Zapatero in Beirut Bush set for Mideast Tour
On the eve of the Arab Foreign Ministers meeting in Cairo, political stalemate in Lebanon persists unabated. The war of words between the loyalty and the opposition has been heating up ever since US President George W. Bush announced his planned visit to the Middle East next week. France has failed to promote an agreement with Syria over a consensual and comprehensive solution in Lebanon prompting Damascus to break off contacts with Paris over the political crisis. "It seems that the French endeavor to persuade MP Saad Hariri (February 14 bloc) to accept this solution lost ground," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said last Wednesday. What's next?
On Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Louis Zapatero arrived in Beirut on a surprise visit to meet Lebanese officials and check on the Spanish contingent working with the UNIFIL in south Lebanon. Zapatero held talks with the head of the unconstitutional government Fouad Saniora. Madrid has been engaged in international efforts to find a solution to the crisis in Lebanon, crowned by visits by Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos to Beirut and Damascus in recent months.
Bush held Syria responsible for the "impasse" that has prevented Lebanon from electing a new president, saying there should be a "clear message to the Syrians from all of us that you will continue to be isolated." In an interview with international media, Bush said that on his trip next week to the Middle East he would seek to remind other leaders "how important it is for Lebanon to succeed and how important it is for all of us to work to free that government from foreign interference." "I am disappointed that the presidency has not been selected, and believe very much that Syrian influence is preventing the selection," Bush said. In his interview last Wednesday, Moallem said that many countries including some Arab states have more influence on the February 14 bloc than Syria has on the opposition. "Why don't they use their influence to push toward a win-win formula in Lebanon?" Muallem wondered. Bush reiterated his position regarding the half-plus-one formula to elect a president for Lebanon. "My position has been that the March 14th Coalition, if it had mustered a majority plus one, 50 percent plus one, should be allowed to go forward with the selection of the president," he said. Bush did not forget to praise the head of the unconstitutional government Fouad Saniora saying he has been "very impressed" by Saniora "as a man who's committed to the well-being of all the Lebanese people."
Bush is scheduled to depart Tuesday for a visit to occupied Palestine and the Palestinian territories in an attempt to boost Middle East talks re-launched at an international conference in Annapolis in November. He is not scheduled to visit Lebanon on the trip.
Friday, July 18, 2008
From High Hopes to Abyss; The Lebanon Dilemma
From High Hopes to Abyss; The Lebanon Dilemma
Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. The atmosphere of abundant hopes to push the political crisis in Lebanon one iota towards solution seems to have scattered away, again.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa 'was surprised by the openness and positivism of MP General Michel Aoun' during their meeting Thursday. Of course the goal of both Mussa and the opposition is to cut a comprehensive political deal with the ruling bloc under the auspices of the Arab League to solve the crisis.
Amr Moussa arrived in Beirut Wednesday evening to present a plan, unanimously endorsed by Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Saturday, calling for the election of the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, as president, the formation of a national unity government and the adoption of a new electoral law.
HIGH HOPES AND THEN…
But how would Mussa arrange a meeting between the feuding parties to negotiate an agreement, given the tense political situation and the little time left for him in Lebanon? General Aoun foresaw this ordeal and proposed to Mussa that he (Aoun) meets MP Saad Hariri. "I am commissioned by the opposition and I can take upon myself that I will not leave the meeting room before signing the deal with Hariri, even without consulting my allies in the opposition because they have trustfully delegated me," Assafir quoted Aoun as telling Mussa. The Arab chief also welcomed Aoun's proposal that the meeting with Hariri be held in parliament. On his way to Speaker Nabih Berri's residence, the Arab chief contacted Hariri and conveyed Aoun's proposal. He asked the Future Movement leader for an official response to the proposal. Berri expressed relief and told Mussa he was ready to do everything necessary to bring about the meeting. "The doors of the parliament are open to you," Berri said. This was the point of culmination.
FALL INTO ABYSS
The first sign of decline came from local media outlets which broadcast the news of the meeting between Hariri and Aoun, even before Mussa arrived to Berri's residence. It was supposed to be kept secret. The steep decline came from Qoraytem (Hariri's headquarters). Hariri rejected meeting Aoun. Mussa only knew about the decision through media outlets just as he was wrapping up his meeting with Berri. The Assafir daily reported that the Future Movement leader had consulted his allies in the February 14 coalition. Some of them proposed 'an expanded dialogue gathering' while Lebanese Forces Chief Samir Geagea demanded he takes part in any meeting between Hariri and Aoun. The former army general responded: "The opposition can take part in any expanded meeting, however I will not participate. They (February 14) are not serious about finding a solution."
HEZBOLLAH: TALK TO AOUN
Mussa wrapped up his second day in Lebanon with a meeting with Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.
Sayyed Nasrallah told Mussa that Aoun is delegated to negotiate with the loyalty bloc on behalf of the opposition. His eminence advised the Arab League chief to communicate with Aoun to reach the hoped for results. Sayyed Nasrallah stressed the opposition is seeking real partnership, not a formal one.
CONCLUSION: SOLUTION OUT OF REACH
In view of his marathon tour so far, Mussa said that the 'Cairo declaration' stipulates that no Lebanese party can control the fate of the government and that the upcoming president of the republic would have a fundamental role in this regard. Mussa also said that the ministerial quota suggested in the declaration does not mean equal thirds to the loyalty, the president and the opposition. "The loyalty bloc, as a majority in parliament, would have 11 ministers, the opposition 10 ministers and the rest goes to the president.
The Al-Akhbar daily quoted opposition sources as saying that they will not agree to any formula that would give the loyalty bloc more than 10 ministers, unless the opposition was given the guaranteeing one third of ministers. Aoun warned that "we are running out of patience." "We take 11 ministers and the remaining 19 ministers would be distributed between the president and the loyalty bloc," Aoun told Mussa. For its part the loyalty bloc told the Arab leader that "there is no way to accept a formula that would give the loyalty and the opposition and equal number of ministers." "The solution is to give the opposition 10 ministers, another 8 to the president and 12 ministers to the loyalty bloc," Al-Akhbar daily quoted February 14 sources as saying. "There is no way to talk to Aoun. Dialogue can take place at a round table or with the Speaker," it added. The loyalty bloc, according to the daily, does not want the question of the electoral law to be determined at the time being.
Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. The atmosphere of abundant hopes to push the political crisis in Lebanon one iota towards solution seems to have scattered away, again.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa 'was surprised by the openness and positivism of MP General Michel Aoun' during their meeting Thursday. Of course the goal of both Mussa and the opposition is to cut a comprehensive political deal with the ruling bloc under the auspices of the Arab League to solve the crisis.
Amr Moussa arrived in Beirut Wednesday evening to present a plan, unanimously endorsed by Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Saturday, calling for the election of the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, as president, the formation of a national unity government and the adoption of a new electoral law.
HIGH HOPES AND THEN…
But how would Mussa arrange a meeting between the feuding parties to negotiate an agreement, given the tense political situation and the little time left for him in Lebanon? General Aoun foresaw this ordeal and proposed to Mussa that he (Aoun) meets MP Saad Hariri. "I am commissioned by the opposition and I can take upon myself that I will not leave the meeting room before signing the deal with Hariri, even without consulting my allies in the opposition because they have trustfully delegated me," Assafir quoted Aoun as telling Mussa. The Arab chief also welcomed Aoun's proposal that the meeting with Hariri be held in parliament. On his way to Speaker Nabih Berri's residence, the Arab chief contacted Hariri and conveyed Aoun's proposal. He asked the Future Movement leader for an official response to the proposal. Berri expressed relief and told Mussa he was ready to do everything necessary to bring about the meeting. "The doors of the parliament are open to you," Berri said. This was the point of culmination.
FALL INTO ABYSS
The first sign of decline came from local media outlets which broadcast the news of the meeting between Hariri and Aoun, even before Mussa arrived to Berri's residence. It was supposed to be kept secret. The steep decline came from Qoraytem (Hariri's headquarters). Hariri rejected meeting Aoun. Mussa only knew about the decision through media outlets just as he was wrapping up his meeting with Berri. The Assafir daily reported that the Future Movement leader had consulted his allies in the February 14 coalition. Some of them proposed 'an expanded dialogue gathering' while Lebanese Forces Chief Samir Geagea demanded he takes part in any meeting between Hariri and Aoun. The former army general responded: "The opposition can take part in any expanded meeting, however I will not participate. They (February 14) are not serious about finding a solution."
HEZBOLLAH: TALK TO AOUN
Mussa wrapped up his second day in Lebanon with a meeting with Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.
Sayyed Nasrallah told Mussa that Aoun is delegated to negotiate with the loyalty bloc on behalf of the opposition. His eminence advised the Arab League chief to communicate with Aoun to reach the hoped for results. Sayyed Nasrallah stressed the opposition is seeking real partnership, not a formal one.
CONCLUSION: SOLUTION OUT OF REACH
In view of his marathon tour so far, Mussa said that the 'Cairo declaration' stipulates that no Lebanese party can control the fate of the government and that the upcoming president of the republic would have a fundamental role in this regard. Mussa also said that the ministerial quota suggested in the declaration does not mean equal thirds to the loyalty, the president and the opposition. "The loyalty bloc, as a majority in parliament, would have 11 ministers, the opposition 10 ministers and the rest goes to the president.
The Al-Akhbar daily quoted opposition sources as saying that they will not agree to any formula that would give the loyalty bloc more than 10 ministers, unless the opposition was given the guaranteeing one third of ministers. Aoun warned that "we are running out of patience." "We take 11 ministers and the remaining 19 ministers would be distributed between the president and the loyalty bloc," Aoun told Mussa. For its part the loyalty bloc told the Arab leader that "there is no way to accept a formula that would give the loyalty and the opposition and equal number of ministers." "The solution is to give the opposition 10 ministers, another 8 to the president and 12 ministers to the loyalty bloc," Al-Akhbar daily quoted February 14 sources as saying. "There is no way to talk to Aoun. Dialogue can take place at a round table or with the Speaker," it added. The loyalty bloc, according to the daily, does not want the question of the electoral law to be determined at the time being.
Bush`s Weepy Visit to Jerasulem
Bush`s Weepy Visit to Jerasulem
President Bush, tearied eyed and wearing a Yarmulke toured Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Remembrance Museum in Jerusalem Thursday. Calling on a now very common argument to show gentile unconcern and therefore complicity in Jewish suffering, Bush said in reference to Auschwitz: "We should have bombed it."
An Associated Press article explained the US "chose not to bomb the camp, the rail lines leading to it, or any other death camps preferring instead to focus all resources on the broader military effort." The article placed the number of killed at the camp from between 1.1 and 1.5 million.
But history has it different. The US did not have the knowledge nor opportunity to bomb Auschwitz until the summer of 1944. The camp was liberated by Soviet troops in January of 1945, thus at the time the US could have bombed, the vast majority of the 1.1 to 1.5 million internees had already been killed.
In a history that is very well documented, (see: Peter Novick's "The Holocaust in American Life") the US decided not to bomb because doing so would have certainly killed large numbers of internees, while not necessarily stopping the Nazi's capability to mass-murder. Aerial Bombings in 1944 were very inaccurate, to the point that bombing only parts of the camp while sparing others would have been almost impossible. Bombing rail lines was also not something the US was capable of doing effectively and therefore the option wasn't even strongly considered.
Despite this history, the decision not to bomb is routinely referenced to strengthen arguments that the State of Israel and therefore its policies are necessary to the survival of the Jewish people. One notable example is Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comments at Auschwitz in 1998: "All that was needed was to bomb the train tracks. The Allies bombed the targets nearby. The pilots only had to nudge their crosshairs. You think they didn't know? They knew. They didn't bomb because at that time the Jews didn't have a state, nor the political force to protect themselves"
Beyond invoking these ideas, Bush's words also argue that the US (and the World) failed the Jewish people and thus owe Israel something (previous Jewish suffering trump current Palestinian suffering). Bush's words also serve to justify his approach to many international issues: bombing.
I know when I toured Yad Vashem my thoughts were not on fantasy bombing raids but rather on my family, Jews from Eastern Europe. I wonder if Bush thought about his grandfather Prescott Bush who was Director of IG Farber in 1942 when the company's assets were seized under The Trading with the Enemy Act. A 1942 official report examining the company's business dealings in Germany concluded "these (steel and mining) properties have been in considerable assistance to that country's [Germany's] war effort." (see this 2004 Guardian Article).
If Bush honestly thought about history he would have considered the dangers of war profiteering and not have looked for more opportunities for humanitarian bombing.
But Bush doesn't look at anything honestly, he prefers to rely on overused and refuted rhetoric and the AP and Yad Vashem are not willing to put him to task.
-----------------------------------
By ANDREW SILVERSTEIN
President Bush, tearied eyed and wearing a Yarmulke toured Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Remembrance Museum in Jerusalem Thursday. Calling on a now very common argument to show gentile unconcern and therefore complicity in Jewish suffering, Bush said in reference to Auschwitz: "We should have bombed it."
An Associated Press article explained the US "chose not to bomb the camp, the rail lines leading to it, or any other death camps preferring instead to focus all resources on the broader military effort." The article placed the number of killed at the camp from between 1.1 and 1.5 million.
But history has it different. The US did not have the knowledge nor opportunity to bomb Auschwitz until the summer of 1944. The camp was liberated by Soviet troops in January of 1945, thus at the time the US could have bombed, the vast majority of the 1.1 to 1.5 million internees had already been killed.
In a history that is very well documented, (see: Peter Novick's "The Holocaust in American Life") the US decided not to bomb because doing so would have certainly killed large numbers of internees, while not necessarily stopping the Nazi's capability to mass-murder. Aerial Bombings in 1944 were very inaccurate, to the point that bombing only parts of the camp while sparing others would have been almost impossible. Bombing rail lines was also not something the US was capable of doing effectively and therefore the option wasn't even strongly considered.
Despite this history, the decision not to bomb is routinely referenced to strengthen arguments that the State of Israel and therefore its policies are necessary to the survival of the Jewish people. One notable example is Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comments at Auschwitz in 1998: "All that was needed was to bomb the train tracks. The Allies bombed the targets nearby. The pilots only had to nudge their crosshairs. You think they didn't know? They knew. They didn't bomb because at that time the Jews didn't have a state, nor the political force to protect themselves"
Beyond invoking these ideas, Bush's words also argue that the US (and the World) failed the Jewish people and thus owe Israel something (previous Jewish suffering trump current Palestinian suffering). Bush's words also serve to justify his approach to many international issues: bombing.
I know when I toured Yad Vashem my thoughts were not on fantasy bombing raids but rather on my family, Jews from Eastern Europe. I wonder if Bush thought about his grandfather Prescott Bush who was Director of IG Farber in 1942 when the company's assets were seized under The Trading with the Enemy Act. A 1942 official report examining the company's business dealings in Germany concluded "these (steel and mining) properties have been in considerable assistance to that country's [Germany's] war effort." (see this 2004 Guardian Article).
If Bush honestly thought about history he would have considered the dangers of war profiteering and not have looked for more opportunities for humanitarian bombing.
But Bush doesn't look at anything honestly, he prefers to rely on overused and refuted rhetoric and the AP and Yad Vashem are not willing to put him to task.
-----------------------------------
By ANDREW SILVERSTEIN
Bush in the Middle East
Bush in the Middle East
To understand why George Bush, the US president, is visiting the Middle East and what he seeks to accomplish, re-read the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton commission from December 2006, subtract what has been implemented since then and you are left with a must-do list in this troubled region.
Bush's visit to Israel and the occupied territories underlined his intentions to continue implementing the recommendations of the commission - also known as the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) - albeit slowly, superficially and at times clumsily in order to give the impression of being bold and righteous.
Nevertheless, more than a year after its publication, the sobering bi-partisan ISG report remains the administration's only path out of the Middle East quagmire.
Chief among its 79 recommendations is the training of Iraqi forces to 'stand up' so that US troops stand down and walk away. The report also pushes for constructive regional involvement from Iraq's neighbours and serious effort to resolve the Palestinian question.
No Bush administration official understood this better than Robert Gates, an ISG member and secretary of defence.
Since he succeeded Donald Rumsfeld in November 2006, this "political realist" at the helm of the Pentagon has been implementing the commission's proposals in all but name and according to the administration's own operative-mode, calendar and priorities.
Stability in Iraq
The first recommendation Gates implemented, the surge, was the least favoured.
While the ISG "rejected" a troop increase, it did support a "surge of American combat forces to stabilise Baghdad, or to speed up the training and equipping mission" if the generals deemed it necessary.
The ISG authors believed there was no military solution to the Iraq conflict and therefore strongly recommended that the administration place greater emphasis on political solutions "to ensure disaffected groups (specifically the Sunnis) are brought into Iraq's political process".
The administration convinced the Iraqi government to commit to a number of benchmarks that include building a better army, ending sectarian violence, and adopting equitable distribution of oil revenues, among others.
It also emphasised that it sent the extra troops only after the Iraqi government promised a "fundamental" change in policy.
Meanwhile, improved relations between the US military and a number of tribal opposition Sunni groups have enticed the White House to pressure the Shia-controlled government of Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, to open up.
But in the absence of political reconciliation, and with Iraq's ethnic groups becoming better armed and more sectarian, an all-out civil war becomes more likely today than ever before.
Regional stability
The ISG also made it clear that reconciliation is more likely to succeed through a regional diplomatic offensive which could contain and resolve Iraq's conflicts.
The Bush administration has already participated in three mid-level talks with Iran, Syria, Turkey and other regional and international powers over Iraq, but it is far from the ISG's strongly advised regional conference.
Although the administration has been instrumental in bringing the aforementioned to the negotiating table, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, has bizarrely insisted it was Iraq, not the US, who called for the talks.
Nonetheless, and despite the recent naval incident in the Persian Gulf, American and Iranian officials have sounded more conciliatory over the last four weeks than during the previous four years.
For their part, US generals speak of increased Iranian security cooperation to curb the smuggling of arms and fighters across the border and also restrain armed groups like Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army.
Washington's 'psychological war' in the form of a military build-up, or 'gunboat diplomacy' in the Persian Gulf, might have failed to stop Iran from enriching Uranium, but it did convince Tehran to make positive gestures towards Washington.
Begin with Iran
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, struck a mild tone during his December 11 press conference when he called for dialogue with Washington and refrained from the usual anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric.
His participation in the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Doha in early December 2007 followed by a Saudi Arabian invitation to perform the Hajj were not discouraged by Washington.
With the Iran nuclear roadblock mostly out of the way, thanks to the (incidental?) National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) findings, Iran's imminent threat status has now been downgraded.
This effectively removes the main obstacle which had prevented US-Iran coordination over the future of Iraq.
Likewise, US-Syrian relations have started to come out of the deep freeze with the latter's recent cooperation on border security.
According to Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister, the cooperation with Syria has led to a 70 per cent decline in the number of fighters infiltrating across the border.
Israel problem
Syria and many of its Arab counterparts accepted Washington's invitation to attend the Annapolis meeting which promised to move towards negotiating the hardcore stumbling blocks to Israeli-Palestinian peace.
The overdue "peace conference" is a first step in the implementation of another important ISG recommendation: seeking agreements on all final status issues of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and the repatriation of Palestinian refugees by the end of 2008.
A year behind the ISG' proposed schedule to redeploy most forces out of Iraq, US officials now believe the army could reduce its brigades to the pre-surge levels,as more soldiers take on the role of training the Iraqi Army.
This could prove to be too little and too late to salvage whatever is left of Iraq's unity and America's credibility, especially that the obstacles and challenges in 2008 are all too daunting.
Leaning on friends
It is perhaps also too late in the day for Bush to effect major change. But what he needs to do has never been clearer.
The US president must pressure his Israeli allies to be more forthcoming in their talks with the Palestinians. He must also pressure his Baghdad allies to do more for national reconciliation in Iraq.
Both governments know all too well that they must share power and resources equitably with the other inhabitants of the land as preconditions to ending the the bloodshed.
The Bush administration would be wise to ensure that Iraq delivers on the "benchmarks" and Israel fulfils its obligations on the "final status issues" to avoid escalation in the region.
