HEZBOLLAH leader Hasan Nasrallah said last Thursday that anti-government protesters would ‘never surrender’ and would continue their street demonstrations until they achieved their goal, which he said was the formation of a national unity government free from ‘foreign tutelage’.
Nasrallah said: ‘O brothers and sisters, it is no coincidence that the Lebanese forces, regardless of their sectarian, religious, political or regional affiliations, which embraced the resistance and the people of the resistance during the July-August war, are the same forces that now constitute the Lebanese national opposition, and that support the Lebanese national opposition.
‘Likewise, it is no coincidence that the peoples, governments and the honourable across the world who supported the resistance during the war are supporting the opposition nowadays.
‘By contrast, it is no coincidence that all those who backed the Israeli war on Lebanon are those who are backing the remainder of the collapsed government that is staying in the government building.
‘On your behalf, I urge the Arab states that are eager to safeguard Lebanon not to interfere as a party, and not to support a team against another team. Whoever seeks Lebanon’s safety, Lebanon’s unity and Lebanon’s redemption must extend his hand to all the Lebanese. Do not make do with the reports submitted by your ambassadors to Lebanon.
‘Come to Lebanon; know the political, people-related facts on the ground first hand; and carry out your commendable good offices to help save Lebanon. I say to the government, to the remainder of the government, which is lacking in legitimacy, the following: Your reliance on US and Western support will be of no use at all to you.
‘Now, those on whose support you are relying, chief among whom is US President George Bush, are in dire need of support. He badly needs to be saved. For instance, let us talk about Iraq, where there are over 150,000 US soldiers.
‘Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent in Iraq. The entire US administration is following the Iraqi question. The Iraqi question is not like the issue of Lebanon, which is being handled by the US State Department. Nonetheless, what has been the outcome in Iraq? Failure, the fragmentation of Iraq, a sectarian war, a civil war and dead ends. This is the outcome and fate of any country that wagers on Bush, on his army and on his administration. What can the United States, which is drowning in the quagmires of the region, from Afghanistan, to Iraq, to Palestine, to Lebanon, offer you?
‘Over the past year and a half, this Lebanese government has received and continues to receive support – US and Western support – which no other government in Lebanon’s history has ever received.
‘Does this not raise suspicion? Why this US fondness for this government and for its head? What further raises suspicion and doubts is the daily Israeli commendation of this ruling team in Lebanon. Is there something that we do not know, and of which we are unaware behind the wood?
‘Is it not a shame that the Zionist inner cabinet, which usually convenes when there is a matter that endangers Israeli interests or security, convenes only to discuss how it could help this collapsing government in Lebanon? Some of them said: “We can help them by evacuating the town of Al-Ghajar in southern Lebanon. A smaller number of them said: Let us evacuate the Shab’a Farms and offer them as a gift and a token of political and moral support for the ruling team in Lebanon. But what have they done to you?
‘They have evacuated neither Al-Ghajar nor the Shab’a Farms. Even on this issue, they were not generous enough to offer you moral support. Does all this US, Western and Israeli support not give rise for pause and contemplation?
‘O brothers and sisters, we within the Lebanese national opposition insist on our demand and goal; namely, the formation of a true Lebanese national unity government.
‘Why? Why? This is because Lebanon’s special multifarious and diverse composition has demonstrated that a government comprised of a single team – the tyranny of a single team – has always placed Lebanon before a dead end in all spheres.
‘Lebanon cannot stand on its feet except by participation, consensus-building, solidarity and cooperation, and not by the monopolisation of power.
‘We seek a national unity government because it is the only way to avert any foreign tutelage. Let the entire world listen: We seek a Lebanese government whose decision-making process is Lebanese, whose will is Lebanese and whose leaders are Lebanese.
‘This is what we aspire to. Such a government would offer guarantees for Lebanon, for Lebanon’s future, for Lebanon’s security, for Lebanon’s stability, for Lebanon’s prosperity, for Lebanon’s safety and for Lebanon’s unity.
‘This is what we are aspiring to. We are opposed to foreign tutelage, be it from an enemy, a friend or a brother. This is a fact. Now, they are asking us: If you, the current opposition, were to become a parliamentary majority and form a government one day, would you offer us one-third of ministerial posts plus one?
‘On behalf of Hezbollah and as an opposition party, I tell them yes, we support giving any opposition in Lebanon one third of the seats of the cabinet because we believe in partnership, accord and cooperation, but don’t believe in the governance of any party at the expense of another.
‘If we were a majority, we would give any opposition one-third of the cabinet seats confidently because there is nothing we fear at all and because we have no international or regional commitments which we wish to fulfil through a government that enjoys a certain majority. We want Lebanon’s interests which is what we all agree upon.’
Nasrallah continued: ‘Sisters and brothers: Since we continue our sit-in, I would like to reiterate the boundaries we spoke of right from the first day. There shall be no slander. Some of the zealous ones in the sit-in squares might utter insulting names against government figures. We reject any personal slander against anyone. Any insult, slander or inappropriate and unethical words should not come out of your sit-in.
