Hezbollah deal was moral, ethical: Israeli PM Sharon

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2004

BEN GURION MILITARY AIRPORT, Israel (AFP) — A controversial deal with Hezbollah to free hundreds of Arab prisoners in return for a kidnapped Israeli businessman and the bodies of three soldiers was both moral and ethical, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said.

"It was the right moral and ethical decision," Sharon said in a brief address during an emotional ceremony here to mark the return of the three soldiers who were captured by Lebanon's Shiite Muslim fundamentalist militia.

"Difficult decisions cannot be avoided ... and we took into account every single aspect.

"There is one factor that is overwhelming that is called Jewish emotions. This is a Jewish value that is grounded in the soil of Israel," he said.

The bodies of Adi Avitan, Benyamin Avraham and...