2002 by an exiled opposition group of the existence of a uranium enrichment facility and heavy water plant in the country.Those political and economic sanctions already target the country's banks and include visa bans on officials and measures against companies seen as linked to the nuclear programme.Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, rejects suspicions that it wants the atom bomb and says its nuclear programme is intended to generate electricity.Asked by Reuters if Tehran would consider a demand to suspend enrichment as a precondition for full negotiations on its nuclear programme, Saeed Jalili said: We will only discuss common points of the package.In a bid to kickstart those negotiations, world powers have also proposed that Tehran first freeze expansion of its nuclear programme in return for the U.N. Security Council halting further sanctions measures.But a senior Iranian diplomat ruled that out too. Of course we will not discuss the freeze-for-freeze topic in the next meeting with Solana ... The freeze-for-freeze issue cannot be accepted because this (enrichment) is our right and we will never abandon our nuclear right. The high-level U.S. participation in the meeting, together with Iranian comments playing down the likelihood of an attack by the United States or Israel, had earlier in the week raised hopes of progress and helped lower oil prices from record highs. Yet that optimism was tempered even before the meeting as both the United States and Iran insisted their policy would not change. (Reporting by Mark John, editing by Tim Pearce)

Israel didn't know of cluster bomb use Sat Jul 19, 7:11 AM ET

JERUSALEM - A former Israeli defense official says the Israeli military used cluster bombs for two weeks during the 2006 Lebanon war without telling the Israeli government. Hagai Alon, an adviser to then-Defense Minister Amir Peretz, says the government only learned of the cluster bomb use when European countries raised the issue after the war.Alon spoke on Israel Radio on Saturday.The military said in response that it updated the government on all issues throughout the war.Cluster bombs open in flight and scatter dozens of bomblets over wide areas. U.N. experts say that of millions dropped over Lebanon, up to 1 million failed to explode.

An Israeli war inquiry had raised questions about the army's use of the weapons, noting a lack of operational discipline, oversight and control.

Israeli troops kill Syrian drugs smuggler: army Sat Jul 19, 4:19 AM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed a drugs smuggler from Syria and wounded another on Saturday as they crossed a fence into territory controlled by Israel on the occupied Golan Heights, the Israeli army said. An army spokesman said troops on routine patrol along the heavily fortified fence in the northern part of the Golan Heights spotted four men in the area and opened fire at them, they later found large quantities of drugs at the scene.A routine joint army and police patrol working in the area to prevent smuggling spotted a group of men and opened fire at them ... one of the suspects was killed and another was wounded. Two others were apprehended shortly afterwards, the spokesman said.He added that the two men who had been hit were Syrian nationals and that the body of the dead man and the wounded, who was being treated in hospital, were taken to Israel. He said the two other men were Israeli nationals.The army considers any approach towards the border from Syria as a threat against the state and its citizens, the spokesman added.The border between Syria and areas controlled by Israel is relatively quiet and violent incidents are rare.

Israel and Syria recently restarted indirect peace talks brokered by Turkey which centre on the future of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau which overlooks northern Israel that the Jewish state captured in the 1967 Middle East war.(Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Dominic Evans)

Obama to meet with leaders in Mideast, Europe By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent Fri Jul 18, 6:11 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama intends to sit down with European leaders as well as King Abdullah of Jordan, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as part of a campaign-season trip that aides described Friday as substantive rather than political. The Illinois senator also is slated to meet with opposition leaders in Israel and Britain.Officials have yet to provide precise dates for the trip, and have confirmed few details about the itinerary, citing security details. On a conference call with reporters, they said they were not yet ready to disclose where in Berlin Obama will speak when he delivers an address on U.S.-European relations.The trip is not at all a campaign trip, a rally of any sort, said spokesman Robert Gibbs. He said Obama would hold a series of substantive meetings with our friends and our allies to talk about the common challenges that we face and the national security dangers for the 21st century.Denis McDonough, a senior foreign policy adviser, said Obama would meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Germany, President Nicolas Sarkozy in France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as Conservative Party Leader David Cameron in Britain.

