News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) A Lebanese newspaper reported that the document transferred to Israel Monday night concern letters the missing navigator wrote shortly after he was taken prisoner 21 years ago today. The report of the letters apparently is what prompted relatives of Arad to travel to Germany in an effort to prevent the recent release of  Iranian prisoner Kazem Darabi, who was to be freed in exchange for information on Arad under the terms of a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hizbullah in 2004.

Transportation and Road Safety Minister Shaul Mofaz, former Defense Minister, said Tuesday morning that the swap of the documents and the body of an Israeli citizen in exchange for a Hizbullah terrorist and the bodies of two others is a good sign for future negotiations but that cautious optimism is in order. "Too many expectations will cause great disappointment in the future," he told Voice of Israel government radio.

Lebanese media reported earlier this week that kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are dead, but the families still have had no sign concerning their fate since they were abducted in July, 2006. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed at the time that the Second Lebanon War would not conclude and that no ceasefire agreement would be signed until the soldiers were released.