Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered his fourth televised speech in two weeks Friday evening through a large screen in the town of Baalbek in the Lebanon Valley. He first addressed the residents of this decades long deprived region that is also very well known as the reservoir of the resistance.
"From the beginning, the region suffered from social and economic discrimination, from hunger and security occupation. Today they are those who are trying to tell you that this humiliation and discrimination is derived from your political affiliation and that you are being punished for it. This is mere deception. Where was Hezbollah before 1982? There was no political affiliation back then to be punished for," his eminence said.
Sayyed Nasrallah explained that neither the religious identity nor the political identity of the region is the cause of the government's negligence to it.
"There are Sunni and Shiite Muslims there, there are also Christians. Take northern Lebanon; there are regions there which are more deprived than the Bekaa region. There are no Muslim Shiites there. Northern Lebanon had voted for the so called February 14 bloc, but despite this, nothing has changed."
Sayyed Nasrallah explained that the prevailing mentality of the consecutive governments since the creation of the State of Greater Lebanon, is not to give heed to far away precincts whether in the south, north or the Bekaa. They (governments) believe that all districts should serve the capital Beirut and in it, corporate banks, capitalists and big companies.
"We are looking for real coexistence at a time the US is bringing arms into this region to start up wars. We are looking for unity, cooperation and solidarity because Lebanon cannot be divided. This country cannot rise unless there is cooperation and unity. Let us implement the Taef Accord. Unfortunately, some people don't see anything in this accord except the truce of 1949 with Israel and disarming the resistance."
Sayyed Nasrallah criticized the ruling bloc for refusing to establish a defensive strategy for Lebanon.
"We told you that these are arms of a resistance organization, not a militia. We also told you that we agree to discuss the issue of the arms in the framework of a defensive strategy. We do not want to keep our weapons forever. We would be very thankful when a strong state exists with a strong army to protect all of Lebanon. I have presented them with a defensive strategy at the table of national dialogue. I tell you now and I swear that the response to this strategy was the July war of 2006."
Two days before parliamentary by-elections in Beirut and Metn to fill the seats vacated by the assassination of MPs Walid Ido (Beirut) and Pierre Gemayel (Metn), Sayyed Nasrallah criticized some politicians who have been lashing out at MP General Michel Aoun for signing an understanding with Hezbollah.
"Imagine that the misdeed of Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and other Christian parties is that they embraced the resistance in July 2006. Their misdeed is that they seek internal peace with the Muslims of this country, and therefore they make alliances with the honorable. I do not want to comment on one political leader, whom his February 14 bloc did not even give him a seat in parliament. His name is not worthy of saying (Sayyed Nasrallah was referring to Dori Chameoun). This leader tells his supporters, which I'm not sure how many they count, that they should take part in elections because this is the battle of Lebanon and that (Michel Nasrallah) should not triumph, what does he mean by this? Here, I address the Christians...The Free Patriotic Movement made an understanding with Hezbollah, but with whom did the other bloc make alliances with? I need to ask the Christians: Did Hezbollah destroy your houses, committed massacres against you and ruined your Churches? Is Hezbollah stopping you from returning to your villages in Mount Lebanon? Did Hezbollah commit this was it those you've made alliances with? Didn't you see how Hezbollah acted when the Israelis withdrew in the year 2000? Did we burn any house, harm anyone, destroy Churches, change the demographic landscape in the south? Didn't we preserve the people and their dignity, knowing that many of them have killed many of our fighters, bombed our cities and villages and committed massacres, tortured our people in the Khiam detention center? How did we respond, did we hold the Christians responsible for this? Of course not. Yes, there are some who feel ashamed of making an alliance with the resistance that has been fighting Israel and had liberated Lebanon, but they don't feel ashamed of making alliances with those who spent their lives in Israeli training camps and trenches,"
Hezbollah's Secretary General also said the United States was trying to intimidate the Lebanese people by taking punitive financial action against opponents of the Western-backed government of Fouad Saniora. His eminence said US President George W. Bush was doing all he could to protect the governing coalition.
"Bush said that Saniora's government has become a part of US national security, Sayyed Nasrallah reminded.
"Bush comes out and says: 'You Lebanese, whoever shakes the Saniora government, I will act against legally, financially and economically."
"Bush considers the Saniora government part of American national security and part of American policy. We are demanding a government which represents Lebanese national security and not American national security," Sayyed Nasralla said.
His eminence criticized the United States plan to increase military assistance to Middle Eastern countries including Israel at a time it bans the Lebanese army from arming, accusing Washington of seeking to drown the Middle East in wars.
"The United States is bringing billions of dollars worth of arms to ignite wars in this region. The American administration is working on instigating sectarian strife and civil wars in Palestine, Iraq, the Gulf and ... between the countries of this region."
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Al-Jazeera English News November 19, 2006by gwood38,138 views
MashaALLAH(t.t.).
kumaylabbashv 4 years ago