The Prisoners (update)
On the BBC website - 'Who are the Mid-East prisoners?', 2006/07/26 (their bold, my italics):
Following a major prisoner swap in early 2004, in which more than 400 prisoners were released to Hezbollah in exchange for a reservist colonel and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers, Israel now admits to holding just three Lebanese. Chief among those is Samir Qantar , serving several life sentences for murder after attacking a civilian apartment block in Nahariya in 1979. A policeman, another man and his four-year-old daughter were killed. A baby girl was accidentally smothered by her mother as she hid in a cupboard.Zaki Chehab, in the New Statesman, 24 July:Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has frequently called for Qantar's release, threatening to derail the 2004 deal when he was excluded from the list of prisoners. His name has once again been raised during the current crisis. Israel has refused to discuss releasing Qantar, often linking his status to its search for information about Ron Arad, an Israeli airman missing since being shot down over Lebanon in 1986.
Israel also holds an Israel man of Lebanese descent, Nissim Nasser, arrested in 2002 and convicted of spying for Hezbollah. The third Lebanese prisoner is a fighter called Yehia Skaff, Hezbollah MP Nawar al-Sahili told the BBC. Mr al-Sahili said that Israel also holds a fourth man, a fisherman called Ali Faratan. Israel is also thought to be holding 25 Lebanese citizens of Palestinian origin, many for conventional criminal offences. Their release is not understood to be at the heart of the dispute with Hezbollah.
What prompted the operation to abduct the soldiers was a promise made by the general secretary of Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, to the family of Samir al-Qantar, a Lebanese prisoner who has been in an Israeli jail, with no family visits, since 1979. Now aged 43, Qantar was sentenced to 542 years in jail in 1980 for the deaths of three Israelis. Israel refused to release him in a prisoner exchange that took place in 2004.See also The logic of war (updates) and The fog of war - replies.
Update: Haaretz had this:
Immediately after soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were captured, Olmert said that Israel would not negotiate a prisoner exchange for their release [...] However, with the fighting still ongoing, government and military sources said recently that Israel would find it difficult to insist on this position in negotiating a cease-fire.I don't know if the prisoner mentioned is the same as the ones named in the BBC article. Names starting 'Abu ...' are usually pseudonyms.
The sources said that Israel would apparently agree to release Abu Amra Mamad, convicted of weapons possession, plus one illegal alien. It will not agree to release Palestinians. A government source added that Israel would also refuse to release Samir Kuntar, who murdered the Haran family and a police officer in Nahariya in 1979. In the last prisoner exchange with Hezbollah, the "Tennenbaum deal" of January 2004, it was agreed that Kuntar would be released only in exchange for information about missing airman Ron Arad. (1 Aug)
posted by DavidP at 16:48
3 Comments:
As I read more and more about the treatment and injuustice to prisoners - I find it hard to believe mans inhumanity to his fellow man.
How do these men & women survive these long imprisonments with no word or contact with family?
Maybe allowing him/them visitors rights could be the way to a compromise.
PLEASE READ THIS 'VERY' INTERESTING ARTICLE ABOUT SAMIR QANTAR:
Samir Qantar, Israel's longest held Lebanese prisoner who has been incarcerated in Israeli jail for the past 30 years. In fact the Hezbollah operation last year in which 2 Israeli soldiers were kidnapped, which sparked the 34 day long war, was meant to use the 2 soldiers as bargaining chips in order to force Israel to release Samir Qantar.
"THE REAL REASON SAMIR QANTAR IS ISRAEL'S LONGEST HELD LEBANESE PRISONER!!!!
(Samir Qantar; also spelled: Sameer Kantar, Kuntar, Kintar, Quntar, Qintar, Cantar)
Courtesy of: http://samirkuntar.net/Qantar.html
Samir Qantar
سمير القنطار
On 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 took hostage two Israeli soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. During the operation, eight Israeli soldiers were killed. This ignited the sequence of events which led to the Israel/Lebanon summer war.
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 a monster named Samir Qantar.
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 Qantar. Around midnight the nightmare began!
Who is Samir Qantar?
Samir Qantar is one of three Lebanese prisoners still serving time in Israeli jails. Qantar, a Lebanese Druze born on July 20, 1962 in the Lebanese mountain village of Aabey currently holds the dubious distinction of being the longest held Lebanese prisoner in Israeli jails! He was a member of Abu Abbas' notorious PLF (Palestine Liberation Front) which committed despicable acts of terror against Israeli, Jewish, and American targets worldwide throughout the 1970's and 1980's. Qantar was convicted and sentenced to a 534 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 Nasser Operation
The crime he committed was the most horrific crime ever committed on Israeli soil! On April 22, 1979 Samir Qantar along with a gang of three other PLF terrorists (Abed Majeed Asslan, Ahmed Al-Abras, and Mhanna Salim Al- Muyaed) departed from the southern Lebanese seashore city of Tyre on a 55-horsepowered rubber motor boat. Their destination was the Israeli coastal city of Naharyia, about 10 km south of the Lebanese border, the target of their operation was a residential apartment building. This operation was dubbed "Nasser Operation" and its aim was the killing and terrorizing of Israel's Jewish civilians.
