Global Voices Online

Eight Tunisians were among the 197 bodies handed over by Israel to Lebanon, in the latest prisoner swap between the two countries. Tunisian bloggers are calling for the return of their remains to their country - and honouring the dead in a state funeral.

Tunisian blogger Sami ben Gharbia hails the fighters, killed in the 80s and mid-90s, as martyrs, saying they deserve to be buried in Tunisia. He writes:

تزامن خبر تحرير الأسرى اللبنانيين الخمسة وعلى رأسهم عميد الأسرى العرب سمير القنطار و الذي جاء نتيجة أخر عملية تبادل مع الكيان الصهيوني التي صار يتقنها حزب الله اللبناني مع النداء باسترجاع رفات ثمانية شهداء تونسيين لقوا نحبهمه في جبهات الجنوب الللبناني المقاوم

News of the liberation of the five Lebanese prisoners of war, led by the dean of Arab prisoners Samir Kuntar came as a result of the latest prisoner swap with the Zionist regime, which the Lebanese Hizbullah has now perfected, and coincided with a call for the return of the remains of the eight Tunisian martyrs, who were killed on the battle fields of resistance in Southern Lebanon.

Ben Gharbia also links to a page which has the names and photographs of the Tunisian fighters here.

Annaqued [Ar] joins his colleague in calling for a state funeral for the eight Tunisians. He writes:

لم لا عودة رفات ابطالنا الثمانية الى تونس … بمراسم رسمية؟؟؟

Why haven't the remains of our eight heroes been returned to Tunisia .. in a state ceremony?

Commenting on this post, Al-Hallège writes:

هذا أبسط ما يكرم به الشهيد..و الأمة التي لا تحترم شهداءها هي أمة الى زوال

This is the least we can do to honour our martyrs .. and a nation which doesn't respect its martyrs is one which will be destroyed soon.

Another commentator, Abunadem adds:

فعلا هدا هو الحد الادنى لحق المواطنة في اي دولة وهو الاعتراف بالانسان حيا او ميتا .انظر مادا يفعل الصهاينة حين يفقد او يموت لهم انسان ؟؟يطالبون به حتى وا كلفهم التنازل عن الكثير اما نحن فلا يهتز لنا جفن ؟؟؟
لمادا لم تتحدث تلفزتنا الوطنية عن هؤلاء على الاقل ؟؟؟

It is true. The least a citizen deserves in any country is recognising that he is a human being, whether he is dead or alive. See what the Zionists do when the lose one of their sons or one of them dies. They demand their bodies even when that forces them to sacrifice a lot. As for us, no one cares. Why aren't our national television stations talking about those people at least???

Writing at Nocturnal Thoughts, blogger Tarek [Ar] reviews Tunisian newspapers and wonders why the story of the eight Tunisian fighters were not covered more prominently.

And last but not least, blogger Chiheb praises Hizbullah for humiliating Israel. He says:

خلال عمليّة تبادل الأسرى اللّبنانيّين {…} أثبت حزب اللّه قدرته على تركيع أسطورة الكيان الصّهيوني،وحرّك مشاعر العرب التّي تعاني المرارة من المحيط إلى الخليج ،ويعلن إنتصار المقاومة من جديد بعد حرب 2006

During the Lebanese prisoner swap, Hizbullah proved its ability to humiliate the Zionist regime and move the emotions of Arabs, who suffer from bitterness from the Ocean to the Gulf, and announce the victory of the resistance once again after the 2006 war.