This comment still needs work – the original version lacked NPOV and was suspected of supporting a racist, colonialist occupation. Please edit it to improve it further.
Some people suggest that Hezbollah supports Kuntar even though he is suspected of murder of some children.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/7487
On June 24, 2006 Israeli militants crossed into one of the Occupied Territories (Gaza) and kidnapped some Palestinians: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muamar_family_detention_incident This ignited the sequence of events which led to the 2006 Israeli invasion of the Gaza strip and the Israel/Lebanon summer war of 2006.
A few weeks later, July 12, 2006 Lebanese Hezbollah militants crossed the border with Israel in an operation dubbed “Operation Truthful Promise,” which was aimed at nabbing Israeli soldiers in exchange for Lebanese prisoners. Hezbollah succeeded in the operation and successfully detained two Israeli soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. During the operation, eight Israeli soldiers were killed. Israel responded with further amplification of the conflict.
The story goes further back than July of 2006. It really began in April 1979! On Sabbath day, April 22, 1979, Danny and Smadar Haran met up with Samir Kuntar.
Danny and Smadar were a loving Israeli couple. They had everything they could ever hope for… love, marriage and two precious daughters, Einat, 4 and Yael, 2. That day Smadar was home anticipating Danny's return from work and preparing for the Sabbath. She had just picked up their two toddlers from day care. Danny, on the other hand, was looking forward to nothing more than getting home and spending time with his wife and his two young daughters. Traditionally, the Sabbath is the most special day of the week, the day the family gets to spend time together and celebrate their bond to Judaism. It was especially important for Danny who, as a young father, had to work extra hard in order to provide for his wife and young children. Little did Smadar know that this would be the last Sabbath she would celebrate with her family because of a man named Samir Kuntar. Around midnight the nightmare began!
(Samir Kuntar; also spelled: Sameer Kuntar, Kantar, Qantar, Kintar, Quntar, Qintar, Cantar) What's the deal with Samir Kuntar?
Since April 22, 1979 Samir Kuntar has been incarcerated in an Israeli prison. Samir Kuntar, a Druze from the Lebanese mountain village of Aabey , who currently holds the dubious distinction of being the longest held Lebanese prisoner in Israeli jails. Kuntar is currently ONE of FOUR Lebanese prisoners still serving time in Israeli jails along with 12 Lebanese missing persons detained by Israel and 12 Lebanese missing persons since the 2006 conflict. Kuntar was convicted and sentenced to a 542 years prison sentence by the state of Israel . Israel even almost tried to pass a bill to have him executed! What did he do? What was his crime?
The crime took place on April 22, 1979 when Kuntar led a group of 3 other terrorists, all members of Abu Abbas PLF (Palestinian Liberation Front), infiltrated the Israeli coastal city of Naharya and broke into the Haran family apartment and took Danny Haran and his 4 year old daughter Einat Haran hostage. When Kuntar and his gang broke into the apartment, the wife, Smadar Haran and her 2 year old daughter Yael, were also present in the apartment. Smadar managed to find a crawl space into which she, her younger daughter, 2 year old Yael, and a neighbor all hid. To prevent Yael from crying and giving away their hiding place, Smadar covered the child's mouth with her hand. Kuntar and his group took Danny and little Einat down to the beach. At the beach Kuntar allegedly shot Danny in the back. Danny survived the gun shot but moments later was allegedly drowned personally by Kuntar. All this was witnessed by the young daughter. Kuntar allegedly forced her to watch her father's murder so that [in Kuntar's words] “his death would be the last sight she would ever see.” Kuntar then allegedly laid the little toddler down on a rock and smashed her head with the butt of his rifle. She didn’t die right away, so Kuntar allegedly beat her with his rifle repeatedly, over and over again (all this done, while she was screaming and crying), to ensure that she was dead.