The terrorists made landfall in the Israeli coastal city of Naharyia at around midnight, undetected under the cover of darkness. As they made their way along the shore, they were intercepted by an Israeli police officer whom they shot dead. In Naharya the terrorists broke into a building as other Israeli police officers arrived on the scene. The terrorists then broke into Danny and Smadar Haran's apartment, fired their weapons and threw grenades. 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.
According to Smadar "They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their 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."
Sadly, Smadar's attempt to muffle her daughter's whimpering proved fatal. Yael was accidentally suffocated and died within the hiding space.
According to Smadar Haran, her last memories of Danny and Einat, that day, were when they were being led away at gun point by Qantar. 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.
After taking Danny and four-year old Einat hostage, Qantar and his group took them down to the beach. Samir Qantar quickly shot Danny in the back and then drowned him in the Mediterranean Sea to ensure his death. While Qantar drowned Danny, he forced terrified Einat to watch and cry. According to eyewitnesses, "Danny was murdered in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see." Little Einat would not have that horrible memory in her head for long. Qantar, the brave Lebanese freedom fighter, crushed Einat's skull over and over upon the rocks with the butt of his rifle until she was dead.
During the ensuing shootout between Qantar's terror group and Israeli police, two policeman were killed along with two of the Arab terrorists. Qantar and the fourth participant, Ahmed Al-Abrass, were captured. Ahmed Al-Abrass was later free by the Israeli authorities in the infamous May 1985 Ahmed Jibril prisoner exchange deal in which 1,150 Arab prisoners (some of whom had blood on their hands) were exchanged for three Israeli soldiers. Qantar was not included in the deal.
The Israeli government determined at first to make a decision to execute Qantar, for his horrific crime, especially for the fact that he tortured and beat to death the 4-year old toddler. Israeli Prime Minister at that time, Menachem Beagin , proposed a draft resolution to the Security and Foreign Affairs Committee in the Israeli Keenest on April 24, 1979. He demanded to eliminate a previous resolution stipulated by the Israeli cabinet, which said no execution should be implemented against terrorists as the international law prohibits it. The Israeli Foreign Minister Izer Weizman and Transportation Minister Hayeem Landau supported Beagin’s draft resolution. Abraham Sharer, who was the head of the Likude parliamentary bloc also, called for Qantar’s execution. Isaac Shamir issued a statement on April 25, 1979 also calling for his execution.
The Israelis tried to implement the execution sentence on Samir Qantar and the whole parliament agreed on them. The only dilemma they were having was the Israeli law that doesn’t allow execution except for the Nazis of the World War II and to those found guilty of betrayal to their country. Furthermore, they did not want the international community on their backs; also, they wanted to improve their relationship with Egypt after the peace process. As a consequence, the Israeli central court in Haifa sentenced Qantar to 5 life sentences plus 47 years to come up with the total of 542 years. During the trial, Qantar was waving victory signs, and called himself a hero.
Samir Qantar has confessed proudly to his murder of the little girl and never once showed one ounce of remorse for his crime. Even while serving his prison term, he has bragged repeatedly during interviews about how proud he was for murdering the 4-year-old Israeli child. While in prison Qantar got married and even receives conjugal visits. Below he stands proudly alongside other convicted Arab murderer, Marwan Barghouti.
Several months later, the PLF seized the Achille Lauro, an Italian cruise ship, and demanded that Israel release Qantar along with a list of 50 other Palestinian prisoners. Ironically out of the 50 Arab Palestinian prisoners that were demanded, Qantar was the ONLY one that was "actually" named on that list. The hijackers killed a wheelchair-bound American Jewish passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, and threw him overboard into the Mediterranean Sea. Qantar was not released, but his supporters would not give up. In 2004 Israel release ALL Lebanese prisoners except for Qantar and two other Lebanese (Nissim Nasser and Yehya Sakaf). In fact Qantar, as well, was almost released by Israel during that infamous Israel Hezbollah Prisoner Exchange of 2004, BUT in the last second Hezbollah violated the agreement and Qantar remained behind bars!
War: July 12, 2006
On July 12, 2006 per orders of Hezbollah leader, Sheik Hasssan Nasrallah, Hezbollah terrorists crossed the northern Israeli border. They attacked two Israeli military vehicles with anti tank missiles, killed four soldiers, kidnapped two others and demanded the immediate unconditional release of Samir Qantar in exchange for the two abducted soldiers. Hezbollah originally named this operation "Operation Freedom for Samir Al-Qantar," but on the days leading up to the July 12 attack it was shortened to "Operation Truthful Promise." The latter referred to the "true promise" Nasrallah had made to the Qantar family that the cross-border kidnapping of IDF soldiers to force the release of Samir Qantar.
