Peres: There will be no joy in signing Kuntar's release papers

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
There will be no joy in signing the release papers for Samir Kuntar, President Shimon Peres told reporters on Tuesday. "We do not want murderers to go free," he said, "but we have a moral obligation to bring home soldiers whom we sent to defend their country", and as painful as it is for Nina Keren the mother and grandmother of Danny Haran and his daughter Einat who were killed in Nahariya by Samir Kuntar in 1982, he also had to consider the families of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who had done so much and had been waiting for two years to have their boys come home. Nina Keren had asked to speak to him, said Peres, who was scheduled to meet with her on Tuesday afternoon. "It was a very painful thing," he said, "but this is the very least that I owe her as President of the State." Peres said that he would sign the release papers conditionally. Kuntar's release is contingent on the other side fulfilling all commitments made for the prisoner exchange. If the other side fails to fulfill the commitments Kuntar will not be allowed to leave Israel.