But judging by Bush's statements at the end of his visit to Israel and Palestine, that looks hardly forthcoming.
Mending bridges
No less challenging to the Bush administration is the need to overcome the hawkish and neoconservative detractors in its midst in order to reverse its menacing tone toward Tehran and Damascus.
The administration also needs to be ready and willing to pay the geopolitical price for a long-term strategic cooperation over Iraq.
This includes among others, Washington's commitment to refrain from calling for regime change and instead accepting both Iran and Syria's regional roles as part of a new regional security model fashioned on the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
For Damascus, Washington should recognise that Syria's special relationship with Lebanon is paramount and also help in securing Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
To better implement the ISG recommendations, the Bush administration must also encourage the UN Security Council to invite the leaders of Iraq's neighbors to an international conference that puts the necessary pressures on the Iraqis to reach political reconciliation.
Otherwise, 2008 will witness the violent break-up of Iraq leading to terrible consequences for the region.
--------------------------
By MARWAN BISHARA
Marwan Bishara is a senior political analyst for Al Jazeera.
To understand why George Bush, the US president, is visiting the Middle East and what he seeks to accomplish, re-read the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton commission from December 2006, subtract what has been implemented since then and you are left with a must-do list in this troubled region.
Bush's visit to Israel and the occupied territories underlined his intentions to continue implementing the recommendations of the commission - also known as the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) - albeit slowly, superficially and at times clumsily in order to give the impression of being bold and righteous.
Nevertheless, more than a year after its publication, the sobering bi-partisan ISG report remains the administration's only path out of the Middle East quagmire.
Chief among its 79 recommendations is the training of Iraqi forces to 'stand up' so that US troops stand down and walk away. The report also pushes for constructive regional involvement from Iraq's neighbours and serious effort to resolve the Palestinian question.
No Bush administration official understood this better than Robert Gates, an ISG member and secretary of defence.
Since he succeeded Donald Rumsfeld in November 2006, this "political realist" at the helm of the Pentagon has been implementing the commission's proposals in all but name and according to the administration's own operative-mode, calendar and priorities.
Stability in Iraq
The first recommendation Gates implemented, the surge, was the least favoured.
While the ISG "rejected" a troop increase, it did support a "surge of American combat forces to stabilise Baghdad, or to speed up the training and equipping mission" if the generals deemed it necessary.
The ISG authors believed there was no military solution to the Iraq conflict and therefore strongly recommended that the administration place greater emphasis on political solutions "to ensure disaffected groups (specifically the Sunnis) are brought into Iraq's political process".
The administration convinced the Iraqi government to commit to a number of benchmarks that include building a better army, ending sectarian violence, and adopting equitable distribution of oil revenues, among others.
It also emphasised that it sent the extra troops only after the Iraqi government promised a "fundamental" change in policy.
Meanwhile, improved relations between the US military and a number of tribal opposition Sunni groups have enticed the White House to pressure the Shia-controlled government of Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, to open up.
But in the absence of political reconciliation, and with Iraq's ethnic groups becoming better armed and more sectarian, an all-out civil war becomes more likely today than ever before.
Regional stability
The ISG also made it clear that reconciliation is more likely to succeed through a regional diplomatic offensive which could contain and resolve Iraq's conflicts.
The Bush administration has already participated in three mid-level talks with Iran, Syria, Turkey and other regional and international powers over Iraq, but it is far from the ISG's strongly advised regional conference.
Although the administration has been instrumental in bringing the aforementioned to the negotiating table, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, has bizarrely insisted it was Iraq, not the US, who called for the talks.
Nonetheless, and despite the recent naval incident in the Persian Gulf, American and Iranian officials have sounded more conciliatory over the last four weeks than during the previous four years.
For their part, US generals speak of increased Iranian security cooperation to curb the smuggling of arms and fighters across the border and also restrain armed groups like Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army.
Washington's 'psychological war' in the form of a military build-up, or 'gunboat diplomacy' in the Persian Gulf, might have failed to stop Iran from enriching Uranium, but it did convince Tehran to make positive gestures towards Washington.
Begin with Iran
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, struck a mild tone during his December 11 press conference when he called for dialogue with Washington and refrained from the usual anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric.
His participation in the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Doha in early December 2007 followed by a Saudi Arabian invitation to perform the Hajj were not discouraged by Washington.
With the Iran nuclear roadblock mostly out of the way, thanks to the (incidental?) National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) findings, Iran's imminent threat status has now been downgraded.
This effectively removes the main obstacle which had prevented US-Iran coordination over the future of Iraq.
Likewise, US-Syrian relations have started to come out of the deep freeze with the latter's recent cooperation on border security.
According to Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister, the cooperation with Syria has led to a 70 per cent decline in the number of fighters infiltrating across the border.
Israel problem
Syria and many of its Arab counterparts accepted Washington's invitation to attend the Annapolis meeting which promised to move towards negotiating the hardcore stumbling blocks to Israeli-Palestinian peace.
The overdue "peace conference" is a first step in the implementation of another important ISG recommendation: seeking agreements on all final status issues of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and the repatriation of Palestinian refugees by the end of 2008.
A year behind the ISG' proposed schedule to redeploy most forces out of Iraq, US officials now believe the army could reduce its brigades to the pre-surge levels,as more soldiers take on the role of training the Iraqi Army.
This could prove to be too little and too late to salvage whatever is left of Iraq's unity and America's credibility, especially that the obstacles and challenges in 2008 are all too daunting.
Leaning on friends
It is perhaps also too late in the day for Bush to effect major change. But what he needs to do has never been clearer.
The US president must pressure his Israeli allies to be more forthcoming in their talks with the Palestinians. He must also pressure his Baghdad allies to do more for national reconciliation in Iraq.
Both governments know all too well that they must share power and resources equitably with the other inhabitants of the land as preconditions to ending the the bloodshed.
The Bush administration would be wise to ensure that Iraq delivers on the "benchmarks" and Israel fulfils its obligations on the "final status issues" to avoid escalation in the region.
But judging by Bush's statements at the end of his visit to Israel and Palestine, that looks hardly forthcoming.
Mending bridges
No less challenging to the Bush administration is the need to overcome the hawkish and neoconservative detractors in its midst in order to reverse its menacing tone toward Tehran and Damascus.
The administration also needs to be ready and willing to pay the geopolitical price for a long-term strategic cooperation over Iraq.
This includes among others, Washington's commitment to refrain from calling for regime change and instead accepting both Iran and Syria's regional roles as part of a new regional security model fashioned on the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
For Damascus, Washington should recognise that Syria's special relationship with Lebanon is paramount and also help in securing Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
To better implement the ISG recommendations, the Bush administration must also encourage the UN Security Council to invite the leaders of Iraq's neighbors to an international conference that puts the necessary pressures on the Iraqis to reach political reconciliation.
Otherwise, 2008 will witness the violent break-up of Iraq leading to terrible consequences for the region.
--------------------------
By MARWAN BISHARA
Marwan Bishara is a senior political analyst for Al Jazeera.
A Week of Funerals in Gaza
A Week of Funerals in Gaza
It was indeed a week of funerals in Gaza with at least 37 people, including children, toddlers and women, killed in the past seven days.
boy loved riding with his father and his father wanted to take him along. He works so much he never gets time to spend with him. Venturing outside together, they were savagely killed in one of the random Israeli missile attacks in Gaza, creating another heart-wrenching tale in the fenced-off Strip.
"We see them all the time, but we cannot stay inside forever," Yusef al-Yazji, a mourning relative of the pair, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Saturday, January 19.
"We have to work to support our families. We are not wanted men, so we did not think we had to hide," he added after paying last respects to Mohammad and his eight-year-old son.
The pair were killed in an Israeli missile raid Wednesday night, January 17, targeting a car carrying Hamas resistance fighters.
It was indeed a week of funerals in Gaza with at least 37 people, including children, toddlers and women, killed in the past seven days.
Israel has launched an aggressive military operation in Gaza to stop Palestinian rockets fired on neighboring Israeli towns. Palestinian civilians take the brunt of the random raids.
Two more Palestinians were killed Saturday in a pre-dawn Israeli air strike in northern Gaza.
A December report by the Israeli human rights group B'Tsaleem said a third of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in 2007 were civilians.
Israeli and Palestinian rights group have slammed the chief of Israel's internal security service (Shin Bet) for considering children and civilians killed in indiscriminate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip over the past two years "terrorists."
No Error
Children were clapping their hands in joy at the wedding of another Gaza's couple defying the Israeli siege and aggressions. Suddenly, a buzz was heard overhead and the cheerful scene turned bloody.
"I could not believe what happened," Mohammed Abdel Jawad, the groom, told AFP.
"We were sitting in front of our house, talking and joking. Suddenly there was this big explosion and a huge cloud of smoke. No one could see anything, we just heard crying."
One woman was killed and more than 50 were wounded, mostly women and children, when Israeli planes bombed an abandoned Interior Ministry building in Gaza on Friday.
"It felt like an earthquake," said Umm Fahmi, a woman who lives across from the blast site.
"My house did not only shake, it jumped from its foundations and back down," she said, peering through the dust at the concrete and steel remains of the bombed-out complex.
"How could they (Israelis) drop such a bomb in a residential area on top of people's heads?"
Gazans are wondering is there any way out of the Israeli inferno they have been drawn into.
On Thursday, another deadly missile raid targeting resistance fighters killed an elderly woman, Maryam al-Rahil, riding a donkey cart and her son.
"They could see there was a donkey cart with an old woman riding in it, bundled up because of the cold, and they hit it anyway," said Mohammed al-Rahil, the son's uncle.
"This was not an error."
It was indeed a week of funerals in Gaza with at least 37 people, including children, toddlers and women, killed in the past seven days.
boy loved riding with his father and his father wanted to take him along. He works so much he never gets time to spend with him. Venturing outside together, they were savagely killed in one of the random Israeli missile attacks in Gaza, creating another heart-wrenching tale in the fenced-off Strip.
"We see them all the time, but we cannot stay inside forever," Yusef al-Yazji, a mourning relative of the pair, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Saturday, January 19.
"We have to work to support our families. We are not wanted men, so we did not think we had to hide," he added after paying last respects to Mohammad and his eight-year-old son.
The pair were killed in an Israeli missile raid Wednesday night, January 17, targeting a car carrying Hamas resistance fighters.
It was indeed a week of funerals in Gaza with at least 37 people, including children, toddlers and women, killed in the past seven days.
Israel has launched an aggressive military operation in Gaza to stop Palestinian rockets fired on neighboring Israeli towns. Palestinian civilians take the brunt of the random raids.
Two more Palestinians were killed Saturday in a pre-dawn Israeli air strike in northern Gaza.
A December report by the Israeli human rights group B'Tsaleem said a third of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in 2007 were civilians.
Israeli and Palestinian rights group have slammed the chief of Israel's internal security service (Shin Bet) for considering children and civilians killed in indiscriminate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip over the past two years "terrorists."
No Error
Children were clapping their hands in joy at the wedding of another Gaza's couple defying the Israeli siege and aggressions. Suddenly, a buzz was heard overhead and the cheerful scene turned bloody.
"I could not believe what happened," Mohammed Abdel Jawad, the groom, told AFP.
"We were sitting in front of our house, talking and joking. Suddenly there was this big explosion and a huge cloud of smoke. No one could see anything, we just heard crying."
One woman was killed and more than 50 were wounded, mostly women and children, when Israeli planes bombed an abandoned Interior Ministry building in Gaza on Friday.
"It felt like an earthquake," said Umm Fahmi, a woman who lives across from the blast site.
"My house did not only shake, it jumped from its foundations and back down," she said, peering through the dust at the concrete and steel remains of the bombed-out complex.
"How could they (Israelis) drop such a bomb in a residential area on top of people's heads?"
Gazans are wondering is there any way out of the Israeli inferno they have been drawn into.
On Thursday, another deadly missile raid targeting resistance fighters killed an elderly woman, Maryam al-Rahil, riding a donkey cart and her son.
"They could see there was a donkey cart with an old woman riding in it, bundled up because of the cold, and they hit it anyway," said Mohammed al-Rahil, the son's uncle.
"This was not an error."
The Anti-Terror Investigator Is Killed by His Terrorist Enemies
The Anti-Terror Investigator Is Killed by His Terrorist Enemies
Lebanon's top anti-terrorism investigator was slain along with three other people in a powerful car bombing that ripped through a neighbourhood of Beirut on Friday, officials said.
Captain Wissam Eid, 31, a member of the Internal Security Forces (ISF), and his bodyguard were killed along with two civilians, a security official told AFP. He said 38 other people were wounded, with nine taken to hospital.
"Eid was a key member of the ISF and was involved in many investigations related to terrorist bombings in Lebanon in recent years," the official said. "He was involved in sensitive probes and this is a major loss for us."
The official added that Eid had in February 2006 narrowly escaped another attempt on his life when someone threw a grenade in front of his Beirut home.
Another official from the ruling majority said Eid was on his way back from a meeting of the UN commission investigating the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri when he was killed.
Hariri's death in a massive car bomb and a number of similar attacks over the past three years have been blamed by the Western-backed parliamentary majority on neighbouring Syria, which has denied involvement.
Brigadier General Ashraf Rifi, head of the ISF, said the car bomb was yet another attempt at destabilizing the country as it grapples with its worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
"This is a message to the Internal Security Forces following the message sent to the army in December when General Francois el-Hajj was killed in a car bomb" last month, Rifi told reporters at the site of the blast.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora declared a national day of mourning on Saturday when Eid and his bodyguard are to be buried.
Friday's explosion took place shortly after 10 am (0800 GMT) near a highway overpass in Hazmiyeh, a mainly Christian district in eastern Beirut and an area that houses a number of office buildings.
Local residents and office workers, some screaming and others in shock, could be seen running amongst blazing vehicles searching for friends and loved ones.
"It was an apocalyptic vision," said Ghandour Mashlab, a real estate agent who was at the site.
The security official estimated that the bomb, which blasted a five-metre (16-foot) wide crater into the road, consisted of at least 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of TNT.
A senior member of the anti-Syrian majority pointed the finger at Damascus.
"This bombing is proof that the (Syrian) mukhabarat (intelligence) have infiltrated Lebanese security services,' the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
Syria, however, condemned the killing and blamed "Lebanon's enemies".
The bombing was also widely denounced by the international community and Arab states.
"Lebanon has too long suffered from foreign interference," said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a clear allusion to Syria, complaining about the "violent pattern and intimidation" of the Beirut bombing.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the latest attack "should not be allowed to undermine the security, stability and sovereignty of Lebanon".
"We strongly condemn the terrorist bombing in Beirut today that killed a police captain and many other Lebanese," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
Britain's Foreign Office said it should not be allowed to derail the probe into the string of killings in Lebanon.
In Riyadh, Saudi King Abdullah called for unity to foil "the schemes of those who do not wish well for Lebanon" while Arab League chief Amr Mussa warned that the latest attack could "affect the unity of Lebanon."
The country is "sliding toward the abyss because of the failure to reach a compromise" on electing a new president, said Mussa, whose organisation has been trying to convince feuding MPs to agree on a plan to break the deadlock.
Russia expressed "deep concern" after the latest deadly bombing, saying it showed there was a political "vacuum" in Lebanon.
Lebanon has been without a president since pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud stepped down on November 23 with no elected successor because of a standoff between the majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition.
In February 2005, five-time prime minister Hariri was killed by a huge bomb on the Beirut seafront. The backlash against his killing resulted in Syria withdrawing its forces from its small neighbour after nearly 30 years.
Later on Friday, a security official said a large cache of weapons was found in the southern coastal city of Sidon.
Lebanon's top anti-terrorism investigator was slain along with three other people in a powerful car bombing that ripped through a neighbourhood of Beirut on Friday, officials said.
Captain Wissam Eid, 31, a member of the Internal Security Forces (ISF), and his bodyguard were killed along with two civilians, a security official told AFP. He said 38 other people were wounded, with nine taken to hospital.
"Eid was a key member of the ISF and was involved in many investigations related to terrorist bombings in Lebanon in recent years," the official said. "He was involved in sensitive probes and this is a major loss for us."
The official added that Eid had in February 2006 narrowly escaped another attempt on his life when someone threw a grenade in front of his Beirut home.
Another official from the ruling majority said Eid was on his way back from a meeting of the UN commission investigating the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri when he was killed.
Hariri's death in a massive car bomb and a number of similar attacks over the past three years have been blamed by the Western-backed parliamentary majority on neighbouring Syria, which has denied involvement.
Brigadier General Ashraf Rifi, head of the ISF, said the car bomb was yet another attempt at destabilizing the country as it grapples with its worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
"This is a message to the Internal Security Forces following the message sent to the army in December when General Francois el-Hajj was killed in a car bomb" last month, Rifi told reporters at the site of the blast.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora declared a national day of mourning on Saturday when Eid and his bodyguard are to be buried.
Friday's explosion took place shortly after 10 am (0800 GMT) near a highway overpass in Hazmiyeh, a mainly Christian district in eastern Beirut and an area that houses a number of office buildings.
Local residents and office workers, some screaming and others in shock, could be seen running amongst blazing vehicles searching for friends and loved ones.
"It was an apocalyptic vision," said Ghandour Mashlab, a real estate agent who was at the site.
The security official estimated that the bomb, which blasted a five-metre (16-foot) wide crater into the road, consisted of at least 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of TNT.
A senior member of the anti-Syrian majority pointed the finger at Damascus.
"This bombing is proof that the (Syrian) mukhabarat (intelligence) have infiltrated Lebanese security services,' the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
Syria, however, condemned the killing and blamed "Lebanon's enemies".
The bombing was also widely denounced by the international community and Arab states.
"Lebanon has too long suffered from foreign interference," said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a clear allusion to Syria, complaining about the "violent pattern and intimidation" of the Beirut bombing.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the latest attack "should not be allowed to undermine the security, stability and sovereignty of Lebanon".
"We strongly condemn the terrorist bombing in Beirut today that killed a police captain and many other Lebanese," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
Britain's Foreign Office said it should not be allowed to derail the probe into the string of killings in Lebanon.
In Riyadh, Saudi King Abdullah called for unity to foil "the schemes of those who do not wish well for Lebanon" while Arab League chief Amr Mussa warned that the latest attack could "affect the unity of Lebanon."
The country is "sliding toward the abyss because of the failure to reach a compromise" on electing a new president, said Mussa, whose organisation has been trying to convince feuding MPs to agree on a plan to break the deadlock.
Russia expressed "deep concern" after the latest deadly bombing, saying it showed there was a political "vacuum" in Lebanon.
Lebanon has been without a president since pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud stepped down on November 23 with no elected successor because of a standoff between the majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition.
In February 2005, five-time prime minister Hariri was killed by a huge bomb on the Beirut seafront. The backlash against his killing resulted in Syria withdrawing its forces from its small neighbour after nearly 30 years.
Later on Friday, a security official said a large cache of weapons was found in the southern coastal city of Sidon.
Worldwide Condemnation by Political Leaders of Latest Assassination
Worldwide Condemnation by Political Leaders of Latest Assassination
Various Lebanese groups, the international community and Arab states condemned Friday's assassination of a key Lebanese anti-terrorism investigator that was seen as part of a campaign to dismantle Lebanese institutions.
The leader of the parliamentary majority, MP Saad HaririSaad-Hariri-Profile Sep-07 , indirectly pointed the finger at neighboring Syria.
"This attack is a clear message to all Arabs that the future of Lebanon will remain under the stranglehold of crimes and terrorism despite all the initiatives to resolve the political crisis," Hariri said. "That compels us to call once again on Syria to stop its interference in Lebanon."
However, Syria itself, which pulled its troops out of Lebanon after three decades under strong pressure after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, condemned the killing, blaming it on "Lebanon's enemies."
The official Syrian Arab News Agency quoted a government official as "condemning the attack perpetrated this morning in Beirut and affirming that it aimed at Lebanon's security and stability."
The opposition Free Patriotic Movement, headed by MP Michel Aoun, also condemned the killing, saying, "the perpetrators should be uncovered and brought to justice at once."
