Hezbullah invites the West to 'speak nicely to us'
On Thursday, the British government announced that it is seeking a dialogue with the Hezbullah terrorist organization. Britain overturned its policy on a key Middle East issue yesterday by agreeing to talk to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia movement which fights Israel and is banned as a terrorist organisation by the US.Apparently Hezbullah wants more than just 'open talks.'
Bill Rammell, the Foreign Office minister, told MPs the government would authorise "carefully selected" contacts with the political wing of Hezbollah, which is represented in the Lebanese parliament. Other EU countries, including France, already deal with the group.
The move, urged privately by British diplomats for some time, may be partially intended to encourage the US to follow suit as Barack Obama's administration pursues a fresh approach of engagement with parties shunned by George Bush.
"We are witnessing a new language speaking positively of Hizbullah and the fostering of ties with it. We accept this new language and commend it," Kassem said Saturday, one day after Hizbullah officials said they will welcome public talks with Britain.What those flights show is that if Israel wanted to attack Lebanon daily, it could. Hezbullah ought to be more cautious.
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Kassem, speaking at a mosque in Beirut's southern neighborhood of Dahiya Saturday, was optimistic and said he believed Britain's change of heart "has derived from their understanding that we represent the people and seek out the truth, and that all efforts to force us to accept a policy that we refuse to accept are impossible."
Regarding Israel, the Hizbullah leader spoke of the northern Shebaa Farms and the Air Force's flights over Lebanon. "No one can convince us to accept the occupation in the Shebaa farms and no one can impose on us a situation in which Israel attacks us daily with its planes in Lebanon and force us to accept this," he said.
But there is no doubt that this 'dialogue' is bad news for Israel.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:01 AM
1 Comments:
Carl - its just a short step to the West initiating contacts with Hamas. And note well the UK did not condition the talks with Hezbollah on its renunciation of terror and its compliance with the UN resolution to disarm.
On another front, the US is sounding out "moderate" elements in the Taliban. (And inviting Iran to a conference on Afghanistan's future.) These are all parts of a very big picture. I'm sure you can guess where all the dots lead to.
Israel is going to be asked to pay the price to allow the West to reconcile with radical elements in the Middle East. Its going to be a rough four years for the Jewish State.
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