Nasrallah: Hezbollah will stay armed to offset Israel
By The Associated Press
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/846660.html The leader of the militant Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, on Sunday vowed that Hezbollah will keep its weapons until a strong Lebanese army capable of defending the country against Israeli attacks is established.
The Hezbollah leader apparently was responding to repeated calls by the country's anti-Syrian parliamentary majority for his group to disarm in line with a UN resolution that ended last summer's Israel-Hezbollah war.
Nasrallah also said Sunday that a dialogue among feuding Lebanese leaders has failed to resolve the country's political crisis and proposed a public referendum or early parliamentary elections as a way out of the four month long stalemate.
Nasrallah spoke at a ceremony in south Beirut marking the graduation of more than 1,700 Hezbollah supporters from Lebanese universities. After his speech that lasted more than an hour, he handed certificates to the graduates during the ceremony attended by thousands of people.
The latest bilateral dialogue has reached a dead end, Nasrallah said, referring to last month's meetings between Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an opposition leader aligned with Hezbollah, and Saad Hariri, the leader of parliament's pro-government majority.
When we reach a deadlock, the only logic is to resort to the people who are the source of power, rather than resorting to the outside world because the outside world is a party (to the conflict) and is supporting a party, Nasrallah said, referring to Arab and Western countries that support the Lebanese government.
There are two democratic formulas in the world: either a Lebanese public referendum on a solution or early parliamentary elections, the black-turbaned Shiite cleric added.
Anti-Syrian parties, who do not support neighboring Damascus' involvement in Lebanese affairs, won a majority in the 128-member legislature during the 2005 parliamentary elections and have rejected the opposition's demand for early elections. The next elections are due in 2009.
The Hezbollah-led opposition has been campaigning with protests and sit-ins since Dec. 1 in downtown Beirut - just outside the prime minister's office - to try to force him to resign or share power in a national unity Cabinet that would give the opposition veto power.
U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fouad Saniora has refused to resign. Hariri and his allies in the anti-Syrian coalition have rejected the opposition's demand for Cabinet veto power on key decisions, calling it a political suicide.
Nasrallah said he will no longer accept the opposition's demand for 11 seats in a 30-member Cabinet, saying such an offer is silly and weak.
The Berri-Hariri meetings came after months of dispute in which feuding politicians traded insults and their supporters clashed in the streets, leading many to fear that the country was returning to the violence of the 1975-90 civil war. Political and sectarian tensions turned violent in January, with nine people were killed in street clashes.
Berri last week called on Saudi Arabia to host a conference of rival Lebanese leaders to reach a solution to the crisis. But this was rejected by pro-Saniora leaders who insisted the country reach its own solution before going to Saudi Arabia.
In his speech, Nasrallah rejected claims that Hezbollah, which has refused to hand over its weapons to the government, was acting like a state within a state.
Hezbollah stood fast in the face of the 34-day devastating Israeli air and artillery bombardment of its positions in south and eastern Lebanon as well as Beirut's southern suburbs. The war ended with a UN cease-fire resolution on Aug. 14.
Nasrallah vowed to keep Hezbollah weapons until a powerful army capable of defending Lebanon is formed.
"The only solution is that there must be a strong state and a strong army capable of confronting any Israeli aggression on Lebanon," he said.
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Hezbollah sees deadlock, Lebanon crisis continuing
By Nadim Ladki
Sun Apr 8, 12:33 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070408/...n_hezbollah_dc BEIRUT (Reuters) - Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah has given up hope of reaching a compromise deal with Lebanon's Western-backed majority coalition to end the country's political crisis, the group's leader said on Sunday.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah would not be dragged into civil war despite the failure of last month's Saudi-backed talks between the majority and the opposition to resolve the five-month-old standoff.
"The dialogue is deadlocked. What do we do?," Nasrallah said at a Hezbollah ceremony in Beirut's southern suburbs.
"We don't want a civil war. If the stalemate continues for a while until a solution is found or we go to a civil war, then let the stalemate continue."
Nasrallah said Hezbollah no longer demanded veto power in Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government but the only way out of the crisis was through a referendum to resolve the deadlock or early elections -- a proposal Siniora and his allies have already rejected.
Otherwise, he said, he and his opposition allies were willing to bide their time until circumstances become ripe for a solution or regular elections are held in 2009.
Lebanon is facing its worst crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. Opposition ministers, including all Shi'ites, resigned from government in November because of Siniora's refusal to give them 11 seats in the 30-member cabinet and effectively hand veto power to his opponents.
"We in the opposition became like beggars ... I don't want this 19-11 (formula) anymore," Nasrallah said, closing the door for any negotiations with the majority.
WILL OF THE PEOPLE
"Today, the courageous decision is to return to the will of the Lebanese people," Nasrallah said.
Sectarian violence has killed 10 people since the opposition took to the streets shortly after the resignations, raising fears of bloody Sunni-Shi'ite strife.
Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, is the most powerful group in the opposition. The majority is led by Sunni leader Saad al-Hariri, son of late Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005.
Nasrallah slammed the anti-Syrian majority for asking the U.N. Security Council to set up an international court to try suspects in the killing of Rafik al-Hariri despite opposition demands that its laws be amended and passed by parliament.
The majority, which accuse the opposition of trying to thwart the tribunal's establishment to protect its allies in the Syrian government, has demanded a session of parliament so lawmakers can vote on the tribunal draft.
But Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri -- a Hezbollah ally -- has yet to convene the chamber. He says he will not call it to debate the tribunal until President Emile Lahoud, also a Syrian ally, has signed the draft and a new government is formed.
Majority leaders accuse Damascus of the 2005 killing and a string of other attacks on anti-Syrian figures that are all being probed by a U.N. investigation. Syria denies involvement.
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