Israel Matzav

Nasrallah tries to unify Lebanon

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on May 26, 2008. A transcript follows. I read this speech as his effort to reconcile Lebanon's various factions (notice the stuff about Hariri at the end) under Hezbullah's rule. He's still a maniac. Let's go to the videotape.

Hassan Nasrallah: Brothers and sisters, the resistance has provided us with a model and a strategy in two respects, not just one. One is the resistance's strategy of liberation and of driving out the occupation, and the other is the strategy of defending the homeland and the people in the face of aggression, invasion, and threats. Thus, we have a model of two strategies, two perspectives – one of liberation and the other of defense.

[...]

The resistance's strategy of liberation has been successful, whereas the strategy of negotiations, from Madrid onward, has not restored even an inch of land to Lebanon. As for the strategy of biding time, it has strengthened our enemy, while making our country weaker and increasing its despair.

[....]

We are not talking about a defense strategy that can be found in books or that is taught at universities. Rather, we are talking about a defense strategy that has been implemented, and has defeated the aggressor and invader, as admitted by [Israeli] society as a whole. This July [2006] war has changed many of the equations, and has weakened the war options in the region. Indeed, brothers and sisters, your steadfastness in Lebanon, the blood of your martyrs, your boldness, your courage, and your resistance, which foiled the Israeli war and aggression against Lebanon, has diminished the possibility of a war in the region. The possibility of an American war against Iran has diminished following the lesson of Lebanon. The possibility of an Israeli war against Syria has become very remote, after the experience of the war against Lebanon. As for a [future] war against Lebanon by the Israelis, by the Americans, or by those who place their stakes on Israel and America – we in Lebanon, the most noble people, who fought the July war, will fight in any future war.

[..]

Many people have tried to use their media outlets to distort the truth. They think that by labeling us the "Party of the Rule of the Jurisprudent," they are insulting us. By no means is this true. I declare today – not for the first time – that I am proud to be a member of the Party of the Rule of the Jurisprudent – a jurisprudent who is just, learned, wise, courageous, reliable, and loyal. I say to those people: The Rule of the Jurisprudent tells us that we are its party. Lebanon is a diverse and pluralistic country, and you must defend it.

[...]

I would like to call on those who love the martyred Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri to benefit from the great experience of this great man, and from the horizons of his strategic thinking about Lebanon. He has succeeded in generating harmony between the enterprise of building the country and that of the resistance, with great insight and a great heart. Some have tried to present the resistance and the government with two options: Either a Hong Kong-style Lebanon of a Hanoi-style Lebanon. In other words, either a destroyed Lebanon, or a Lebanon which is "the pearl of the East," but with its land occupied, its sovereignty confiscated, its honor desecrated, and its security vis-à-vis Israel breached. The resistance, using the insight of the martyred Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, has managed to say: We imitate nobody – neither Hong Kong nor Hanoi. We do not follow any model. We, the Lebanese, create our own model.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:50 PM