Fadlallah: Jihad, a Front Against Oppression

Source: Alalam.ir, 24-06-2008

BEIRUT--Lebanese religious leader Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah threw support for resistance movements, saying Jihad is a front to counter "oppression and occupation".

In talks with Alalam late Monday, Ayatollah Fadlallah said jihad was the front through which oppressed people could be supported against major powers in the world "to emancipate human beings from occupying forces".

The West labels jihad as "terrorism" because Western powers "find it against their strategic interests, which defies their expansionist and occupation plans," the religious scholar said.

He also rejected the two-state policy to tackle the ‘Israeli'-Palestinian problem, saying creation of such a society in which Palestinians could live side by side with ‘Israeli' regime "is sociologically, politically and economically impossible."

He elaborated the ‘Israeli' regime seeks to make Palestinians dependent on the occupying regime in terms of policy, economy and security.

Commenting on the developments in Iraq, Fadlallah said: "The US occupied the war-wracked country to seek its own economic interests and loot the Iraqi wealth, especially oil."

The Bush administration launched a 2003 invasion on Iraq to topple the executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on the pretext that the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein was possessing weapons of mass destruction, which were never found.

Fadlallah blasted the US occupation forces for refusing to hand over the security to Iraqis, saying "The US plans to remain in the country for a century and sparks chaos to justify its presence."

He also said the US plans to use Iraq as a launch pad for attacks against neighboring countries, singling out two US arch-foes Iran and Syria.

The Lebanese scholar also had barbed words for Arab states of the Persian Gulf for giving the thumbs up for the US forces to establish military bases.