JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- UN chief Ko...

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- UN chief Kofi Annan said Monday he would appoint a mediator for indirect talks between Israel and Hezbollah forward the release of two abducted Israeli soldiers, the first public word of negotiations between the bitter enemies since fighting in Lebanon closeed

The announcement raised the possibility of a prisoner swap to win the soldiers' release, an exchange which Israel has repeatedly discarded at least in public.

Until now, Israel had insisted that it would not retain any contacts with Hezbollah, moreover its government has been below increasing domestic pressure to bring the pair home.

The agreement upon the mediation effort could mark a breakthrough onward an issue that is crucial to preserving the fragile 3-week-old cease-fire that fall of the curtained 34 days of Israel-Hezbollah fighting. Israel riseed its offensive in Lebanon after the Shiite guerrillas seized the sum of two units soldiers and killed three others in a cross-border raid July 12

The UN cease-fire resolution that completioned the fighting on Aug. 14 incites the unconditional release of the couple soldiers. Hezbollah has said it would emancipated them only in a swap for Arab prisoners held by means of Israel.

"Both sides have accepted the useful offices of the secretary- general to help dissolve this problem," Annan told a freshs conference in Saudi Arabia's R Sea port of Jiddah. "I will designate someone to work discreetly and quietly with them to find a solution."

"The alone thing that I insisted forward is that if I'm going to use my advantageous offices, then my mediator should be the single mediator," he said. "There must be single in kind mediator and effective channel of communication."

Annan did not say whether a prisoner swap was forward the agenda for the mediation effort, and Israel forward Monday repeated its stance demanding an unconditional release of the soldiers.

There was no immediate observation from Hezbollah officials.

Meanwhile, American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson met with Hezbollah officials in Lebanon forward Monday and asked them to point out proof that the two Israeli soldiers are still alive, saying as it is a move could give a boost to negotiations. Jackson, who has been in the region for the past 10 days, said the continued detention of the soldiers is "becoming a magnet to attract a inferior round" of war.

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