Hezbollah Is Talking on Hostage

UNITED NATIONS — Hezbollah will require compensation just for providing proof that the two Israeli soldiers it kidnapped are alive, the British ambassador to the United Nations, Emyr Jones Parry, said yesterday.

The information emerged shortly after the leader of the Shiite terrorist organization, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said "serious negotiations" were under way over the two Israelis, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

The soldiers' kidnapping in July sparked the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah. Since their disappearance, and the August ceasefire, Israeli officials and members of the soldiers' families have demanded that Messrs. Goldwasser and Regev be granted a Red Cross visit, or at least that Hezbollah show they are alive.

So far, however, Hezbollah has not produced any proof that the soldiers are still living.

"They are asking a price for a proof of life," Mr. Jones Parry told reporters yesterday. He declined to cite the source of his information or what kind of "price" Hezbollah requires.

Middle Eastern kidnappers have accepted cash payments as part of negotiations in the past. Hezbollah and Palestinian Arab terrorist groups also have demanded the release of Arab prisoners in Israeli custody.

Hezbollah has always aimed to exact a heavy price at every stage of the negotiating process in order to play on the emotions of the Israeli public, Israeli officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

Although in some cases Israel has been able to secure the release of soldiers and citizens kidnapped by terrorist groups, in others it has been forced to pay a heavy monetary or political price just for the return of bodies.

On Tuesday, Sheik Nasrallah appeared on the Hezbollah television station Al-Manar for the first time since his appearance at a Beirut "victory" rally shortly after the war. "I would like to assure all those interested in this file that there are serious negotiations that are continuing," he said. "We have reached the stage of exchanging ideas or, more accurately, exchanging terms."

Sheik Nasrallah acknowledged that the negotiations are being conducted through a U.N. representative. During his swing through the Middle East in August, Secretary-General Annan said he had chosen an unnamed "facilitator" to help negotiate the release of the kidnapped soldiers, as the U.N. Security Council resolution that stopped the fighting required.

The German magazine Der Spiegel reported this week that Mr. Annan's facilitator is an analyst at BND, the German intelligence agency. A U.N. spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, would not comment yesterday beyond saying the facilitator is continuing with his work.

In Lebanon yesterday, several pro-Syrian politicians denounced a Wednesday statement from the White House press secretary, Tony Snow, who said evidence was "mounting" that Hezbollah and Syria "are preparing plans to topple Lebanon's democratically elected government."

A pro-Syrian Maronite leader, Michel Aoun, and a host of Lebanese and Syrian officials also requested proof of statements by American and U.N. officials that Syria and Iran are arming Hezbollah in violation of a Security Council resolution. Syria is threatening the Lebanese sources of such statements, the American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said this week.

Hoping to secure veto power for pro-Syrian politicians in Lebanon, Hezbollah is demanding an increase in its government representation beyond the two seats it currently occupies in the 24-member Cabinet. In his Tuesday television appearance, Sheik Nasrallah set November 13 as his deadline, saying that after that date his followers would riot in the streets until his demands are met.

The Lebanese newspaper Daily Star reported yesterday that Saudi officials are trying to mediate a compromise solution that would entail enlarging the Cabinet.