This Sabbath marks exactly two years since IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped by Hizbullah. A Cabinet decision 12 days ago declared the soldiers, whom Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said are dead, would be returned to Israel within 10 days. Latest reports are that the exchange of terrorists for the bodies will take place next Wednesday.

Relatives of Goldwasser and Regev have said they still are holding on to a faint hope that the soldiers are alive.

Foreign as well as Israeli media have marked the second year since the kidnappings and subsequent 34-day Second Lebanon War with reports on Hizbullah's possessing three times more rockets than it had in 2006, prior to the war. Prime Minister Olmert told the Security Cabinet on Wednesday that Hizbullah has repeatedly violated the August 2006 ceasefire resolution that ended the war.

He previously insisted that the war would continue until Goldwasser and Regev were returned. After the ceasefire, he claimed that war achieved a new period of quiet for the north.

Deal with Hizbullah Violated Government's Policy

The government-approved deal two weeks ago that calls for freeing Arab terrorists, including convicted murderer Samir Kuntar, for kidnapped soldiers Goldwasser and Regev, completed a total reversal of previously stated policies.

Following the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in late June, three weeks before the Hizbullah attack and kidnappings, Prime Minister Olmert stated, "This is not a matter of negotiations; this is not a matter of bargaining. Release of prisoners is absolutely not on the agenda of the Israeli government."

This is not a matter of negotiations; this is not a matter of bargaining." Release of prisoners is absolutely not on the agenda of the Israeli government.

Prime Minister Olmert told the Knesset on July 17, 2006, "We will insist on compliance with the terms stipulated long ago by the international community: The return of the hostages…; A complete cease fire; Deployment of the Lebanese army in all of Southern Lebanon; Expulsion of Hizbullah from the area...  Israel will not agree to live in the shadow of missiles or rockets aimed at its residents."



Defending the ceasefire, he told the Knesset on August 14, 2006, "I believe that the realization of the U.N. Resolution creates good conditions for their [kidnapped IDF soldiers] return.

Olmert: War Subdued Hizbullah

Reports of Hizbullah re-arming have streamed through foreign media since the ceasefire, culminating with this week's report that Hizbullah is fully prepared to attack Israel with more numerous and powerful weapons.

However, Prime Minister Olmert has claimed that the war weakened Hizbullah.

In his Knesset speech in August, 2006, he stated, "In every battle, in every encounter with Hizbullah terrorists, the fighters of the IDF had the upper hand – of this there is no doubt."  He told the Knesset two months later, "Militarily we have dealt Hizbullah a serious blow and succeeded in disrupting the intricate system built by this organization through the long arms of Iran and Syria…. From our standpoint, and that of the entire world, Hizbullah ceased to exist as 'a state within a state' in Lebanon."

More recent statements have maintained that the war was successful because Hizbullah has not attacked northern Israel for two years.