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File:Samir kuntar.jpg
Samir Kuntar

Samir Kuntar (Template:Lang-ar, also transcribed Sameer, Kantar, Quntar, Qantar) (born July 20, 1962 in Aabey, Lebanon), is a Lebanese Druze who belonged to the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), a pro-Palestinian organization led by Abu Abbas. The PLF is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, Israel, Canada and the European Union. He participated in an attack on an Israeli family in 1979, killing four Israelis: a 28 year-old man, his four year-old daughter, and two Israeli policemen. After admitting the charges and being convicted in the same year, he received four life imprisonment sentences and has been in Israeli prisons ever since.

Attack into Israel from Southern Lebanon

On April 22, 1979, Samir Kuntar led a group of four who entered Israel from Lebanon by boat. The group members were Abdel Majeed Asslan born in 1955, Mhanna Salim Al-Muayed born in 1960 and Ahmed AlAbras born in 1949. They all belonged to the Palestine Liberation Front under the leadership of Abu Abbas. The group departed from the seashore of Tyre in Southern Lebanon using a 55 horse-powered motorized rubber boat with an 88 km/h speed. The goal of the operation was to attack Nahariya, 10 kilometers away from the Lebanese border. The group called their operation the Nasser Operation.

Around midnight they arrived at the coastal town of Nahariya. The four killed a policeman who came across them. The group then entered a high building, 61 Jabotinski Street, where they parted into two groups. One group broke into the apartment of the Haran family before police reinforcements had arrived. The militants 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 neighbour.

Shootout and capture by Israel

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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 the father, Danny, at close range in front of his daughter in the back and drowned him in the sea to ensure he was dead. Next, he smashed the four year old girl's head, Einat, on beach rocks and crushed her skull with the butt of his rifle.

Back in the crawl space, 2-year-old Yael Haran was accidentally suffocated to death by her mother's attempts to quiet her whimpering from revealing their hideout, 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 AlAbrass, was freed by Israel in the Ahmed Jibril prisoner exchange deal of May 1985 (1,150 Arab political prisoners were exchanged for three Israeli prisoners-of-war held in Lebanon), but Kuntar was not included in the deal.

Several months later, the PLF seized the Achille Lauro, an Italian cruise ship, demanding that Israel release Kuntar, along with other Palestinian prisoners. The hijackers killed a wheelchair-bound American Jewish passenger, Leon Klinghoffer.

Details of the Attack

According to Smadar Haran, her last memories of Danny and Einat, that day, were when they were being led away at gun point by Kuntar. She could hear from her closet space Danny telling Einat, "Don't be scared, my baby, it will be alright" and Einat replied to him in her little voice, "Dad, where is Mommy? I want Mommy." Smadar's last memory of her 2-year-old daughter, Yael, was when her little daughter was taken to the apartment hiding space. Right before Yael had her mouth covered by her mother, she asked her mother "Where is my little pacifier." There was no time to search for the pacifier. Minutes later Smadar covered Yael's mouth to keep her from revealing the hiding space. Smadar soon felt her daughter's tiny tongue licks and lip sucking on the palm of her hand. She didn't know what to make of it at first but hours later was told by doctors and paramedics that the reason Yael was licking her palm while she covered her mouth was because she was gasping for air.

According to a 1979 Israeli Maariv (Hebrew: מַעֲרִיב‎) Newpaper which described details of this attack: After drowning Danny in the sea in front of little Einat (all this taking place as Ahmed Al-Brass, Mhanna Salim Al-Muayed, and Abdel Majeed Asslan stood and served as look outs and backup cover for Kuntar), Kuntar, then turned his attention towards the frightened little 4-year old. He took his rifle and then swung it across the little toddler's head, knocking her to the ground. As little Einat was knocked to the ground, she was screaming and crying hysterically "mommy daddy help me," while thrashing her little legs around in the sand. But unfortunately Einat was alone, and no one was there to save her. Kuntar then dragged the little toddler a couple of feet to the closest rock he could find, this was while she was begging him not to hurt her. Kuntar, then laid her head down on a rock, with the intention of crushing it with the butt of his rifle. Einat, instinctively covered her head with her little arms, Kuntar struggled with the little toddler until he finally managed to clear her arms out of the way so that he could aim for her head. Once her arms were out of the way, Kuntar proceeded on beating her on the head over and over with the butt of his rifle, and repeatedly stomping on her little body as hard as he could as well, until blood rushed out of her ears and mouth, and her little cries faded away as she was knocked into unconsciousness. Then, to ensure she was dead, Kuntar continued on beating her over the head, as hard as he could, several more times until her skull was crushed and she was dead.

Support for Samir Kuntar

Although Kuntar has admitted his complicity in war crimes, many times and expressed pride about the killings, he has many supporters in Lebanon and Israel (among leftists and Peace Now brigades in particular) who maintain that he is innocent. Other supporters, alternately, claim that the Harans (including the four year-old child) were legitimate targets and consider Kuntar to be a political prisoner. Kuntar married an Israeli Arab girl during his imprisonment but divorced her. During his imprisonment Kuntar graduated israeli open university in social and political science.

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.

Israel then agreed to release Samir Kuntar on condition that Hezbollah provided "solid evidence" as to the fate of Ron Arad, an air force navigator missing in Lebanon since 1986.

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.

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. 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-Shtula incident

On July 12 2006 Hezbollah attacked an Israeli border patrol and captured two soldiers, sparking the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War. 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." On May 26, 2008, Israeli sources announced that Samir Kuntar was among those who would be exchanged for the two reservists captured by Hezbollah.

See also

References

  1. U.S. Department of State -- Foreign Terrorist Organizations
  2. Canada public safety - Currently listed entities
  3. The Council of the European Union: Council decision of 21 December 2005, Official Journal of the European Union, L340, p.64-65, December 23, 2005
  4. Samir Kuntar... The REAL Samir Kuntar
  5. "Nasrallah: no prisoner swap without Samir Kuntar". Canadian Jewish News. November 13 2003. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. "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)
  7. "Israel agrees to free prisoners in secret deal with Hizbullah". The Irish Times. January 26 2004. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. "Arad could alter release criteria". The Jerusalem Post. January 27 2004. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  9. "ROUNDUP: Hamas, Hezbollah vow to abduct more Israeli soldiers". Deutsche Presse-Agentur. January 30 2004. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. "Diplomatic maneuvers". Mideast Mirror. June 1 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. "Lebanese Hezbollah TV talk show discusses implications of operation". BBC Worldwide Monitoring. January 13 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. Israel says Hezbollah exchange deal is close

External links

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