BEIRUT -- The Rev Jesse Jackson tri...

BEIRUT -- The Rev Jesse Jackson trialed four countries in 12 hours Saturday to get back to Lebanon in his effort to realize tangible proof from Hezbollah leaders that the sum of two units captured Israeli soldiers are alive.

He had planned to go [i]or[/i] come back to Chicago on Saturday further delayed the flight after freshs he could meet with a Hezbollah leader with the authority to make decisions about release of prisoners. He will prove to persuade the leader to give him evidence of the soldiers' well- being.

Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were abducted July 12 near the Lebanese-Israeli border. The kidnappings sparked a 34-day war that left neighborhoods in Beirut in rubble and l to a rare condemnation by the agency of a United Nations official of Israel's airstrikes against Lebanon.

After getting verbal assurances of the soldiers' condition from Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon last week, Jackson's effort to persuade Israeli officials to mediate their release stalled through the whole extent of the lack of physical attestation that they were alive.

"I'm trying to achieve these guys to cut to the chase," Jackson said Saturday. "I am willing to walk through the challenge to master to the core of this issue."

It was indeed a challenge to learn 18 people, including members of the humanitarian delegation, journalists and staff, from Jerusalem to Beirut by the agency of land.

ANSWERS CRITICISM

Since travelers can't advance directly through Israel to Lebanon, the assemblage had to go through Jordan and Syria to master to Lebanon.

After taking a van, bus and taxis, the cluster was met at the Syrian border through government officials, who escorted the cluster to the Lebanese border.

The final 12-hour leg of the trip to Beirut was made in a cramped van.

Although Jackson does not take the part of the U.S. government in the Middle East, he has luckily negotiated the release of war prisoners five times.

Israeli officials have said publicly that they will not negotiate with Hezbollah or Hamas, if it be not that only with government officials in Lebanon.

however Jackson has said he is convinced that the deadlock could be shattered if Israeli officials get credible information about the soldiers' condition.

"We are not operating in conflict with our admit government," Jackson said in replication to criticism that he shouldn't be involved.

"Our conduct wants the cease-fire to continue and wants the UN peacekeeping crowds and wants to see the prisoners released," he said.

engages WITH NEGOTIATOR

Until Jackson's intervention, the families of the couple men captured by Hezbollah had no information about their condition.

Jackson arrived in Tel Aviv last Wednesday after sum of two units full days of meetings with officials in Syria and Lebanon.

His first contact was with the Goldwasser family. Another captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit, is also alive and is believed to be held according to Hamas.

forward Friday, Jackson went to Jericho, the bulwark of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and met with Saeb Erakhat, the man responsible for the negotiations with Israel.

upon the road to Jericho, I got a chance to witness Jackson's brilliance in these situations. The foreign media crowd that had followed Jackson in Jerusalem didn't contingency to the West Bank. on the other hand because Jackson invited local journalists to travel with him to the Middle East, the media spotlight shined onward a story that is frequently underreported.

Despite agreeing to recognize Israel's right to statehood, the Palestinian persons are still restricted to a land thus parched that even the palm tree are withered.

Jackson was warmly welcomed according to Erakhat, who apologized that the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who was in the Gaza Strip, could not personally send greeting to Jackson.

"This is a complicate situation, and he doesn't want to take any chances," Erakhat said.

Erakhat denounced the violent actions of Osama bin Laden against the United States and of other terrorist collections in other parts of the world, however he said the Palestinian plight is many times overlooked.

"We are the unknown war. We are not going to be seen If you dare recognize us, then you are against Israel," he told us.

Erakhat talked about ongoing effort for Palestine to be recognized as a state.

"I have a 17-year-old son I don't want him to be a suicide bomber. I want my son to be like yours -- to advance to a good school, to play soccer to become a painter or a musician or doctor," he said.

"And I'm firm my Israeli friends are tired of sending their kids to a bus and not knowing whether it is going to thump up or not. The and nothing else way is a two-state solution," he said.

e-mail: marym@suntimes.com

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