JERUSALEM: Relatives of abducted Israeli soldiers meet Bundestag President in a bid to get a sign of life

The President of the German Bundestag Dr. Norbert Lammert met relatives of Israeli abducted soldiers on Wednesday (January 3) at Israel's Knesset in Jerusalem. Lammert met with the family members of reserve soldiers Ehud Goldwasser, 31 and Eldad Regev, 27, who were kidnapped on a July 12 cross-border attack, an incident which sparked a month-long war between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah guerilla group. The relatives appealed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to intercede and help in searching of a sign of life from their beloved ones. "I know from sources in your country that the pressure we exerting everywhere in the world must affect and therefor I wish to ask you to keep exerting pressure," said Malka Goldwasser, mother of Ehud, at the meeting in the Israeli parliament. Lammert said Germany would do its best to assist in mediation efforts. "I am the father of four children and I can imagine how you must feel in such a situation and I am also impressed, how the Israeli public, the Parliament - the Knesset - and the government made their fate into a national concern."," Lammert told the families. "I share your opinion that it needs a careful and persistent questinioning at the right points, which have influence. Whatever we can do to help in this situation, we would like to offer in order to find a solution", he added. Last month senior Israeli security sources reported the two soldiers were seriously wounded during their capture by the Shiite guerrillas and at least one of them could now be dead. The report cited the findings of an internal probe -- previously suppressed by military censors -- into evidence gathered from the border patrol road where the Hezbollah ambush took place. Were that to be independently confirmed, it could alleviate domestic pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to enter into the prisoner swap demanded by Hezbollah, which has refused to comment on the soldiers' condition or location. Israel launched a 34-day offensive in Lebanon in response to the kidnap and the killing of another eight soldiers, overrunning Hezbollah strongholds on the frontier before a U.N.-brokered truce took hold. But it failed to retrieve Goldwasser and Regev. Hezbollah has ignored a U.N. call for the immediate release of the soldiers and said Israel must first free Lebanese prisoners and possibly other Arabs held in its jails. Ever since the kidnapping the families have been travelling across the globe in a bid to recruit assistance in mediation efforts, but no progress was reported. Olmert recently said there would be no trade on Hezbollah's terms if it did not prove Goldwasser and Regev were still alive. The families were angered by Olmert's comments and media leaks about the military probe into the Hezbollah ambush, arguing it may be an attempt to lower pressure to get the kidnapped soldiers freed. In a previous German-mediated swap, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah maintained silence on the fate of three Israeli soldiers his group captured in 2000. The remains of the soldiers, who turned out to have been killed outright when they were seized, and a kidnapped Israeli businessman were exchanged for some 420 Arab prisoners in 2004.

ITN Source | January 4, 2007

Tags:. .wounded. .refused. .confirmed. .whatever. .sparked