Israeli settlers in Hebron are notorious for their violent actions against Palestinians.

The heart of Hebron has been occupied by approximately 500 Israeli settlers who claim the right to the city and its holy places. Despite the fact that their presence is illegal under international law, they have managed to violently seize numerous homes in the centre of the city and terrorized the local Palestinian population. Ironically, Israel has stationed a strong army force in the city in order to protect the 500 settlers but not the 170.000 Palestinian inhabitants. The city consequently displays a life that cannot but remind one of a pre-1994 apartheid South Africa. Since the Oslo Accords, Hebron is divided in two parts, with H1 falling under Palestinian authority and security control and H2 falling under Israeli control. However, the Israeli army conducts operations throughout the city, clearly violating the Oslo terms. It is not until visiting Hebron that one understands why the term apartheid is so often coined in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Hebron’s separated world leaves little to the imagination: different rights belong to different population groups and the tiny minority rules. In order to understand the situation in the West Bank it is a necessity to face the reality of Hebron. Unfortunately, in our wanderings through Hebron, we got to the see the ugliest face of the city in a taste of reality that was more than we bargained for.

Samir Kuntar in PLF Camp prior to the 1979 military operation in Naharia

Two years after Israeli army reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were captured by Hezbollah guerillas in a cross-border raid, their bodies were brought back to Israel as part of a prisoner exchange.  

Along with four Hezbollah guerillas seized during Israel’s 2006 war against Lebanon, Israel will also return Samir Kuntar, who has been imprisoned by Israel since 1979. Kuntar became a symbol of evil for Israeli public opinion, which blames him for the death of four Israelis, including Danny Haran and his four-year-old daughter Einat, during a military operation.

In the Israeli imagination, Samir Kuntar assassinated Einat Haran by smashing her head. However, Kuntar’s file, which was declassified only three days ago, makes different claims.

For almost 30 years, the contents of the Samir Kuntar file (File No. 578/79) were not authorized for publication. However, on July 13, Israeli court acceded to the request of the Hebrew-language daily Yediot Aharonot and allowed Kuntar's testimony, copies of the copious evidence and other testimonies in the file, the indictment and the judges' verdict, to be perused. 

On April 22, 1979, 16.5 years old Samir Kuntar led a group of four Popular Liberation Front (PLF) militants who entered Israel from Lebanon by boat. The group members included Abdel Majeed Asslan, Mhanna Salim Al-Muayed and Ahmed AlAbras. The group departed from the seashore of Tyre in southern Lebanon using a motorized rubber boat. The goal of the operation was to attack Nahariya, 10 kilometers away from the Lebanese border. They dubbed their operation the “Nasser Operation.”

 They all belonged to the PLF, a splinter from Ahmad Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, under the leadership of Muhammad Zaydan (Abu Abbas).