Meanwhile in the apartment, Smadar's attempt to muffle her daughter's whimpering proved fatal. Yael was accidentally suffocated by Smadar and died within the hiding space.
And on July 12, 2006, the one of the reasons why Ehud Goldawasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped by Hezbollah, was apparently to force Israel to release/surrender Samir Kuntar, along with solidarity for Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Now the dilemma is, should Israel release Samir Kuntar in order to gain the release of Goldwasser and Regev? Kuntar might be freed in the next couple of days in exchange for these two soldiers, or their caskets, since there hasn’t been even one sign of life since their kidnapping on July 12th.
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There is another point worth mentioning. Hezbollah has never claimed that Kuntar was innocent or that he may have been framed. They only demand his release due to his being held unlawfully – Israel has no right to imprison him.
Kuntar is probably the most hated person by the Israeli public. He is known as the “killer of Nahrya” instead of “terrorist of Nahrya.” Israel has an extensive history of releasing prisoners with blood on their hands in exchange for other prisoners with blood on their hands. It has been done in the past and most expect that, it would happen again. This time with Kuntar. It is important to keep in mind that prisoners who are in Israeli jails are serving time for something. Can the detained Israeli soldiers be compared to Samir Kuntar?
The Sinai Peninsula, Israel gave back under negotiations, but the West Bank and Gaza Israel have not (yet) been given back to the Palestinians, despite the negotiations of the Oslo Accords: the West Bank remains occupied by Israeli settlers and soldiers and the Gaza Strip remains totally surrounded by Israeli borders and security forces and is frequently attacked by Israel. In 1985 during the famous “Ahmed Jibril Exchange” Israel released 1200 prisoners for the release of 3 IOF soldiers, some of those prisoners and IOF soldiers who were released had blood on their hands including Kozo Okamoto who killed 22 Israelis. Israel also currently holds 10,000 Palestinian prisoners, some of which have been incarcerated for conspiring, carrying out, and masterminding murderous terrorist attacks (suicide bombings, shootings, etc…), which targeted Jewish civilians in Israel. Very few (only two?) Israelis responsible for conspiring, carrying out, and masterminding murderous terrorist attacks (bombs dropped from aeroplanes, shootings, etc…), which targeted Palestinian civilians in Israeli-occupied Palestine are incarcerated in the West Bank and Gaza. Anyone, who reads this article and does not shed a tear, is not a human being.
Appeasement didn't work with Hitler and it will not work with Hezbollah nor the IOF. “Negotiations” solving the root causes of the conflict, giving equal power to all citizens of the region and establishing mutually acceptable systems of justice is probably the only solution: continued occupation will not solve the conflict.
The Official Website of Samir Kuntar http://SamirKuntar.net
Israel moots Kuntar prisoner swap (AL-JAZEERA 9/17/2006) http://english.aljazeera.net/News/Archive/Archive?ArchiveID=35918
Free Samir Kuntar (Haaretz article 09/04/2006) http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/758531.html
Plot to free Kuntar may have led to fight (Washington Times 8/8/2006) http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060807-111009-8857r.htm
Nasrallah says no deal without Samir (9/12/2006 BBC article “Nasrallah Demands Militant Free”) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5340364.stm
“Hizballah Wants Israel to Free Child-Killer” (Cybercast News Service, 7/18/2006) http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200607/INT20060718b.html
More than 25 years later, militant still atop Hezbollah's list for swap (Seattle Times 8/16/2006) http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003168928_lebswap02.html?syndication=rss
Why Hezbollah Attacked Israel (Mens News Daily 8/09/2006) http://mensnewsdaily.com/2006/08/09/why-hezbollah-attacked-israel
Samir Kuntar to be released very soon The Jerusalem Post 1/6/2007 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467671390&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
Video of an interview with Smadar Haran on CBC (software such as mplayer or other software recognising realplayer codecs required) http://www.cbc.ca/MRL/clips/rm-lo/milewski-kuntar060914.rm