The Mideastwire Blog

From Nasrallah’s speech during a ceremony to honor the children of martyrs, July 25: “…I say to the young men and women, the families of the martyrs, the parents of the martyrs, and the mothers and wives of martyrs: These martyrs have been among the most important symbols of this country and this nation over the past 30 years. They are the makers of its victory and history, and they are the ones who have preserved the nation’s existence and dignity”

“…Therefore, resistance is not only an intellectual, cultural, jihadist, or political project. This resistance or this achievement is mixed with our blood, sweat, tears, sighs, vigilance, efforts, and sacrifices. Hence I say to the entire world: The resistance for which we have sacrificed to stay its course and achieve its goals is the dearest thing we have. We will not allow a small or big one in this world to undermine its dignity.”

“…Hezbollah’s resistance in particular managed to attain this status and penetrate all barriers. It is an Islamic resistance that is respected by the Christians as well. It is mostly a Shi’i resistance that is respected by the Sunni world, too. It is a Lebanese resistance that is respected by the Arabs and all non-Arab Muslims. It is a resistance that is viewed by all the oppressed and persecuted people in the third world and throughout the world as a model, example, and hope.”

“… This resistance has for the first time in the history of Lebanon placed Lebanon in the heart of the regional equation. This is unprecedented. Lebanon has always been a recipient. Is this not so?”

…”During that war ( in 2006), they wanted to crush the resistance rather than disarm it, expel it from south of the Litani River, or seize its rockets… What problem did they have with Hezbollah? Was it because Hezbollah was a political party? No, because we are accepted as a political party. The Europeans, Asians, Africans, and Arabs meet with us. There are people with whom we have no meetings because we do not want to sit with them not because they do not want to sit with us. Even the Americans have often sought to sit with us, but we would not.”

“They tried to open channels with us in 2000 but we closed them because we believe that America is Israel. It is the country that supports, embraces, protects, arms, and employs Israel. America is the country behind the war on Lebanon in July 2006, and Israel only waged it.”

“…Where is the problem then? The problem with Hezbollah is that it is resistance. The problem with Hezbollah and the likes of Hezbollah is that it refuses that its homeland Lebanon be weak, it refuses that its protection of its homeland be false, and that it rejects that anyone in this world would impose humiliating conditions on it. This is their problem with Hezbollah because it rejects this US-Israeli settlement that wants to expropriate the land and to deprive an entire nation, millions of Palestinians, from returning to their homeland, houses, and fields to live in dignity. This is the problem with Hezbollah. This is the problem and I do not accept settlement, and I am telling you from now, this cannot be settled.”

“…Do the Americans not admit now that their project in Lebanon has failed? It has failed… Thus, they have resorted to the new headline, which is distorting the image. Feltman said we have paid $500 million to distort Hezbollah’s image. What was the result? I will answer this question…We will build on it to say why we are not afraid. We have no fears for ourselves or for our image, but we fear for this country and for all the atmospheres, which some sides are trying to create in this country.”

“…We all in Lebanon want to know the truth in the assassination of Martyr Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. This issue has nothing to do with the sect, the party, or the area. There is national unanimity on this issue.

…”The case of Martyr Rafiq al-Hariri is no longer a family affair to relinquish it or not. This is the cause of a homeland and people. At the news conference, I said that we have all, in Lebanon and the region, paid its price. We have all paid the price of the repercussions of this assassination with varying degrees. We all want to know the truth first. We all want to administer justice. When we know the truth, and I am telling you now, we call for administering justice and not pardon. This is not one-upmanship. This is because we have a vision of what happened and about what would happen.”

“… This commission was not qualified to lead to the revelation of the truth. What leads to the revelation of the truth, as we have always said, is an honest, technical, transparent, and scientific investigation. What can an honest, technical, transparent, and scientific investigation do? The whole world works this way on the security and judicial levels. They put all hypotheses: This includes, who could be the one who killed Martyr Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri? Who has the motive? Who has interest? Who has the ability? “

“…The Investigation Commission has never worked this way for one single day. I tell this to everyone I respect and believe that he wants to know the truth. The Investigation Commission has never worked this way, not for one day. From the beginning, it resorted to one hypothesis. When you conduct investigation, you put hypotheses and then conduct investigation. What they did, however, they brought a charge and issued a verdict and they then began to search for evidence. No one works in this way and this is still continuing until now.”

“..If the truth is not revealed, there will be no justice, but there will be injustice. We call for justice. Justice is to punish the killers of Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. Punishing the one who did not kill him, however, is the height of injustice.”

“…False witnesses misled investigation four years and they build on it what was built, and we said this at the news conference, yet no one is authorized to ask them or interrogate them, or to punish them and to call them to account. Is this justice?

“…I said this at the news conference and I reiterate: If anyone in this world wants to sit with us to discuss with us that one of our members is accused and therefore, we should search for a way out, I will not sit with anyone. If anyone wants to sit with us based on the fact that one of our members is accused and therefore, we should make a settlement, we will not sit with anyone.”

“…What the Israeli media are saying is correct and it is compatible with our information. The Israeli information is obtained from the heart of investigation, from the heart of Bellemare’s office, and from the heart of the International Tribunal. The same Israeli information, which was published by the news media a few days ago, was said by security officials in Lebanon, to the effect that the first presumptive verdict against three members, the second, which will be issued later, will be against five, the third will be issued against 20, and the fourth will be issued against 50 members. Who are they trying to fool?”

“What we call for is to form a Lebanese committee, whether a parliamentary committee, a judicial committee, a ministerial committee, a security committee, or a mixed committee. It should bring the three witnesses, in addition to Al-Siddiq… They should sit with them and ask  them about who told you, who guided you, who taught you, who fabricated you, and about who used to send you to interrogation and after you return he listens to you to know what happened and to provide you with the new information you should say.”

“…Along with all Lebanese, we want to know the truth and to administer justice, but we will not allow the defamation of a resistance, which is the dearest thing we have and for the sake of creating it, we have offered the dearest of what we have.”