Hezbollah is credited with teaching Hamas how to secure release of prisoners; Hezbollah kidnapped 6 Israeli soldiers in past decade.
By JPOST.COM STAFFHamas terrorists 311(photo credit: REUTERS)
Shortly after kidnapping Gilad Schalit in 2006, Hezbollah sent Hamas a report detailing how to successfully broker a prisoner swap deal with Israel, Hamas said on Saturday.Hamas' political bureau and negotiating team said they studied the report thoroughly, and credited it with helping them successfully secure the release of 1,027 prisoners from Israeli prisons in exchange for the captive soldier.RELATED:Gilad Schalit expected back in Israel on Tuesday Mashaal discusses prisoner swap with Egypt's intel chief Hezbollah's experience and success in trading kidnapped Israelis is rather extensive.
In 2000, three Israeli soldiers, Adi Avitan, Benyamin Avraham, and Omar Sawaidwere were kidnapped and killed by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid.Also in 2000, Hezbollah kidnapped Elhanan Tannenbaum, a businessman and IDF reserve colonel who traveled to Lebanon illegally to carry out a drug deal. Tannenbaum was held by Hezbollah until 2004, when he was released alive, along with the bodies of Avitan, Avraham, and Sawaidwere in exchange for more than 400 security prisoners in Israeli prisons.In 2006 when Hezbollah conducted another cross-border raid, killing several Israeli soldiers, and kidnapping Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser, an incident that served as a catalyst for the Second Lebanon War.The bodies of Regev and Goldwasser were only returned to Israel in 2009, in exchange for the release of a long list of prisoners.Click for full JPost coverage
