Israel Prisons Service on Monday transferred four Hezbollah inmates from a prison in the south to Hadarim Prison near Netanya, where another Lebanese prisoner was held, as part of the final preparations ahead of the swap deal.
The group of five prisoners will stay in the prison until the kidnapped Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are transferred to Israeli custody, according to the website of local daily Jerusalem Post.
The prisoner swap will take place at the Rosh Hanikra Lebanon- Israel border crossing. In the framework of the deal, Israel will also return the remains of some 200 others in exchange for the two kidnapped soldiers, who are believed dead.
The swap deal was approved by the government in principle about two weeks ago, under the condition that Hezbollah submits a report on the fate of missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad.
The Israel Prison Service on Sunday published a list containing the names of the Lebanese prisoners currently behind bars in Israel, including Khader Zidan, Maher Qurani, Mahmad Srour, and Hussein Sleiman, all captured during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, as well as Samir Kuntar the Lebanese killer serving a life sentence in Hadarim Prison.
Kuntar was sentenced to life plus 40 years in prison for murdering three family members and a police officer in the Israeli city of Nahariya in 1979.
(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2008)
