MP Sahili: The US is seeking to deprive Hizbullah of its role

Source: nowlebanon.com, 18-06-2006

MP Nawwar al-Sahili of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc said that the efforts being made by the United States to free the Shebaa Farms, especially after the visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Lebanon, are aimed at depriving Hizbullah of its role.

"The issue of weapons is to be discussed at a round table dialogue joining all parties," Sahili told the Lebanese daily Al-Balad.

"Rice's step is a silly maneuver aimed at creating some the pretext for undermining the role of the resistance," he added.

Sahili noted that the return of the Shebaa Farms to Lebanon does not mean that the ‘Israeli' threat is gone and said that the proof of this are the ongoing Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace and the occasional ground violations as well.

"Had the resistance not been there, ‘Israel' would have been using South Lebanon as an open ground," Sahili declared.

"Is placing the [Shebaa] Farms under tutelage [the same as] placing it back under Lebanese sovereignty? Will the Lebanese flag be hoisted over it? Will state security and civil institutions be able to enter? Will the owners of land on the Shebaa Farms be able to invest in them again?"

Sahili said that the resistance has never declared its intention to regain the land through force and said that it had never ruled out peaceful and diplomatic means as a way of liberating them.
"Yet, it is still early to talk about an agreement with ‘Israel'," he said.