Israel Wednesday released five Palestinian prisoners as part of a swap deal with Lebanon's Hezbollah group that brought the bodies of two Israeli soldiers home in mid July, local daily Ha'aretz reported on its website.
Israel Prisons Service said the five prisoners have left their prison in central Israel and made their way into the West Bank. They arrived mid morning in the town of Tulkarem.
All five are teenagers serving short sentences for throwing stones and were due to be freed next year, according to information published on the Israel Prisons Service website.
According to a source in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to release only five prisoners due to the unsatisfactory nature of Hezbollah's report on its efforts to determine the fate of missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad, who disappeared after his plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986.
The report, a part of the prisoner exchange deal, did not include any new information and was considered to have failed to meet the terms of the deal.
On Sunday, Israeli cabinet approved the release of five Palestinian prisoners as part of the final stage of a prisoner exchange deal signed between Israel and Hezbollah in July.
The release of the Palestinians would mark the conclusion of the prisoner swap deal, in which the bodies of Israeli reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were returned from Lebanon about two weeks ago in exchange for Samir Kuntar, four Hezbollah gunmen and the remains of 199 slain Lebanese gunmen.
Source:Xinhua
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