Two reactions

By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer

Hezbollah handed over two black coffins Wednesday with the bodies of two Israeli soldiers and Israel prepared to set free a notorious attacker… Samir Kantar and four other Lebanese prisoners. ...In addition to the five prisoners, Israel also has agreed to release the bodies of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters killed over the years.

In the dead of night on April 22, 1979, Kantar and three other gunmen made their way in a rubber dinghy from Lebanon to the sleepy Israeli coastal town of Nahariya, 5 miles south of the Lebanese border. There, in a hail of gunfire and exploding grenades, they killed a policeman who stumbled upon them, then burst into the apartment of Danny Haran, herding him and his 4-year-old daughter outside at gunpoint to the beach below, where they were killed.

An Israeli court found that Kantar shot Danny Haran in front of his child, then smashed her head with his rifle butt.

Haran's wife, Smadar, who had fled into a crawl space in the family apartment with her 2-year-old daughter, accidentally smothered the child with her hand while trying to stifle her cries.
…
A giant red carpet was rolled out along a road next to the seashore on the Lebanese side of the border, next to dozens of yellow Hezbollah flags whipping in the breeze.
Hezbollah supporters set up a makeshift stage in the coastal town of Naqoura, where a brass band awaited the returning prisoners. On the platform stood a large photograph of a weeping Israeli woman. A nearby sign read, "Israel is shedding tears of pain."

Is it possible that Israeli solders killed unarmed parents before their children's eyes, and then smashed the children's skulls with their rifle butts?.. Well, for the sake of impartiality and considering the hypothetical nature of the question, I wanted to say – yes. But this is the advantage of the written word – one has time to consider and correct his folly. – So, No! But how do I know? Have I met all Israelis? – No (hell, I've never even been there). What I do, know is that Jews don't celebrate death; not even death of their enemies. During the Passover Seder even the deaths of Egyptians, who enslaved Jews for centuries, are mourned; it is said that the happiness of freedom is not complete because lives were sacrificed for it. Or in the words of Golda Meir: "We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries bloom in Israel."

Could it be possible that under some unfathomable circumstances an Israeli committed such an atrocity? – Perhaps. Under no circumstances, however, would he be considered a hero, or would such brutality be applauded. What kind of mind, what kind of soul gloats over a mother's tears for her son and lionizes a cold-blooded child murderer? – Perhaps someone who has been hurt and made to suffer beyond human comprehension. Someone who has lost the emotional and moral point of reference; someone who has been driven to insanity. Perhaps. But not an entire people! Not as a matter of policy! The fact that the inhumanity of this act even has to be pointed out defeats any reason for doing so.

In my limited experience of participating in the dialogues with two firmly opposed parties, I have always found it essential to discover some common ground; something that both parties can agree on, and hopefully build upon. What can you agree on with the people who say, "Death is good! Life (yours, and mine if that's what it takes) should be no more?" What is more basic than affirmation of life? There's a fundamental discrepancy between the views of existence by Israelis and their neighbors. At this point, I can't help but say that those who celebrate death should be invited to their own party.