Goldwasser relayed his opinion to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, saying, "Israel should not pay for receiving the bodies. "If the sons aren't alive, there shouldn't be any deal at all."
In January, 2004, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon released 401 terrorists and handed over 60 bodies of terrorists in exchange for the bodies of three Israeli soldiers kidnapped and murdered by Hizbullah, as well as Israeli businessman Elchanan Tanenbaum, whose abduction took place as he was taking part in a dubious business deal.
On June 27, shortly after Corporal Gilad Shalit was kidnapped during an attack from Gaza, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insisted, “The question of freeing [Arab] prisoners is in no way on the Israeli government agenda. There will be no negotiations, no bargaining, no agreements."
Olmert, five months later, on November 27, adjusted his proposal, though he did seem to qualify his offer as applying only if Shalit is returned alive. “I hereby declare that when Gilad Shalit is released and returned to his family, safe and sound, the Government of Israel will be willing to release numerous Palestinian prisoners - including ones who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms - in order to increase the trust between us and prove that our hand is truly extended in genuine peace,” he said at the memorial service for David Ben-Gurion.
Army Radio reported Wednesday that Hizbullah is demanding the release of Samir Kuntar, who murdered a father and his 4-year-old daughter in 1979, in exchange not for the release of the kidnapped soldiers but just for information regarding the welfare of Goldwasser and fellow kidnapped soldier Eldad Regev.