(21 Jul 1996) German/Nat
German mediators on Sunday flew out the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon, setting in motion the biggest swap of bodies and prisoners between Israel and Hezbollah in 14 years.
Almost simultaneously, the International Committee of the Red Cross despatched a bus and 18 six-wheel trucks to collect 45 Hezbollah prisoners and at least 141 guerrilla bodies from an Israeli-held south Lebanon enclave.
It was a historic moment.
The International Red Cross van contains the exhumed remains of Israeli soldiers Rahamim Alsheikh and American-born Yosef Fink.
The two were captured in an ambush by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas in the Israeli-held south Lebanon enclave in 1986 and later died in captivity.
German mediators, led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl's top intelligence adviser, Bernd Schmidbauer mediated the swap in three months of secret talks.
It is the biggest since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
Members of the International Red Cross and Hezbollah members signed for the bodies at a suburb in near the capital, Beirut.
Swiss I-C-R-C delegates also delivered 17 S-L-A (South Lebanon Army) prisoners released by Hezbollah, or Party of God.
There were emotional scenes as the prisoners met with their loved ones.
The S-L-A command will then release 23 other Shiite Muslim prisoners from Khiam.
The coffins of the Israeli soldiers were brought to Beirut airport in a white I-C-R-C ambulance and loaded onto the green German air force plane.
The German mediator gave the details of the swap.
SOUNDBITE: (German)
"While we are here in Beirut airport taking the two Israeli remains at the same time, at the Kfar Tibnit crossing, Swiss ICRC delegates would deliver 17 SLA prisoners released by Hezbollah, Israeli-allied South Lebanon Army militia will free a first batch of 22 Hezbollah prisoners from the nearby Khiam prison."
SUPER CAPTION: Bernd Schmidbauer, German mediator
Schmidbauer boarded the plane with the bodies which will stop at Larnaca, Cyprus, on its way to an air force base in central Israel.
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