THE LEADER of Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has delivered a revealing analysis of the current political situation and spoke candidly about his organisation’s increasing influence at a meeting of the Islamic Resistance Support Association last Tuesday.
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the Americans and the Israelis are seeking to rebuild the Georgian army on Hezbollah’s model and added that even the US army command is studying forming army units Hezbollah style.
Nasrallah began his speech by reminding the crowds that there are some five million people around the world starving to death.
‘We are talking about human beings regardless of their religions. These are women, children and elderly people. . . but little if no action is being taken to confront this.
‘This means that the world is dead on the humanitarian level and has lost its values. On the one hand, millions of people are starving to death while on the other hand, there are big sums of money, gold and silver and only a group of wealthy people.
‘There is one Arab country, which I will not name, has 3 trillion dollars in the United States banks. Of course this figure is 16 months old, long before the rise in oil prices.
‘What are they doing with this money? Look at the people in Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere.
‘How can they live with these sums of money when a very small portion of it can solve many economic and social problems in this region and the world?’, the Hezbollah chief said.
Nasrallah chose this introduction to illustrate the role of the resistance ‘that is proud of your support.’
He added: ‘There does not exist a resistance that survives for 26 years, just because its members get their pay-check every month – this is a resistance that faces liquidation and tough confrontation every day – but because they feel responsible for defending their country,’ he added.
The Hezbollah chief stressed the state must protect its citizens.
‘They wanted us to live under the slogan: The strength of Lebanon lies in its weakness! What is this strength? It is one that cannot protect anyone in Lebanon.
‘Our state institutions should be strong to protect the country and the people.
‘Unfortunately, at some stages, the state was not only weak; it lacked the will to confront and sometimes colluded with the enemy in the early 1980s – and I don’t wish to talk about other stages.
‘Those young men who feel their country is in peril, leave their homes, families, schools, universities to live in mountains and valleys don’t lack a mind or a personality. . .They have a great sense of responsibility and humanistic values that require them to be in this position; they can’t stand humiliation and they refuse that their country be usurped by the Israeli enemy,’ Nasrallah underlined.
He explained there were three different models of Israel.
‘The first would-be Israel is a vast one stretching from the Nile and to the Euphrates.
‘The second is a mighty Israel, which does not include Lebanon and Jordan but settles for historic Palestine, but it is a mighty country that forces its decisions on the region.
‘And there is the real Mediocre Israel, within still unclear and unknown borders.’
Just days after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said ‘those clinging to the notion of Greater Israel are deluding themselves,’ Nasrallah lauded Hezbollah’s role in ‘destroying that dream’
According to Israeli newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, ‘Olmert received an unusual vote of confidence on Tuesday evening from Hezbollah Secretary-General (Sayyed) Hassan Nasrallah as the latter revelled in Olmert’s comments from earlier this week in which he said the idea of Greater Israel was no longer relevant.’
‘If the mighty Israeli army cannot stay in a security zone in Lebanon, how can it occupy and control a vast region between the Nile and the Euphrates Rivers?
‘The Lebanese resistance pounded the last nail in the coffin of “Greater Israel” after the defeat it (Israel) suffered in 2000,’ the Hezbollah chief declared.
He explained that the project of ‘mighty Israel’ within Palestine’s borders vanished when the second Intifada broke out and the resistance developed.
‘The Israelis were forced to withdraw from Gaza and build separation walls,’ he continued.
‘This means that lands outside these walls are negotiable and can be relinquished. The mighty Israel fell in the war of 2006, and it has now become as the Arabs once were – making speeches and threats in vain.
‘Today we face “Mediocre Israel” and its foremost concern is some resistance fighters in Lebanon and Palestine.
‘This Israel acknowledges that these resistance movements create a balance with it. . . Therefore, we have reached a very advanced and historical stage in this (Arab-Israeli) conflict,’ Nasrallah said.
The Hezbollah chief continued that, ‘Olmert had told his cabinet that regional balance is disturbed and that the only way to stop this imbalance is by talking to the Palestinians and the Syrians.
‘Therefore, Olmert did not suggest a military step to stop this imbalance in the region. Olmert also told his ministers that time is not on our (Israeli) side and we will regret everyday that passes.
‘I’m not inventing this: this is what Olmert told his ministers.
‘The question is why did Olmert say this during a cabinet meeting? Is it because the world has become multi-polar? No, because we have had a multi-polar before and Israel was growing stronger under it.
‘Is it because Arabs were weak and have become strong? On the contrary, unfortunately Arabs are the most prominent absentees from regional and international developments.
‘There is nothing new on the Arab official level that scares Olmert.
‘The main development that has been taking place since 2000 is the achievements and victories of resistance movements in the region.’
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed Israel has failed to harm the resistance after 25 years of security work.
‘I can tell you that it will never harm the resistance. The resistance would not surrender to assassinations, but on the contrary would be strengthened by them to defend the land and stand up to Israel.
‘The resistance surpassed political leaders and authorities because it is a real popular state capable of producing leaders.
‘This means that Israel’s option (to assassinate leaders) has failed. As to the military option, they have tried their utmost in 2006 and they failed.
‘What’s next? Isolating the resistance? But they failed in this as well.
‘They sought to drag the resistance to internal fighting under many slogans but we have surpassed this even on the seventh of May.
‘The Lebanese view the events of May in different ways. . . but what really happened then saved Lebanon, its people and its army from the worst seditious conspiracy against our country.’
In this context, Nasrallah mentioned an ‘important and specialised Israeli website that quoted an American military source as saying that the Georgian army should be rebuilt on Hezbollah’s model, because Hezbollah had demonstrated how a small army can win against huge military forces, which means that the American are convinced of Hezbollah’s powers.’
Nasrallah insisted that ‘the military example that the Resistance presented is a Lebanese creation.
‘I tell military leaders that the Resistance presented a Lebanese experience because it was made in Lebanon.
‘Those who adhere to sovereignty should be biased to everything that is made in Lebanon including the experience of the resistance.’
The Hezbollah Secretary General welcomed Lebanon’s national dialogue and regretted his absence for security reasons.
‘The Israelis are serious about their threats. They lie in wait for us but at the same time they are anxious.
‘They either call in Israeli businessmen from around the world, ban their ministers from travelling or they evacuate tourists from certain places as they did yesterday in Sinai. Those who kill Hajj Imad Moghniyeh should be worried.’
Nasrallah said Hezbollah respected ‘every person present in the dialogue.’ However, he added that ‘we call for and we insist on increasing the number of participants in the dialogue.’
Nasrallah stressed that putting a stop to sedition helps in solving problems, strengthens reconciliations and continues to work towards reconciliation in Beirut and elsewhere.
‘This does not mean a change of alliances. What we want from reconciliation is not to shoot at each other, not to conspire against each other, not to kill each other and not to tense up the atmosphere.
‘We will always be ruled by political and democratic means. Reconciliation cannot be aimed at isolating other groups,’ the Hezbollah chief added.
