International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, 16 Jul 2008

Lebanese leaders declared a national holiday on Wednesday to celebrate the "liberation" of PLO terrorist Samir Kuntar and four Hizbullah guerillas from Israeli jail in a lopsided prisoner swap that was widely hailed as sealing the Shi’ite militia’s "victory" in the Second Lebanon War.

A short while after the bodies of abducted IDF reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were identified today, PLO terrorist Samir Kuntar and four Hizbullah prisoners were handed over to the Red Cross before crossing into Lebanon. Before journeying north to Beirut, the freed prisoners donned military fatigues and were joyously greeted along a route decoarted with yellow Hizbullah flags and posters of the ‘hero’ Kuntar.

Arriving for an official ‘red carpet’ ceremony at Beirut Airport, the five were welcomed home by the fractured country’s most senior government officials. The unusual show of unity was attended by Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, President Michel Suleiman, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, while a massive crowd banged drums, shouted for joy and swayed to lively music.

An even larger celebration is set to take place this evening in the Hizbullah stronghold of south Beirut, where the militia’s chief, sheikh Hassan Narallah, is expected to make a rare public appearance to deliver another victory speech over Israel.

In his first statement after being released, Kuntar told al-Manar: "I want to congratulate all those who sacrificed for the sake of this new victory. This is the true supplement to the July [2006] victory."

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas sent greetings to Hizbullah on the prisoner swap deal it had arranged with Israel, congratulated Kuntar’s family, and expressed condolences to the Lebanese families receiving the remains of dead relatives.

Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh also joined the celebrations today, hailing Kuntar as "a great hero" and claiming that Israel's decision to release him and the four Hizbullah fighters had undermined Israel's policy of not freeing "prisoners with blood on their hands." He urged Israel to immediately agree to "pay the price for the release of Gilad Shalit," the IDF soldier kidnapped by Gaza militants in a June, 2006 cross-border raid.

Palestinians also took to the streets of Gaza today, dancing and handing out sweets in solidarity with Kuntar and Hizbullah.

Kuntar was serving four life terms for the death of four Israelis in a brutal cross-border terror raid on the northern coastal town of Nahariyah in 1979. Leading a four-man PLO cell while still a teen, Kuntar shot dead a policemen who intercepted the attack, then killed a father in front of his four-year old daughter, before bashing in the young girl’s skull with his rifle butt. Her mother was hiding in a nearby closet with a second infant daughter, who was accidentally smothered to death when the mother tried to muffle her cries.

Copyright © 2006 International Christian Embassy Jerusalem