‘We assert our peaceful, civil and civilised sit-in. Naturally, when they killed martyr Ahmad Mahmud they wanted to drag us into armed confrontations and fighting. But in the name of martyr Ahmad Mahmud and all his companions, and in the name of every man, woman small child and elderly person in the Lebanese opposition, I tell the ruling team, its political forces and – regretfully – some of their militias: We reject civil war. We reject sedition between religions, sects or political forces. We reject any armed clashes in the street. We reject any sort of confrontation in the street. We reject any armed clash in the street and any kind of confrontation in the streets.
‘We meant this to be a peaceful, civilised and peaceful action. We proved this on Friday in the mass rally that is unprecedented in the history of Lebanon, even if they downplay it in their media outlets which exaggerate what they do and downplay what you do.
‘But the image is clear to the entire world. I tell the Lebanese people and all peoples of the region: Whoever pushes things towards a civil war – all lose in a civil war.
‘I shall not tell you that you will lose and we will win, nay. All the Lebanese will lose if they get engaged in a civil war or a sectarian sedition. Everybody is losing in Iraq and Palestine. What some Arab kings are regretfully promising us of civil wars in Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine is a loss to all of us. The net profit shall go to Israel, America, the neoconservatives and proponents of the constructive chaos theory.
‘We in Lebanon will not be dragged into sedition even if you kill Ahmad Mahmud or 1,000 people like Ahmad Mahmud. We shall not point guns at anybody. . .
‘Very frankly, we do not want to fight anyone and will never do so. We do not want to threaten anyone and will never do so.
He continued: ‘Brothers and sisters: These days, the sectarian incitement is yet more dangerous. They stopped the religious incitement in Lebanon. They stopped talking about Christians and Muslims in Lebanon. Now they are only talking about Sunnis and Shi’is in Lebanon.
‘On the massive demonstration on Friday, they said this was a Shi’i demonstration. They ignored the massive and spectacular participation by all sects. They wanted to portray the matter as a Shi’i demonstration against a Sunni government. The demonstration is not Shi’i, and the government is not Sunni. This is the fact.
‘They then said that the demonstration was a Hezbollah demonstration. This means that they, as a first step, wanted to alienate the other opposition parties by talking about the sectarian nature of the demonstration and then they tried to alienate the Amal Movement by saying this was a Hezbollah demonstration. They then focused their harsh campaign against Hezbollah with their orchestrated and agreed-upon media discourse, which said that this is a demonstration of Hezbollah and its allies. They wanted to ignore the other forces of the opposition.
‘At any rate, during the past few days, the falseness of this allegation has become apparent. It became clear that the day and night demonstrations and sit-ins are a genuine expression of the full spectrum of the Lebanese national opposition. The sectarian slogan was brought down, and will be brought down again.’
Nasrallah added: ‘They accuse us, but frankly today I will accuse them.
‘The one who officially asked America, George Bush and Dick Cheney to wage a war on Lebanon citing as an excuse that the dialogue on the arms of the resistance reached a dead end and that there is no internal Lebanese capability to disarm the resistance, because it is strong and has a broad Lebanese popular base from all religions which is what has been confirmed by public opinion polls; and because the Lebanese army is a patriotic army that rejects a clash with the resistance, they told them: There is no local Lebanese way to end the issue of the resistance. The only way is for the US administration to ask Olmert’s government to wage a big, destructive and fatal war not only on Hezbollah but on all those who support it or embrace it so as to completely terminate this resistance and any possible future reemergence of it.
‘The US administration accepted this request and also wanted to exploit it in the Congressional elections which took place. In other words, had the war succeeded, Bush and the neoconservatives would have told the Americans: “We have terminated one of the most important terrorist organisations in the world.” Their plan also included setting up a prison in a settlement in northern occupied Palestine; namely, Rosh Pina, which is a military and air base that can hold 10,000 prisoners.
‘Will all those prisoners be from Hezbollah only? No. The prisoners would have been from those who oppose the domineering ruling team in Lebanon. The US Administration accepted and gave the orders to Israel.
‘I am not accusing all the figures of the 14 March forces or the ruling team. I have not divulged any names to a US or a non-US journalist. Those who sat with the Americans and asked them to get Israel to launch its war against us know themselves, and I know them. I hope that the day when I reveal their names will not come.’
Nasrallah concluded: ‘Let us form a national unity government together. I tell you that time is not to your benefit, for the nerves of your master at the White House are trembling and he is collapsing everywhere.
‘Let us turn to each other, as Lebanese people. There is no room for obstinacy. The chance and the doors of negotiation are still open. We never said that our only demand is to topple the government. We said come let us change the current government into a national unity government, the government chaired by Fu’ad al-Sanyurah, and you shall enjoy the majority in this government whereas the opposition shall enjoy one third of the seats in order to provide a guarantee for Lebanon. However, if you persist with your obstinacy and rejection, I say that now we, in the opposition, have started to consider another option.
‘After a while, we will not accept a national unity government headed by one of you. After a while, our goal will turn into toppling this government and forming an interim government that would hold early parliamentary elections; and you know who would win the majority and who would prevail.’
