17 July 2008

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.

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