Hizbullah also condemned the bombing and sent a delegation to Internal Security Forces (ISF) commander General Ashraf Rifi to pay condolences.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon also deplored Friday's "terrorist" attack.
"The secretary general strongly condemns the terrorist attack today in Lebanon that reportedly killed an officer of the ISF" and three others, his press office said in a statement.
Captain Wissam Eid, 31, a member of Lebanon's ISF and his bodyguard were killed along with three civilians.
Ban, who is currently attending the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of DavosDavos-City-Guide Jan-08 , reiterated his call "on the people of Lebanon to continue exercising restraint and for those behind this and previous attacks to be brought to justice."
"This latest act of terrorshould not be allowed to undermine the security, stability and sovereignty of Lebanon," the UN statement said.
The Security Council was also considering issuing its own statement condemning the attack.
The White House also "strongly" condemned the attack, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, who blamed "those who seek to undermine Lebanon's institutions and democratic processes and to delay further the selection of a new Lebanese president."
At the State Department, spokesman Tom Casey said the car bombing "does appear yet again to be another attack on individuals who are part of the institutions and democratic structures in Lebanon."
Britain, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia and other countries as well as the European Union, and the Arab League also denounced the attack.
"This is another in a disturbing series of recent attacks by those who wish to destabilize Lebanon," said Britain's Foreign Office. "His death must not be allowed to derail the pursuit of justice" in the string of killings in Lebanon.
If "some people think that these assassinations can sink a solution to the current [political] crisis to their advantage, they are wrong," said EgyptianForeign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since Emile Lahoud left the presidency at the end of his term at midnight on November 23 with no elected successor because of a standoff between the ruling coalition and the Hizbullah-led opposition.
In Riyadh, Saudi King Abdullah, who was meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, joined the condemnations and called for unity to foil "the schemes of those who do not wish well for Lebanon."
Arab League chief Amr Moussa warned the latest attack could "affect the unity of Lebanon." The country is "sliding toward the abyss because of the failure to reach a compromise" on electing a new president, said Moussa, whose organization has a plan which has so far failed to break the deadlock between feuding parties.
Russia expressed "deep concern" after the latest deadly bombing, saying that it showed there was a political "vacuum" in Lebanon.
"The report of a fresh explosion in Beirut ... evokes deep concern," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement
"It reflects the danger of the continuing vacuum of presidential power in Lebanon," Kamynin added.
"Consultations on electing a new head of state by consensus are being unjustifiably delayed, which is being exploited by destructive forces. The continuing delay on this key question is unacceptable," he said.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana condemned the deadly car bombing, which he said was clearly aimed at fomenting instability.
"Yet again I express my utter condemnation at the continuing wave of bomb attacks in Beirut," the EU high representative for foreign and security policy said in a statement.
"It is clear that the main intention behind these attacks is to foment instability," he added. "As attempts to foster dialogue continue in good faith, others exert efforts to pursue a sinister agenda."
Various Lebanese groups, the international community and Arab states condemned Friday's assassination of a key Lebanese anti-terrorism investigator that was seen as part of a campaign to dismantle Lebanese institutions.
The leader of the parliamentary majority, MP Saad HaririSaad-Hariri-Profile Sep-07 , indirectly pointed the finger at neighboring Syria.
"This attack is a clear message to all Arabs that the future of Lebanon will remain under the stranglehold of crimes and terrorism despite all the initiatives to resolve the political crisis," Hariri said. "That compels us to call once again on Syria to stop its interference in Lebanon."
However, Syria itself, which pulled its troops out of Lebanon after three decades under strong pressure after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, condemned the killing, blaming it on "Lebanon's enemies."
The official Syrian Arab News Agency quoted a government official as "condemning the attack perpetrated this morning in Beirut and affirming that it aimed at Lebanon's security and stability."
The opposition Free Patriotic Movement, headed by MP Michel Aoun, also condemned the killing, saying, "the perpetrators should be uncovered and brought to justice at once."
Hizbullah also condemned the bombing and sent a delegation to Internal Security Forces (ISF) commander General Ashraf Rifi to pay condolences.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon also deplored Friday's "terrorist" attack.
"The secretary general strongly condemns the terrorist attack today in Lebanon that reportedly killed an officer of the ISF" and three others, his press office said in a statement.
Captain Wissam Eid, 31, a member of Lebanon's ISF and his bodyguard were killed along with three civilians.
Ban, who is currently attending the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of DavosDavos-City-Guide Jan-08 , reiterated his call "on the people of Lebanon to continue exercising restraint and for those behind this and previous attacks to be brought to justice."
"This latest act of terrorshould not be allowed to undermine the security, stability and sovereignty of Lebanon," the UN statement said.
The Security Council was also considering issuing its own statement condemning the attack.
The White House also "strongly" condemned the attack, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, who blamed "those who seek to undermine Lebanon's institutions and democratic processes and to delay further the selection of a new Lebanese president."
At the State Department, spokesman Tom Casey said the car bombing "does appear yet again to be another attack on individuals who are part of the institutions and democratic structures in Lebanon."
Britain, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia and other countries as well as the European Union, and the Arab League also denounced the attack.
"This is another in a disturbing series of recent attacks by those who wish to destabilize Lebanon," said Britain's Foreign Office. "His death must not be allowed to derail the pursuit of justice" in the string of killings in Lebanon.
If "some people think that these assassinations can sink a solution to the current [political] crisis to their advantage, they are wrong," said EgyptianForeign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since Emile Lahoud left the presidency at the end of his term at midnight on November 23 with no elected successor because of a standoff between the ruling coalition and the Hizbullah-led opposition.
In Riyadh, Saudi King Abdullah, who was meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, joined the condemnations and called for unity to foil "the schemes of those who do not wish well for Lebanon."
Arab League chief Amr Moussa warned the latest attack could "affect the unity of Lebanon." The country is "sliding toward the abyss because of the failure to reach a compromise" on electing a new president, said Moussa, whose organization has a plan which has so far failed to break the deadlock between feuding parties.
Russia expressed "deep concern" after the latest deadly bombing, saying that it showed there was a political "vacuum" in Lebanon.
"The report of a fresh explosion in Beirut ... evokes deep concern," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement
"It reflects the danger of the continuing vacuum of presidential power in Lebanon," Kamynin added.
"Consultations on electing a new head of state by consensus are being unjustifiably delayed, which is being exploited by destructive forces. The continuing delay on this key question is unacceptable," he said.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana condemned the deadly car bombing, which he said was clearly aimed at fomenting instability.
"Yet again I express my utter condemnation at the continuing wave of bomb attacks in Beirut," the EU high representative for foreign and security policy said in a statement.
"It is clear that the main intention behind these attacks is to foment instability," he added. "As attempts to foster dialogue continue in good faith, others exert efforts to pursue a sinister agenda."
The Chain of Seemingly Unendable Assasinations in Lebanon
The Chain of Seemingly Unendable Assasinations in Lebanon
The metal guard rail hangs from the highway overpass like a Christmas garland, the mangled frame of a large road sign dangling beside it like a misshapen ornament. The road is littered with chunks of concrete too large to be lifted without strenuous effort.
This wreckage stands about 10 meters above a massive crater - the site of a car bomb loaded with 60 kilograms of TNT (some estimated 70) which killed Internal Security Forces (ISF) Captain Wissam Eid, his driver, and at least three others Friday morning. Some security officials claimed that six had died. Over three dozen were said to be wounded in the blast, some critically.
In an adjacent parking lot, there are the skeletal shells of blackened cars, still parked in neat rows. Those nearest to the explosion are simply heaps of charred metal. No doors, no windshields, no upholstery - some had burned for hours. Others, further from the blast, are more intact. There is a white Mercedes, a Peugeot, a Honda, all gray from smoke, their windows shattered. The security official standing nearby says that 45 cars were blown up, burned or "broken" in the explosion.
Just after 10 a.m. the car bomb was remotely detonated in Hazmieh, a predominantly Christian suburb in eastern Beirut. The car was parked beneath the six-lane overpass of the highway. It exploded as Eid"s car was passing by.
Scores of people arrived with the first responders as towers of smoke billowed from the wreckage. In video footage obtained by The Daily Star, tagged 10:05 a.m., hundreds of people can be seen running on and below the highway to the site of the blast. A video from 10:17, at the site of the attack, shows a footless leg and the remnants of a hand extending from a bloodstained blanket.
A five-story Nokia building stands above the parking lot, not 30 meters from the center of the explosion. Every window is missing - not broken, but missing. The sheets of glass were blown completely from their frames. One pane lies shattered but intact some 20 meters across the street.
People had been working in the Nokia Building and the attached Meatel Building. In a remarkable stroke of luck, the wall of the building most directly facing the explosion had no windows. This alone saved the lives of many inside.
Those nearer the blast were not as lucky. The remains of one of those who was killed was initially unidentifiable.
A miraculously unaffected sign stands just across the street from the bomb"s crater. It points east and reads: Mount Lebanon Hospital.
Just above the sign are two advertisements, equally unchanged. One is for Fructis Shampoo, the other is for Florid Aluminum. They stand in stark contrast to blackened debris, empty window frames, and twisted chasses that litter the rest of the area.
Beneath the far side of the overpass there is a 2-meter-high mound of dirt and rubble that runs parallel with the highway for dozens of meters.
A security official says that pieces of metal, concrete, and plastic were blown as far as 400 meters in the blast. This reporter follows the police officer"s suggestion and walks about that distance eastbound on the highway. A twisted, 8-meter metal poll lies in the middle of the road near a couple of hubcaps.
By the afternoon the site is completely cordoned off. The shouts, screams and sirens give way to a methodical police investigation. Fewer people arrive in search of loved ones and those looking for belongings are turned away.
A French television crew is denied entry, and they begin filming from behind the yellow crime-scene tape. As they are filming, a large Nissan van and a covered personnel carrier arrive with dozens more ISF men.
The inbound traffic lanes above the site are completely blocked. Policemen, on site now for seven hours, smoke and show pictures. They smile the weary, bewildered smiles of those less worried for themselves than for their country. "This f**king place," says one.
The Beirut-bound lanes of the highway are closed for kilometers - as far as one can see. As the sun sets the road takes on an eerily abandoned, post-apocalyptic feel.
Off the highway in a cafe, the young proprietor asks about the blast. His brother works in the Meatel Building, and he says he ran, in terror, to the site moments after the explosion.
Above the counter there is a picture of another young man about his age. "This is Tony," he says, "my best friend. He was killed in the Antoine Ghanem explosion in September."
The metal guard rail hangs from the highway overpass like a Christmas garland, the mangled frame of a large road sign dangling beside it like a misshapen ornament. The road is littered with chunks of concrete too large to be lifted without strenuous effort.
This wreckage stands about 10 meters above a massive crater - the site of a car bomb loaded with 60 kilograms of TNT (some estimated 70) which killed Internal Security Forces (ISF) Captain Wissam Eid, his driver, and at least three others Friday morning. Some security officials claimed that six had died. Over three dozen were said to be wounded in the blast, some critically.
In an adjacent parking lot, there are the skeletal shells of blackened cars, still parked in neat rows. Those nearest to the explosion are simply heaps of charred metal. No doors, no windshields, no upholstery - some had burned for hours. Others, further from the blast, are more intact. There is a white Mercedes, a Peugeot, a Honda, all gray from smoke, their windows shattered. The security official standing nearby says that 45 cars were blown up, burned or "broken" in the explosion.
Just after 10 a.m. the car bomb was remotely detonated in Hazmieh, a predominantly Christian suburb in eastern Beirut. The car was parked beneath the six-lane overpass of the highway. It exploded as Eid"s car was passing by.
Scores of people arrived with the first responders as towers of smoke billowed from the wreckage. In video footage obtained by The Daily Star, tagged 10:05 a.m., hundreds of people can be seen running on and below the highway to the site of the blast. A video from 10:17, at the site of the attack, shows a footless leg and the remnants of a hand extending from a bloodstained blanket.
A five-story Nokia building stands above the parking lot, not 30 meters from the center of the explosion. Every window is missing - not broken, but missing. The sheets of glass were blown completely from their frames. One pane lies shattered but intact some 20 meters across the street.
People had been working in the Nokia Building and the attached Meatel Building. In a remarkable stroke of luck, the wall of the building most directly facing the explosion had no windows. This alone saved the lives of many inside.
Those nearer the blast were not as lucky. The remains of one of those who was killed was initially unidentifiable.
A miraculously unaffected sign stands just across the street from the bomb"s crater. It points east and reads: Mount Lebanon Hospital.
Just above the sign are two advertisements, equally unchanged. One is for Fructis Shampoo, the other is for Florid Aluminum. They stand in stark contrast to blackened debris, empty window frames, and twisted chasses that litter the rest of the area.
Beneath the far side of the overpass there is a 2-meter-high mound of dirt and rubble that runs parallel with the highway for dozens of meters.
A security official says that pieces of metal, concrete, and plastic were blown as far as 400 meters in the blast. This reporter follows the police officer"s suggestion and walks about that distance eastbound on the highway. A twisted, 8-meter metal poll lies in the middle of the road near a couple of hubcaps.
By the afternoon the site is completely cordoned off. The shouts, screams and sirens give way to a methodical police investigation. Fewer people arrive in search of loved ones and those looking for belongings are turned away.
A French television crew is denied entry, and they begin filming from behind the yellow crime-scene tape. As they are filming, a large Nissan van and a covered personnel carrier arrive with dozens more ISF men.
The inbound traffic lanes above the site are completely blocked. Policemen, on site now for seven hours, smoke and show pictures. They smile the weary, bewildered smiles of those less worried for themselves than for their country. "This f**king place," says one.
The Beirut-bound lanes of the highway are closed for kilometers - as far as one can see. As the sun sets the road takes on an eerily abandoned, post-apocalyptic feel.
Off the highway in a cafe, the young proprietor asks about the blast. His brother works in the Meatel Building, and he says he ran, in terror, to the site moments after the explosion.
Above the counter there is a picture of another young man about his age. "This is Tony," he says, "my best friend. He was killed in the Antoine Ghanem explosion in September."
Aoun: Opposition has strong public trust (Part 1)
Aoun: Opposition has strong public trust (Part 1)
Q. The ruling coalition finally accepted you as a negotiator for the opposition. You met the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and you meet face-to-face with Saad Hariri.
A. I usually don't ask that they accept, or refuse. The important thing is they did it. And we started dialogue on the Lebanese dilemma. I hope this dialogue helps lead to a solution.
Q. Do you believe a solution is in the making?
A. Whatever the outcome, if we don't reach a solution, it won't be because of me. The responsibility (for failure) will rest with the others.
Q. Do you believe that the meeting yesterday was merely symbolic?
A. Well, in one sense, it wasn't just symbolic. There was also an informative clarification on how the ruling group thinks and what they want.
Q. What does your heart tell you? Are you going to reach a coalition with the opposition?
A. It always begins with a wish. Now whether this wish comes true or not is something else. I hope we reach a solution.
Q. (In other words) the dream will not come true, right?
A. No, a solution or achieving this dream, is possible; reaching a solution is very, very important. If there is no solution, there will be negative consequences for Lebanon because of this inability.
Q. You are talking positively with me because you are afraid they will pin the blame on you, right? You don't want to say anything against your own coalition. Is that right?
A. We have to suspend judgments and we can't conclude things yet. The chances for success, and failure, are still there. We don't want to talk about success or failure or give false hopes to people or give them a negative picture. We are trying to reach a solution.
Q. General Aoun, you are an intelligent man. One of the most prominent figures in Lebanon. You have met many figures from the ruling coalition in the past and all these attempts failed. General, is this new initiative going to fail or not?
A. We always have to try, we were raised on the idea of always continuing to try and if things fail, we will have the honor of having tried.
Q. If the attempt fails, what are you going to do? Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said the opposition will take decisive action. What kind of actions are we talking about?
A. There are diverse methods of voicing our opposition. There's talk, demonstrations, civil disobedience and negative actions. Until now we haven't decided on the best way to go. We will announce it in time.
Q. Perhaps again you will not succeed. And yet you demand?
A. The sit-in would have been solved. What comes next won't be a sit-in, it will involve movement and this means energy and directing this energy, and the authorities, and society might feel this immediately and in a more direct manner..
Q. Do you think this time people will listen to you and take to the streets and protest?
A. Our credibility with people and concern with public safety has made us behave very pacifically for more than a year now. Our intentions are peaceful, not out of weakness. We have the power. So people believe in us. Sometimes we tell them, 'be calm', and they are, and sometimes we say we need a bit more strength, and they're ready to give, because we deal with things responsibly. The nation is ours. If a glass breaks in the street, this is a loss for us. So, our peaceful actions are key.
I hope the authorities understand this before it's not too late, because our movement can also cause harm.
Q. General Aoun, do you believe that the March 14th alliance decides for itself or does the US dictate its policies?
A. They don't make their decisions. They might take a position and then change it next day. They have fights and debates among themselves and they say this is democracy. Some of them were against nominating a military man, whereas Walid Jumblatt, Ghassan Tueni, Hariri - the top officials didn't want a military man or any amendment to the Constitution.
Then 24 hours later, they changed their position.
Q. Who changed their position?
A. It certainly wasn't me. They deal openly with some Arab countries and the Americans. The Americans are the most important player in the presidency (debate).
Q. So they don't decide for themselves, America decides for them?
A. It's either them [the US] or another country.
Origin: moqavemat.ir
Q. The ruling coalition finally accepted you as a negotiator for the opposition. You met the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and you meet face-to-face with Saad Hariri.
A. I usually don't ask that they accept, or refuse. The important thing is they did it. And we started dialogue on the Lebanese dilemma. I hope this dialogue helps lead to a solution.
Q. Do you believe a solution is in the making?
A. Whatever the outcome, if we don't reach a solution, it won't be because of me. The responsibility (for failure) will rest with the others.
Q. Do you believe that the meeting yesterday was merely symbolic?
A. Well, in one sense, it wasn't just symbolic. There was also an informative clarification on how the ruling group thinks and what they want.
Q. What does your heart tell you? Are you going to reach a coalition with the opposition?
A. It always begins with a wish. Now whether this wish comes true or not is something else. I hope we reach a solution.
Q. (In other words) the dream will not come true, right?
A. No, a solution or achieving this dream, is possible; reaching a solution is very, very important. If there is no solution, there will be negative consequences for Lebanon because of this inability.
Q. You are talking positively with me because you are afraid they will pin the blame on you, right? You don't want to say anything against your own coalition. Is that right?
A. We have to suspend judgments and we can't conclude things yet. The chances for success, and failure, are still there. We don't want to talk about success or failure or give false hopes to people or give them a negative picture. We are trying to reach a solution.
Q. General Aoun, you are an intelligent man. One of the most prominent figures in Lebanon. You have met many figures from the ruling coalition in the past and all these attempts failed. General, is this new initiative going to fail or not?
A. We always have to try, we were raised on the idea of always continuing to try and if things fail, we will have the honor of having tried.
Q. If the attempt fails, what are you going to do? Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said the opposition will take decisive action. What kind of actions are we talking about?
A. There are diverse methods of voicing our opposition. There's talk, demonstrations, civil disobedience and negative actions. Until now we haven't decided on the best way to go. We will announce it in time.
Q. Perhaps again you will not succeed. And yet you demand?
A. The sit-in would have been solved. What comes next won't be a sit-in, it will involve movement and this means energy and directing this energy, and the authorities, and society might feel this immediately and in a more direct manner..
Q. Do you think this time people will listen to you and take to the streets and protest?
A. Our credibility with people and concern with public safety has made us behave very pacifically for more than a year now. Our intentions are peaceful, not out of weakness. We have the power. So people believe in us. Sometimes we tell them, 'be calm', and they are, and sometimes we say we need a bit more strength, and they're ready to give, because we deal with things responsibly. The nation is ours. If a glass breaks in the street, this is a loss for us. So, our peaceful actions are key.
I hope the authorities understand this before it's not too late, because our movement can also cause harm.
Q. General Aoun, do you believe that the March 14th alliance decides for itself or does the US dictate its policies?
A. They don't make their decisions. They might take a position and then change it next day. They have fights and debates among themselves and they say this is democracy. Some of them were against nominating a military man, whereas Walid Jumblatt, Ghassan Tueni, Hariri - the top officials didn't want a military man or any amendment to the Constitution.
