Israeli cabinet approves prisoner swap

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has won cabinet approval for the swapping of prisoners with Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.

Army reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev held by the organisation since July 2006, and believed to be dead, will be handed back.

Additionally, five Lebanese gunmen will be released and at a later stage, an unknown number of Palestinian prisoners will walk free.

Dozens of bodies of slain infiltrators and the remains of eight Hezbollah men killed in the 2006 war will also be handed over in the deal.

The ambush of the two Israeli soldiers riggered a month-long war in Lebanon and Mr Olmert ruled out talks on their return.

Following dialogue through a UN-appointed German mediator, he relented, and Israeli ministers earlier voted 22-3 to approve the deal.

Topping the list of those to be released by Israel is Samir Qantar, who is serving a life sentence for a 1979 raid on the northern Israeli coastal town of Nahariya.

He was convicted after testimony he shot dead an unarmed Israeli man and killed his four-year-old daughter by crushing her skull.

His family says the two probably died in crossfire during the infiltration from the sea.

Mr Olmert had described him as the last "bargaining chip" for word on the fate of Israeli air force navigator Ron Arad who disappeared into captivity after bailing out during a 1986 bombing run in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has denied having knowledge on his whereabouts. Clemency for Qantar would be seen as an Israeli admission that the airman's trail has gone cold.

Israel also promised, as part of the exchange deal, to provide information to the United Nations about four Iranian diplomats who went missing in Beirut during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the statement said.

In Beirut, a Lebanese political source said the deal could take place "within a few days".

The war in Lebanon, which ended under an August 14, 2006, truce, killed more than 1,200 people in the country and 157 Israelis.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.