Ban Ki-moon Is 'Encouraged' By The Kuntar Deal

“I’m very much encouraged by the exchange of prisoners. I hope this will be the beginning of many to come in the future.”
Ban Ki-moon

Funny, Hamas has been saying the same thing.

The Secretary General apparently thinks this is quite a success:

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed today’s long-anticipated prisoner exchange between Israel and the Lebanese group Hizbollah, following months of United Nations-backed mediation efforts.

Mr. Ban is “deeply satisfied that the humanitarian aspects of Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006) have finally been met today,” his spokesperson said in a statement, referring to the resolution which ended the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hizbollah.[emphasis added]

Ban is a tad vague on the humanitarian aspects--was he referring to Hizbollah withholding any information on the status of the 2 soldiers all this time? To their bodies having been mutilated? To a murderer of a 4 year old child being released?

Listening to Ban, you would think that the exchange was based on agreement, when in fact it was based on coercion. The fact that Ban sees this as a model for future negotiations is more than a little troubling.

Soccer Dad makes an excellent point in the comments:

Mr. Moon didn't read 1701 very carefully. 1701 calls for the "immediate and unconditional" release of the kidnapped soldiers. That there was a trade for their bodies two years after the fact means that their return was neither immediate nor unconditional.

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