Israel OKs POW Swap, Kreisky Says : 1,000 Palestinians for Three Jewish Soldiers Captured in Lebanon

Israel has agreed to exchange about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for three Israelis captured during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, former Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky and Western diplomats said today.

The International Committee of the Red Cross was said to be serving as the intermediary in negotiations for the planned prisoner exchange, which Kreisky said will take place “in the near future” at an undisclosed location.

An exact date was not given by Kreisky, who was in Washington and interviewed by telephone from Athens.

The Red Cross had no immediate comment from its headquarters in Switzerland, but Red Cross and Israeli officials in Tel Aviv denied any knowledge of an impending prisoner exchange.

Two Years of Talks

If it occurs, an exchange of the three Israeli soldiers--Hezi Shai, Yosef Groff and Nissim Salem--for an estimated 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel would cap more than two years of negotiations for their release.

The three Israelis were captured in Lebanon in 1982 by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a Syrian-backed Palestinian guerrilla group. They are believed to be held in Syria.

Indirect negotiations between Syria and Israel led to a similar release in November, 1983, when six Israelis captured by Yasser Arafat’s Fatah wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization were exchanged for 4,500 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners held by Israel.

Ratio Accepted

The bulk of the negotiations leading up to the 1983 release were conducted by Kreisky and senior Austrian officials.

The former Austrian chancellor said the breakthrough in negotiations with Abu Hazem Shehabi, a member of the Popular Front executive committee, and Shmuel Tamir, an aide to Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, came after Kreisky suggested last December that 330 Palestinians be exchanged for each Israeli.