VIDEO - Final preparations were being made Tuesday evening on the Lebanese side of the border for the prisoner exchange
between Israel
and Hizbullah,
with gunmen belonging to the Shiite group setting up a stage adorned with the photos of Samir Kuntar and the four other terrorists who are slated for release on Wednesday.
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With swap deal approved by cabinet, one last painful task remains for President Shimon Peres- pardon notorious terrorist Samir Kuntar along with four other Lebanese prisoners |
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Israel is expected to free the five terrorists in exchange for the return of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were captured by the Lebanese Shiite group in 2006 and are presumed dead.
Kuntar, Israel's longest-held Lebanese prisoner, reviled by Israelis as a man with blood on his hands, will get a hero's welcome when he returns home on Wednesday.
Video courtesy of infolive.tv
Kuntar's brother, Bassam, told Reuters "after 30 years of waiting - I was only a year and a few months old (when he was captured), I never knew him except through pictures and letters. The moment I meet him will be exceptional".
"It's a moment I've always dreamed of and that stayed in my imagination," he said, adding that fireworks, gatherings and billboards had been prepared to mark his brother's return.
Posters of Kuntar (Photo: AFP)
The Kuntar family called on all Lebanese citizens to take part in the festivities scheduled to take place Thursday in honor of Samir's release in his hometown of Abey. The celebration will follow a long march through a number of Lebanese villages.
Hizbullah TV network Al-Manar reported that the preparations for the exchange at the Nakura crossing have been completed, and trucks that are meant to transfer the remains of some 200 slain Hizbullah terrorists from Nakura have been decorated.
Nabih Berri, the speaker of Lebanon's parliament and leader of the Shiite Amal organization, also called on citizens to participate in the "liberation ceremonies welcoming the deceased and those who are being freed".
He added that the slain Hizbullah gunmen "fragmented Israeli deterrence and brought victory".
Israeli President Shimon Peres was expected to approve Kuntar's pardon on Tuesday.
Reuters contributed to the report
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