MIDDLE EAST: Comrade of kidnapped Israe|i soldiers survives to tell the story that triggered the war

Israeli soldier Tomer Weinberg held his wounded arm close to his chest as he recalled the rocket attack on his armoured vehicle on July 12 that changed his life - and Middle East politics - forever. "I remember a pretty happy morning, it was our last day in reserves...I remember that we sang and I met my commander and said: 'Good morning'. I never imagined that within an hour he would have to rescue me," Weinberg recalled earlier this week as he sat in a wheelchair in Haifa's Rambam hospital. "We fell into the trap, the ambush of the Hizbollah, rockets were fired at us. With the first rocket, I pretty much understood what was happening, I took my rifle, opened the door, got out and hid, that is what we've practised," he recalled. Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were abducted by Hizbollah guerrillas from their armoured vehicle whilst patrolling Israel's northern border with Lebanon on July 12. Three other soldiers were killed in the cross border raid, backed by a salvoe of Hizbollah rockets, that sparked a month-long war in Lebanon. Weinberg is the only surviving member of the unit left to tell the story. He was seriously wounded during the attack and is still hospitalized in the coastal city of Haifa. "The entire time we were under heavy fire. I don't know how I was not killed there. That's it. I could not see Eldad and Udi (Ehud), I didn't even see if they were able to escape before they took them, neither did I see the guys in the APC in back of us". Israel responded to the incident with airstrikes across Lebanon, during which more than 7,000 targets were struck, a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, and an air and naval blockade, which is still enforced, while Hizbollah launched thousands of rockets into Israel and engaged the Israeli army on the ground in southern Lebanon. The conflict has killed over a thousand people, mostly Lebanese civilians, damaged Lebanese infrastructure, displaced about a million Lebanese and some 300,000 Israelis, and disrupted normal life across all of Lebanon and northern Israel. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended fighting with Hizbollah, took effect on August 14 but contrary to the requirements of the resolution - Israel is still imposing a blockade and the captured soldiers have not yet been freed by Hizbollah. Israel has previously said the captured soldiers in Lebanon had to be freed unconditionally as part of the implementation of the U.N. resolution but a senior Israeli political source said on Thursday (August 31) that Israel is prepared to discuss freeing Lebanese prisoners in exchange for the two soldiers if the exchange is done with the Lebanese government and not with Hizbollah. The source said Israel's position was conveyed to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday (August 30). Weinberg, his voice cracking with emotion, says he wants to ensure the plight of his captured comrades is not forgotten. "I am the voice that calls on the public to come and show that we have not forgotten them because it could have easily been me and Eldad and Udi would be trying to return me," he said. The families of the soldiers have been making frequent trips abroad and meeting with officials worldwide in an attempt to elicit any piece of information on their loved ones. Hizbollah wants Israel to release thousands of Arab prisoners in its jails, including Lebanese, in return for the two soldiers. Most Arab prisoners in Israel are Palestinian. Israel and Hizbollah carried out a German-mediated prisoner exchange in 2004 that freed hundreds of Arab prisoners in return for a kidnapped Israeli businessman and the bodies of three soldiers the Lebanese guerrilla group had captured in a raid. A similar exchange for his comrades would bring an end to his psychological anguish, says Weinberg. "I was not kidnapped and of course I am happy that I was not kidnapped but every night I am with Udi and Eldad, I am with them - I am in that movie that will accompany me for the rest of my life but I am waiting for someone to come to me and say Tomer we are going to the airport, Udi and Eldad are returning".

ITN Source | September 1, 2006

Tags:. .resolution. .psychological. .enforced. .ensure. .civilians