Samir Kuntar

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Samir Kuntar (Arabic: سمير القنطار, also transcribed Qantar) (born July 20, 1962 in Aabey, Lebanon), is a Lebanese who participated in a terrorist attack on Israel in 1979. He has been held in Israeli jails under a four-times-life sentence since his conviction in 1979 on charges of murder and terrorism, for murdering two Israeli civilians (a twenty eight year-old man and his four year-old daughter) and killing two Israeli policemen.

Attack into Israel from Southern Lebanon

On April 22 1979, Samir Kuntar led a group of four who entered Israel from Lebanon by boat. They belonged to the organization PLF under the leadership of Abu Abbas. Around midnight they arrived at the coastal town of Nahariya about six miles (10 km) south of the Lebanese border. The four killed a policeman who came across them and were able to break into the apartment of the Haran family before police reinforcements had arrived. The unit took twenty-eight-year old Danny Haran hostage along with his four-year-old daughter Einat. The mother, Smadar Haran, was able to hide in a crawl space above the bedroom with her two-year-old daughter Yael, and a neighbor. According to Smadar,

I will never forget the joy and the hatred in [Kuntar's group's] voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe. As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "This is just like what happened to my mother," I thought.

[1]

Shootout and capture by Israel

After taking the hostages, Kuntar's group took Danny and Einat down to the beach, where a shootout with Israeli policemen and soldiers erupted. Samir Kuntar shot and killed Danny at close range in front of Einat, then murdered her by smashing her head with the butt of his rifle against a rock, crushing her skull.

Back in the crawl space, Yael Haran was accidentally suffocated to death by her mother's attempts to keep her quiet so that they would not be found by Kuntar's group.

A policeman and two of Samir Kuntar's unit were also killed in the shootout on the beach; Kuntar and the fourth participant were captured. The latter, Ahmed Abarrass, was freed by Israel in the 1986 Ahmed Jibril prisoner deal in return for three Israeli soldiers.

Support for Samir Kuntar

Kuntar was tried and convicted for the murders of Danny and Einat Haran. He has also admitted his complicity many times and expressed pride about the killings. Still, he has many supporters in Lebanon who maintain that he is innocent. Other supporters, alternately, claim that the Harans were legitimate targets and considers Kuntar to be a political prisoner.

Proposed exchange for Ron Arad

In 2003 Israel agreed to release around 400 prisoners in exchange for businessman Elchanan Tenenbaum and the bodies of three soldiers held by Hezbollah since 2000. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah refused to accept the deal unless it included Samir Kuntar. "Hezbollah's conditions have become clear and defined, and we are sticking to them in all circumstances", Nasrallah declared in his statement.[1][2]

Israel then agreed to release Samir Kuntar as well, but only when Hezbollah provided "solid evidence" as to the fate of Ron Arad, an air force navigator missing in Lebanon since 1986.[3][4]

Inspired by the prisoner swap Hamas vowed, a few days later, that they would also abduct Israeli soldiers to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners. Hassan Nasrallah simultaneously told his supporters that Hezbollah would continue to kidnap Israelis until "not a single prisoner" remained inside Israeli jails.[5]

Since Hezbollah never provided any solid information about Arad, Israel continues to hold Kuntar.

The Lebanon Plan

In 2006 Samir Kuntar became part of a more elaborate peace plan promoted by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and UN envoy Terje Rød-Larsen.[6] It included six steps:

  1. The UN marks the boundary between Lebanon and Syria.
  2. Syria publicly declares that the Shebaa farms are Lebanese territory.
  3. The Lebanese Army takes up positions on its southern border with Israel.
  4. Israel withdraws from Shebaa Farms and hands them over to Lebanon. The Israeli Air Force stops flying over Lebanese territory.
  5. Siniora formally announces the end of Israeli occupation, and all militias, including Hezbollah, are disarmed.
  6. Everything possible is done to investigate the fate of Ron Arad. Israel frees Samir Kuntar and all other Lebanese prisoners. Hezbollah leaves the border area.

Hezbollah abducts Israeli soldiers

Main article: Zar'it-Ayta ash-Shab incident

On July 12 2006 Hezbollah attacked an Israeli border patrol and captured two soldiers. They were meant to be released in exchange for Samir Kuntar. In subsequent interviews on Al-Manar TV station Dr Mohamad Jawad Khalifeh, the Lebanese Minster of Health, congratulated Hezbollah for "its great actions" and said that "Lebanon has the right to regain its prisoners and liberate them". Ali Ammar, a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese Parliament, stated his opinion that "particularly at this basic stage in the history of the homeland and the nation, this government should have expressed solidarity with its people and let Samir Quntar feel that he is a Lebanese par excellence."[7]

References

  1. ^ "Nasrallah: no prisoner swap without Samir Kuntar". Canadian Jewish News. November 13 2003. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Israel backs deal with Hizbullah to swap prisoners". The Guardian. November 10 2003. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  3. ^ "Israel agrees to free prisoners in secret deal with Hizbullah". The Irish Times. January 26 2004. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Arad could alter release criteria". The Jerusalem Post. January 27 2004. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  5. ^ "ROUNDUP: Hamas, Hezbollah vow to abduct more Israeli soldiers". Deutsche Presse-Agentur. January 30 2004. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Diplomatic maneuvers". Mideast Mirror. June 1 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Lebanese Hezbollah TV talk show discusses implications of operation". BBC Worldwide Monitoring. January 13 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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