Then 24 hours later, they changed their position.
Q. Who changed their position?
A. It certainly wasn't me. They deal openly with some Arab countries and the Americans. The Americans are the most important player in the presidency (debate).
Q. So they don't decide for themselves, America decides for them?
A. It's either them [the US] or another country.
Origin: moqavemat.ir
Aoun: The US is against me (Part 2)
Aoun: The US is against me (Part 2)
A. It"s either them [the US] or another country. They are certainly under the influence of Western countries, and not just the US. But there"s coordination between the West, the US and Arab countries. There is regional and international pressure on us regarding the presidency.
We represent the independence line, and they don"t acknowledge our true strength, or that we represent true independence. Instead they just say we are Syria or Iran, which is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Q. General Aoun, does American want to punish you because of your excellent stances with Hezbollah?
A. Certainly, and some regional countries lack the courage to support us because they"re given in. We are defending ourselves, and our steadfast people are the best weapon.
Q. So America wants to corner you?
A. Not just America. Arab states, European states as well. [They are] not just against us, but against the pro-independence line. Since I am a leading figure in this group, they are certainly against me. They are not embarrassed by this. Even Western envoys told me "the Americans are against you. We cannot solve the problem".
The US ambassador here said if Aoun breaks his ties with Hezbollah, he"ll be the presidential candidate of consensus. My answer was clear and concise: "I prefer national unity to the presidency." I prefer being in step with the domestic pro-independence front to being a president separated from his popular base and national goals.
Q. General Aoun, you said those people in power are irresponsible. There is too much corruption in the government. Are those people in power corrupt people?
A. Certainly… without naming names, the government has run away from launching a financial investigation into squandering from the Treasury. There are many people involved.
Q. Is Mr. Hariri a corrupt man?
A. I can"t accuse anyone… But Hariri hasn"t been in office. But the current government is like a board of directors, and not a Lebanese government.
The direct responsibility lies with the official, and Hariri hasn"t been in office, he"s been an MP. The ministers who are corrupt can"t say Hariri was responsible. If that person isn"t actually signing things, the person responsible is the minister or prime minister, and the investigation will reveal what"s happened. There are sensitive areas, and we need an investigation to determine responsibility.
Q. Is Mr. Jumblatt a corrupt man?
A. Jumblatt has had many problems… perhaps his responsibility has become publicly known and he said it himself once; he was in a corner and mentioned bribery, and that he evades taxes, and keeps two sets of accounting books, one showing a loss, for the state, and the real one, kept in his safe. That"s what he"s said, not us.
Can you try someone for what he"s said?
Q. I met Mr. Jumblatt recently. I asked him why he doesn"t speak to General Aoun. He told me, "General Aoun is a man who has no honor". I asked him why? He said, "When student troops invaded the palace in 1990, he escaped in a military vehicle and left behind his wife and three children."
A. I think Walid Jumblatt"s lying. In 2004, I think Rene Alain, the French ambassador here, told al-Hayat newspaper about the details of the October 13, 1990. I have a document in French, translated, from 1990, which says the French invited me to the embassy to discuss a ceasefire. You can call Alain and ask him, in France, where he"s mayor. I still have the authorization document.
Q. Why does Mr. Jumblatt hate you?
A. There is a popular saying, "affection comes in different types," while maybe hatred is more general. It has to do with his egocentrism and how no one else is good in his eyes.
Q. He is the only good man in the country?
A. Yes, although he says things, that he killed and stole, he demands to be thought better than others.
Q. So Walid Jumblatt is a killer and criminal?
A. He said that. He was asked once about what happened to the people he"d detained. He said he killed them all. He was asked about Lebanon being run by titans of money, and he said he was one of them that he didn"t pay taxes. And he told you that he"d lied to the Syrians for 25 years. I am not saying this, he is.
Q. After all that he said against you, you are ready to meet with this man and build trust and confidence?
A He"d have to do many things before we trust him
Q. What does he have to do?
A. If he agrees, he"d have to stick to an agreement. This is important. This is a problem between him and the Lebanese people. There are 70,000 - 80,000 displaced from his region, and only 17% have returned, after 25 years.
Money was paid, but it didn"t go to the return of the displaced. This requires the will of the state and of Walid Jumblatt to be corrected.
Q. You seem like such a peaceful man but when I interviewed him he said "I am not going to put my hand with people accused of murder. "
A. I think this is the case for me, not him. He was talking about me, not the other way around.
When he wants to say "murder" he should be specific. He"s confessed to it but I haven"t killed anyone. If there"s a crime he should charge me. I think he"s not courageous enough to say who I"ve killed. As a fighter and officer, in the army, I experienced all phases of battle. I"m a military man…he should remember when we had him under siege in Beirut, I sent soldiers to take him in a jeep, so that he wouldn"t be treated violently.
They asked him where he wanted to go, these were my orders, and he went. I could have thrown him into prison.
Q. And you did not do this?
A. Yes, this was in September 1983 at his home in Mosaytebeh.
Q. General Aoun, what"s your problem with the Head of the Lebanese forces, Samir Geagea?
A. A different political path and method of behavior... He"s the opposite of me.
Q. Listen to what he said on the Christmas Eve: he said Michel Aoun pollutes rejoicing of the Lebanese, are you a polluter according to what he said? You pollute and you prevent people from rejoicing on the New Year eve. They did not enjoy their Christmas because of you Michel Aoun. This is what he said.
A. What did I do? To make accusations like that, if we had a state and a judiciary…these accusations should be turned over to the judiciary. These aren"t responsible people. They"re talking nonsense. This goes against my nature. How could I prevent people from enjoying their holiday?
Q. He said because of your absurd theories.
A. This would prevent them form being happy? It would probably entertain them, they"d laugh about it. A guy could entertain people all night by talking about me.
Q. You always accuse the ruling coalition of getting involved in a plot to settle the Palestinians in Lebanon. Do you have anything to prove this accusation?
A. The Palestinian issue is a permanent issue in Lebanon. The Palestinians have been here for 60 years and in the Taif Accord there is a paragraph that reads: "no settlement, partition or division"
However since then the government and particularly Siniora and the current ruling group which has been in power since 1992 have done nothing about this issue.
If there is no progress on the issue the Palestinians will be considered actual residents in Lebanon and the matter will be over. There should be movement on this issue that is holding political activities to achieve the right of return for the Palestinians.
Second, there was a policy begun by the late Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri.
During a meeting in Qoraytem, on 17 December 2000, he told his advisors that "settlement has been imposed on us and there is no way to get out of it."
Therefore the country"s interests lies in further indebtedness, since there will be a bill for this
settlement - the compensation to be paid for this. Since then, Lebanon"s debt has grown, and these debts are growing - we are drowning in debt.
So, first: Lebanon is borrowing money.
And second: the right of return.
Recently Bush said in Palestine that he will compensate Palestinian refugees and he didn"t mention the right of return at all.
Q. Can you show me what you"re holding in your hand?
A. This is a document - there is a copy of it at Lebanon"s General Security Department, containing information about the meeting I"ve just mentioned. Borrowing is the interest of Lebanon, since settlement will be paid for with compensation.
Q. And this is a secret document?
A. In principle, these are public records.
Q. Is it top secret?
A. It is not top secret.
Q. Can I just have a look please? The document reads: "top secret"
A. At that time.
Q. So Michel Aoun has a top secret document that proves that the ruling coalition is involved in a plot to settle the Palestinians in Lebanon.
A. General Security has this information and I receive a copy of it in the mail. A citizen sent the info in the mail and this document has a number.
Q. So the Patriarch has been involved in a plan to settle the Palestinians in Lebanon, do you agree with him?
A. I haven"t seen Suleiman Franjieh to ask him about it, whether he has documents or if this is a reading of the Patriarch"s policy, because there"s been silence about this since 1990.
So I won"t say anything until I see my friend and ask him about it. But the patriarch"s silence on this has been strange. And not just him - no one has responded to Bush. Prime Minister Siniora responded but very timidly.
When I talked about settlement very harshly, Siniora criticized me for trying to show him up. It appears today that I was correct.
Q. Your ally Suleiman Franjieh said that the Patriarch is an employee at the American embassy, do you agree with him?
A. This is a language issue; a politician who is completely committed to something might be described in this way. Like when they accused me of things. This is like a conclusion people reach.
Q. Does the Patriarch hold a grudge against you General? Maybe because you"re allied with the Hezbollah, or because of your problems in the past with him
A. I don"t ask whether people like me or not. I ask whether I should be doing something for them or not or ask if I"m doing something wrong against them. If they like me or not, this is their problem. I"m doing my duty according to my conscience and convictions and take on the responsibility. People might hate me or like me but this is a result of public life. You always have people who like you or don"t like you.
A. It"s either them [the US] or another country. They are certainly under the influence of Western countries, and not just the US. But there"s coordination between the West, the US and Arab countries. There is regional and international pressure on us regarding the presidency.
We represent the independence line, and they don"t acknowledge our true strength, or that we represent true independence. Instead they just say we are Syria or Iran, which is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Q. General Aoun, does American want to punish you because of your excellent stances with Hezbollah?
A. Certainly, and some regional countries lack the courage to support us because they"re given in. We are defending ourselves, and our steadfast people are the best weapon.
Q. So America wants to corner you?
A. Not just America. Arab states, European states as well. [They are] not just against us, but against the pro-independence line. Since I am a leading figure in this group, they are certainly against me. They are not embarrassed by this. Even Western envoys told me "the Americans are against you. We cannot solve the problem".
The US ambassador here said if Aoun breaks his ties with Hezbollah, he"ll be the presidential candidate of consensus. My answer was clear and concise: "I prefer national unity to the presidency." I prefer being in step with the domestic pro-independence front to being a president separated from his popular base and national goals.
Q. General Aoun, you said those people in power are irresponsible. There is too much corruption in the government. Are those people in power corrupt people?
A. Certainly… without naming names, the government has run away from launching a financial investigation into squandering from the Treasury. There are many people involved.
Q. Is Mr. Hariri a corrupt man?
A. I can"t accuse anyone… But Hariri hasn"t been in office. But the current government is like a board of directors, and not a Lebanese government.
The direct responsibility lies with the official, and Hariri hasn"t been in office, he"s been an MP. The ministers who are corrupt can"t say Hariri was responsible. If that person isn"t actually signing things, the person responsible is the minister or prime minister, and the investigation will reveal what"s happened. There are sensitive areas, and we need an investigation to determine responsibility.
Q. Is Mr. Jumblatt a corrupt man?
A. Jumblatt has had many problems… perhaps his responsibility has become publicly known and he said it himself once; he was in a corner and mentioned bribery, and that he evades taxes, and keeps two sets of accounting books, one showing a loss, for the state, and the real one, kept in his safe. That"s what he"s said, not us.
Can you try someone for what he"s said?
Q. I met Mr. Jumblatt recently. I asked him why he doesn"t speak to General Aoun. He told me, "General Aoun is a man who has no honor". I asked him why? He said, "When student troops invaded the palace in 1990, he escaped in a military vehicle and left behind his wife and three children."
A. I think Walid Jumblatt"s lying. In 2004, I think Rene Alain, the French ambassador here, told al-Hayat newspaper about the details of the October 13, 1990. I have a document in French, translated, from 1990, which says the French invited me to the embassy to discuss a ceasefire. You can call Alain and ask him, in France, where he"s mayor. I still have the authorization document.
Q. Why does Mr. Jumblatt hate you?
A. There is a popular saying, "affection comes in different types," while maybe hatred is more general. It has to do with his egocentrism and how no one else is good in his eyes.
Q. He is the only good man in the country?
A. Yes, although he says things, that he killed and stole, he demands to be thought better than others.
Q. So Walid Jumblatt is a killer and criminal?
A. He said that. He was asked once about what happened to the people he"d detained. He said he killed them all. He was asked about Lebanon being run by titans of money, and he said he was one of them that he didn"t pay taxes. And he told you that he"d lied to the Syrians for 25 years. I am not saying this, he is.
Q. After all that he said against you, you are ready to meet with this man and build trust and confidence?
A He"d have to do many things before we trust him
Q. What does he have to do?
A. If he agrees, he"d have to stick to an agreement. This is important. This is a problem between him and the Lebanese people. There are 70,000 - 80,000 displaced from his region, and only 17% have returned, after 25 years.
Money was paid, but it didn"t go to the return of the displaced. This requires the will of the state and of Walid Jumblatt to be corrected.
Q. You seem like such a peaceful man but when I interviewed him he said "I am not going to put my hand with people accused of murder. "
A. I think this is the case for me, not him. He was talking about me, not the other way around.
When he wants to say "murder" he should be specific. He"s confessed to it but I haven"t killed anyone. If there"s a crime he should charge me. I think he"s not courageous enough to say who I"ve killed. As a fighter and officer, in the army, I experienced all phases of battle. I"m a military man…he should remember when we had him under siege in Beirut, I sent soldiers to take him in a jeep, so that he wouldn"t be treated violently.
They asked him where he wanted to go, these were my orders, and he went. I could have thrown him into prison.
Q. And you did not do this?
A. Yes, this was in September 1983 at his home in Mosaytebeh.
Q. General Aoun, what"s your problem with the Head of the Lebanese forces, Samir Geagea?
A. A different political path and method of behavior... He"s the opposite of me.
Q. Listen to what he said on the Christmas Eve: he said Michel Aoun pollutes rejoicing of the Lebanese, are you a polluter according to what he said? You pollute and you prevent people from rejoicing on the New Year eve. They did not enjoy their Christmas because of you Michel Aoun. This is what he said.
A. What did I do? To make accusations like that, if we had a state and a judiciary…these accusations should be turned over to the judiciary. These aren"t responsible people. They"re talking nonsense. This goes against my nature. How could I prevent people from enjoying their holiday?
Q. He said because of your absurd theories.
A. This would prevent them form being happy? It would probably entertain them, they"d laugh about it. A guy could entertain people all night by talking about me.
Q. You always accuse the ruling coalition of getting involved in a plot to settle the Palestinians in Lebanon. Do you have anything to prove this accusation?
A. The Palestinian issue is a permanent issue in Lebanon. The Palestinians have been here for 60 years and in the Taif Accord there is a paragraph that reads: "no settlement, partition or division"
However since then the government and particularly Siniora and the current ruling group which has been in power since 1992 have done nothing about this issue.
If there is no progress on the issue the Palestinians will be considered actual residents in Lebanon and the matter will be over. There should be movement on this issue that is holding political activities to achieve the right of return for the Palestinians.
Second, there was a policy begun by the late Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri.
During a meeting in Qoraytem, on 17 December 2000, he told his advisors that "settlement has been imposed on us and there is no way to get out of it."
Therefore the country"s interests lies in further indebtedness, since there will be a bill for this
settlement - the compensation to be paid for this. Since then, Lebanon"s debt has grown, and these debts are growing - we are drowning in debt.
So, first: Lebanon is borrowing money.
And second: the right of return.
Recently Bush said in Palestine that he will compensate Palestinian refugees and he didn"t mention the right of return at all.
Q. Can you show me what you"re holding in your hand?
A. This is a document - there is a copy of it at Lebanon"s General Security Department, containing information about the meeting I"ve just mentioned. Borrowing is the interest of Lebanon, since settlement will be paid for with compensation.
Q. And this is a secret document?
A. In principle, these are public records.
Q. Is it top secret?
A. It is not top secret.
Q. Can I just have a look please? The document reads: "top secret"
A. At that time.
Q. So Michel Aoun has a top secret document that proves that the ruling coalition is involved in a plot to settle the Palestinians in Lebanon.
A. General Security has this information and I receive a copy of it in the mail. A citizen sent the info in the mail and this document has a number.
Q. So the Patriarch has been involved in a plan to settle the Palestinians in Lebanon, do you agree with him?
A. I haven"t seen Suleiman Franjieh to ask him about it, whether he has documents or if this is a reading of the Patriarch"s policy, because there"s been silence about this since 1990.
So I won"t say anything until I see my friend and ask him about it. But the patriarch"s silence on this has been strange. And not just him - no one has responded to Bush. Prime Minister Siniora responded but very timidly.
When I talked about settlement very harshly, Siniora criticized me for trying to show him up. It appears today that I was correct.
Q. Your ally Suleiman Franjieh said that the Patriarch is an employee at the American embassy, do you agree with him?
A. This is a language issue; a politician who is completely committed to something might be described in this way. Like when they accused me of things. This is like a conclusion people reach.
Q. Does the Patriarch hold a grudge against you General? Maybe because you"re allied with the Hezbollah, or because of your problems in the past with him
A. I don"t ask whether people like me or not. I ask whether I should be doing something for them or not or ask if I"m doing something wrong against them. If they like me or not, this is their problem. I"m doing my duty according to my conscience and convictions and take on the responsibility. People might hate me or like me but this is a result of public life. You always have people who like you or don"t like you.
Rabbis Letter to His Excellency Sayyed Nasrallah
May the Almighty`s blessings be on all of you, your families, and all our esteemed brethren in Lebanon.
We speak to you as the voice and messengers of true Jewry — the Jewish people, true to the Almighty`s Torah, from around the world.
Less than a month has passed since we have addressed an open letter to Dr. Al-Zahar, and the people of Gaza and the rest of Palestine.
In this letter, with the help of the Almighty, we expressed our hurt, sorrow and frustration in regard to the atrocities perpetrated by the wholly illegitimate (according to the laws of the Torah, the Jewish Law) state of "Israel."
We stated that we have addressed Dr. Al-Zahar personally to offer our condolences and commiserate with his loss. We further stated that in truth we should be offering our condolences to every family that has incurred a loss through this evil entity, the Zionist state of "Israel", but tragically the list of victims is daunting. What we should have stated is that we should personally write and personally visit each and every inhabitant of Gaza and the entire Palestine to express the feelings of our hearts and our entire being, our sorrow, felt at the suffering of this innocent nation at the hands of an entity that is declared, ruled, and sealed by the Holy Torah and our Rabbinical authorities, as totally forbidden.
Furthermore, all the Palestinian people, their relatives and offspring, spread out around the globe, must hear and feel our empathy, our support, our constant and intense prayers offered up to the Almighty, for them. For after all, we know that every one of these people has been deeply affected by the Zionist State.
Your Excellency, Sayyed Nasrallah, our feelings in regard to the people of Lebanon, are exactly the same.
We have heard you speak just recently at the funeral of the assassinated Mr. Imad Mughniyah and many times previously. Hence, we know that you and your organization are deeply aware that there is a distinct difference between Zionism and Judaism and that there is a large segment of Jewish people, whether in occupied Palestine or throughout the world, who are entirely opposed to Zionism and the state of "Israel".
Further, a delegation of our Rabbis was guest in your magnificent country of Lebanon, and was hosted by your organization, the Hezbollah. We were there to attend the Conference of the International Union of Parliamentarians for the Defense of the Palestinian Cause.
The respect and graciousness that was extended to our group was beyond exemplary. At that time, thanks to the Almighty, we had the opportunity to see and experience at first hand, the fact that the Arab and Muslim people despite their long-suffering at the hands of Zionism have not fallen prey to the influences of evil.
We were confronted with love and friendship wherever we turned. Concern for our comfort was the first priority of every individual, wherever we traveled throughout Lebanon. Only then, after these good people were assured of our well-being, were we shown the suffering that they have incurred through the Zionist occupation. To our surprise and to their praise, this was all shown to us, without any accusations directed at our Rabbis or the Jewish nation.
The Muslim and Arab people obviously still remember that we don't have a religious conflict and that we have co-existed in harmony for hundreds of years. Many obviously understand the difference between Zionism and Judaism.
May we just mention three very moving experiences that we had in Lebanon that has left an indelible impression on our hearts.
We went to the former Khiam detention center and saw the shocking tortures that the Lebanese have suffered so many years, and that the world ignores. (We have heard that the Zionists destroyed this detention center entirely in the recent incursion in Lebanon to obliterate any memory of these tortures.)
