The brother of a Lebanese prisoner incarcerated in Israel for the murder of members of an Israeli family, says he hopes the 2 IDF reservists are alive so that Israel will be forced to pay a heavy price for their return home. Basam Quntar a Lebanese journalist, for years has waged the campaign on behalf of his brother Samir, who Hizbullah demands be released in any bigger deal struck with Israel.Samir, a Lebanese Druze who belonged to the Palestine Liberation Front, participated in a terror attack in which four Israelis including a 28 year old man and his four year old daughter and two Israeli policemen were murdered, in 1979 in Nahariya in northern Israel.. Details of the interview were published Friday morning in the Arab newspaper Ma Al Khadat in Tamra. The mini exchange conducted between Hizbullah and Israel earlier this week is an added Hizbullah achievement aside from the resistance, Quntar said. “’It was a release, whether we are talking about live prisoners or the bodies of martyrs, it was in the framework of promises the leadership (Hizbullah) took upon itself to free all prisoners and return them to their homes,” he said. Basam said he hoped the exchange from earlier in the week will pave the way for a larger deal in which Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev will return home. The bigger deal he said will include the release of not just Lebanese prisoners, but also Palestinians and Israeli Arabs incarcerated in Israel. Basam said that progress in the next deal is dependent on information concerning the fate of Goldwasser and Regev. “’From a humane aspect we admire their feelings, they have been forced to feel what it is like, distance from loved ones and those close to you for years,” he said.Basam called on the families of the 2 IDF reservists to press the Israeli government to agree to a deal that will result in his brother being returned home, and the soldiers' freedom.10/19/07
