The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 10, 2003 - 5A 'M', OSU battle for blood, charity begins By Faryal Osman For the Daily As Michigan competes with Ohio State to draw the most blood from its students, the organizers of w AP PHOTOS Zeinab Dirani is the wife of Mustafa Dirani, a Lebar-se prisoner held in Israel since Tzipora Avitan is the mother of Israeli Sgt. Adi Avitan, an Israeli 1994. She holds pictures of Mustafa at their home in Beirut, Lebanon. soldier captured by Hezbollah guerrillas and believed dead. sIsOKs deal to release prisoners the annual Blood Battle hope they call "the curse." Every year for the past 12 years that Michigan has won the Blood Battle, it has lost the football game against its biggest rival. Blood Battle co-chair and LSA junior Jodi Keller hopes this year that the curse will be broken and Michigan will win both on and off the field. The blood drive kicks off today and will take place across campus until Nov. 21, the day before the football game in the Big House. This year's Blood Battle marks the to avoid a pattern Blood *T daBursly. * Wednesd y: Ml Soth QfaMary * Thivsday. West Ommions. * Friday: Mosher * &unday: St. Ma sity Has.ItSI, Mc * Nov, 18 Chrysi sity $*spita.,Mc * Nov. 11:M * In return, Hezbollah will send businessman and bodies back home JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's Cabinet narrowly approved a pris- oner swap with Hezbollah after eight hours of anguished debate yesterday, overriding warnings that the deal could signal weak- ness and encourage more kidnap- pings of Israelis. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon lobbied hard for the swap, which excludes Israel's most famous missing serviceman, Air Force navigator Ron Arad, who was shot down over Lebanon 17 years ago. The vote was one of Sharon's toughest leadership tests in three years. The deal for the swap could still collapse, and the Lebanese guerrilla group threatened yes- terday to kidnap more Israelis if it does. Under the deal, about 400 Palestinians and several dozen prisoners from Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Sudan and Libya will be released in exchange for Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannen- baum and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers. The Palestinians have been pressing Israel to release Palestin- ian prisoners - though the exchange might not have an immediate effect on the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. It could fur- ther boost Hezbollah's popularity among Palestinians and reinforce a belief that Israel only responds to force. Some Israelis believe the Palestinians have been encour- aged in their ongoing uprising by Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, seen by Arabs as a victory for Hezbollah's years of resistance against Israeli troops. In yesterday's Cabinet session, the ministers voted without know- ing the names of most of those to be released, but were assured that they would not have been involved in killing Israelis - with the exception of several Lebanese prisoners on the list who killed Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon. That restriction would presum- ably preclude the release of Pales- tinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti, who stands accused by Israel of a role in attacks that killed 26 Israelis. Palestinian sources have said they expected Barghouti to be released. Palestinians reacted with disap- pointment yesterday. Issa Karake of the Palestinian Prisoners Association said he had hoped those with life terms would be among those freed. As the Michigan-Ohio State competition is the largest blood drive in the nation, turnout numbers are expected to be high. An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 pints of blood are expected this year, said Keller. The American Red Cross often finds difficulty in meeting hospitals' need for blood. According to the group's website, every two P1C seconds of each day someone needs blood in the United Ie $tokwell States. More than 38,000 chig:n .eague, blood donations are needed Markley...' daily. A single car accident Q~uad Pierpont victim, alone, can require as many as 100 units of blood. J.:. E