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, an 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." After the kidnapping, Samir Qantar’s brother, Bassam Qantar, said "I kiss the hands and foreheads of the warriors who executed the kidnap. I imagine Samir at the moment, with happiness raising his spirits and those of his friends," he said.
As expected, the Israeli government was not interested in negotiating with terrorists. They sent a small number of troops into southern Lebanon in an attempt to quickly find and free their two soldiers. Soon Hezbollah began shelling Israel's northern communities with Katuysha rockets in an attempt to kill as many innocent men, women and children as possible and to pressure the Israeli government to take the prisoner exchange demand. Israel had no choice but to escalate their response. Both Hezbollah, their supporters and Lebanon's civil infrastructure all suffered the consequences. Even though Israel defeated Hezbollah during this war, it still didn't manage to get its soldiers back.
During the fighting Israel captured a Hezbollah terrorist by the name of Ali Hassan Saliman. According to Saliman, in the interviews/interrogations following his capture, he said that “the main objective of Hezbollah's corss-border kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers was to secure the release of Samir Qantar.” Also, that “Nasrallah had made a promise to the Qantar family that Samir would be released. The Hezbollah operation was first and foremost aimed at releasing Qantar. Everything else was secondary.”
Israel's track record of going against it's previous policy of not releasing Arab prisoners with blood on their hands in exchange for IDF soldiers has come home to roost. Arab terrorist groups have been encouraged to kidnap Israelis in the hope (and often the expectation) that these soldiers will become bargaining chips for the release of Arab prisoners. This softening of Israel's formerly strict policy of never negotiating with terrorists has merely added fuel to the fire. Israeli soldiers are supposed to protect the children of Israel, not to facilitate the release of child murderers, such as the monster, Samir Qantar.
Neither Israelis individually nor their military intentionally targets children or any non-combatant, for that matter. When children die, it is nearly always because they are caught in the crossfire or when they are "set up" by their fellow Arab-terrorists to score propaganda points. But NEVER would manner of the killing be so pre-planned nor would the act itself be so glorified, such as that as Samir Qantar.
Smadar Haran has since remarried and is raising a new family. She hopes that Samir Qantar will stay behind bars until his dying day. "I don't believe that the terrorist will be released now, and I don't believe that the Israeli government will accept this request, after it promised not to release terrorists with blood on their hands."
We at SamirQantar.net concur with Smadar Haran. We will do whatever we can to see that Samir Qantar rots in Israeli prisons. We would also urge the Israeli government and courts to reverse the long-standing policy of not allowing for the administration of the death sentence. After all, Samir Qantar and other Samir Qantars like him never thought twice about administrating the death sentence to little Einat Haran and other Einat Harans just like her!
CONCLUSION
Qantar was not the reason Israel chose to go to war with Lebanon but he was the reason Hezbollah kidnapped the two soldiers which set the war process in motion.
POSTSCRIPT
Neither Israel nor Hezbollah doubt that Qantar murdered Danny and Einat Haran. The only difference is that Israel sees him as the cold-blooded murderer he is. Hezbollah and their supporters glorify him as a freedom fighter and hero!
There is another point worth mentioning. Hezbollah has never claimed that Qantar was innocent or that he may have been framed. They only demand his release as if he were being held unlawfully and that Israel had no right to imprison him. Once again it's all about Israel never doing any right and Arabs incapable of doing any wrong!
A SAD GRUESOME REALITY
After drowning Danny in the sea in front of little Einat, Qantar, the brave Lebanese freedom fighter, 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. Qantar 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. Qantar, 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, Qantar struggled with the little toddler until he finally managed to clear her arms out of the way so that he could aim for the head, and then he proceeded on beating her over and over with the butt of his rifle until blood rushed out of her ears and her little cries faded away as she was knocked into unconsciousness. Then, to ensure she was dead, Qantar continued on beating her over the head, as hard as he could, several more times until her skull was crushed and she was dead.
SHORT NOTE: The way Samir Qantar killed little Einat is reminiscent to the way the Nazis used to kill Jewish babies during the Holocaust, by crushing their little heads with their boots or with the butts of their rifles!
ARTICLES AND REFERENCES
Israel moots Qantar prisoner swap
(AL-JAZEERA 9/17/2006)
http://english.aljazeera.net/News/Archive/Archive?ArchiveID=35918
Free the monster Samir Qantar
(Haaretz article 09/04/2006)
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/758531.html
Plot to free terrorist (Qantar) 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 Qantar to be released very soon
The Jerusalem Post 1/6/2007
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467671390&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
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