OneJerusalem.com

Israel’s anguish regarding it’s two captured soldiers by the Hezbollah, has become more intense following the revelation of an article in a Lebanese newspaper that one captive is alive but the other is “no longer among the living”.

This announcement was followed by another scathing flow of words by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in which he called for negotiations with the “Zionist government in Palestine” to commence with serious negotiations regarding a prisoner exchange. Nasrallah made these remarks from his secret headquarters, which were relayed to a gathering of his followings commemorating the anniversary of the battle at the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, which Hezbollah has claimed as a victory, along with the entire Lebanese II war, for that matter. The Sheik concluded his remarks by saying that his organization has enough long range rockets to “strike anywhere in the territory of the enemy in Palestine” (he likes to refer to Israel as Palestine).

Quite obviously, this news must be very upsetting to the relatives of the two captured soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, who have been in a state of limbo ever since the two were captured following a Hezbollah attack on their military patrol vehicle on July 12, 2006, which launched the 34 day war.

Goldwasser’s wife, Carnit, also made a brief statement following the news revelation and Nasrallah’s ‘kind’ comments. Now she, together with the parents of both Udi and Eldad, have to wonder which of the two reserve soldiers are still alive: her husband, or Eldad.

Hezbollah in general, and Nasrallah in particular, seem to enjoy playing with the lives of relatives of captured Israeli solders, just like they did for more than three years following the capture of three soldiers on the Lebanese border near Israel’s northernmost town of Metulla.

Nasrallah seems to feel that he is in full control of the situation, complete with his threats of retaliation should Israel decide to attack Lebanon once again. Judging from what happened last year, any Israeli response to a Hezbollah launched missile attack (like what occurred a few months ago when the city of Qiryat Shmona was hit by three Katyusha missiles) might be considered by Nasrallah as a full fledged attack. Israeli forces did not respond to the recent attack on Qiryat Shmona, by the way.

So what happens now in this game of “heads or tails”? Do ‘heads’ mean that soldier “A” is still alive and soldier “B” is not? Should a prisoner repatriation occur in the near future, who will come walking across to the Israeli side, and who will be carried over in a coffin?

The anguish that the Regev and Goldwasser families must be having is tragic indeed. And all of us can only sympathize with them and pray that it will all end soon, one way or another.