Gruesome Middle East politics

Maybe nothing better demonstrates the gruesome state of Mideast politics than today's statement from the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah that it had released body parts of Israeli soldiers captured in 2006 and expected further negotiations on prisoner releases in the future. Israel's release of a convicted spy from Lebanon has raised the prospect of progress in apparently ongoing indirect talks between the Jewish state and Hezbollah, which rules a large part of Lebanon. The Reuters international news service reported Sunday that unnamed political sources said prisoner exchange talks had made major progress. The talks are being facilitated by the German foreign ministry, because Israel and Hezbollah have no direct contacts. "We today are handing over some of the remains of a number of Israeli soldiers who were killed in the July war and who the Israeli army left in Lebanon," Hezbollah security official Wafik Safa said in an unexpected announcement, Reuters reported. A box was placed in a vehicle belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for delivery to Israel.