Samir Quntar; Born a Druze and Killed as a 'Shia'

In a large funeral, Hezbollah Lebanon buried Samir Quntar, the oldest Lebanese prisoner in Israeli jails, on Monday, December 30. Quntar was killed in the bombing of a residential complex in the town of Jaramana on the outskirts of Damascus, the capital of Syria. The Syrian government and Hezbollah hold Israel responsible for this attack, while Tel Aviv welcomed Quntar's death but did not claim responsibility for it. Representatives from Lebanese and Palestinian political groups, along with Mohammad Sadegh Fazli, the Iranian ambassador in Beirut, attended Quntar's funeral. Hashem Safi al-Din, the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council, also participated. He was buried in a Shia cemetery in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which ended the debates about Quntar's religion; he had converted to Shia Islam. Quntar began his life as a secular Druze who believed in Arab nationalism. His thoughts were influenced by Marxism, and he joined the Palestinian Liberation Organization. At the age of 16, he was arrested following a failed operation to kidnap an Israeli nuclear scientist, during which the scientist and his 4-year-old daughter were killed. Quntar was an official member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization until the mid-1980s. He was recognized as an active member of a group called 'The Prisoners' Movement' in Israeli prisons. According to Hassan al-Zein, the author of the most famous book about Quntar titled 'My Story,' Quntar's relationship with Shia Islam began in 2000. Al-Zein, who is a close friend of Samir Quntar, stated in an interview with 'Huffington Post Arabic' that Quntar's connection with Hezbollah began in 1999 when Hezbollah sought to free him in a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, assigned one of the party's officers to communicate with Quntar through a mobile phone that had been smuggled into the prison by bribing an Israeli officer. Al-Zein suggests that Quntar likely converted to Shia Islam in 2005. That year, during a difficult night, Quntar's cell was targeted for inspection. Following that, Quntar began to pray, reciting prayers attributed to Imam Hussein, the third Shia Imam. When Israeli officers could not find the mobile phone, Quntar told his cellmates that this was a result of his prayers. Quntar's conversion to Shia Islam did not affect his relationship with his Druze family, who considered religion a personal matter. He married Zainab al-Barjawi, a Shia Lebanese journalist working for the Arabic-language Al-Alam network affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran. He began his life in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Shia area under Hezbollah's influence. According to al-Zein, with the onset of the Syrian crisis, Quntar went to Syria to participate in the war against the regime's opponents with the aim of 'defending the resistance axis.' Quntar's political developments were related to changes in the political scene in Lebanon, which has always been connected to the Palestinian issue. The Shia Hezbollah, which is considered the heir to the 'Palestinian resistance,' also attracted prominent leftist figures from the 'Palestinian resistance.' These figures shifted from 'resisting Israeli occupation by Hezbollah' and 'Syrian hegemony over Lebanon' to supporting Hezbollah to the extent that they referred to Nasrallah as 'the Master of Resistance.' This phenomenon is clearly seen among Shia Lebanese intellectuals, many of whom came from the impoverished southern Lebanon. In the 1960s and 1970s, many of them supported the 'leftist Palestinian resistance,' characterized by 'Arab nationalism,' but gradually became speakers defending Hezbollah and its ideals. Those who did not undergo this transformation mostly remained members of the Lebanese Communist Party. Some analysts cite numerous reasons for this transformation, including Syria's role in Lebanon in preventing the establishment of a non-sectarian society and the mistakes of the Palestinian movement that caused enmity among many Lebanese classes.