Israel close to prisoner sway says Sharon

A large-scale swap of prisoners with Lebanese guerrillas is closer than ever, Israeli premier Ariel Sharon said today.

But he said Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti would not be included in the emerging deal with Hezbollah, and that Israel will insist on DNA testing of three bodies of Israeli soldiers that are to be handed over.

Any of the issues raised by Sharon in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Maariv could hold up or torpedo the German-brokered deal.

Barghouti’s lawyer has said the Palestinian leader, considered a possible successor to Yasser Arafat, tops Hezbollah’s list of prisoners it wants freed.

Sharon said negotiations have gone further than ever before. “We are closer than before to a deal, but it’s still far from being finished,” he said.

In the emerging swap, Israel would release several hundred prisoners, including Lebanese guerrilla leaders Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani, in exchange for ailing Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah in 2000.

Israel had seized Obeid and Dirani in 1989 and 1994, respectively, as bargaining chips for the release of Israeli airman Ron Arad who was shot down over Lebanon in 1986 and is believed by Israel to be held by Iran.

Sharon said he is certain Tannenbaum is alive, but that his health is deteriorating, and suggested Israel can’t wait much longer to win his freedom.

However, Sharon said that Barghouti “cannot be a condition for this deal,” adding that “Barghouti is responsible for acts of murder, and he is going to prison.”

An Israeli security official said about 300 prisoners would be freed.

In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin rebuffed incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia on three counts, saying the Islamic militant group would not disarm, agree to a truce with Israel or join Qureia’s government.

Yassin, who along with other Hamas leaders has been marked for death by Israel, made a rare public appearance at a Gaza City mosque. Since Israel tried to kill him in an air strike earlier this month, Yassin only once left his home.

A 15-year-old Palestinian was killed today in a gun battle between Palestinians and Israeli troops searching for weapons-smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border.

The firefight erupted when 20 Israeli tanks and armoured bulldozers entered the Rafah refugee camp. Mohammed Hamdan, 16, who was helping the gunmen, was killed in the battle, hospital officials said, and more than a dozen Palestinians were wounded.