We visited the sad confines of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps; we spoke to the Palestinian people there and lit candles at the Martyrs Square, where the infamous massacre was perpetrated. At these two places our tears flowed at these needless and tragic sufferings that are ongoing and are contrary to any logic or human rights (which we refer to as Godly rights).
Then we had the opportunity and the privilege of holding a demonstration against Zionism and the state of "Israel", right across the Zionist occupation, at Fatima's Gate, the connecting point of Lebanon and the Zionist occupation. Of course, many of our brethren who reside in the Zionist occupation constantly demonstrate against the state from within at great personal cost. They are brutally beaten or arrested, etc.
Also, we want to make you and our brethren, the people of Lebanon, aware that after the recent Zionist attack on Lebanon, Jewish people throughout the world joined in demonstrations in support of the Lebanese people. In Canada, U.K. and the U.S. we of the religious Jewish community had our Rabbis speaking at almost all the main rallies to express our vehement condemnations and opposition to the cruel and murderous attack on Lebanon. This was beside the demonstrations that were orchestrated solely by our Jewish religious communities globally(1).
We now turn to Your Excellency, Sayyed Nasrallah ever so humbly, and ask you to accept our words and to convey these words with the following message to the citizens of Lebanon and to the Palestinian people in refugee camps in your country.
May we reiterate that we speak to you as the voice and messengers of true Jewry — the Jewish people, true to the Almighty's Torah, from around the world.
Although we are limited in the means of expressing our deepest and true feelings, by the barriers of words, nevertheless, the Jewish people humbly offer to you and all of Lebanon, Gaza and the entire Palestine, a few words, to attempt to convey our support, deepest sorrow and heartfelt sympathy that we all feel for you, in this present tragic and traumatic time.
Once again may we state it would be only proper and fitting, that we personally write to and address each and everyone who has fallen victim of the Zionist state of "Israel". Unfortunately and how tragic, the list of victims is daunting.
May our few and humble words be a message of consolation, friendship, loyalty and support to you, the people of Lebanon, and to the people of Gaza and the entire Palestine.
True Jews around the world, of course including in the entire Palestine, never have and with the help of the Almighty, never will accept the ideology of Zionism and never will recognize the realization of its heretical plan, the state of "Israel".
Our sole bond is with the Almighty and His Torah. Our sage's state that we are required to emulate the Almighty, "just as the Almighty is compassionate, so are we to be compassionate."
We always have and always will, with the help of the Almighty, remain unaffiliated and estranged from this aberration and the will of Satan, "Zionism and the state of Israel".
May we remind you, that the Almighty has clearly and explicitly commanded us, the Jewish people, since the destruction of the temple, around two thousand years ago, to be humble and loyal citizens in every country in which we reside. Furthermore, we are not to rebel against nations, we are not to attempt to end our exile. We are forbidden to create our own state or own entity.
We are to pray for, yearn for, and wait patiently for, the day when the Almighty will reveal his glory throughout the world.
At that time, all humanity together, will go up to the Holy Land, in harmony and brotherhood, to serve the Almighty in joy and peace.
Around one hundred years ago, the Zionists began arriving in Palestine in order to bring to fruition the realization of their dream, the transformation of Judaism from a religion into a nationalism. And so began the sorrowful and bitter history of the rebellion, the mutiny against the Almighty, which eventually evolved into the illegitimate state of "Israel".
Since the creation of the state of "Israel", the Palestinian people and at a later date, the Lebanese people have continuously suffered indescribably. They have been oppressed, beaten, murdered, humiliated, displaced and expelled.
Although, this letter and the present moment, is not the proper place and time to delve into the issue of our personal suffering at the Zionist regime's hands, still we feel it is necessary to bring these facts to the Arab people's attention. Our sages state that to know that many people share ones suffering, alleviates the suffering somewhat. Also, it is to demonstrate to all, the sincerity in our opposition to this tumorous growth on the Jewish nation — the so-called state of "Israel".
Therefore, let us state that since these sinners and atheists, Theodore Herzl and his cohorts, raised their repugnant voices in promulgating their ideology of the devil, the heresy of Zionism, Jewish people too, have suffered indescribably both physically and spiritually at their hands.
Our God fearing brethren throughout the entire Palestine, have been and are continually beaten, murdered, imprisoned and oppressed, since the beginning of Zionism up until today(2). They are and have always been the victims of these same perpetrators of evil, who are oppressing the Palestinian and Lebanese people.
Let it be known that our true leaders, the Rabbis and Sages in Palestine, the Middle-East, Europe, and throughout the world, have vociferously and most fervently expressed their total opposition to Zionism and the state of "Israel", since its inception. They have decried and condemned all the evils that it has wrought, the oppression of the Palestinian people, and more recently the Lebanese people. They have decried the oppression of the religious Jews and the state of "Israel's" constant attempts, at eradicating and destroying anything that is Godly and religious. They have tirelessly and fearlessly publicly demonstrated, at great self sacrifice, their opposition to this rebellion against the Almighty.
Countless edicts have been issued from our saintly leaders requiring the Jewish people, true to the Almighty and His Torah, to distance and estrange themselves from this sinful and illegitimate state of "Israel" and all the evils that emanate from it.
Thank the Almighty their message has been heard around the world by many God-fearing Jews and they have obeyed. What's more, untold thousands have stood by their Rabbis and many thousands continuously demonstrate fearlessly, till today, throughout occupied Palestine and throughout the world, against the state of "Israel".
All of the above is well documented, but stifled by the powers of the Zionist media control and by the intimidation of all who dare to confront or reveal the truth(3).
One more issue is important to mention, beside the many commandments in the Torah of doing good and the requirement of emulating the Almighty "just as He is compassionate, so must we be", and besides the clear prohibitions against Zionism. We are exceptionally sensitive to the Palestinian and Lebanese people`s plight, for we the Jewish people, have just recently experienced extreme discrimination and all the tragic sufferings in the concentration camps in Europe. Our close relatives have suffered indescribably and died there. Also we know and have experienced what it means to be displaced as we have all been uprooted from our original homes and dwellings throughout Europe. This of course compounds our understanding and feelings for the Palestinian and Lebanese suffering.
To date, it seems to our human and limited comprehension, that this evil entity, the state of "Israel", will, God forbid, never cease to exist and it will continue to exude its evils, on the innocent and God fearing people under its control.
However, remember and comfort yourselves, our brethren in Palestine and Lebanon, there is a great and exalted, benevolent, Master of the Universe, who truly controls the world. He can and will end this suffering!!
In the Torah it states, that transgressing against the Almighty, will not be successful. This state of "Israel", according to the Almighty's Torah, must and will eventually end.
Let us all pray and beseech Him, to bring about the total, peaceful and speedy dismantlement of this illegitimate state soon in our days. With the Almighty's benevolence, may He make this happen, without any further pain or suffering. Amen.
Please convey this message to each and every one of your brethren suffering under this oppression of "Zionism — Israel". Especially important, please convey this message to the bereaved relatives of the fallen victims, the wounded and maimed, and most certainly to the ones languishing in Israeli prisons and to the ones lying in pain in hospitals.
Convey to them our solidarity and words of comfort and support. We are humiliated by the actions of those who use our name, and our hearts are rent by what is happening to them.
We implore you to convey the message to the people in Lebanon and Palestine, that there are untold thousands of Jews worldwide and in Palestine who stand with you and who entirely oppose Zionism and the state of "Israel" and bear no responsibility for the actions of the Zionists. Educate your people that when you meet Jewish people, do not consider them your enemy. We all serve the one God.
Once again, we constantly pray — worry and hope for you all.
May we merit seeing soon in our days, the total, speedy and peaceful dismantlement of the state of "Israel".
May the Almighty bring upon us the words of His prophecies when all men will serve Him in harmony, peace and joy. Amen.
Assalam Alaikum
Very truly yours,
January 28, 2008
- Rabbi Moshe Dov Beck
Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss
USA, Canada
- Rabbi Meir Hirsh
Palestine
- Rabbi Ahron Cohen
United Kingdom
Origin: moqavemat.ir
We speak to you as the voice and messengers of true Jewry — the Jewish people, true to the Almighty`s Torah, from around the world.
Less than a month has passed since we have addressed an open letter to Dr. Al-Zahar, and the people of Gaza and the rest of Palestine.
In this letter, with the help of the Almighty, we expressed our hurt, sorrow and frustration in regard to the atrocities perpetrated by the wholly illegitimate (according to the laws of the Torah, the Jewish Law) state of "Israel."
We stated that we have addressed Dr. Al-Zahar personally to offer our condolences and commiserate with his loss. We further stated that in truth we should be offering our condolences to every family that has incurred a loss through this evil entity, the Zionist state of "Israel", but tragically the list of victims is daunting. What we should have stated is that we should personally write and personally visit each and every inhabitant of Gaza and the entire Palestine to express the feelings of our hearts and our entire being, our sorrow, felt at the suffering of this innocent nation at the hands of an entity that is declared, ruled, and sealed by the Holy Torah and our Rabbinical authorities, as totally forbidden.
Furthermore, all the Palestinian people, their relatives and offspring, spread out around the globe, must hear and feel our empathy, our support, our constant and intense prayers offered up to the Almighty, for them. For after all, we know that every one of these people has been deeply affected by the Zionist State.
Your Excellency, Sayyed Nasrallah, our feelings in regard to the people of Lebanon, are exactly the same.
We have heard you speak just recently at the funeral of the assassinated Mr. Imad Mughniyah and many times previously. Hence, we know that you and your organization are deeply aware that there is a distinct difference between Zionism and Judaism and that there is a large segment of Jewish people, whether in occupied Palestine or throughout the world, who are entirely opposed to Zionism and the state of "Israel".
Further, a delegation of our Rabbis was guest in your magnificent country of Lebanon, and was hosted by your organization, the Hezbollah. We were there to attend the Conference of the International Union of Parliamentarians for the Defense of the Palestinian Cause.
The respect and graciousness that was extended to our group was beyond exemplary. At that time, thanks to the Almighty, we had the opportunity to see and experience at first hand, the fact that the Arab and Muslim people despite their long-suffering at the hands of Zionism have not fallen prey to the influences of evil.
We were confronted with love and friendship wherever we turned. Concern for our comfort was the first priority of every individual, wherever we traveled throughout Lebanon. Only then, after these good people were assured of our well-being, were we shown the suffering that they have incurred through the Zionist occupation. To our surprise and to their praise, this was all shown to us, without any accusations directed at our Rabbis or the Jewish nation.
The Muslim and Arab people obviously still remember that we don't have a religious conflict and that we have co-existed in harmony for hundreds of years. Many obviously understand the difference between Zionism and Judaism.
May we just mention three very moving experiences that we had in Lebanon that has left an indelible impression on our hearts.
We went to the former Khiam detention center and saw the shocking tortures that the Lebanese have suffered so many years, and that the world ignores. (We have heard that the Zionists destroyed this detention center entirely in the recent incursion in Lebanon to obliterate any memory of these tortures.)
We visited the sad confines of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps; we spoke to the Palestinian people there and lit candles at the Martyrs Square, where the infamous massacre was perpetrated. At these two places our tears flowed at these needless and tragic sufferings that are ongoing and are contrary to any logic or human rights (which we refer to as Godly rights).
Then we had the opportunity and the privilege of holding a demonstration against Zionism and the state of "Israel", right across the Zionist occupation, at Fatima's Gate, the connecting point of Lebanon and the Zionist occupation. Of course, many of our brethren who reside in the Zionist occupation constantly demonstrate against the state from within at great personal cost. They are brutally beaten or arrested, etc.
Also, we want to make you and our brethren, the people of Lebanon, aware that after the recent Zionist attack on Lebanon, Jewish people throughout the world joined in demonstrations in support of the Lebanese people. In Canada, U.K. and the U.S. we of the religious Jewish community had our Rabbis speaking at almost all the main rallies to express our vehement condemnations and opposition to the cruel and murderous attack on Lebanon. This was beside the demonstrations that were orchestrated solely by our Jewish religious communities globally(1).
We now turn to Your Excellency, Sayyed Nasrallah ever so humbly, and ask you to accept our words and to convey these words with the following message to the citizens of Lebanon and to the Palestinian people in refugee camps in your country.
May we reiterate that we speak to you as the voice and messengers of true Jewry — the Jewish people, true to the Almighty's Torah, from around the world.
Although we are limited in the means of expressing our deepest and true feelings, by the barriers of words, nevertheless, the Jewish people humbly offer to you and all of Lebanon, Gaza and the entire Palestine, a few words, to attempt to convey our support, deepest sorrow and heartfelt sympathy that we all feel for you, in this present tragic and traumatic time.
Once again may we state it would be only proper and fitting, that we personally write to and address each and everyone who has fallen victim of the Zionist state of "Israel". Unfortunately and how tragic, the list of victims is daunting.
May our few and humble words be a message of consolation, friendship, loyalty and support to you, the people of Lebanon, and to the people of Gaza and the entire Palestine.
True Jews around the world, of course including in the entire Palestine, never have and with the help of the Almighty, never will accept the ideology of Zionism and never will recognize the realization of its heretical plan, the state of "Israel".
Our sole bond is with the Almighty and His Torah. Our sage's state that we are required to emulate the Almighty, "just as the Almighty is compassionate, so are we to be compassionate."
We always have and always will, with the help of the Almighty, remain unaffiliated and estranged from this aberration and the will of Satan, "Zionism and the state of Israel".
May we remind you, that the Almighty has clearly and explicitly commanded us, the Jewish people, since the destruction of the temple, around two thousand years ago, to be humble and loyal citizens in every country in which we reside. Furthermore, we are not to rebel against nations, we are not to attempt to end our exile. We are forbidden to create our own state or own entity.
We are to pray for, yearn for, and wait patiently for, the day when the Almighty will reveal his glory throughout the world.
At that time, all humanity together, will go up to the Holy Land, in harmony and brotherhood, to serve the Almighty in joy and peace.
Around one hundred years ago, the Zionists began arriving in Palestine in order to bring to fruition the realization of their dream, the transformation of Judaism from a religion into a nationalism. And so began the sorrowful and bitter history of the rebellion, the mutiny against the Almighty, which eventually evolved into the illegitimate state of "Israel".
Since the creation of the state of "Israel", the Palestinian people and at a later date, the Lebanese people have continuously suffered indescribably. They have been oppressed, beaten, murdered, humiliated, displaced and expelled.
Although, this letter and the present moment, is not the proper place and time to delve into the issue of our personal suffering at the Zionist regime's hands, still we feel it is necessary to bring these facts to the Arab people's attention. Our sages state that to know that many people share ones suffering, alleviates the suffering somewhat. Also, it is to demonstrate to all, the sincerity in our opposition to this tumorous growth on the Jewish nation — the so-called state of "Israel".
Therefore, let us state that since these sinners and atheists, Theodore Herzl and his cohorts, raised their repugnant voices in promulgating their ideology of the devil, the heresy of Zionism, Jewish people too, have suffered indescribably both physically and spiritually at their hands.
Our God fearing brethren throughout the entire Palestine, have been and are continually beaten, murdered, imprisoned and oppressed, since the beginning of Zionism up until today(2). They are and have always been the victims of these same perpetrators of evil, who are oppressing the Palestinian and Lebanese people.
Let it be known that our true leaders, the Rabbis and Sages in Palestine, the Middle-East, Europe, and throughout the world, have vociferously and most fervently expressed their total opposition to Zionism and the state of "Israel", since its inception. They have decried and condemned all the evils that it has wrought, the oppression of the Palestinian people, and more recently the Lebanese people. They have decried the oppression of the religious Jews and the state of "Israel's" constant attempts, at eradicating and destroying anything that is Godly and religious. They have tirelessly and fearlessly publicly demonstrated, at great self sacrifice, their opposition to this rebellion against the Almighty.
Countless edicts have been issued from our saintly leaders requiring the Jewish people, true to the Almighty and His Torah, to distance and estrange themselves from this sinful and illegitimate state of "Israel" and all the evils that emanate from it.
Thank the Almighty their message has been heard around the world by many God-fearing Jews and they have obeyed. What's more, untold thousands have stood by their Rabbis and many thousands continuously demonstrate fearlessly, till today, throughout occupied Palestine and throughout the world, against the state of "Israel".
All of the above is well documented, but stifled by the powers of the Zionist media control and by the intimidation of all who dare to confront or reveal the truth(3).
One more issue is important to mention, beside the many commandments in the Torah of doing good and the requirement of emulating the Almighty "just as He is compassionate, so must we be", and besides the clear prohibitions against Zionism. We are exceptionally sensitive to the Palestinian and Lebanese people`s plight, for we the Jewish people, have just recently experienced extreme discrimination and all the tragic sufferings in the concentration camps in Europe. Our close relatives have suffered indescribably and died there. Also we know and have experienced what it means to be displaced as we have all been uprooted from our original homes and dwellings throughout Europe. This of course compounds our understanding and feelings for the Palestinian and Lebanese suffering.
To date, it seems to our human and limited comprehension, that this evil entity, the state of "Israel", will, God forbid, never cease to exist and it will continue to exude its evils, on the innocent and God fearing people under its control.
However, remember and comfort yourselves, our brethren in Palestine and Lebanon, there is a great and exalted, benevolent, Master of the Universe, who truly controls the world. He can and will end this suffering!!
In the Torah it states, that transgressing against the Almighty, will not be successful. This state of "Israel", according to the Almighty's Torah, must and will eventually end.
Let us all pray and beseech Him, to bring about the total, peaceful and speedy dismantlement of this illegitimate state soon in our days. With the Almighty's benevolence, may He make this happen, without any further pain or suffering. Amen.
Please convey this message to each and every one of your brethren suffering under this oppression of "Zionism — Israel". Especially important, please convey this message to the bereaved relatives of the fallen victims, the wounded and maimed, and most certainly to the ones languishing in Israeli prisons and to the ones lying in pain in hospitals.
Convey to them our solidarity and words of comfort and support. We are humiliated by the actions of those who use our name, and our hearts are rent by what is happening to them.
We implore you to convey the message to the people in Lebanon and Palestine, that there are untold thousands of Jews worldwide and in Palestine who stand with you and who entirely oppose Zionism and the state of "Israel" and bear no responsibility for the actions of the Zionists. Educate your people that when you meet Jewish people, do not consider them your enemy. We all serve the one God.
Once again, we constantly pray — worry and hope for you all.
May we merit seeing soon in our days, the total, speedy and peaceful dismantlement of the state of "Israel".
May the Almighty bring upon us the words of His prophecies when all men will serve Him in harmony, peace and joy. Amen.
Assalam Alaikum
Very truly yours,
January 28, 2008
- Rabbi Moshe Dov Beck
Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss
USA, Canada
- Rabbi Meir Hirsh
Palestine
- Rabbi Ahron Cohen
United Kingdom
Origin: moqavemat.ir
O Palestine, 60 Years On, You're Still Our Palestine
O Palestine, 60 Years On, You're Still Our Palestine
A land without a people for a people without a land or a nation.
A saying coined by Zionist intellectuals to justify their occupation of Palestine.
Initially, Palestine was not the target.
But, it's suffering throughout ages due to occupations and conflicts on its sacred land made it a dreamland for every greedy entity; and the pretext was religious.
"There is a country, and its name is by chance Palestine. A country without a people and on the other hand, there is the Jewish people
without a homeland."
This is what the president of the enemy state during Nakba, Hayeem Wiseman, who played a significant role in issuing the Belford promise said.
The Ottoman occupation fell in the trap of the Zionist plot
that worked on offering money as allurements to bring Jewish emigrants to dwell near sacred sites.
The first agricultural settlement was built in 1878, it was a preface to bring thousands of Jews from Diaspora.
Four years later, the first batch of Jews comprising 25 thousand people arrived from eastern Europe.
The idea of creating a national homeland for Jews began to show in different articles and opinions compiled by Austrian Jewish author and journalist (Theodore Herzl).
Herzl established the international Zionist organization to bring Jews in Diaspora together. The organization's first conference was held in Bazle, Switzerland in 1897.
40 thousand Jews arrived in Palestine during World War 1.
Jewish inhabitants now formed 6% of the population.
