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Hezbollah Offers Prisoner for Halt to Jenin Siege NewsMax WiresBEIRUT, Lebanon -- Hezbollah chief Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has offered to release an Israeli prisoner held by his group in exchange for the safety of Palestinian guerrillas besieged in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, according to Thursday's editions of the As Safir newspaper. Nasrallah proposed to release a former Israeli colonel and alleged Mossad agent who was seized in Beirut after being lured from Europe in October 2000, on condition that Israel secures the safety of the Palestinians in Jenin. Nasrallah said in a statement released late Wednesday he has information about "some 100 Palestinian strugglers who are besieged in the camp of Jenin and who are facing the danger of being liquidated and executed. "We offer to the enemy government a proposal to release the Israeli colonel Elhanan Tennenbaum in exchange for the immediate cessation of the attack on those strugglers, lifting the siege on them and agreeing through a mediator on a mechanism to guarantee their lives and safety," Nasrallah said. Israeli government representatives would not comment on the offer. "We are not reacting," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Media Coordinator David Baker said. A similar reaction came from the Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman. A defense source, who spoke to United Press International on condition of anonymity, dismissed the offer as "Nasrallah's mischief." Its sole purpose is to cause more pain to Israelis, he said. Nasrallah has so far refused to let anyone, including the International Red Cross, see Tennenbaum, who the Israelis say was kidnapped and taken to Lebanon. On Oct. 7, 2000, Hezbollah guerrillas captured three Israeli soldiers who approached the U.N. demarcated border and Nasrallah announced a week later the capture of the Israeli army colonel who, he said, was working for Israeli intelligence. Israel has insisted the army colonel was a businessman. Nasrallah originally proposed swapping the captives for 19 Lebanese detainees held in Israeli jails and a number of Palestinian and other Arab prisoners. He has, however, refused to give any information on the Israelis' condition. Several months ago the Israeli army concluded the three soldiers were dead. The soldiers' families went through the religious mourning rites. Copyright 2002 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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