In Israel, he said, Obama will meet with Olmert as well as President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He also will talk with Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party.Palestinian leaders have said Obama will visit the West Bank for his talks with Abbas, but campaign aides declined to confirm a location. In addition to Abbas, they said he will meet with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.Obama intends to travel aboard a jet chartered by his presidential campaign. His trip has drawn intense media interest in the United States as well as overseas, where officials are anticipating the end of President Bush's tenure in January.Republicans have cast Obama's trip as political stagecraft rather than a substantive trip.And while his own aides insist politics is not involved, Democrats sharply criticized Republican rival John McCain this spring when he flew to Canada aboard his campaign jet for a brief trip that he described as non-political. While in Ottawa, McCain implicitly criticized Obama as part of a speech defending the North American Free Trade Agreement.The issue of a location for a speech in Germany has proven nettlesome for Obama. German media reported several days ago his aides were hoping to arrange for a speech at the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of the Cold War and the spot where former President Reagan delivered a memorable speech.Merkel let it be known she had other ideas, and Obama's campaign has sought to minimize any controversy.We're looking at a variety of locations in Germany and we'll pick one that we believe meets our needs and also the needs of our German hosts, McDonough said.In addition to his trip to the Middle East and Europe, Obama has also said he intends to visit Iraq and Afghanistan this summer.

Prisoner swap gives Hezbollah domestic kudos: analysts by Rima Abushakra Fri Jul 18, 3:32 PM ET

BEIRUT (AFP) - As Hezbollah boasted of victory in this week's prisoner swap with Israel, analysts said that the exchange gave the Shiite group increased political leverage at home. On Wednesday Israel handed over its last five Lebanese prisoners, including convicted murderer Samir Kantar, and the bodies of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters.In exchange Hezbollah returned the bodies of Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who were captured on July 12, 2006, sparking a devastating 34-day war.This doesn't change anything in the equation of Hezbollah and Israel, said Timur Goksel, former spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).It just closes one subject, but there are still other issues. I don't expect peace to break out.Tens of thousands of people attended celebrations on Wednesday after the swap, including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah making a rare live appearance.In Israel the picture was one of sadness.

Israel came out of it looking like the humanitarian country, receiving bodies in mourning and playing the victim, while the other side looked like the aggressors, celebrating death, said Nadim Shehadi, a Lebanon expert at Chatham House in London.This image is far from reality where Lebanon was the victim of Israeli brutality in 2006 and Israel was the aggressor.The 2006 war killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.Israelis were particularly appalled by the welcome for Kantar, who had been serving five life terms for a 1979 triple murder viewed as one of the most brutal attacks in the country's history.The joy that was expressed in Lebanon was mostly psychological and wasn't about one man, Goksel said, however.They don't think very much about the content of the exchange, but the fact that Hezbollah was able to impose its own demands on the Israelis and get away with it. It made people say Hey -- we won something for a change.Kantar belonged to a secular Palestinian faction and was jailed four years before Hezbollah was even formed. He was the longest-serving Arab prisoner in Israel.His release was a major feat for Hezbollah... It is precisely that he is Druze and not a Hezbollah fighter that his release has added value aside from the symbolism of it all, said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, author of Hezbollah: Politics and Religion.The fact that Hezbollah fought so hard for a prisoner that was not one of their own, who belonged to a secular group... is healing the wounds of the May clashes" this year, she said.Fierce sectarian fighting killed 65 people in May after the Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, took over large swathes of predominantly Sunni west Beirut.The fighting led to an accord being signed in Qatar that saw the election of Michel Sleiman as president after a six-month vacuum and the later formation of a national unity government. Sleiman joined usually divided political leaders including Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, parliament speaker Nabih Berri and the entire cabinet in presenting a united front to greet the returning prisoners at Beirut airport. The swap burnishes its (Hezbollah's) national credentials, especially since it was able to unify the Lebanese, even on a very cosmetic level, Saad-Ghorayeb said.

Hezbollah was able to impose that unity... There was no Lebanese politician that could have possibly not greeted the prisoners. It was because it was Kantar that they all had to show up.Hezbollah's arsenal, which it maintains is necessary to resist Israel, caused great controversy after the May clashes. The swap puts us one small step closer to an extended period in which there will be discussion of Hezbollah's arms, said Paul Salem, head of the Carnegie Middle East Centre. The discussion will be about the relationship between the armed resistance and the state and not about disarmament.