In 1917, the Sayks-Piko Treaty was signed. Soon after, British Foreign Minister, Belford, made his promise to create a homeland for Jews. To realize this, Britain should control Palestine and this is waht happened one year after the promise.
Creating a national homeland for Jews means draining the land from its original residents, and this requires an army, weapons
and international cover. Ethnic cleansing was top priority for the new occupier to lodge the coming Jews on the ruins of more Palestinian lands.
In 1920, The League of Nations was formed as a prelude to give independence to the occupied country, or the country under mandate as they called it, by preparing it officially, constitutionally,
politically and socially.
Palestine was mandated to the British Kingdom.
Instead of achieving independence for the Palestinian state, it cleared the way, since 1921, for Zionist gangs like Haganah and Irgun, to heavily arm themselves. Haganah determined that the ages of immigrants should be between 15 and 40, because the people, they said, should be young and strong for the battle to come.
The number of settlers increased in Palestine to change the demographic reality. Britain's census in 1922 revealed that 89%
of the population were Palestinians with 757,182 residents, whereas Jews constituted less than 9% of the population.
This indicates that Palestine was not empty as the Zionists had claimed. The increasing flow of settlers prompted the Palestinian leadership to seek an end to it.
The Palestinian people took to the streets to protest the flow
and deterred the new occupation.
In the early 30's, the Britons issued the so called "White Paper" that determined the quotas for Jewish emigrants with an annual cut to 15 thousand Jews for five years. Ten years later, according to the "Paper", the Palestinians would rule their own unified state after they declare their independence.
However Zionists sought to nullify this "Paper" in 1939.
Then Zionist leader Ben Gorion said:
"We will fight the war (WW2) as if there were no White Paper and we will fight the White Paper as if there were no war."
The situation in Palestine got worse.
Zionist control began to appear during the British occupation, through committing massacres against hundreds of Palestinians, destroying their homes and displacing them.
Before "Nakba", half of the Palestinians had been displaced
under the eyes of the United Nations which replaced the League of Nations. Ten years later (1947), and instead of declaring the independence of Palestine, The United Nations divided the country when the General Assembly issued resolution 181 that stipulated taking 56.5% of Palestinian land to build the Jewish state and leaving 43% of the territories forthe Palestinian State, whereas Quds (Jerusalem) remains under international supervision.
The Palestinians rejected the decision to divide their country of which they own 94% at a time Zionists, as foreigners, owned less than 6% of it.
The Arab League was entrusted with the mission of liberating Palestine on behalf of its people because they did not have the means.
They were backed by the Salvation Army which lacked arms and wise leadership. The number of Arab soldiers was small
compared to the heavily armed Zionist militias whose number reached in 1948, 120 thousand combatant Zionist.
Horrifying massacres took place, as well as terrorist acts and schemes to fully control lands leaving one-third of the Palestinian population with no other choice but to run for their lives.
On the 15th of May 1948, Ben Gorion declared the "State of Israel"
thus chronicling the return of the Palestinians after their "Nakba" had begun.
60 years on, nothing has changed for the oppressed Palestinians.
60 years on, the west and, unfortunately, some Arab governments are colluding against the right of the Palestinians to return.
60 years on and Bush comes to occupied Palestine to celebrate the creation of the Zionist state that was built on the blood and flesh of the Arab people, and then takes off to visit some Arab leaders and receive red carpet treatment.
O Palestine, 60 years on, you are still and you'll always be Palestine.
Origin: moqavemat.ir
A land without a people for a people without a land or a nation.
A saying coined by Zionist intellectuals to justify their occupation of Palestine.
Initially, Palestine was not the target.
But, it's suffering throughout ages due to occupations and conflicts on its sacred land made it a dreamland for every greedy entity; and the pretext was religious.
"There is a country, and its name is by chance Palestine. A country without a people and on the other hand, there is the Jewish people
without a homeland."
This is what the president of the enemy state during Nakba, Hayeem Wiseman, who played a significant role in issuing the Belford promise said.
The Ottoman occupation fell in the trap of the Zionist plot
that worked on offering money as allurements to bring Jewish emigrants to dwell near sacred sites.
The first agricultural settlement was built in 1878, it was a preface to bring thousands of Jews from Diaspora.
Four years later, the first batch of Jews comprising 25 thousand people arrived from eastern Europe.
The idea of creating a national homeland for Jews began to show in different articles and opinions compiled by Austrian Jewish author and journalist (Theodore Herzl).
Herzl established the international Zionist organization to bring Jews in Diaspora together. The organization's first conference was held in Bazle, Switzerland in 1897.
40 thousand Jews arrived in Palestine during World War 1.
Jewish inhabitants now formed 6% of the population.
In 1917, the Sayks-Piko Treaty was signed. Soon after, British Foreign Minister, Belford, made his promise to create a homeland for Jews. To realize this, Britain should control Palestine and this is waht happened one year after the promise.
Creating a national homeland for Jews means draining the land from its original residents, and this requires an army, weapons
and international cover. Ethnic cleansing was top priority for the new occupier to lodge the coming Jews on the ruins of more Palestinian lands.
In 1920, The League of Nations was formed as a prelude to give independence to the occupied country, or the country under mandate as they called it, by preparing it officially, constitutionally,
politically and socially.
Palestine was mandated to the British Kingdom.
Instead of achieving independence for the Palestinian state, it cleared the way, since 1921, for Zionist gangs like Haganah and Irgun, to heavily arm themselves. Haganah determined that the ages of immigrants should be between 15 and 40, because the people, they said, should be young and strong for the battle to come.
The number of settlers increased in Palestine to change the demographic reality. Britain's census in 1922 revealed that 89%
of the population were Palestinians with 757,182 residents, whereas Jews constituted less than 9% of the population.
This indicates that Palestine was not empty as the Zionists had claimed. The increasing flow of settlers prompted the Palestinian leadership to seek an end to it.
The Palestinian people took to the streets to protest the flow
and deterred the new occupation.
In the early 30's, the Britons issued the so called "White Paper" that determined the quotas for Jewish emigrants with an annual cut to 15 thousand Jews for five years. Ten years later, according to the "Paper", the Palestinians would rule their own unified state after they declare their independence.
However Zionists sought to nullify this "Paper" in 1939.
Then Zionist leader Ben Gorion said:
"We will fight the war (WW2) as if there were no White Paper and we will fight the White Paper as if there were no war."
The situation in Palestine got worse.
Zionist control began to appear during the British occupation, through committing massacres against hundreds of Palestinians, destroying their homes and displacing them.
Before "Nakba", half of the Palestinians had been displaced
under the eyes of the United Nations which replaced the League of Nations. Ten years later (1947), and instead of declaring the independence of Palestine, The United Nations divided the country when the General Assembly issued resolution 181 that stipulated taking 56.5% of Palestinian land to build the Jewish state and leaving 43% of the territories forthe Palestinian State, whereas Quds (Jerusalem) remains under international supervision.
The Palestinians rejected the decision to divide their country of which they own 94% at a time Zionists, as foreigners, owned less than 6% of it.
The Arab League was entrusted with the mission of liberating Palestine on behalf of its people because they did not have the means.
They were backed by the Salvation Army which lacked arms and wise leadership. The number of Arab soldiers was small
compared to the heavily armed Zionist militias whose number reached in 1948, 120 thousand combatant Zionist.
Horrifying massacres took place, as well as terrorist acts and schemes to fully control lands leaving one-third of the Palestinian population with no other choice but to run for their lives.
On the 15th of May 1948, Ben Gorion declared the "State of Israel"
thus chronicling the return of the Palestinians after their "Nakba" had begun.
60 years on, nothing has changed for the oppressed Palestinians.
60 years on, the west and, unfortunately, some Arab governments are colluding against the right of the Palestinians to return.
60 years on and Bush comes to occupied Palestine to celebrate the creation of the Zionist state that was built on the blood and flesh of the Arab people, and then takes off to visit some Arab leaders and receive red carpet treatment.
O Palestine, 60 years on, you are still and you'll always be Palestine.
Origin: moqavemat.ir
Did Hezbollah Thwart a Bush/Olmert Attack on Lebanon?
Did Hezbollah Thwart a Bush/Olmert Attack on Lebanon?
This week Israel's Military Intelligence Chief Major General Amos Yadlin complained to the Israeli daily Haaretz that "Hezbollah proved that it was the strongest power in Lebanon and if it had wanted to take the government it could have done it." He said Hezbollah continued to pose a "significant" threat to Israel as its rockets could reach a large part of Israeli territory."
Yadlin was putting it mildly.
But what Intelligence Chief Yadlin did not reveal to the Israeli public was just how "significant" but also "immediate" the Hezbollah threat was on May 11. Nor was he willing to divulge the fact that he received information via US and French channels that if the planned attack on Lebanon's capitol went forward, that in the view of the US intelligence community Tel Aviv would be subject to "approximately 600 Hezbollah rockets in the first 24 hours in retaliation and at least that number on the following day".
The Israeli Intel Chief also declined to reveal that despite Israel's recent psyche-war camping about various claimed missile shields "the State of Israel is perfecting", that this claim is being ridiculed at the Pentagon. "Israel will not achieve an effective shield against the current generation of rockets, even assuming no technological improvements in the current rockets aimed at it, for another 20 years. And that assumes the US will continue to fund their research and development for the hoped for shields", according to Pentagon, US Senate Intelligence Committee, and very well informed Lebanese sources.
The planned attack on Beirut
According to US Senate Intelligence Committee sources, the Bush administration initially green-lighted the intended May 11 Israel 'demonstration of solidarity' with the pro-Bush administration militias, some with which Israel has maintained ties since the days of Bashir Gemayal and Ariel Sharon.
In the end, "the Bush administration got cold feet", a Congressional source revealed. So did Israel.
Israel was not willing to proceed with the original Bush Administration idea which was to have Bush attend the May 15 "Israel anniversary" celebrations following the Israeli attack meant to hit Hezbollah hard, and give Bush the credit for coming to the dangerous region. The message was to be that Bush comes to the rescue…leaving the results to the likely Obama administration to sort out.
The plan involved Israeli air strikes on South and West Beirut in support of forces it was assured would be able to surprise and resist Hezbollah and sustain a powerful offensive for 48 hours.
Also presumably disturbing to Israel was the report it received that Hezbollah had once again in all probability hacked its "secure" military intelligence communications and the fear that the information would be shared with others.
The Hezbollah rout of the militias in West Beirut plus the fear of retaliation on Tel Aviv, forced cancellation of the supportive attack.
Israel limited its actions to sending two F-15's and two F-16's into as far North as Tyre, one of more of literally hundreds of violations of Lebanese airspace, sovereignty and UNSCR 170l.
Clearly frustrated, Cabinet Minister Meir Sheetrit said Israel should not yet take any action now, but warned "those things could change if Hezbollah takes over Lebanon".
Later in the Sunday cabinet meeting, Minister Ami Ayalon called for an emergency meeting of the political-security cabinet to discuss "the ongoing crisis in Lebanon and why Israel was not assisting friendly forces."
Minister Yitzhak Cohen (Shas) said that "Israel must immediately ask the [United Nations] Security Council to hold renewed discussions over Resolution 1701?. The minister was referring to the resolution that stopped the Israeli actions against Lebanon during the 34-day between in 2006, maintaining a fragile cease-fire.
Finally Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert informed Israeli supporters in Lebanon, through the media, and presumably other means that "Israel was following the violence in Lebanon closely, but would refrain from intervening". Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio Sunday that Israel was prepared for the possibility that the situation in Lebanon will deteriorate into another civil war (meaning future opportunities for Israeli influence and intervention in Lebanon) and that the current fighting could end with a Hezbollah takeover of the government. "We need to keep our eyes peeled and be especially sensitive regarding all that is happening there", Vilnai told Army Radio.
The Bush administration, also disappointed, switched tactics and is opting for domination of the narrative of the fairly complicated events of the past week and using their media and confessional allies to launch a media blitz (minus Future TV for a few days) to flood the airways with:
'Hezbollah staged a coup d'état'. Even Israel, if not the Bush administration, concedes Hezbollah has no interest in taking over the Government.
When the Lebanese Resistance took the decision during the early hours of Friday morning to engage in civil disobedience, it delayed its actions so as not to preempt the Labor movement strike for higher wages which it supported. When the marching strikers were prevented from moving into West Beirut the Opposition extended its civil disobedience manifestation.
Various militias, including the smartly outfitted Hariri "Secure Plus" with its distinctive maroon tee-shirts and beige trousers (now know locally by some as "Secure Minus" and a hoped for future Blackwater operation in Lebanon, disintegrated surprisingly quickly because many of its green recruits brought down from Tripoli felt misled and betrayed regarding their job description as they were handed weapons an instructed to fight Hezbollah. Snipers from anti-Opposition factions killed civilians from rooftops in Beirut trying to ignite a civil war.
Hezbollah, acting in self defense according to and acknowledged by various officials including John Dockem at the office of Defense Intelligence-Middle East at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), quickly clamped down on the trouble makers, took control of the streets, within hours handed them over to the army, and virtually evacuated West Beirut.
Meanwhile, the Hariri influence has been greatly weakened in Akkar near the Palestinian Refugee camp of Nahr al Bared and in the Tripoli area. According to some political analysts, including Fida'a Ittani, a regular columnist for the independent newspaper Al-Akhbar writing on May 14, the Future Movement, defeated in Beirut, no longer has any serious influence in the North.
Several Salafi al Qaeda-admiring movements are present in Lebanon and like Fatah al Islam's declaration this week that they will fight for the Sunnis, they vary in their attitudes from silent opposition to Future leader Saad Al-Hariri to fully supporting him as the leader of the Sunnis.
Judging from Saad Hariri's confused statements at his subsequent news conference and statements by other parties, the bitterness of promised but unforthcoming assistance was evident.
For two days following the debacle of his forces imploding the head of the Future Movement said nothing. Finally on the 14th he broke his silence.
The Halba massacre, committed by Hariri's Mustaqbal militiamen which brutally and barbarically murdered 11 people from the opposition, did not seem worthy of discussion as he spoke. In a press conference on Tuesday, Hariri simply ignored what all the Lebanese had seen on TV from weapons, ammunition and alcohol found in Future movement offices, and instead listed a series of delusions.
"We awaited an open war on Israel, and yet here is an open war on Beirut and its people", he stated. Some interpreted this rather odd statement either as a subconscious slip of the tongue on Hariri's part expressing his frustration that the Israeli help did not arrive or that his reported earlier incoherent state persisted.
Hariri's original speech was reportedly so confused that the Saudi channel al-Arabiyya decided to cease broadcasting it and subsequently only read excerpts from what he said. It was only when US criticism resumed, and Hezbollah fighters drew back from the streets surrounding his house that Hariri was urged to stand up and speak again with a stronger tone: "This has been decided by the Iranian and Syrian regimes that wanted to play a political game in Lebanon's streets. For us nothing has changed. We will not negotiate with someone having a pistol pointed to our heads."
Anger at the Bush administration and Israel by certain warlords in Lebanon must feel much like the frustration of Secure Minus personnel who rushed from Tripoli and felt misled, abandoned and cheated.
This week Israel's Military Intelligence Chief Major General Amos Yadlin complained to the Israeli daily Haaretz that "Hezbollah proved that it was the strongest power in Lebanon and if it had wanted to take the government it could have done it." He said Hezbollah continued to pose a "significant" threat to Israel as its rockets could reach a large part of Israeli territory."
Yadlin was putting it mildly.
But what Intelligence Chief Yadlin did not reveal to the Israeli public was just how "significant" but also "immediate" the Hezbollah threat was on May 11. Nor was he willing to divulge the fact that he received information via US and French channels that if the planned attack on Lebanon's capitol went forward, that in the view of the US intelligence community Tel Aviv would be subject to "approximately 600 Hezbollah rockets in the first 24 hours in retaliation and at least that number on the following day".
The Israeli Intel Chief also declined to reveal that despite Israel's recent psyche-war camping about various claimed missile shields "the State of Israel is perfecting", that this claim is being ridiculed at the Pentagon. "Israel will not achieve an effective shield against the current generation of rockets, even assuming no technological improvements in the current rockets aimed at it, for another 20 years. And that assumes the US will continue to fund their research and development for the hoped for shields", according to Pentagon, US Senate Intelligence Committee, and very well informed Lebanese sources.
The planned attack on Beirut
According to US Senate Intelligence Committee sources, the Bush administration initially green-lighted the intended May 11 Israel 'demonstration of solidarity' with the pro-Bush administration militias, some with which Israel has maintained ties since the days of Bashir Gemayal and Ariel Sharon.
In the end, "the Bush administration got cold feet", a Congressional source revealed. So did Israel.
Israel was not willing to proceed with the original Bush Administration idea which was to have Bush attend the May 15 "Israel anniversary" celebrations following the Israeli attack meant to hit Hezbollah hard, and give Bush the credit for coming to the dangerous region. The message was to be that Bush comes to the rescue…leaving the results to the likely Obama administration to sort out.
The plan involved Israeli air strikes on South and West Beirut in support of forces it was assured would be able to surprise and resist Hezbollah and sustain a powerful offensive for 48 hours.
Also presumably disturbing to Israel was the report it received that Hezbollah had once again in all probability hacked its "secure" military intelligence communications and the fear that the information would be shared with others.
The Hezbollah rout of the militias in West Beirut plus the fear of retaliation on Tel Aviv, forced cancellation of the supportive attack.
Israel limited its actions to sending two F-15's and two F-16's into as far North as Tyre, one of more of literally hundreds of violations of Lebanese airspace, sovereignty and UNSCR 170l.
Clearly frustrated, Cabinet Minister Meir Sheetrit said Israel should not yet take any action now, but warned "those things could change if Hezbollah takes over Lebanon".
Later in the Sunday cabinet meeting, Minister Ami Ayalon called for an emergency meeting of the political-security cabinet to discuss "the ongoing crisis in Lebanon and why Israel was not assisting friendly forces."
Minister Yitzhak Cohen (Shas) said that "Israel must immediately ask the [United Nations] Security Council to hold renewed discussions over Resolution 1701?. The minister was referring to the resolution that stopped the Israeli actions against Lebanon during the 34-day between in 2006, maintaining a fragile cease-fire.
Finally Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert informed Israeli supporters in Lebanon, through the media, and presumably other means that "Israel was following the violence in Lebanon closely, but would refrain from intervening". Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio Sunday that Israel was prepared for the possibility that the situation in Lebanon will deteriorate into another civil war (meaning future opportunities for Israeli influence and intervention in Lebanon) and that the current fighting could end with a Hezbollah takeover of the government. "We need to keep our eyes peeled and be especially sensitive regarding all that is happening there", Vilnai told Army Radio.
The Bush administration, also disappointed, switched tactics and is opting for domination of the narrative of the fairly complicated events of the past week and using their media and confessional allies to launch a media blitz (minus Future TV for a few days) to flood the airways with:
'Hezbollah staged a coup d'état'. Even Israel, if not the Bush administration, concedes Hezbollah has no interest in taking over the Government.
When the Lebanese Resistance took the decision during the early hours of Friday morning to engage in civil disobedience, it delayed its actions so as not to preempt the Labor movement strike for higher wages which it supported. When the marching strikers were prevented from moving into West Beirut the Opposition extended its civil disobedience manifestation.
Various militias, including the smartly outfitted Hariri "Secure Plus" with its distinctive maroon tee-shirts and beige trousers (now know locally by some as "Secure Minus" and a hoped for future Blackwater operation in Lebanon, disintegrated surprisingly quickly because many of its green recruits brought down from Tripoli felt misled and betrayed regarding their job description as they were handed weapons an instructed to fight Hezbollah. Snipers from anti-Opposition factions killed civilians from rooftops in Beirut trying to ignite a civil war.
Hezbollah, acting in self defense according to and acknowledged by various officials including John Dockem at the office of Defense Intelligence-Middle East at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), quickly clamped down on the trouble makers, took control of the streets, within hours handed them over to the army, and virtually evacuated West Beirut.
Meanwhile, the Hariri influence has been greatly weakened in Akkar near the Palestinian Refugee camp of Nahr al Bared and in the Tripoli area. According to some political analysts, including Fida'a Ittani, a regular columnist for the independent newspaper Al-Akhbar writing on May 14, the Future Movement, defeated in Beirut, no longer has any serious influence in the North.
