MIDDLE EAST 
Israel buries dead as Beirut welcomes prisoners swapped in exchange
Friday, 18 July, 2008
Return of Hezbollah bodies to Beirut (AAP)
Two Israeli soldiers have been laid to rest two years after being taken by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid which sparked the vicious 2006 Lebanon war. Meanwhile, the five living militants for whom their bodies were swapped receive a hero's welcome in Beirut.
Samir Kuntar and four others prayed at slain Hezbollah chief Imad Mughniyeh's grave, pledging to follow in his footsteps and continue fighting Israel. Kuntar was arrested in 1979 for murdering an Israeli policeman, a father and his two daughters in a cross-border attack. He is notorious in Israel for killing one of the girls - aged four - by bashing in her skull with his rifle butt.
RELATED: Hezbollah, Israel in prisoner swap
The seizure of soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in the 2006 raid sparked a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon in which Israel caused around 1,200 civilian deaths. It was also slammed by international bodies for its heavy use of cluster bombs in the region.
Many Israelis believed freeing Kuntar was too high a price to pay for the return of the slain soldiers, and some warned the exchange would only embolden Israel's regional enemies.
"We wanted to welcome you again with your comrade Eldad (Regev)," he said. "We wanted to embrace you and see you smile. But it is our tears that accompany you today, and our heart is heavy," said former prime minister Ehud Barak at Goldwasser's grave.
Wanted, dead or alive
Hezbollah did not reveal whether the soldiers were alive or dead until their coffins were brought to the border for exchange on Wednesday, but press reports said the army now believed they were both killed in the ambush in which they were taken from their burning Humvee, or that one may have died shortly afterwards. One paper said forensic pathologists had difficulty reaching their conclusions because the bodies had not been refrigerated.
Fighting words
Hundreds of people welcomed Kuntar in his hometown of Abey, a mountain hamlet 16 kilometres south of Beirut.Israel also returned to Lebanon the bodies of nearly 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters who were killed fighting Israel over the past three decades.
Villagers showered the coffins with rice and rose petals. The coffins were wrapped in Lebanese and Hezbollah flags and covered with wreaths. A banner on one of the trucks read, "The Martyrs of Victory".
The coffins were taken later to a Hezbollah educational complex near Beirut airport where forensics experts began DNA tests in an attempt to identify the bodies.
"This time yesterday I was in the hands of the enemy (Israelis). But at this moment, I am yearning more than before to confront them," Kuntar said. Hezbollah's weapons are 'a red line' that no one should be allowed to cross, he told reporters.
"Kuntar is a brutal child murderer who instead of being rejected upon his return was cheered and greeted like a rock star and this is disgusting and deplorable," said David Baker, a spokesman from the Israeli prime minister's office.
Source: AFP/AP
Samir Kuntar and four others prayed at slain Hezbollah chief Imad Mughniyeh's grave, pledging to follow in his footsteps and continue fighting Israel. Kuntar was arrested in 1979 for murdering an Israeli policeman, a father and his two daughters in a cross-border attack. He is notorious in Israel for killing one of the girls - aged four - by bashing in her skull with his rifle butt.
RELATED: Hezbollah, Israel in prisoner swap
The seizure of soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in the 2006 raid sparked a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon in which Israel caused around 1,200 civilian deaths. It was also slammed by international bodies for its heavy use of cluster bombs in the region.
Many Israelis believed freeing Kuntar was too high a price to pay for the return of the slain soldiers, and some warned the exchange would only embolden Israel's regional enemies.
"We wanted to welcome you again with your comrade Eldad (Regev)," he said. "We wanted to embrace you and see you smile. But it is our tears that accompany you today, and our heart is heavy," said former prime minister Ehud Barak at Goldwasser's grave.
Wanted, dead or alive
Hezbollah did not reveal whether the soldiers were alive or dead until their coffins were brought to the border for exchange on Wednesday, but press reports said the army now believed they were both killed in the ambush in which they were taken from their burning Humvee, or that one may have died shortly afterwards. One paper said forensic pathologists had difficulty reaching their conclusions because the bodies had not been refrigerated.
Fighting words
Hundreds of people welcomed Kuntar in his hometown of Abey, a mountain hamlet 16 kilometres south of Beirut.Israel also returned to Lebanon the bodies of nearly 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters who were killed fighting Israel over the past three decades.
Villagers showered the coffins with rice and rose petals. The coffins were wrapped in Lebanese and Hezbollah flags and covered with wreaths. A banner on one of the trucks read, "The Martyrs of Victory".
The coffins were taken later to a Hezbollah educational complex near Beirut airport where forensics experts began DNA tests in an attempt to identify the bodies.
"This time yesterday I was in the hands of the enemy (Israelis). But at this moment, I am yearning more than before to confront them," Kuntar said. Hezbollah's weapons are 'a red line' that no one should be allowed to cross, he told reporters.
"Kuntar is a brutal child murderer who instead of being rejected upon his return was cheered and greeted like a rock star and this is disgusting and deplorable," said David Baker, a spokesman from the Israeli prime minister's office.
Source: AFP/AP
