Nasrallah: Let March 14 Accept STL Funds Halt as It Accepted UNESCO's
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday asked the rival March 14 camp to accept Lebanon’s possible suspension of funds to the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon the same as “most of the March 14 forces did not comment on the issue of (the U.S.) suspending UNESCO funds.”
In a televised speech commemorating Hizbullah’s Martyr Day, Nasrallah said “it is useful to notice that the UNESCO, which is an international organization, has acknowledged the state of Palestine, drawing the United States’ anger because it has granted Palestine some of its rights.”
“The U.S. has suspended funds to UNESCO, although UNESCO was not established in an illegal and unconstitutional manner like the STL,” Nasrallah noted.
“Most of the March 14 forces did not comment on the issue of suspending UNESCO funds. But if Lebanon decides not to fund the unconstitutional and bogus tribunal, (Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey) Feltman starts to threaten Lebanon with sanctions, which exposes the U.S. and its allies in Lebanon.”
“Why don’t you accept for the STL what you accept for the UNESCO organization, although the UNESCO has done justice to a people while the STL has aggrieved a people,” Nasrallah added.
He slammed the STL as “nonexistent,” advising the rival Lebanese parties to “address the domestic issues and give up their bets on the outside forces.”
Addressing the conflict with Israel, Nasrallah wondered “how can someone be reassured concerning his people and homeland amid the presence of a neighboring racist, hostile entity?”
“This is the first time that Lebanon and its south feel safe and confident because of the presence of the Resistance,” Nasrallah boasted.
“All the (recent) speculations and analyses about a possible Israeli war on Lebanon are aimed at intimidation. We rule out this possibility, not because Israel, the U.S. and the international community are generous, but because of a very simple reason: Lebanon is not weak anymore,” he reassured.
On the issue of Hizbullah’s controversial arsenal of weapons, Nasrallah said: “When you ask our resistance to surrender its weapons, you are asking us to be aggrieved and to surrender our dignity to the ugliest enemy which is Israel.”
Turning to the domestic issues, Nasrallah noted that Premier Najib Miqati’s government “has proven to be a government of dialogue and a national government that represents a parliamentary and popular majority and that it’s not a one-sided government.”
But he called on the government to “work more and to give the ultimate attention to people’s concerns instead of listening to useless things.”
He stressed that “this government does not receive orders or insinuations.”
“The government must address the administrative and humanitarian issues and the issue of those who fled to Israel (in 2000). We were among those who backed the draft law (on the return of those who fled) in parliament and that was mentioned in our (2006) MOU with the Free Patriotic Movement and we are committed to that.”
“The collaborators who were arrested were handed over to the Lebanese judiciary. I understand those who fled to Israel and some of them fled because they knew how grave their deeds were, but if they observe how the people of the south had dealt with the collaborators’ families they would regret fleeing to Israel,” Nasrallah added.
On the Syrian crisis, Nasrallah called on “those who are betting on the fall of the Assad regime to give up their bets.”
“The U.S. wants to subjugate Iran and drag it into direct negotiations and this is being rejected by Iran. They are also seeking to subjugate Syria so that it accepts what it has been rejecting so far,” Hizbullah’s leader said of the latest escalation of rhetoric between Iran and its two principal foes, Israel and the U.S.
The war of words has aggravated since the release on Tuesday of a U.N. report saying there was "credible" evidence suggesting Iran's atomic program was being used to research putting nuclear warheads in ballistic missiles.
Nasrallah warned that “a war against Iran and Syria will not remain limited to Iran and Syria,” and that it would rather spread to the entire region.
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