Full text of Sayyed Nasrallah`s Manar TV interview: We will call for early parliamentary elections if efforts to achieve

Source: Manar TV, 31-10-2006
Hizbullah Secretary General, his Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced that if the Consultative Forum does not lead to a National Unity government, and political forces are forced to take to the streets, and they definitely will, then a unity government will no longer be our only objective, but we will call for early parliamentary elections.
He added that should the ruling powers not agree to early elections, we will seek to bring down the government, set up a transitional government and call for parliamentary elections.
Nasrallah stressed in a dialogue yesterday evening on "Al-Manar" station with colleague Batoul Ayub in "Bain Qaosain" (Between Parentheses) program, that the consultative meeting is a golden opportunity not to be missed to save the country. He explained that as far as we are concerned the zero hour to make moves is on the Monday following the Monday the consultation meetings begin on.
Nasrallah assured everyone there is neither civil war nor religious-sectarian sedition in Lebanon, but pointed out that he only fears the gun-silencers that reached the American embassy.
At the beginning, Sayyed Nasrallah said that "when we talk of the American policy's failure in the region, we are not saying that the American regional project has failed and that "they are packing up to leave" as was the case in their end days in Vietnam. But what I want to say is that I am one of those who see the picture clear. In our childhood we saw the American troops leave Vietnam in helicopters carrying officers and soldiers, while some Vietnamese who fought alongside the Americans were trying to board the aircrafts and instead were thrown to the ground and abandoned.
He added, "This is the scene I anticipate in our region not within months but years, when the Americans will pack up and leave the entire region, they will not have a future in our region at all. They would leave the Middle East, the Arab and Islamic worlds just as they did in Vietnam. By the way, I advise all those gambling on the Americans to learn from Vietnam's experience and that of the South Lebanon Army with the `Israelis`.
I advise them to know that when the Americans lose this battle, and they will God willing, they will abandon them for their fates as they did before with all the others who gambled on them in the world.
Nasrallah said: the United States talks of reforms. What reforms has the ‘majority' team introduced? On the contrary, we are witnessing more corruption and scandals in government administration and state departments. All the United States wanted in Lebanon in the past one and a half years is to tighten its grip, and make achievements linked to the US and "Israeli" interests.
This is why it was always required of this team to tighten its grip on Lebanon through taking control of the presidency of the republic, the heads of the security and military institutions, take control of the Lebanese administration and by ending the state of resistance in Lebanon, a real problem for "Israel" and the American project in Lebanon.
Therefore the Americans provide moral and political support, interfere in every detail, and incite the Lebanese against one another.
But here I want to ask what achievements have been made so far in Lebanon from the continued daily American open backing for PM Fouad Saniora's government?
Nasrallah recalled the political project of the Americans and the ruling group in Lebanon before the July aggression, and said: they were eager to tighten their grip on the administration and to appoint a partisan President of the Republic who will carry out American orders, whereby Feltman meets him every two to three weeks and gives him instructions to abide by as he does with this team, thus providing free services to the "Israeli" side and this is the "Israeli" part of Resolution 1559.
He added: these forces now in government know that they are unable to solve this kind of problems. In fact, their real project was and still is, to bring multinational troops to Lebanon under Chapter VII, a matter they posed and called for at the dialogue table, which is included in the documents they handed out to discuss the defense strategy. Yet, they did not want multinational forces under Chapter VII south of the Litani River, but rather non-UN troops under American, French or other command under chapter VII to be deployed in all of Lebanon, including the border with occupied Palestine, and Syria, additional to the Lebanese territorial waters, ports and airports.
The multinational forces were to become the military and security army to assist ‘February 14' to take control of Lebanon.
Today, I do not want to say everything that happened behind closed doors, but we will leave some doors open. Yet I want to say this, that in the first days of the aggression, we were contacted by the ruling group, who literally told us that this war would be long, and devastating, and said it is "intended on eliminating you" and may destroy the country.
Of course, they were trying to intimidate and frighten us. They said "this war cannot stop unless you accept three conditions, and we urge you to accept these three conditions:
1: Accept the arrival of multinational forces under Chapter VII to be deployed in Lebanon, and not only on the international border with occupied Palestine.
2: Surrender weapons of the resistance in Lebanon.
3: Handover the two Israeli prisoners or release them unconditionally."
"If you do not agree to these conditions then the war will continue, and it will be long, and an international resolution is in order.."Our answer was clearly, that first of all these conditions meant a humiliating surrender, and we are ready to fight until the last drop of blood, final breath, and last bullet.
As of the first day of negotiations between us and the government team in Lebanon, they were telling us we were to bear responsibility for the continuation of the war. They said that to us, and not to Olmert, nor Peretz or Halutz who was bombarding the houses, destroying villages, and killing women and children.
They put responsibility on us because we refused the arrival of multinational forces under Chapter VII to occupy Lebanon and transform Lebanon into a new Afghanistan and a new Iraq. When the aggression failed, they could not bring multinational troops, but accepted a bolstered UNIFIL force, however, in the hope to render the bolstered UNIFIL into a multinational force.
In replying to a question about whether this behavior is still current, he added: "Yes, the project is still on. I remember how when security tensions persisted, how the ruling Party worked on bringing in the FBI, and nearly handed over the Lebanese internal security to the American security services, so much so that they submitted a draft to the Cabinet, which we opposed, stipulating the formation of an Information Office run by Lebanese and American security officers."
He said: "On the military side, the alternative to the Lebanese army were to have multinational forces under Chapter VII, and if there is anything to be concerned about it is in the way the ruling group attempts at gradually working on transforming the UNIFIL into functioning under Chapter VII, to transfer and expand the work and functions of these forces."
