Israel Reportedly to Trade 1,000 POWs for 3 Soldiers

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 Tuesday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is reportedly serving as the intermediary in negotiations for the planned prisoner exchange, which Kreisky said would take place “in the near future” at an undisclosed location. Kreisky, who was visiting Washington, was interviewed by telephone from Athens.

There was no immediate comment from Red Cross headquarters in Switzerland, but Red Cross and Israeli officials in Tel Aviv denied any knowledge of an impending prisoner swap.

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.

Believed Held in Syria

The 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 swap in November, 1983, when six Israelis captured by Yasser Arafat’s Fatah wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization were exchanged for about 4,500 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners held by Israel.

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 new breakthrough came in negotiations with Abu Hazem Shehabi, a member of the Popular Front-General Command’s Executive Committee, and Shmuel Tamir, an aide to Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, after Kreisky suggested in December that 330 Palestinians be exchanged for each Israeli.

Initially Holding Back

The Popular Front had initially refused to acknowledge the capture of Shai or to discuss a prisoner exchange until Israel clarified how many Palestinian guerrillas it was holding, Kreisky and Western diplomats said.

But the front’s leader, Ahmed Jibril, eventually relented and agreed to accept Kreisky’s exchange ratio.

Kreisky and the diplomats would not disclose whether 121 Arab prisoners originally scheduled for release in 1983 would be included in the next release. The 121 prisoners in Israel were held back at the time of the November, 1983, exchange, with no official explanation by Israel.

The Arab prisoners are reportedly held in isolation in the Atlit prison near the northern Israeli port of Haifa.

Kreisky and the diplomats also would not describe how an exchange would take place. Last June, Israel and Syria carried out a similar exchange under U.N. and Red Cross supervision on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, swapping three Israeli prisoners held by Syria for 291 Syrian prisoners of war.