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Israeli PM: Syria Key to Returning Seized Soldiers
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday that Syria is the key to stopping the violence on the Lebanese-Israeli border and returning the three Israeli soldiers captured by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
Speaking at a press conference in the north, Barak said Israel will do everything possible to get the kidnapped soldiers back.
"We consider the governments of Syria and Lebanon as responsible for returning the MIAs (missings in action) home," said the prime minister after meeting the commanders in the north.
"It has ultimate responsibility for preventing incidents with Israel even though Hezbollah was responsible for the abduction of the three soldiers," he said.
He said Israel is busy setting up a much more effective fence along the northern frontier, which was left unfinished following the dramatic unilateral withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon on May 24.
Barak said efforts are still being made to end the violence in the West Bank and Gaza. "I repeat: If we do not see a complete change within 48 hours, we'll consider this a deliberate attempt by the Palestinian Authority to stop the negotiations and we'll take appropriate action."
Barak refused to comment on reports from Beirut of negotiations for a prisoner swap.
Reports reaching here quoted Hezbollah as saying that it has been contacted by German mediators over a possible exchange of prisoners with Israel.
The Iranian- and Syrian-backed Shiite militant group said it wanted to exchange the three soldiers for 19 Lebanese prisoners and scores of detainees of the militant Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations held in Israeli jails.
Shortly after the seizure of the Israeli soldiers Saturday, Barak held Lebanon and Syria, the major power broker in Lebanon, responsible for the safe return of the soldiers and threatened "decisive actions" unless the two nations reined in Hezbollah.
But Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah countered that his group would retaliate severely possible Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
Also on Sunday, Syrian Foreign Minister Faruk Shareh said Syria does not want the confrontation to escalate either in the Palestinian territories or in Lebanon.
Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli and Palestinian commanders reached an agreement on a complete ceasefire in Gaza Strip, a positive sign toward a possible calm of the situation following Barak's ultimatum Saturday night which demand that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat end the violence within 48 hours.
The new wave of violence sweeping the territories was triggered by Israeli right-winger Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to a Jerusalem shrine, holy to both Muslims and Jews on September 28.
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