The new dawn of Lebanon?

One of the banners awaiting the child murderer Kuntar on his way to the beginning of celebrations in Beirut says "Liberation of the captives: a new dawn for Lebanon and Palestine".

I strongly suspect that there is a typo in this banner: it should be "down", which aptly describes the touching moment of national unity, when Muslims, Druse and Christians gather to receive as a hero someone who in normal society will rot in infamy and isolation of a jail.

From a "moderate" Lebanese "The Daily Star":

Speaking to Al-Jazeera television about the returning Lebanese prisoners, Christian opposition leader and head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun said, "honoring the detainees is a must."

Aoun is a Christian, albeit affiliated with Hezbollah.

Leader of the parliamentary majority MP Saad Hariri meanwhile welcomed Wednesday's swap deal, saying it was "a historical day of national joy."

Hariri - one of the Muslim leaders of an anti-Syrian coalition.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Elias Murr congratulated Hizbullah and the Lebanese for the swap deal. "Today is a day of victory for the unity of the people, the army and the resistance," he said in a statement.

Murr - a Christian, of anti-Syrian persuasion...

And this is the way it goes. Apparently, people who normally hate each other's guts are united for a cause. Should I explain the cause? Nah...

At least some people in Lebanon think differently. Small consolation.

On a lighter note: the sad day and the whole stomach-turning festival of joy have their moments:

It is not a gun in my pocket, I am real happy to see you, Kuntar!

Bleh...

All in all: it is with great sorrow and gnashing of teeth that I force myself to quote Olmert (nothing to do about it, his speechwriter was real good yesterday):

Woe is the nation that celebrates at this hour the release of a man that crushed the skull of an infant.

Yep.