Lebanon's Hizbullah guerrilla group said today it had held more talks with German mediators to resolve "sticking points" in a prisoner-exchange deal with Israel.
The swap has been under under intermittent negotiation for three years and seemed under threat last week when Israel ruled out releasing Samir al-Qantar, a Lebanese involved in a guerrilla attack on Israelis. Hizbullah demands that Qantar be part of any exchange.
"Both sides agreed to keep details of the negotiations secret at this delicate stage in order to secure a better climate to reach a positive final outcome," Hizbullah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in a brief statement.
The broad outlines of the swap, narrowly approved by Israel's cabinet on November 9th, include trading all Lebanese detainees, some 400 Palestinians and other Arab prisoners in Israel for Israeli businessman Mr Elhanan Tannenbaum, abducted by Hizbollah in 2000, and three kidnapped Israeli soldiers now thought dead.
Hizbullah abducted former army officer Tennenbaum on what Israel calls an illicit trip to the United Arab Emirates, shortly after the group snatched the three Israeli soldiers in a disputed border zone. Israel believes those soldiers are dead.
The swap plan divided Israel's cabinet and public opinion. Some saw it as an incentive to snatch more Israelis and complained it did nothing to shed light on the fate of another Israeli - airman Ron Arad, who went missing while bombing Lebanon in 1986.
Iranian and Syrian-backed Hizbullah helped end Israel's 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000.