BEIRUT, 22 August 2004 — Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said prisoner exchange talks between his group and Israel were still going on with German mediation to free Lebanese and Arab detainees. Nasrallah told a gathering late on Friday that sides had agreed not to discuss details of the talks in public.
“I assure you that negotiations are still going on with the German mediator ... but there is a commitment from sides not to discuss details in public so we don’t face complications,” Nasrallah said.
Israel and Hezbollah carried out a swap in January that freed Lebanese and hundreds of Arab prisoners for a kidnapped Israeli businessman and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station yesterday welcomed a French court’s decision to give it another chance to meet broadcasting standards after it aired a series ruled anti-Semitic last November.
The television’s management said it was keen to comply with French law so that it could continue its broadcasts to Europe on the Eutelsat satellite.
“The State Council’s decision has put the affair back in a legal framework ... (and) scotched the arguments advanced by Israel though its embassy and the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France,” a management statement said.
“From the outset, Al-Manar has expressed its desire to settle the case through dialogue with the French broadcasting standards authority and has assured the French authorities of its desire to comply with French legislation so that it can continue its broadcasts.”