Nasrallah said on Wednesday that he was open to dialogue on all issues, including Hezbollah weaponry. Saad-Ghorayeb sees this as evidence that Hezbollah is at the peak of its power.Now more than ever, Hezbollah feels vindicated regarding its arms, the use of force and the logic of force and resistance, she said. It will be very hard for the other side to persuade the Lebanese or at least the opposition that there is an alternative more effective than resistance in defending Lebanon.

Olmert lawyers say key US witness's claims debunked by Albion Land Fri Jul 18, 11:24 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's lawyers said on Friday they have discredited claims by a US businessman that he gave Olmert thousands of dollars in cash to finance election campaigns and an expensive lifestyle. The Jerusalem court had earlier rejected a request by a visibly tired and seemingly exasperated Morris Talansky, 75, to cut short his five-day cross-examination by Olmert's legal team.I simply don't have the energy... to stay more than Sunday. My wife, my life and business is absolutely in shambles because of this. This has just worn me out... I can't do it any more, he pleaded on day two of the questioning.In a case that could bring about Olmert's downfall, the American testified in May that he had given Olmert some 150,000 dollars during the 13 years before he became premier in 2006, much of it stuffed into envelopes.Talansky described Olmert as someone with a taste for first-class hotels and luxury items.Olmert acknowledges having received campaign funds from Talansky, but has denied any wrongdoing.

Lawyer Eli Zohar focused on Talansky's claim in May that he had handed Olmert cash and cheques in envelopes, after the US businessman told the court on Friday that he had given Olmert only cash.After Zohar accused him of lying several times, Talansky admitted sometimes contradicting himself but insisted that the general picture was true.All the horrible impressions that were created from this case I think, I suspect... are dispelled and damaged, Zohar said. His (Talansky's) entire version, in terms of his reliability, has fallen today.Navot Tel-Zur, also representing Olmert, said that the heart of the version about ongoing raising of contributions over years in cash, has collapsed.What has been revealed today, as soon as the documents were shown that the same witness raised funds for all the campaigns in cheques and even when the money was given in cash, it was recorded, Tel-Zur said.

Talansky's lawyer Jackie Chen said after the hearing that despite the discrepencies, Talansky's version stood firm over the basic facts.Is the heart of his testimony correct? Did he come and tell a true story about the contributions and the support over the years? Yes of course, Chen told reporters.State prosecutor Moshe Lador criticised the Olmert team for pressing Talansky on financial dealings that had nothing to do with the premier.These included various personal loans that he had made and an unsuccessful attempt to get the court to order that he turn over notes related to them.

A new probe emerged last week over whether Olmert illegally billed multiple private organisations and the state for the same airline tickets when he was Jerusalem mayor and trade minister.On a third front, there are allegations Olmert received a hefty discount in buying a Jerusalem apartment in exchange for using his influence to get a developer permission to build on a historic site.Olmert has denied all the allegations against him. Talansky's court appearance brought threats from Olmert's key coalition partner, the Labour party, to quit government if the premier did not step down. Without Labour, the coalition would not have the required 61 seats for a majority in the 120-member parliament. But neither Olmert's Kadima party nor Labour wants early elections because both are trailing the right-wing opposition Likud party in opinion polls. Olmert was able to save the coalition last month by cutting a deal to hold a party leadership poll in mid-September. Outside Israel, many fear Olmert's deepening political troubles could scupper slow-moving Middle East peace talks relaunched in November and aimed at resolving the decades-old conflict by the end of the year.

Blair: Cease-fire should pave way to Mideast peace Fri Jul 18, 11:15AM ET

OSLO, Norway - Mideast envoy Tony Blair is urging the Israelis and Palestinians to use the cease-fire that took effect June 19 as an opportunity to try to reach a peace agreement. The former British prime minister says a two-state solution is the only way to solve the conflict.During a visit to Norway on Friday, Blair also reiterated his calls for a new plan to provide humanitarian help to people in Gaza.Earlier this week Blair called off a planned visit to Hamas-ruled Gaza after Israel's Shin Bet security service warned he might come under attack there.Blair said Friday he wanted to go to Gaza to tell people there that you are not alone.

