Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday reiterated that his country is committed to bring back the kidnapped soldiers, as the nation mourns for two reservists returned in a prisoner exchange with Hezbollah.
Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak (L) and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (R) stand with Karnit Goldwasser beside the coffin of her husband, Ehud Goldwasser, at Shraga army base near the northern city of Nahariya July 16, 2008, in this picture released by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO).(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
"Israel will always act for the return of our soldiers, alive, wounded or dead," Barak told thousands of mourners at the funeral of Eldad Regev, 26, one of the two soldiers whose bodies were returned on Wednesday by the Lebanese group in exchange for five Lebanese prisoners and the remains of some 200 Arab fighters.
Earlier in the day, the other returnee, Ehud Goldwasser, 31, was laid to rest in another formal military funeral, as thousands of attendants bade their final farewell to the soldier who was taken away along with Regev by Hezbollah militants two years ago.
"This isn't the way we hoped to see Eldad and Udi (Ehud) back in Israel," Barak said with a sorrowful voice, while vowing that the Jewish state "will not be deterred from waging fierce war against terrorism."
Stressing the moral covenant between the army and the people, Barak said that Israel will continue its efforts to determine the fate of Ron Arad, a navigator who has been unaccounted for since his fighter crashed in Lebanon in 1986.
Funeral of Eldad Regev, one of the two Israeli soldiers who were captured by Hezbollah two years ago, is held in the Nahariya Military Cemetery, north Israel, July 17, 2008. Israel retured on Wednesday five imprisoned Lebanese militants and the remains of 199 Arabs to Hezbollah in exchange for the remains of the two abducted Israeli reservists. (Xinhua)
Under the swap deal between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese group transferred earlier this month an 80-page report on Arad, which Israeli defense establishment said is "insufficient."
Meanwhile, Israel is trying to secure the return of reservist Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped two years ago by three Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas and believed to be still alive.
(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2008)