Several Salafi al Qaeda-admiring movements are present in Lebanon and like Fatah al Islam's declaration this week that they will fight for the Sunnis, they vary in their attitudes from silent opposition to Future leader Saad Al-Hariri to fully supporting him as the leader of the Sunnis.
Judging from Saad Hariri's confused statements at his subsequent news conference and statements by other parties, the bitterness of promised but unforthcoming assistance was evident.
For two days following the debacle of his forces imploding the head of the Future Movement said nothing. Finally on the 14th he broke his silence.
The Halba massacre, committed by Hariri's Mustaqbal militiamen which brutally and barbarically murdered 11 people from the opposition, did not seem worthy of discussion as he spoke. In a press conference on Tuesday, Hariri simply ignored what all the Lebanese had seen on TV from weapons, ammunition and alcohol found in Future movement offices, and instead listed a series of delusions.
"We awaited an open war on Israel, and yet here is an open war on Beirut and its people", he stated. Some interpreted this rather odd statement either as a subconscious slip of the tongue on Hariri's part expressing his frustration that the Israeli help did not arrive or that his reported earlier incoherent state persisted.
Hariri's original speech was reportedly so confused that the Saudi channel al-Arabiyya decided to cease broadcasting it and subsequently only read excerpts from what he said. It was only when US criticism resumed, and Hezbollah fighters drew back from the streets surrounding his house that Hariri was urged to stand up and speak again with a stronger tone: "This has been decided by the Iranian and Syrian regimes that wanted to play a political game in Lebanon's streets. For us nothing has changed. We will not negotiate with someone having a pistol pointed to our heads."
Anger at the Bush administration and Israel by certain warlords in Lebanon must feel much like the frustration of Secure Minus personnel who rushed from Tripoli and felt misled, abandoned and cheated.
Wind of change blows over Lebanon
Wind of change blows over Lebanon
The following is the speech of the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, on the occasion of the 8th anniversary of the Resistance and Liberation Day, May 26, 2008, in southern Beirut, Lebanon.
First of all, great greetings to every pure spirit of the resistance and homeland martyrs, especially to the leader of resistance martyrs Seyyed Abbas al-Mousawi, the sheikh of the resistance martyrs Raghib Hareb and our dear brother whom we miss today leader Al-Hajj Imad Moughniyah.
I would like to welcome you to the 8th anniversary of the Resistance and Liberation Day. Your presence here today justifies your reality and identity and testifies once again that you are the most honorable, precious and the purest of people.
As God Almighty has said in his Glorious Book:
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful and Gracious,
Pharaoh had tyrannized on Earth, divided people into groups. He oppressed one group on behalf of the others, slaughtering its children, and ravishing its women. Indeed, he was among those corruptors.
The Pharaohs of our time are the USA and its right hand, Israel. Allah has promised:
We want to bestow upon those who were oppressed on Earth and make them precedents and successors; and we will consolidate their position on Earth to show what Pharaoh, Haman, along with their soldiers have been worried from.
God Almighty speaks the truth!
Brothers and sisters, today marks the day of resistance and the liberation of our homeland and nation coincides with the anniversary of the calamity and the loss of Palestine as well as the establishment of the extorter's existence.
It also coincides with the 30th anniversary of Israel's 1978 occupation of southern Lebanon and the establishment of the occupied territory, which was later expanded. This coincidence must provoke us to think twice, evaluate the situation and draw lessons and conclusions that will benefit Lebanon as well as the Muslim and Arab worlds.
Although this occasion has its own intellect, emotion, literature, rights and ethics, today I will not confine myself to introductions, as there is much to talk about.
Starting from Lebanon and its resistance… the latter has demonstrated two strategies, one of liberation and driving away occupiers, and the other of defending the homeland and people against any attack, invasion or threat.
This is the stratagem and vision of resistance: liberation and defense. These are also the clear and joint messages of the resistance in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon.
As a result of the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon and the occupation of a part of our land in 1978, the Security Council issued the Resolution 425. We submitted ourselves to the will of the international community and waited for its implementation. At the time, it was suggested that Lebanon was too weak to face Israel and it would therefore need a strategy of Arab unity.
The UNSC decision, however, was not implemented and an Arab strategy was never found. The international community and the Arab world took no action, and the will to confront was lost. It was at this time that the Imam and leader Seyyed Moussa al-Sadr proposed that the people of southern Lebanon put their trust in God Almighty and resist by any means possible.
What resulted from the false proposals of inaction? Israel weakened Lebanon and thought we were too weak to respond. This resulted in the great invasion of 1982 aiming to ultimately make Lebanon part of Israel.
As has been proven throughout history that a divided country can easily be conquered, such was the case of Lebanon at the time of the Israeli invasion in 1982 and so was the case of Palestine. The same applies to Iraq and shall apply to other countries as well. In the face of occupation, people are divided into various groups and categories:
Some remain neutral toward the occupation while some rule the country and have an extent of authority do not feel the impact of the occupation as the most important thing for them is to eat, drink and enjoy life. Another group are spies and mercenaries, cheap tools such as Antoine Lahid's army who despite being Lebanese committed shameful acts. Another group consists of the internally defeated elite who cooperate with the occupiers for their own benefits and theoretically believe they can minimize national casualties.
Also, is a group that tacitly defies the occupation but is not willing to endure hardships and pay for freedom with their blood. Finally, there is the group that believes it has an ethical, national, religious and humanitarian responsibility to liberate their fatherland from occupation. They are ready to pay the price whatever it may be. This is the group of resistance. This is the group that takes the necessary action.
This division is not exclusive to Lebanon; it is a natural, historical and social trend stemming from the loss of national unity.
To those claiming that there is no national agreement regarding resistance in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq I would say that there is also no national agreement on neutrality, treachery, cooperation or carelessness. Every group decides on its own. This is also true in Lebanon.
As always, I advise nations under occupation not to wait for a national or public agreement on resistance, but to pick up weapons and fight for the liberation of their land, nation and prisoners of war and regain their dignity and glory. This cannot be achieved other than by weapons, giving blood and making great sacrifices.
The resistance and the Lebanese people are intertwined with one another. Whether Muslim or not and regardless of sect and political parties, we have given countless martyrs. Self-reliance, jihad, various operations and our male and female youths have brought the resistance so far. Both the Arab and Muslim worlds were duty-bound to offer help. Many, however, have refrained to take action. It was Syria and the Islamic Republic of Iran who actively supported us.
We first achieved victory from 1982 to 1985 and another historical victory was won on May 25, 2000: a magnificent victory for Lebanon, Arabs and the nation and an utter defeat for Israel that shattered its dream of expanding its territory from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Israel has been cut off from southern Lebanon and western Bikaa and the Zionists have suffered a shameful defeat without gains, guarantees or concessions. While the liberating strategy adopted by the resistance succeeded, the negotiation strategy beginning from Madrid was not even able to free an inch of our land.
The strategy of inaction has done nothing but strengthen our enemy and weaken our country. Subsequently, it was the librating strategy adopted by the resistance, which similarly brought success in 2000.
After the 1984 calamity, Palestinians hopelessly waited for Arab support and international intervention.
In Iraq, America has occupied the country under the banner of establishing a democracy. The truth is that the American occupation was aimed at monopolizing the country's resources. Their true objectives becoming more clear every day. How? After the invasion, similar to other occupied nations I mentioned before, Iraqis were divided into two relatively large groups.
One seeks a political process and the other prefers resistance, specifically an armed one. Based on our religious, ideological, intellectual, political experience as well as reality, we the Hezbollah are zealous toward resistance. Those supporting the political process have wasted a great deal of time and are today faced with an extremely difficult test, which is to determine the stance they will take now that America is attempting to impose a security deal on Iraqis, the finalization of which only requires the signatures of the Iraqi government and parliament.
Despite being aware of the friendships and coalitions, America is persuading an elected government and parliament legitimize its occupation and monopoly over Iraq and exert control over its security, politics, oil and other resources. At this particular point, the realities pertaining to US objectives have been exposed, and the supporters of the political process whether Sunni, Shiite, natives or nationalists are faced with a difficult test.
You claim that you have chosen the political process as deterrence against the occupiers and to eliminate casualties. The question is, will you forever hand Iraq over to the Americans, or will you make a decision befitting your religion, Islam, Arabs, nationalism, your ethics and morals?
Today, in the name of all who have gathered here today as well all free souls in the Arab and Muslim worlds, I call on Iraqis and their political and religious leaders to make a noble and historical decision that would prevent the ultimate fall of Iraq into the hands of the occupiers.
All resistance groups in Iraq, as those in Lebanon and Palestine, have defeated the occupiers on various occasions. Iraq must now adopt the liberating strategy of the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance groups. This is the only way to return the wounded but affluent and strong Iraq to its people.
The Lebanese resistance has also adopted a defense strategy, which became known to the world in July 2006 when a few thousand men with the support of their nation confronted the greatest army (of course, in Israel's own opinion!) for several weeks.
We are not talking about a strategy written in books or taught at university but a well-implemented strategy that defeated an invader as the Zionists have conceded. The July war turned the tables, changed the balance and weakened war probabilities.
Indeed my brothers and sisters, it is your patience, nobility, encouragement and resistance along with the blood of our martyrs that fizzled out the Israeli war and attack on Lebanon and changed the odds of the war in the region.
The probability that America can wage war on Iran has been weakened. The same seems to apply to Syria as well. The lessons learned in Lebanon have truly been absorbed.
I would tell those who believe another war is likely in Lebanon that we are honorable people. We fought in the July war and should there be another war, we shall return to the battlefield!
Let us take a look at the defense strategy adopted by Gazans. In the Gaza Strip, Israel faces an asymmetric war. Certainly, it is neither Israeli ethics nor Arab public opinion nor any other Arab or international stance for that matter that has prevented Israel from invading the Strip.
Israel has received the green light from the Pharaoh of our time, George Bush. Israel is lost and has no escape. If its confrontation against the starving and besieged Strip is in vain. Despite the absence of international support and the lack of military, economic and financial balance between the two sides, the defense strategy has proven its effectiveness in Lebanon and Palestine.
The outgoing Pharaoh of our time, George Bush (God willing), visited Palestine and turned a blind eye to the country's calamity and criticized all resistance movements in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine and the nations that support them.
He promised Zionists that Israel would celebrate its 120th anniversary. Bush has mistaken. He shall be frustrated when he sees Israel's extinction. He has also promised the defeat of Hezbollah and all resistance movements. To Bush and Condoleezza Rice who dream of defeating Hezbollah, I say as long as Hezbollah is righteous and depends on God and has the support of such honorable people, it is you who will be defeated.
On the 8th anniversary of the Resistance and Liberation Day, I call on all Arab nations and governments, including the Lebanese, to devise a defense strategy based on the current regional balance of power. We have always had a national defense strategy, but today we need one for liberation.
We still must liberate Kafer Shoubah hills and Sheba farms. We need a defense strategy to repel any attack and one of liberation to free our prisoners of war. I need to say, however, that you can rest assured because it is our promise to you to liberate the prisoners of war. This is God's will but will be executed by our hands. I promise you that we will soon bring Samir and his brothers home.
On May 25, 2000, I told a gathering in Bent Jbeil that we offer our victory to Lebanon and Palestine. I told them that we had fulfilled our duty and that God's acceptance is all we hope for. We did not want gratitude or rewards. We did not seek power and authority. We liberated the land and left the security, judiciary, social and economic responsibilities to the Lebanese authorities. Have we not already said that we are not after security or managerial authority? Have our actions contradicted our word? Never!
We have not judged any spies. We handed them over to the judiciary. We have no military presence in the liberated land. We called on the government to assume this role instead.
All we requested was more attention to be paid to the development of southern villages where confrontations occurred and in deprived villages, such as Baalbek Al-Hermil and Akkar.
What have you done in the past 8 years? You who have been demanding more authority! Has anyone prevented you from fulfilling your duty in the deprived villages and the freed land?! The Lebanese know but I want Arabs harken and understand that the presence of authorities only exist when taxes are collected and police officers arrive. Citizens do not receive the services and care they require.
To those who claim that the French and Vietnamese resistance groups handed over their weapons to the authorities, I say that there are some resistance groups which have taken or demanded authority after victory.
We, however, won in 2000 and did not ask for authority. We did not ask for the Lebanese political hierarchy or the Taef Convention to be modified. We did not ask for political or administrative power. We did not seek to monopolize power. We only asked that the people be cared for, their social and economical problems be solved and their dignity to be restored.
Today, I renew this request. We do want authority or a monopoly of control. We do not seek to rule nor impose our ideology on Lebanon. We believe a country with such religious diversity cannot be governed without the participation and unity of all its groups. That is what we insist on.
Many media outlets have attempted to distort the truth. They mistakenly think that Hezbollah is ashamed of its relations with the Wilayat Al-Faqih (Just Jurisprudent). Never! I declare here and now as I have done on numerous occasions before that I am proud of being among the supporters of the Just Jurisprudent, who is fair, knowledgeable, courageous, truthful and sincere. He has told us that Lebanon is a country of diversity and that it is our duty to save it.
We were accused of preparing a coup to change the power and bring Syria back to Lebanon, just like what happened during the July war when America was preparing the grounds for the birth of a new Middle East. Now we are accused of fighting for the interests of Iran in its nuclear case.
By our conduct after the retreat of the un-authoritative government's decisions and during the Doha talks, we have proven such accusations baseless. Unlike some figures in the opposition who suggested an increase in their demands, Hezbollah did not upraise its requests. We went to Doha to rescue Lebanon from sectarian strife and a confrontation between resistance groups and the army, and from the Pharaoh and Haman of our time.
While we have been the target of unjust accusations, propaganda and attacks, we have not demanded any political gains. I do not see any need to discuss this matter anymore now, as this experience should be enough for those accusing us of aspiring for authority and a monopoly, to end their debate.
My brothers and sisters, I call on you today, as I did in Bint Jbeil and Al-Dahiya, for a true and national cooperation based on which no one cancels, drops, or wins over others, an opportunity for all Lebanese to establish a government ruled by their representatives who are honestly elected. I call for providing the Lebanese with a chance to work together without having an ear to outside whisperers.
A few days ago, the Saudi Ministerial Council demanded amendments to some constitutional laws to guarantee the Arab identity of Lebanon. I have not discussed this with my brothers in the party, but I would like to declare that I myself, one of the supporters of the Just Jurisprudent demand such modifications that will preserve Lebanon's Arab identity and prevent foreign interference in our country. I would like them to touch the issue of American and Western meddling in Lebanon. All of our friends know well that we are not dictated to, and that we are the decision makers in the field, in the Doha talks and in the opposition.
My brothers and sisters, the events of the past have left me with two options. I can either explain what happened before and after the decisions were made or I can postpone this discussion until a later time.
I have revealed some information during the conference held on Thursday May 8, 2008. However, today I prefer not to disturb you on the Resistance and Liberation Day, the day of agreement and the election of your new President. I will postpone this discussion and shall not expose the ambiguities of certain affairs and the unjust accusations leveled against the resistance.
Both sides have sustained critical wounds. We can choose either to keep the old wounds open or to treat them and let them heal. With the interests of Lebanon in mind, I suggest we all learn lessons and avoid claims of having won. I prefer discussing this matter when the time is ripe for logic. Let us open a new chapter in the history of Lebanon as of May 25, 2008.
My brothers and sisters, in light of the latest developments I would like to mention the following points:
First of all, I would like to thank on your behalf of all who have helped in achieving the recent agreement. I would like to thank our Arab brothers, the ministerial committee, the Arab League and its Secretary General, the Qatari leadership and nation, the brotherly countries of Syria and the Islamic Republic in Iran and, of course, the Lebanese themselves.
Secondly, I would like to reinstate on Hezbollah's behalf that we have accepted an article that says no party will use weapons to gain political momentum. However, the weapons of the resistance are aimed at the enemy, and will be used to liberate the land, free the prisoners of war and to help defend Lebanon and not to achieve any political gains.
The state's weapons, including that of the army and domestic forces, are to defend our homeland, to protect our citizens and their rights and to maintain security across the country. It is not permissible to use the resistance weapons for political gains and the same applies to the state's weapons. They are not permissible to be used to face political opponents or for projects that may weaken Lebanon against the enemy or to confront the resistance.
The weapons of the resistance and the state are to be used for the objectives they are set out for.
Thirdly, the election law we agreed on is better than the one in 2000 as it respects adequate representation of all Lebanese factions. It should be considered a compromise between all those who want to resolve the crises in Lebanon in hopes that the Lebanese will later on discuss a modern election law.
The election law is an introductory step toward establishing a government and restoring the authority of the state and its institutions.
Making accusations is not the way. Whoever is against offering Lebanon a fair and modern representative law should live on a farm. This is a compromise in hopes that Lebanon may achieve a better agreement.
Fourth, the election of Major General Michael Suleiman has revived the hope of a new Lebanon. His oath speech that we heard yesterday was brimming with the spirit of the accord and the promise of a new era. This is what Lebanon needs: accord, partnership, cooperation and distancing itself from monopoly.
Fifth, a national government is not a victory for the opposition over the authority. It is a victory for Lebanon, the nation, coexistence, and the state mission for this country, which cannot be achieved, continue and last unless there is accord, cooperation and solidarity.
I declared that the purpose of the strike in Riyagh Al-Soleh and Martyrs Square is to have a national government. I knew that it would take time. At the time, I announced that 'as I usually promise a victory, I promise another one again', but I did not mean it would be a victory of one group over another for I believe that Lebanon's victory can only be achieved with a national government.
When we achieved this in the Doha talks, I declared the victory not to be one of a certain group over another but a victory for Lebanon itself, as was the victory on May 25, 2000 and the victory in 2006.
We are going to have a new cabinet, and as I have promised, other members of the opposition group will participate even on behalf of Hezbollah. This is Lebanon, the land of affluence and prosperity. We are going to have the opposition well presented in this cabinet in the hope that we will have a serious and responsible cabinet that will resolve the problems of the Lebanese.
Sixth, I will honestly call on the movement and the beloved of the martyred premier Rafik al-Hariri in the hope of benefiting from his great experiences, thoughts and strategies concerning Lebanon. His great mind enabled him to harmonize between reconstructing Lebanon, state matters and the resistance. Lebanon had two options: with its lands occupied, its sovereignty seized and its dignity trampled upon by Israel it could have become either like Hong Kong or similar to the glory of the East, Hanoi.
With the mentality of the premier and because of the martyred Rafik al-Hariri, the resistance is sure that Hong Kong and Hanoi are not the models to be followed, but rather we must set our own model.
We can prove that we are a country of construction, economy, cooperation, and production along with a resistance that does not seek to undermine the government's authority but seeks to share the state's responsibility in liberating and defending the land.
That was the coexistence style between the resistance and the premier and Martyr Rafik al-Hariri. Those who have been loyal to the inheritance of Rafik al-Hariri, have to follow this model.
We are not calling for a dual, triple or quartet coalition, we are not calling for monopolizing power on behalf of any sect, position, authority, or institution, but rather for the mass cooperation of all political groups with the government.
I ask God to have a nice and calm summer. Let us work together. Two scenarios exist: the American hot summer and the nice and calm Lebanese summer. Let us fulfill our dreams instead of that of our enemy. I promise you along with all our beloved in the Arab and Muslim worlds that we will do our best to overcome all hostilities, sensitivities, and to heal all our wounds. Let us work hand in hand to construct and protect Lebanon.
I would like to thank those who have helped us along the way. I would like to thank the Sunni leadership in Lebanon and the Arab and Muslim worlds. I would like to thank the religious, political and intellectual leaders whose courageous stances defused the American plot aimed at propagating any conflict in the world as a sectarian strife.
I would like to thank the national Druze leadership, the sons of Marouf, the resistant men, sheikhs, leaders, politicians, journalists and parties for their stance which clearly showed the events happening were not a Druze-Shia strife.
I would like to thank the Christian leadership for revealing the reality of the political conflict and showing it was far from a sectarian one. May God have mercy on the souls of all our martyrs.
