With regards to the terrorist attack of April 22, 1979 in Nahariyah. I was there and
I was on the scene that fateful night in Nahariyah and I was an eyewitness to the whole ghastly murder.
The four entered Israel from Lebanon by a rubber dingy boat.
I was an active member of the Civil Guard of Ma’alot on patrol as the driver of the van patrol vehicle that fateful night.
Around 11:45 PM Shabbatai Alon the commander of the Civil Guard in Ma'alot and I had gone to the Christian Arab village of Maaliyah on patrol to the Hila Lookout.
We had stopped at the house of an old friend the commander an ex member of the Israeli Knesset Masaad Kassis to drink sweet black Arab coffee under his grape arbor outside.
Taggart forts (or Tegart forts) were a series of fortified police stations built by the British Mandate authorities in Palestine between 1940 and 1948 to control the Arab revolt and, later, border areas. Designed by Sir Charles Taggart, these concrete structures, such as at Latrun and Metzudat Koach, are characterized by their distinctive, functional, and massive design, often serving as critical military positions
As we sat in the village of Maaliyah that warm night we left the door of the old Citroen police van open so we could monitor and listen in to the radio calls.
The four PLO terrorists landed in Nahraiyah opposite the beach front villa of Amnon Sela, the wealthy owner of a local transportation company, at around midnight.
They walked up to the villa gate and pressed the intercom buzzer. Sela and his wife had noticed the suspicious figures carrying backpacks from the vantage point of the upstairs bedroom and had assumed they were burglars and telephoned the police.
Due to his standing in the community the Police responded immediately and the dispatcher called the watch commander Eliyahu Shachar who was the first to respond and quickly arrived at the scene.
I can still recall his final scream on the radio “Micablim, neftsati!" (Hebrew for "Terrorists, I've been wounded!") and then silence.
Commander Alon and I jumped into the van and raced off in the direction of the main road (*89) between Ma’alot and Nahariyah.
Just as we reached the Kibbutz Kabri summit we received a radio call to rush to Nahariyah.
After killing Eliyahu Shachar the Terrorist group then entered an apartment building on 61 Jabotinsky Street planning to abduct two or three people and take them back to Lebanon.
One of the PFLP men, Abdel Majeed Asslan, attempted to break into the apartment of Charles Shapiro (34), a recent immigrant from South Africa. Hearing the attempted break in Shapiro, who was armed with a 44 magnum revolver, shot through his apartment door at the terrorists standing outside killing Asslan.
Kuntar and the two remaining terrorists Mhanna Salim al-Muayed, and Ahmed al-Abras ran downstairs where they encountered Moshe Sasson, a resident who was trying to reach the building's bomb shelter carrying his two young daughters, one under each arm.
Kuntar shoved Sasson and slammed a handgun into the back of his skull. However, Sasson managed to escape when the hall lights suddenly went out, and hid under a parked car.
The three remaining terrorists then broke into the apartment of the Haran family taking the 31 year-old Danny Haran hostage along with his four-year-old daughter, Einat.
The mother, Smadar Haran, who had heard the gunfire was able to climb up and hide in a crawl space above the bedroom with her two-year-old daughter Yael, and a neighbor – Sasson's wife.
Regretfully the hysterical Smadar Haran accidentally suffocated her baby girl Yael while attempting to quiet her whimpering, which would have revealed their hiding place.
This is what occurred that night according to Smadar Haran Kaiser:
"It had been a peaceful Sabbath day. My husband, Danny, and I had picnicked with our little girls, Einat, 4, and Yael, 2, on the beach not far from our home in Nahariya, a city on the northern coast of Israel, about six miles south of the Lebanese border.
Around midnight, we were asleep in our apartment when four terrorists, sent by Abu Abbas from Lebanon, landed in a rubber boat on the beach two blocks away.
Gunfire and exploding grenades awakened us as the terrorists burst into our building.
They had already killed a police officer.
As they charged up to the floor above ours, I opened the door to our apartment. In the moment before the hall light went off, they turned and saw me.
As they moved on, our neighbor from the upper floor came running down the stairs. I grabbed her and pushed her inside our apartment and slammed the door.
Outside, we could hear the men storming about. Desperately, we sought to hide. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms.
Then Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door to take refuge in an underground shelter when the terrorists came crashing into our flat.
They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades.
I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe.
As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "This is just like what happened to my mother," I thought."
As police began to arrive, the terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach.
When we reached Nahariyah the terrorist had already taken Danny Haran and his young daughter to the beach and I remember seeing the actions described here according to a 1979 Israeli Maariv Newpaper which described the details of this attack:
"After drowning Danny in the sea in front of little Einat (all this taking place as Ahmed Al-Brass and Mhanna Salim Al-Muayed stood and served as look outs and backup cover for Kuntar)
Kuntar, then turned his attention towards the frightened little 4-year old. He took his rifle and then swung it across the little toddler's head, knocking her to the ground.
As little Einat was knocked to the ground, she was screaming and crying hysterically "mommy daddy help me," while thrashing her little legs around in the sand.
But unfortunately Einat was alone, and no one was there to save her. Kuntar then dragged the little toddler a couple of feet to the closest rock he could find, this was while she was begging him not to hurt her.
Kuntar, then laid her head down on a rock, with the intention of crushing it with the butt of his rifle. Einat, instinctively covered her head with her little arms, Kuntar struggled with the little toddler until he finally managed to clear her arms out of the way so that he could aim for her head.
Then, to ensure she was dead, Kuntar continued on beating her over the head, as hard as he could, several more times until her skull was crushed and she was dead."