In Israel, a nation mourns with the families of slain soldiers By Ilene R. Prusher Fri Jul 18, 4:00 AM ET

Nahariya, Israel - For Israelis, their Second Lebanon War, fought in summer 2006, came to a close only on Thursday, when the two soldiers whose capture became the cause for launching the conflict were laid to rest before their families and the eyes of a solemn nation. But even in their return – which transpired a day earlier as part of a swap with Hezbollah, who traded the men's bodies for the remains of some 200 Lebanese plus five Lebanese prisoners – there is still unease about the lopsided trade-off and questions about balancing the interests of affected families against those of the state.Under a sweltering July sky at the Nahariya military cemetery, which overlooks the same Mediterranean that hugs the Beirut coastline where Hezbollah continued victory celebrations Thursday, many family members and friends who eulogized Udi – Ehud Goldwasser – seemed to want to shift the sentiment that Israel had somehow lost to Hezbollah.I stand at attention before you with my eyes lifted toward my people with the request: Stand tall, lift your heads in national pride, mother Miki Goldwasser said at her son's graveside.They say because of you, a war broke out. I hope we can see this war as a victory. Through this, we have discovered that we are a strong people. We have discovered bereaved families with an undefeatable, powerful spirit. We have discovered kindness.

The most powerful words to the gathering of a few thousand came from widow Karnit Goldwasser, who has been the spokeswoman of an international campaign to release her husband and Eldad Regev, then believed to be alive. They say time heals all wounds, she said. But is this really so? Two years have passed since that debilitating moment that cut through our life's thread, the moment in which the worst scenario became a threatening reality that forced us to dive into a dark and convoluted world. I believed and hoped that the moment would come where I would wake up and say it was all just a bad dream.But Israelis have been waking up to find that many of their goals have gone unrealized. The prisoner exchange has Israel feeling like it was played. Some wondered why Israel agreed to the swap, if Hezbollah wasn't straight with Israel about whether the two were alive and whether they had information about Ron Arad, who was captured in Lebanon in 1986 and is considered missing in action.

Groundswell of public pressure
Part of the answer, analysts say, is that the families succeeded in creating a groundswell of public pressure to bring their sons home, dead or alive, even at the cost of releasing Lebanon's Samir Kuntar, convicted of killing four Israelis in a 1979 raid here.What we witnessed in the last two years and more is that the families of those soldiers and the involvement of the Israeli media and public opinion is very strong in affecting the decisionmakers, says Yitzhak Reiter, a professor of political science and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.It affects the ability to negotiate on a fair bargain, he says. This is something that Israel should handle differently. Perhaps the government in the near future will make an official decision that dead bodies will be exchanged only for dead bodies, and live soldiers for live soldiers.If the other side doesn't give you complete information about your soldiers, such as whether they are dead or alive, then you just don't do it. The government could put this criteria in place, and then if a situation occurs in the future, the enemy knows our principles and won't expect otherwise, Mr. Reiter says.

Israel's principle is that it is immoral to leave any soldier or citizen on foreign soil. It has, as a result, sometimes traded hundreds of prisoners for the release of one man. This ethos has come under some criticism in recent days. But Defense Minister Ehud Barak, speaking at Goldwasser's funeral, defended it vehemently.We were prepared to pay a high price, even higher than what seemed logical, in order to see our sons sent home, Mr. Barak said. If any of you, God forbid, should be captured, or should anything worse happen in the fight against the terror, Israel, its government, and the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will do everything just and possible to bring you home.But Aviva Cavaille, a young woman who came to the funeral, said most Israelis could not understand how their government had agreed to a swap that didn't include Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Hamas more than two years ago while on duty close to the Gaza Strip.From the ethical point of view, it's not acceptable that we got the bodies of two men, and for that we released a murderer who is alive and celebrating in Lebanon, says Ms. Cavaille. It creates a greater danger for kidnappings in the future. It shows the weakness of our leadership.

Family persistence
At the same time, many others give Karnit Goldwasser credit for keeping the case of the abducted soldiers on the agenda, traveling globally and trying to force leaders to push for progress on an issue that could have easily have disappeared from the headlines. Among the partners in this were leaders in the American Jewish community, who had made dog tags with the names of the soldiers on them and asked people to wear them in solidarity.Karnit singlehandedly raised this level of awareness through her own public presence, and I think that's what got us to this point, says Lori Klinghoffer, the chairwoman of National Women's Philanthropy in the United Jewish Communities, a US umbrella group. There have been other missing soldiers, and they usually stay in the news for a week or two.Some Israelis bristled at the public's questioning over the way the swap tallied up. Columnis Yair Lapid wrote in the Yediot Ahronoth newspaper that even in Israel's hyperactive democracy people should occasionally assume that the right decision was made. The deal that ended yesterday wasn't good or bad, only necessary. Anyone who thinks there were other options, deludes himself, Mr. Lapid wrote. While it's true that Hezbollah is more calculated in its attitude toward the fate of its people, who would want to be Hezbollah today? The clamorous debate over the question of Did we get a good price or not, should be kept for buying cars.