It has been said that Hezbollah is not disclosing the number of its martyrs in the recent events. There have been 14 Hezbollah martyrs, two martyrs of Lebanese (Saraya) Brigades for Fighting Occupation, a number of martyrs from the Amal Movement, a few from the Syrian National and Social Party, and still a few others from the Lebanese Democratic Party.
To resolve any remaining ambiguities, the martyrs are Sunni and Shia Muslims, Christians and Druze. We are proud of all of them. We are sorry for the victims which have fallen on the other side but it was a battle with fire. We will discuss this matter at a later time. What softens the issue is that the recent bloodshed has pushed Lebanon to the end of a dark and long tunnel. Without this blood, Lebanon would have been dragged to a point where no government could have been established. We owe everything to these martyrs who have saved Lebanon and opened a new chapter in its history.
We are grateful, have respect and extend our hand of cooperation to build a Lebanon that is strong, valuable, fair and well-protected... a Lebanon that is as strong as its mountains, and as everlasting as its cedars.
The following is the speech of the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, on the occasion of the 8th anniversary of the Resistance and Liberation Day, May 26, 2008, in southern Beirut, Lebanon.
First of all, great greetings to every pure spirit of the resistance and homeland martyrs, especially to the leader of resistance martyrs Seyyed Abbas al-Mousawi, the sheikh of the resistance martyrs Raghib Hareb and our dear brother whom we miss today leader Al-Hajj Imad Moughniyah.
I would like to welcome you to the 8th anniversary of the Resistance and Liberation Day. Your presence here today justifies your reality and identity and testifies once again that you are the most honorable, precious and the purest of people.
As God Almighty has said in his Glorious Book:
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful and Gracious,
Pharaoh had tyrannized on Earth, divided people into groups. He oppressed one group on behalf of the others, slaughtering its children, and ravishing its women. Indeed, he was among those corruptors.
The Pharaohs of our time are the USA and its right hand, Israel. Allah has promised:
We want to bestow upon those who were oppressed on Earth and make them precedents and successors; and we will consolidate their position on Earth to show what Pharaoh, Haman, along with their soldiers have been worried from.
God Almighty speaks the truth!
Brothers and sisters, today marks the day of resistance and the liberation of our homeland and nation coincides with the anniversary of the calamity and the loss of Palestine as well as the establishment of the extorter's existence.
It also coincides with the 30th anniversary of Israel's 1978 occupation of southern Lebanon and the establishment of the occupied territory, which was later expanded. This coincidence must provoke us to think twice, evaluate the situation and draw lessons and conclusions that will benefit Lebanon as well as the Muslim and Arab worlds.
Although this occasion has its own intellect, emotion, literature, rights and ethics, today I will not confine myself to introductions, as there is much to talk about.
Starting from Lebanon and its resistance… the latter has demonstrated two strategies, one of liberation and driving away occupiers, and the other of defending the homeland and people against any attack, invasion or threat.
This is the stratagem and vision of resistance: liberation and defense. These are also the clear and joint messages of the resistance in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon.
As a result of the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon and the occupation of a part of our land in 1978, the Security Council issued the Resolution 425. We submitted ourselves to the will of the international community and waited for its implementation. At the time, it was suggested that Lebanon was too weak to face Israel and it would therefore need a strategy of Arab unity.
The UNSC decision, however, was not implemented and an Arab strategy was never found. The international community and the Arab world took no action, and the will to confront was lost. It was at this time that the Imam and leader Seyyed Moussa al-Sadr proposed that the people of southern Lebanon put their trust in God Almighty and resist by any means possible.
What resulted from the false proposals of inaction? Israel weakened Lebanon and thought we were too weak to respond. This resulted in the great invasion of 1982 aiming to ultimately make Lebanon part of Israel.
As has been proven throughout history that a divided country can easily be conquered, such was the case of Lebanon at the time of the Israeli invasion in 1982 and so was the case of Palestine. The same applies to Iraq and shall apply to other countries as well. In the face of occupation, people are divided into various groups and categories:
Some remain neutral toward the occupation while some rule the country and have an extent of authority do not feel the impact of the occupation as the most important thing for them is to eat, drink and enjoy life. Another group are spies and mercenaries, cheap tools such as Antoine Lahid's army who despite being Lebanese committed shameful acts. Another group consists of the internally defeated elite who cooperate with the occupiers for their own benefits and theoretically believe they can minimize national casualties.
Also, is a group that tacitly defies the occupation but is not willing to endure hardships and pay for freedom with their blood. Finally, there is the group that believes it has an ethical, national, religious and humanitarian responsibility to liberate their fatherland from occupation. They are ready to pay the price whatever it may be. This is the group of resistance. This is the group that takes the necessary action.
This division is not exclusive to Lebanon; it is a natural, historical and social trend stemming from the loss of national unity.
To those claiming that there is no national agreement regarding resistance in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq I would say that there is also no national agreement on neutrality, treachery, cooperation or carelessness. Every group decides on its own. This is also true in Lebanon.
As always, I advise nations under occupation not to wait for a national or public agreement on resistance, but to pick up weapons and fight for the liberation of their land, nation and prisoners of war and regain their dignity and glory. This cannot be achieved other than by weapons, giving blood and making great sacrifices.
The resistance and the Lebanese people are intertwined with one another. Whether Muslim or not and regardless of sect and political parties, we have given countless martyrs. Self-reliance, jihad, various operations and our male and female youths have brought the resistance so far. Both the Arab and Muslim worlds were duty-bound to offer help. Many, however, have refrained to take action. It was Syria and the Islamic Republic of Iran who actively supported us.
We first achieved victory from 1982 to 1985 and another historical victory was won on May 25, 2000: a magnificent victory for Lebanon, Arabs and the nation and an utter defeat for Israel that shattered its dream of expanding its territory from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Israel has been cut off from southern Lebanon and western Bikaa and the Zionists have suffered a shameful defeat without gains, guarantees or concessions. While the liberating strategy adopted by the resistance succeeded, the negotiation strategy beginning from Madrid was not even able to free an inch of our land.
The strategy of inaction has done nothing but strengthen our enemy and weaken our country. Subsequently, it was the librating strategy adopted by the resistance, which similarly brought success in 2000.
After the 1984 calamity, Palestinians hopelessly waited for Arab support and international intervention.
In Iraq, America has occupied the country under the banner of establishing a democracy. The truth is that the American occupation was aimed at monopolizing the country's resources. Their true objectives becoming more clear every day. How? After the invasion, similar to other occupied nations I mentioned before, Iraqis were divided into two relatively large groups.
One seeks a political process and the other prefers resistance, specifically an armed one. Based on our religious, ideological, intellectual, political experience as well as reality, we the Hezbollah are zealous toward resistance. Those supporting the political process have wasted a great deal of time and are today faced with an extremely difficult test, which is to determine the stance they will take now that America is attempting to impose a security deal on Iraqis, the finalization of which only requires the signatures of the Iraqi government and parliament.
Despite being aware of the friendships and coalitions, America is persuading an elected government and parliament legitimize its occupation and monopoly over Iraq and exert control over its security, politics, oil and other resources. At this particular point, the realities pertaining to US objectives have been exposed, and the supporters of the political process whether Sunni, Shiite, natives or nationalists are faced with a difficult test.
You claim that you have chosen the political process as deterrence against the occupiers and to eliminate casualties. The question is, will you forever hand Iraq over to the Americans, or will you make a decision befitting your religion, Islam, Arabs, nationalism, your ethics and morals?
Today, in the name of all who have gathered here today as well all free souls in the Arab and Muslim worlds, I call on Iraqis and their political and religious leaders to make a noble and historical decision that would prevent the ultimate fall of Iraq into the hands of the occupiers.
All resistance groups in Iraq, as those in Lebanon and Palestine, have defeated the occupiers on various occasions. Iraq must now adopt the liberating strategy of the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance groups. This is the only way to return the wounded but affluent and strong Iraq to its people.
The Lebanese resistance has also adopted a defense strategy, which became known to the world in July 2006 when a few thousand men with the support of their nation confronted the greatest army (of course, in Israel's own opinion!) for several weeks.
We are not talking about a strategy written in books or taught at university but a well-implemented strategy that defeated an invader as the Zionists have conceded. The July war turned the tables, changed the balance and weakened war probabilities.
Indeed my brothers and sisters, it is your patience, nobility, encouragement and resistance along with the blood of our martyrs that fizzled out the Israeli war and attack on Lebanon and changed the odds of the war in the region.
The probability that America can wage war on Iran has been weakened. The same seems to apply to Syria as well. The lessons learned in Lebanon have truly been absorbed.
I would tell those who believe another war is likely in Lebanon that we are honorable people. We fought in the July war and should there be another war, we shall return to the battlefield!
Let us take a look at the defense strategy adopted by Gazans. In the Gaza Strip, Israel faces an asymmetric war. Certainly, it is neither Israeli ethics nor Arab public opinion nor any other Arab or international stance for that matter that has prevented Israel from invading the Strip.
Israel has received the green light from the Pharaoh of our time, George Bush. Israel is lost and has no escape. If its confrontation against the starving and besieged Strip is in vain. Despite the absence of international support and the lack of military, economic and financial balance between the two sides, the defense strategy has proven its effectiveness in Lebanon and Palestine.
The outgoing Pharaoh of our time, George Bush (God willing), visited Palestine and turned a blind eye to the country's calamity and criticized all resistance movements in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine and the nations that support them.
He promised Zionists that Israel would celebrate its 120th anniversary. Bush has mistaken. He shall be frustrated when he sees Israel's extinction. He has also promised the defeat of Hezbollah and all resistance movements. To Bush and Condoleezza Rice who dream of defeating Hezbollah, I say as long as Hezbollah is righteous and depends on God and has the support of such honorable people, it is you who will be defeated.
On the 8th anniversary of the Resistance and Liberation Day, I call on all Arab nations and governments, including the Lebanese, to devise a defense strategy based on the current regional balance of power. We have always had a national defense strategy, but today we need one for liberation.
We still must liberate Kafer Shoubah hills and Sheba farms. We need a defense strategy to repel any attack and one of liberation to free our prisoners of war. I need to say, however, that you can rest assured because it is our promise to you to liberate the prisoners of war. This is God's will but will be executed by our hands. I promise you that we will soon bring Samir and his brothers home.
On May 25, 2000, I told a gathering in Bent Jbeil that we offer our victory to Lebanon and Palestine. I told them that we had fulfilled our duty and that God's acceptance is all we hope for. We did not want gratitude or rewards. We did not seek power and authority. We liberated the land and left the security, judiciary, social and economic responsibilities to the Lebanese authorities. Have we not already said that we are not after security or managerial authority? Have our actions contradicted our word? Never!
We have not judged any spies. We handed them over to the judiciary. We have no military presence in the liberated land. We called on the government to assume this role instead.
All we requested was more attention to be paid to the development of southern villages where confrontations occurred and in deprived villages, such as Baalbek Al-Hermil and Akkar.
What have you done in the past 8 years? You who have been demanding more authority! Has anyone prevented you from fulfilling your duty in the deprived villages and the freed land?! The Lebanese know but I want Arabs harken and understand that the presence of authorities only exist when taxes are collected and police officers arrive. Citizens do not receive the services and care they require.
To those who claim that the French and Vietnamese resistance groups handed over their weapons to the authorities, I say that there are some resistance groups which have taken or demanded authority after victory.
We, however, won in 2000 and did not ask for authority. We did not ask for the Lebanese political hierarchy or the Taef Convention to be modified. We did not ask for political or administrative power. We did not seek to monopolize power. We only asked that the people be cared for, their social and economical problems be solved and their dignity to be restored.
Today, I renew this request. We do want authority or a monopoly of control. We do not seek to rule nor impose our ideology on Lebanon. We believe a country with such religious diversity cannot be governed without the participation and unity of all its groups. That is what we insist on.
Many media outlets have attempted to distort the truth. They mistakenly think that Hezbollah is ashamed of its relations with the Wilayat Al-Faqih (Just Jurisprudent). Never! I declare here and now as I have done on numerous occasions before that I am proud of being among the supporters of the Just Jurisprudent, who is fair, knowledgeable, courageous, truthful and sincere. He has told us that Lebanon is a country of diversity and that it is our duty to save it.
We were accused of preparing a coup to change the power and bring Syria back to Lebanon, just like what happened during the July war when America was preparing the grounds for the birth of a new Middle East. Now we are accused of fighting for the interests of Iran in its nuclear case.
By our conduct after the retreat of the un-authoritative government's decisions and during the Doha talks, we have proven such accusations baseless. Unlike some figures in the opposition who suggested an increase in their demands, Hezbollah did not upraise its requests. We went to Doha to rescue Lebanon from sectarian strife and a confrontation between resistance groups and the army, and from the Pharaoh and Haman of our time.
While we have been the target of unjust accusations, propaganda and attacks, we have not demanded any political gains. I do not see any need to discuss this matter anymore now, as this experience should be enough for those accusing us of aspiring for authority and a monopoly, to end their debate.
My brothers and sisters, I call on you today, as I did in Bint Jbeil and Al-Dahiya, for a true and national cooperation based on which no one cancels, drops, or wins over others, an opportunity for all Lebanese to establish a government ruled by their representatives who are honestly elected. I call for providing the Lebanese with a chance to work together without having an ear to outside whisperers.
A few days ago, the Saudi Ministerial Council demanded amendments to some constitutional laws to guarantee the Arab identity of Lebanon. I have not discussed this with my brothers in the party, but I would like to declare that I myself, one of the supporters of the Just Jurisprudent demand such modifications that will preserve Lebanon's Arab identity and prevent foreign interference in our country. I would like them to touch the issue of American and Western meddling in Lebanon. All of our friends know well that we are not dictated to, and that we are the decision makers in the field, in the Doha talks and in the opposition.
My brothers and sisters, the events of the past have left me with two options. I can either explain what happened before and after the decisions were made or I can postpone this discussion until a later time.
I have revealed some information during the conference held on Thursday May 8, 2008. However, today I prefer not to disturb you on the Resistance and Liberation Day, the day of agreement and the election of your new President. I will postpone this discussion and shall not expose the ambiguities of certain affairs and the unjust accusations leveled against the resistance.
Both sides have sustained critical wounds. We can choose either to keep the old wounds open or to treat them and let them heal. With the interests of Lebanon in mind, I suggest we all learn lessons and avoid claims of having won. I prefer discussing this matter when the time is ripe for logic. Let us open a new chapter in the history of Lebanon as of May 25, 2008.
My brothers and sisters, in light of the latest developments I would like to mention the following points:
First of all, I would like to thank on your behalf of all who have helped in achieving the recent agreement. I would like to thank our Arab brothers, the ministerial committee, the Arab League and its Secretary General, the Qatari leadership and nation, the brotherly countries of Syria and the Islamic Republic in Iran and, of course, the Lebanese themselves.
Secondly, I would like to reinstate on Hezbollah's behalf that we have accepted an article that says no party will use weapons to gain political momentum. However, the weapons of the resistance are aimed at the enemy, and will be used to liberate the land, free the prisoners of war and to help defend Lebanon and not to achieve any political gains.
The state's weapons, including that of the army and domestic forces, are to defend our homeland, to protect our citizens and their rights and to maintain security across the country. It is not permissible to use the resistance weapons for political gains and the same applies to the state's weapons. They are not permissible to be used to face political opponents or for projects that may weaken Lebanon against the enemy or to confront the resistance.
The weapons of the resistance and the state are to be used for the objectives they are set out for.
Thirdly, the election law we agreed on is better than the one in 2000 as it respects adequate representation of all Lebanese factions. It should be considered a compromise between all those who want to resolve the crises in Lebanon in hopes that the Lebanese will later on discuss a modern election law.
The election law is an introductory step toward establishing a government and restoring the authority of the state and its institutions.
Making accusations is not the way. Whoever is against offering Lebanon a fair and modern representative law should live on a farm. This is a compromise in hopes that Lebanon may achieve a better agreement.
Fourth, the election of Major General Michael Suleiman has revived the hope of a new Lebanon. His oath speech that we heard yesterday was brimming with the spirit of the accord and the promise of a new era. This is what Lebanon needs: accord, partnership, cooperation and distancing itself from monopoly.
Fifth, a national government is not a victory for the opposition over the authority. It is a victory for Lebanon, the nation, coexistence, and the state mission for this country, which cannot be achieved, continue and last unless there is accord, cooperation and solidarity.
I declared that the purpose of the strike in Riyagh Al-Soleh and Martyrs Square is to have a national government. I knew that it would take time. At the time, I announced that 'as I usually promise a victory, I promise another one again', but I did not mean it would be a victory of one group over another for I believe that Lebanon's victory can only be achieved with a national government.
When we achieved this in the Doha talks, I declared the victory not to be one of a certain group over another but a victory for Lebanon itself, as was the victory on May 25, 2000 and the victory in 2006.
We are going to have a new cabinet, and as I have promised, other members of the opposition group will participate even on behalf of Hezbollah. This is Lebanon, the land of affluence and prosperity. We are going to have the opposition well presented in this cabinet in the hope that we will have a serious and responsible cabinet that will resolve the problems of the Lebanese.
Sixth, I will honestly call on the movement and the beloved of the martyred premier Rafik al-Hariri in the hope of benefiting from his great experiences, thoughts and strategies concerning Lebanon. His great mind enabled him to harmonize between reconstructing Lebanon, state matters and the resistance. Lebanon had two options: with its lands occupied, its sovereignty seized and its dignity trampled upon by Israel it could have become either like Hong Kong or similar to the glory of the East, Hanoi.
With the mentality of the premier and because of the martyred Rafik al-Hariri, the resistance is sure that Hong Kong and Hanoi are not the models to be followed, but rather we must set our own model.
We can prove that we are a country of construction, economy, cooperation, and production along with a resistance that does not seek to undermine the government's authority but seeks to share the state's responsibility in liberating and defending the land.
That was the coexistence style between the resistance and the premier and Martyr Rafik al-Hariri. Those who have been loyal to the inheritance of Rafik al-Hariri, have to follow this model.
We are not calling for a dual, triple or quartet coalition, we are not calling for monopolizing power on behalf of any sect, position, authority, or institution, but rather for the mass cooperation of all political groups with the government.
I ask God to have a nice and calm summer. Let us work together. Two scenarios exist: the American hot summer and the nice and calm Lebanese summer. Let us fulfill our dreams instead of that of our enemy. I promise you along with all our beloved in the Arab and Muslim worlds that we will do our best to overcome all hostilities, sensitivities, and to heal all our wounds. Let us work hand in hand to construct and protect Lebanon.
I would like to thank those who have helped us along the way. I would like to thank the Sunni leadership in Lebanon and the Arab and Muslim worlds. I would like to thank the religious, political and intellectual leaders whose courageous stances defused the American plot aimed at propagating any conflict in the world as a sectarian strife.
I would like to thank the national Druze leadership, the sons of Marouf, the resistant men, sheikhs, leaders, politicians, journalists and parties for their stance which clearly showed the events happening were not a Druze-Shia strife.
I would like to thank the Christian leadership for revealing the reality of the political conflict and showing it was far from a sectarian one. May God have mercy on the souls of all our martyrs.
It has been said that Hezbollah is not disclosing the number of its martyrs in the recent events. There have been 14 Hezbollah martyrs, two martyrs of Lebanese (Saraya) Brigades for Fighting Occupation, a number of martyrs from the Amal Movement, a few from the Syrian National and Social Party, and still a few others from the Lebanese Democratic Party.
To resolve any remaining ambiguities, the martyrs are Sunni and Shia Muslims, Christians and Druze. We are proud of all of them. We are sorry for the victims which have fallen on the other side but it was a battle with fire. We will discuss this matter at a later time. What softens the issue is that the recent bloodshed has pushed Lebanon to the end of a dark and long tunnel. Without this blood, Lebanon would have been dragged to a point where no government could have been established. We owe everything to these martyrs who have saved Lebanon and opened a new chapter in its history.
We are grateful, have respect and extend our hand of cooperation to build a Lebanon that is strong, valuable, fair and well-protected... a Lebanon that is as strong as its mountains, and as everlasting as its cedars.
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