(24 Jun 1998) Arabic/Nat

The Red Cross is trying to broker the latest body-and-prisoner swap by Israel and Lebanese militias.

Israel is reportedly ready to free up to 60 prisoners and hand over up to 60 bodies in exchange for the remains of a single Israeli commando.

The lopsided numbers show the lengths to which Israel is willing to go to bring home its war dead, a reflection of a battlefield ethic that is ingrained in the national character.

Many families are hoping that their missing sons will be returned to them in the latest deal to swap the shredded remains of an Israeli soldier for 60 prisoners and 60 bodies.

Khadigeh Shehadeh is a Shi-ite housewife living in the border town of Kfar-Tibnee in Lebanon.

She has not seen her son since he joined the resistance movement against Israel.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)
"He was long depressed after Israeli troops demolished our house and rendered us all
homeless. So he had to join the resistance until he was captured..I don't know whether he is alive or dead."
SUPER CAPTION: Khadigeh Shehadeh, a Shi-ite housewife

Her dearest wish is for her son to be returned to her, dead or alive.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)
"I will be very happy if he is among the returning prisoners and I will equally happy is his
body is returned as a martyr."
SUPER CAPTION: Khadigeh Shehadeh, a Shi-ite housewife

She spends great parts of each day praying to Allah to deliver her son from Israel.

The events expected to be playing themselves out this week were set in motion on 5 September 1997, when an elite Israeli commando unit stumbled into an ambush on a night raid in southern Lebanon.

Twelve Israelis, including 21-year-old Sergeant 1st Class Itamar Ilya, were killed by gunfire and bomb blasts.

The retreating Israelis managed to take most of their dead with them - but not all.

Israeli military helicopters retrieved the bodies of the other killed Israelis from the scene
but could not pick Ilya's remains.

Hours later, guerrillas from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement triumphantly displayed grisly trophies from the clash: body parts - including legs and hands and a head.

Ever since, Israel has been seeking the return of Ilya's remains, negotiating with Hezbollah through the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In recent days, Israeli and Lebanese media reports suggested a swap was imminent, but on Tuesday, things took a grim new turn.

The Shi-ite Muslim group Amal - a bitter rival of Hezbollah, which was also involved in the September clash and claims to hold Ilya's scalp - said it would not participate in the swap.

The Israeli army declined to comment, but it was thought highly unlikely that the government would accept anything less than the entire set of remains that had been recovered.

The Red Cross, citing confidentiality and the sensitive stage of efforts to reach an agreement, declined to comment.

Although Prime Minister Rafik Hariri says the final date and mechanism of the swap would be set on Wednesday, local media accounts suggested the exchange will be
carried out by air and overland no later than Friday.

A French plane will take the remains of Ilya to Tel Aviv via Cyprus.

Another French aircraft will bring the remains of 40 guerrillas killed in attacks on an enclave Israel occupies in south Lebanon to Beirut airport.

The 60 freed prisoners would be driven overland through the Ffar Falous crossing that links the occupied enclave to the rest of Lebanon.


The body of his elder son, Hadi, 18, who was killed in the occupied enclave last December, is to be among the dead returnees.





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