Israel buries soldiers recovered in prisoner swap by Michael Blum Thu Jul 17, 1:45 PM ET

HAIFA, Israel (AFP) - Two Israeli soldiers whose bodies were returned home two years after being killed by Hezbollah guerillas in an ambush that unleashed a vicious war in Lebanon were laid to rest Thursday in emotionally charged military funerals. President Shimon Peres also paid a condolence visit to the families of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose remains were handed over in an exchange that saw four Hezbollah fighters freed along with Lebanese killer Samir Kantar and the bodies of some 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters.The exchange had an ethical aspect with a price to pay, he said.It will not be easy to release terrorists who have blood on their hands, but that has already been done, said Peres, in a clear allusion to Kantar, who had been sentenced to five life terms for a 1979 triple murder in one of the most notorious attacks in Israeli history.The seizure of Goldwasser and Regev in a July 12, 2006 cross-border raid sparked a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon in which Israel failed in one of its key objectives, to recover the soldiers.And the swap raised concerns in Israel that it was paying too high a price for the return of the slain soldiers, with some warning it would only embolden the Jewish state's regional enemies.Thousands of people gathered for Goldwasser's funeral at the cemetery in his northern coastal hometown of Nahariya, including his widow Karnit, his parents, friends and senior politicians.His coffin, draped in the blue and white Israeli flag, was carried to the graveside by his comrades from the elite Golani infantry brigade, as Karnit followed and a military rabbi read from the psalms.Among the mourners was Defence Minister and former army chief Ehud Barak.

We wanted to welcome you again with your comrade Eldad (Regev), he said. We wanted to embrace you and see you smile. But it is our tears that accompany you today, and our heart is heavy.He renewed a commitment that Israel would do everything humanly possible to bring home any soldier who falls into the hands of the enemy.Until their coffins were brought to the border for exchange on Wednesday, the Lebanese militant group never revealed whether they were alive or dead.But press reports said the army now believed they were both killed in the ambush in which they were taken from their burning Humvee, or that one may have died shortly afterwards.The Jerusalem Post quoted officials as saying they both died in the ambush. Goldwasser suffered a lethal wound to the chest from a rocket-propelled grenade.Regev appeared to have been shot in the head, perhaps as he attempted to escape the burning vehicle.Haaretz said the two were killed during the ambush, or died shortly afterwards. It said Goldwasser took most of the impact from the RPG, and that Regev was probably also hit, before being shot at close range when the attackers reached the vehicle.Yediot Aharonot said forensic pathologists had difficulty reaching their conclusions because the bodies had not been refrigerated.Regev, 27, was buried in an afternoon service at Haifa cemetery with his parents and family looking on among several hundred mourners, who included Barak and the Shalit family. Regev's father, Tsvi, and his brothers joined together to recite the kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.

There followed tributes from his brothers and comrades, as well as from Barak. Brother Ofer Regev spoke of his pride in a country that fought to bring him home, to count himself among those who love rather than hate, pride in his army and in you Eldad, my little brother, a true patriot. Rest in peace, Eldad. You are home.

Triumphal cortege in Lebanon for fighters handed over by Israel Thu Jul 17, 3:51 AM ET

NAQURA, Lebanon (AFP) - The remains of some 200 Arab fighters handed over by Israel in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah were carried to the Lebanese capital on Thursday in a triumphal cortege.

Residents of this town on the Israeli border threw rose petals and rice and some cheered as the makeshift hearses carrying the bodies of the Lebanese and Palestinian fighters passed on its journey to Beirut.The remains were handed over by Israel on Wednesday along with five Lebanese prisoners, four of them Hezbollah fighters, in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers captured by the Shiite militant group two years ago.Funerals were being held for the two soldiers in Israel on Thursday.