Abey, Lebanon - Five days after his release from an Israeli
jail as part of a swap between the Jewish state and the Lebanese
Shiite movement, Hezbollah, Samir Kuntar seemed more determined to
become a member of the 'Islamic resistance in Lebanon.'
'What I want now is to become a struggler in the Lebanese Islamic
resistance,' as Hezbollah is known, Kuntar said in an interview with
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Surrounded by his family members, including nieces and nephews,
Kuntar, wearing blue jeans and a blue stripped shirt, seemed more
relaxed than when he was released on July 17.
'Two things brought me happiness in the past few days: One is my
release from the Zionist jail and the other is the gift I received
from Hezbollah, which is the machine gun of the resistance,' he said
proudly at his family home in the Druze town of Abey, 35 kilometres
southeast of Beirut.
Kuntar, who turned 46 on Tuesday, received what the machine gun as
a birthday gift from the command of the Lebanese Shiite movement.
Kuntar was serving five life sentences in Israel for killing a
policeman, and a scientist and his four-year-old daughter in 1979. He
was released along with four Hezbollah members, in exchange for two
dead Israeli soldiers, whom Hezbollah snatched during a cross-border
attack on July 12, 2006.
Last week's swap, which in Lebanon was considered a victory for
Hezbollah against Israel, was achieved through a UN-appointed German
mediation after lengthy negotiations that took almost two years and
closed 'the prisoners dossier' between Hezbollah and Israel.
Kuntar praised the Germans for their effective role in securing
the swap. 'It was not just pure coincidence that the UN Secretary
General (Ban Ki-moon) has appointed a German to mediate in this
swap,' he said, noting that Germans secured previous swaps between
the movement and Israel in 1996 and 2004.
'Despite the differences in our political views with the Germans,
they have carried a good job on this humanitarian issue,' Kuntar told
dpa.
Kuntar, who said he has received several assassination threats
from Israel, stressed that he does not fear for his life, adding he
won't give in easily to the 'Zionist enemy.'
'I am taking extra precautions because I do not want to give my
martyrdom to the Israelis easily,' he said.
Several Hezbollah bodyguards equipped with earpieces and weapons
were guarding Kuntar as he sat on his family's porch for an
interview.
For the people of this village, who are mainly followers of Druze
leader Walid Jumblatt, having Hezbollah gunmen in their town, is not
a common sight.
In May, followers of Jumblatt and Hezbollah gunmen were engaged in
fierce clashes in the areas of Chouyfat, Aitat and Chimlan, which is
only 10 kilometres away from Abey.
Kuntar told dpa that Hezbollah's Secretary General Sheikh Hassan
Nasarllah personally ordered the heavy security.
Abey residents said since Kuntar's arrival, Israeli warplanes have
been hovering over the town daily.
But the threats and the planes, seemed not to bother Kuntar, who
has vowed to put the 30 years he spent in an Israeli jail behind him,
and instead focus on the continued armed resistance against Israel.
He stressed that his praise for Hezbollah was not only because it
had secured his release, but because the group has proven to be the
most effective resistance against Israel.
Besides his focus on Hezbollah, Kuntar was working on
reintegrating into family life, by spending time talking to his
nephews and nieces, who keep asking him questions about his days in
the prison. At the time of his capture in 1979, Kuntar was operating
with the secular Palestine Liberation Front, one of a number of
Palestinian revolutionary groups.
'They ask me questions how I was tortured and how I managed to
take a BA in sociology inside the jail,' Kuntar said.
But one question seemed to really bother the released prisoner,
which is the issue of the small child killed during his attack in
1979.
Israeli reports have indicated that Kuntar crushed the girl's head
with his gun during the attack.
According to Israeli reports Kuntar and the other attackers took
Danny Haran and 4-year-old Einat Haran hostage as police
reinforcements arrived on the scene.
The reports added that Kuntar then shot Danny Haran at close-range
and threw his body into the sea. He then bashed Einat's head on rocks
and with the butt of his rifle, killing her instantly.
'These are purely Israeli accusations which are totally baseless.
If you look at all the judicial reports at the time, you see there
was no mention of the incident, and that the girl had died from
gunfire,' he said.
'You can look into the report published on April 23 a day after
the attack in the Israeli paper Maarev there was no mention of this
horrible story which the Israelis have fabricated, to make me look
like a murderer and not a resistance fighter,' he said.
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