Jesse Jackson meets Hezbollah

-05/09/06

US civil rights leader and Baptist pastor Jesse


Jesse Jackson meets Hezbollah

-05/09/06

US civil rights leader and Baptist pastor Jesse Jackson, who is part of a religious peace delegation to Lebanon, has met with Hezbollah officials and called on them to show proof that two captured Israel soldiers are still alive.

He said such a move could jump-start negotiations that might lead to the soldiers’ release.

Jackson said there were indications the two soldiers captured on 12 July were alive, but warned that their continued detention was “becoming a magnet to attract a second round” of war.

Jackson, who opposed US military action in Iraq, has been in the Middle East for a week and half as head of a 10-member ecumenical group representing Jewish, Muslim, Roman Catholic and Protestant groups. His mission to gain the soldiers’ release has taken him to Israel, Syria and to Lebanon twice.

“My impression is if Hezbollah shows a sign of life or shows the soldiers, that it will trigger a response,” Jackson told The Associated Press on the terrace of a hotel overlooking Beirut’s skyline.

“They ought to show signs of life, show video evidence, because it would jump-start a framework to start talks.”

Hezbollah has said the two Israeli soldiers captured on July 12 can be released only through a prisoner exchange with Israel. Israeli has refused calls to make a prisoner swap to get the soldiers back, calling for their unconditional release.

During past prisoner swaps, militants have returned dead soldiers to Israel, so proving the two are alive has become a point of contention blocking negotiations, Jackson said.

“The overriding issue in Israel is to show us a sign of life. Verification. Hezbollah seems to believe that if it shows a sign of life, it has given away a major negotiating tool as it pursues some kind of swap or exchange,” he said.

In Israel last week, Jackson met with top Israeli officials including Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Ofer Dekel, who is overseeing efforts to bring back the two soldiers. In Damascus, he met with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Jackson said Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora had told him the two Israeli soldiers were alive, as had Hezbollah officials. But he warned the war could resume if the prisoner issue was not resolved swiftly.

“These soldiers are becoming a magnet to attract a second round (of fighting), Jackson said.

“So long as the soldiers are here, it becomes a pretext to re-ignite the war. There are those who really do want round two.”

Jackson has had success several times in the past in negotiating the release of political hostages. In 1984, he met with then-President Hafez Assad of Syria and arranged the release of a Navy pilot whose plane had been shot down over Lebanon during an American air strike against a Syrian anti-aircraft position a month earlier. Also that year, Jackson travelled to Cuba and persuaded Fidel Castro to release 48 American and Cuban political prisoners. In 1990, he helped win the release from Iraq of more than 700 foreign women and children detained as human shields after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. He also persuaded Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 1999 to free three Americans held prisoner.


Jesse Jackson meets Hezbollah

-05/09/06

US civil rights leader and Baptist pastor Jesse Jackson, who is part of a religious peace delegation to Lebanon, has met with Hezbollah officials and called on them to show proof that two captured Israel soldiers are still alive.

He said such a move could jump-start negotiations that might lead to the soldiers’ release.

Jackson said there were indications the two soldiers captured on 12 July were alive, but warned that their continued detention was “becoming a magnet to attract a second round” of war.

Jackson, who opposed US military action in Iraq, has been in the Middle East for a week and half as head of a 10-member ecumenical group representing Jewish, Muslim, Roman Catholic and Protestant groups. His mission to gain the soldiers’ release has taken him to Israel, Syria and to Lebanon twice.

“My impression is if Hezbollah shows a sign of life or shows the soldiers, that it will trigger a response,” Jackson told The Associated Press on the terrace of a hotel overlooking Beirut’s skyline.

“They ought to show signs of life, show video evidence, because it would jump-start a framework to start talks.”

Hezbollah has said the two Israeli soldiers captured on July 12 can be released only through a prisoner exchange with Israel. Israeli has refused calls to make a prisoner swap to get the soldiers back, calling for their unconditional release.

During past prisoner swaps, militants have returned dead soldiers to Israel, so proving the two are alive has become a point of contention blocking negotiations, Jackson said.

“The overriding issue in Israel is to show us a sign of life. Verification. Hezbollah seems to believe that if it shows a sign of life, it has given away a major negotiating tool as it pursues some kind of swap or exchange,” he said.

In Israel last week, Jackson met with top Israeli officials including Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Ofer Dekel, who is overseeing efforts to bring back the two soldiers. In Damascus, he met with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Jackson said Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora had told him the two Israeli soldiers were alive, as had Hezbollah officials. But he warned the war could resume if the prisoner issue was not resolved swiftly.

“These soldiers are becoming a magnet to attract a second round (of fighting), Jackson said.

“So long as the soldiers are here, it becomes a pretext to re-ignite the war. There are those who really do want round two.”

Jackson has had success several times in the past in negotiating the release of political hostages. In 1984, he met with then-President Hafez Assad of Syria and arranged the release of a Navy pilot whose plane had been shot down over Lebanon during an American air strike against a Syrian anti-aircraft position a month earlier. Also that year, Jackson travelled to Cuba and persuaded Fidel Castro to release 48 American and Cuban political prisoners. In 1990, he helped win the release from Iraq of more than 700 foreign women and children detained as human shields after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. He also persuaded Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 1999 to free three Americans held prisoner.