ISRAEL: Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar at issue

Samir Kuntar is Israel's longest-held Lebanese prisoner. In 1979, the Druze teenager who had grown up during Lebanon's civil war embarked on an attack against northern Israel, one from which he hasn't returned.

Israel has suffered many attacks over the years, but the one that killed the family of Smadar Haran and a police officer nearly 30 years ago was seared into the nation's collective memory, and the tragic results became a symbol.

So did Kuntar himself. A celebrity prisoner in Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has set Kuntar's release as a goal, repeatedly promising to free him and stating categorically that no prisoner swap would take place without him. Israel is loath to free Kuntar.

In the past, Kuntar was believed to be a bargaining chip for information about missing navigator Ron Arad. Israel had agreed to exchange him for "concrete proof of Arad's fate" that was to have been provided in the second stage of a 2004 German-brokered deal that had obtained the release of Elhanan Tannebaum, a reserve army colonel, and the bodies of three IDF soldiers abducted in 2000. The information never came, Kuntar never left and two Israeli reservists were kidnapped in 2006, sparking the Second Lebanon war.

A few days ago, the intelligence website "sigint" (in Hebrew), reported that Kuntar's website was showing graphic, disturbing images of what were said to be the charred remains of Israeli soldiers left in the battlefields during the war two summers ago. Three days later (the time it took me to gather the nerve to check for myself), the website that had been established many years ago by Kuntar's brother, was gone. "Sorry, the site you requested has been disabled," was the message from Homestead. A reader named Shai posted a comment under the original report: "Someone in Israel decided to put an end to this website that displayed the shocking pictures and raised the price of [Eldad] Regev and [Udi] Goldwasser," the two reservists held by Hezbollah.

Kuntar, now in his mid-40s, is serving four back-to-back life sentences plus 47 years. He plans to marry in jail for the second time, it was reported two weeks ago (he had divorced his first wife after being denied rights by jail authorities). The prison authority said it had received no request for a wedding ceremony and it was speculated that the marriage -- if it takes place-- would be performed by exchanging documents via legal counsel. In 2005, he had given a rare interview (in Hebrew) to an Israeli paper.

-- Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem

Photo: Samir Kuntar is serving four back-to-back life sentences plus 47 years in an Israeli prison. (Wikipedia)

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Comments

[Please see this website about Samir Kuntar]

http://SamirKuntar.net
I found it very intriguing concerning the issue of Samir Kuntar, and Israel's stubborness of releasing him.

[Hizbullah's Promise to the Murderer of Jewish Children]

http://SamirKuntar.net

Samir Kuntar. The return of the child killer! Talk about freeing a murderer one year my senior has been hailed by some fellow Lebanese as yet another “Divine Victory”. Yes I am talking about the “hero” Samir Kuntar and his soon to be “shameless” release. Without a doubt our “Divine”/spiritual/ resistance/ leader will take credit for his safe return bombarding us with notions of how Samir was and still is the epitome of Hizbollah’s fight against the Zionist evil. On that ill fated day(and I do pray that it will never come) many of my fellow Lebanese (so called) will beat their chests in stupor in between speech poses delivered by the only patriotic leader (Hassouna that is). To those FUCKS I would like to point out that Samir was never part of Hizbollah when he and 3 others (Abdel Majid Asslan, Mhanna Salim Al Muayed, Mohammad Al Abras) took it upon themselves to attack NAHARIYA in Israel in an operation they called “Nasser”. This operation was commissioned by the PLF (Palestinian Liberation Front) under the leadership of Abou Abbass (does Achille Lauro ring a bell to any one?). After having killed a policeman who came across their way (that might be justified by some as part of a military operation) they split in two groups and the Hero to be, entered the apartment of the “Zionist” Dany Haran with intent to kill. The “soon to be hailed hero” took Dany and his daughter Einat (mother “Smadar”, other daughter “Yael” and a neighbor managed to hide) to the beach (and not for a picnic I can assure you). The “would be hero” shot Dany a close range and drowned him in the sea (to make sure he was dead, after all he is a thorough person) in front of his daughter (4 years of age, may I remind you), and then turned his rage (sorry Divine mission) against the child. He then started bashing her head with the butt of his riffle, and when need be using rocks to finish her off. This “so called hero” did not flinch. The other tragedy is that while hiding, the mother (Smadar) in an attempt to muffle the sounds and moans of her 2 years old daughter (Yael) had suffocated her own child. To cut a long story short, the only survivors of this “heroic adventures” (from the LEBANESE side) were Kuntar and his fellow “1/2 hero” Ahmad Al Abrass, who was later freed by Israel in the Ahmad Jibril prisoner exchange of May 1985. Attempts were made by the PLF to free Kuntar when they hijacked the Achille Lauro where a wheel chair bound “Zionist” (Leon Klinghoffer) was murdered with no avail. “The LEBANESE hero” Samir has admitted the murder of Dany and, yes wait for it, Einat; and was sentenced to spent the rest of his life in jail. Some “Zionists” even asked for the death penalty to be reinstated in this case. Rumor has it that “Kuntar”, the Hezb newfound hero, will be released by the end of the month in exchange for the 2 (Goldwasser and Regev) DEAD soldiers that our Divine protector (Hasouna that is) took in 2006 causing the destruction of MY country. How can any HUMAN rejoice and embrace the return of a cold blooded criminal and give him a hero’s welcome? If ever Kuntar will be freed and delivered to the Lebanese (not the Hizb) authority, he should be tied for having killed an innocent child, and such a crime in Lebanon (the one I know) holds the death penalty. To those who will rejoice for the return of such an evil incarnate, I say TFEH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shuky]

"Kuntar is a prisoner of conscious-he was resisting the barbarities of the israeli invasion"... Asim, are you CRAZY? Don't you realize you are just hurting your own cause when you justify the actions of somehow who is clearly an unrepentant murderer? The guy smashed in the skull of a four year old girl, what kind of resistance is that? People that exhibit such an unflinching loyalty to someone like Kuntar really need to have their heads examined. With people like you in the world there will never be peace.

[Asim, San Antonio]

Kuntar is a prisoner of conscious-he was resisting the barbarities of the israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon from 1978-2000 when the occupation army was evicted by the resisitance.

If murder is punishable by multiple prison sentneces then Ariel Sharon-now deservedly a vegetable- should be jailed for a thousand years for among others the genocide of Palestinians in Sbra and Shatela in 1982..

And Shimon Peres the "president of isreal" should be jailed for anothe one thousand years for the arial bombing and genocide of the children of Qana...and also the whole government of the racist apartheid jewsih theocracy for murdering over one thousand Lebenese civilains in July,2006.......

The present israeli gang should also be indited for War Crimes and collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinian refugees in Aushwitz #2 (Gaza) who were originally ethnically cleanesed by jewish terrorist gangs such as Haganh,Irgun,Shtern and PAlmach in 1947/8....

The apartheid regime imposed on the dispossessed Palestinians with over 600 military check points is another israeli War Crime...where is the punishment-where is international law...

[jerry]

For some strange reason, the Los Angeles Times does not explain the loathing Israel feels when discussing the Kuntar case. He killed the Haran father, but took special pleasure in smashing one Haran daughter against a rock until her head was split open. In addition, the mother accidentally suffocated her other daughter when trying to prevent the terrorists from finding them.

Let us try to keep things in perspective. Such killing requires no mercy in response. Moreover, Kuntar shows no remorse even today, saying that he would do it again. Question the sanity or political motives of anyone suggesting that he be released.