Of Course! – update
Via Sideshow the Guardian explains the background of Juan Cole’s remark: “They could have traded 3 Hizbullah members in their custody for the 2 Israeli soldiers.”
From the Guardian article, The framing of Hizbullah:
The prisoners Hizbullah wants released are hostages who were taken on Lebanese soil. In the successful prisoner exchange in 2004, Israel held on to three Lebanese detainees as bargaining chips and to keep the battle front with Hizbullah open. These detentions have become a cause celebre in Lebanon.
Nothing is simple in the Middle East.
