Israeli Cabinet OKs Hezbollah prisoner swap

updated 4:36 p.m. ET July 15, 2008

JERUSALEM - Moshe Sasson felt the gun pressed against his head, a Lebanese assailant poised to shoot, when the lights in the hall of his apartment building suddenly went out, allowing him to escape and take cover under a car.

The gunman, Samir Kantar, went on to kill three other people in one of the most notorious attacks in Israeli history. Three decades later, he is about to be freed in exchange for two Israeli soldiers whose capture set off a monthlong Mideast war.

The Israelis are presumed dead. But Kantar, whose deadly 1979 rampage traumatizes Sasson to this day, is expected to receive a hero's welcome when he returns to Lebanon.

"I remember his face, the dark black eyes and murderous gaze," Sasson recalled Tuesday, hands trembling and eyes tearing. "He was like the angel of death."

The swap is set to take place Wednesday morning after the Israeli Cabinet's overwhelming approval of the deal a day earlier. In addition to handing over Kantar, Israel also has agreed to release four other Lebanese prisoners and hand over the bodies of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters killed in clashes over the years.

Israeli President Shimon Peres took the first formal action by pardoning Kantar late Tuesday, his office said in a statement.

The deal seals a painful chapter from Israel's inconclusive war against Hezbollah two years ago. It also marks a major boost for Hezbollah at a time when the militant group is moving decisively to regain its footing following the blows it took in the 2006 war.

Lebanon gets national holiday
Hezbollah's commander in south Lebanon, Sheik Nabil Kaouk, called the swap an "official admission of defeat" for Israel. Red, white and green Lebanese flags, yellow Hezbollah flags and welcome banners are hanging in south Lebanese villages through which the coffins carrying the returned bodies will be driven in a convoy from the border toward Beirut.

Hezbollah supporters have set up a makeshift stage in the coastal town of Naqoura, where a brief ceremony will be held. An official ceremony will follow at Beirut Airport; it will be attended by Lebanon's president, prime minister and parliament speaker. The Lebanese government has announced that Wednesday will be a national holiday "to celebrate the liberation of prisoners from the jails of the Israeli enemy and the return of the remains of martyrs."

Later, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will give a speech during what is expected to be a massive celebration in the group's stronghold south of Beirut.

By contrast, the exchange will be a somber occasion in Israel. No ceremonies are planned.

Cabinet Minister Isaac Herzog, who voted with the majority to approve the deal, called the decision to swap Kantar "a tormenting one."

"Clearly we opted for a resolution that fulfills our prime rule since the creation of the state of Israel, and this is to bring back our sons home, despite the toll," he told The Associated Press.

German spy helped
The prisoner swap was brokered with the help of a German secret agent, according to the German government.

A confidential paper from Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, said the agent worked for 18 months and racked up 435,000 air miles in the process of facilitating the exchange.

The parents of Ehud Goldwasser, one of two Israeli soldiers to be swapped on Wednesday, said they just want their nightmare to end.

Hezbollah has given no evidence that Goldwasser and fellow reservist Eldad Regev are alive and has not allowed the Red Cross access to them. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet last month that Israel thinks the men did not survive.

Goldwasser's father, Shlomo, said the family would not engage in "speculation," but were preparing for the worst.

"Tomorrow it will be over," he said. "It will be a relief to finally know."

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