the news media and blogsphere is filled with misinformation regarding israel's holding of lebanese "hostages" in its jails. some claim 9,000 prisoners (but this is actually counting the Palestinian prisoners that has nothing to do with lebanon), others just say that israel is holding lebanese prisoners "without trial", which is according to their logic similar to the kidnapped soldiers held by the hezbollah.
the most coveted lebanese prisoer is Samir Kuntar. nasrallah almost blew up the 2004 prisoner exchange deal (israel released the remaining 400 lebanese prisoners it has in its jails in return for a kidnapped ex-colonel and the bodies of 3 soldiers), because israel was not willing to release Kuntar.
so who is samir kuntar and how did end up in the israeli jail. here is a short summary:
On April 22, 1979, Samir Kuntar was the leader of a group of four terrorists who entered israel from lebanon by boat. Just after midnight they arrived to Nahariya not far from the lebanese border. the four murdered a policeman they came across and broke into an apartment of the Haran family. The took 28-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. Kuntar's men understood that there were more people in the house and went around looking for them, shooting and throwing hand grenades.
After holding to the hostages, a shootout with israeli police and soldiers erupted. samir kuntar shot and killed the father at close range in front of his daughter, and then murdered the four-year-old girl by smashing her head with the butt of his rifle against a rock, crushing her skull.
Tragically, the two-year-old girl was accidentally suffocated to death, when her mother desperately tried to keep her quiet. A policeman and two of Samir Kuntar's unit were also killed. Kuntar and the fourth participant in the shootout were captured. the latter, ahmed abarrass, was freed by israel in the 1986 prisoner deal in return for three israeli soldiers.
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.
samir is a hero in lebanon. his pictures can be found in many villages. he is portrayed as a hero of the great lebanese "resistance" movement.
a true hostage held without a trial, right? if you are a hezbollah supporter and want to show your support you can find ways to do so in samir's site. if you want to read an account of that night by the mother you can find it here.