He confirmed that one of the reasons for their backing away from this venture was Syria's refusal to such deployment on its border.
He continued "then they brought them into the sea by deceiving the Lebanese and giving in to the `Israeli` side to ease the naval blockade.
"So they brought in the German forces, whereas they still say that there is one item in Taef Agreement remains unimplemented i.e. the disarming and disbanding of militias, an issue they come back to once again through the Security Council's presidential statement.
"We reiterated that it had been implemented and finished with, and what remain are resistance and not militia. But their ambition is to use these forces to disarm the resistance."
Concerning the UNIFIL: "I must reassure that participating States contacted us to obtain guarantees, for which we said we have no objections provided their mission is to achieve security and stability, and not to disarm Hizbullah."
"We are of course in contact with the Commander of UNIFIL and there is follow-up to the work of the UNIFIL forces that have provided us with adequate safeguards. Hence, the composition of the forces is not troubling, and currently we are not worried. Our only concern comes from some Lebanese sides attempting to drag these forces into the Lebanese mud."
He added: "this project is not only the ruling powers' but the demand and wish of the Americans and "Israelis" to have multinational forces to disarm the resistance and allow the ruling powers to resolve its disputes with its opposition."
"We have said to them that any forces of this kind will be considered occupation forces. Hence, there are countries in the world not prepared to send troops under this item. The concern is that this team may work, through exerting pressure and creating tension within the security arena where there are many question marks."
Nasrallah said "who told these great statesmen that political forces will use weapons during demonstrations, prompting them to say that they ‘would not respond to bullets with roses'. Then, you hear talk about a security plan to confront riot with firmness."
"This is a panic-stricken and terrified ruling team, because it is not based on real public backing. It has lost its credibility and it is behaviour has become tense. At that point, and with unfolding dangerous security developments, the Lebanese government will transform function of the UNIFIL forces to that of a multinational force under Chapter VII."
In replying to a question, he said: "the natural approach, in our view, to break the deadlock, is through the national unity government.
"Speaking of a national unity government, we are not talking about calling anyone to account, but we are speaking of difficult times ahead for us as Lebanese. Significant challenges lie ahead at all levels, in view of the tensions and troubling developments coming to the region."
"This requires that all political forces join in shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand to be able to protect, build, shield and strengthen the country."
"What we call for now is unity and reconciliation, not calling to account, punishment or revenge, regardless of who is right and who is not in diagnosing these issues. This is the positive spirit with which we are calling for a national unity government."
"The other team today is faced with two options:
1- To sacrifice Lebanon by subjoining it with regional tensions and developments, only to maintain a monopoly on power;
2- To take advantage of the golden opportunity and cooperate as Lebanese to save our country."
"In light of the difficult circumstances Lebanon faces to meet its dues both internally and externally... Which is the better option? To sit together all of us, shoulder to shoulder in a national unity government or as a group currently enjoying marginal parliamentary majority?"
"When you hear the term ‘majority' what comes to mind is a majority lead of 90% or 70% of seats or a figure near that? But the truth of the matter is that this government has a tiny parliamentary marginal majority, which does not at all represent a popular majority."
"If this majority rules in the name of the people, then let us go back to the people and ask: Do you want this meager parliamentary majority to continue to rule the country alone, manage the country's affairs alone or do you want a national unity government?"
"So far, opinion polls show that the majority of the Lebanese, from 60 to 70% are calling for a national unity government."
"A unity government means the participation of the various core political forces of Lebanon, and this does not only mean the Free Patriotic Movement (FTP), there exists other key political forces in the country, and are supposed to participate in a national unity government, and I do not want to go into names at the moment."
"All political forces must be represented, and there is nothing wrong with `February 14` group to be the majority in government, and for the PM to come from that group. We have neither objection nor an issue for PM Saniora to be the PM of the national unity government. We do not seek accountability; we are saying that there is a difficult situation ahead, so let us cooperate."
"This is with a basic requirement that the various political forces participating in the national unity government, have to feel that their participation is important, in what we call the ‘guarantor third' of the Cabinet.. Any amendment that puts two-thirds plus one lead in the hands of the majority culminates to accomplishing nothing... but only changed decoration."
"We are not in the habit of seeking authority. We participated in this government because Lebanon is going through exceptional circumstances, because the region is in exceptional circumstances, and because this government is subject to taking strategic decisions on the fate and the future of Lebanon."
"Today, we are talking about a government that wants to decide the fate and future of Lebanon, We do not accept to be mere ‘decoration', nor do we accept only a retouch on the ‘decoration.'
"I say a possibility exists in the consultation meeting, through which we can come to agree on a new formation in a national unity government and a new ministerial statement; the current government resigns paving the way to a government of national unity, followed by taking a confidence vote in the Parliament House, and then run the country."
"Another form is to amend and broaden the current government, without having to reformulate the ministerial statement, since the existing statement is good enough and can be relied upon. This way a parliamentary confidence vote will not be needed, and this form of change is possible. "
"I leave this matter to the consultative meeting held by House Speaker Nabih Berri.
What is important is to agree on the principle of forming a national unity government, with serious participation from various political forces, in a way that reassures everyone concerned. "
"We hope the consultative meeting takes place, we call for it, and we consider it a golden opportunity not to be missed and must not be missed."
"I also hope no one uses my absence (due to security warnings) as an excuse... In all cases, I only wish my situation is not used as an excuse, for on the personal level I do not mind attending, but neither Hizbullah leadership nor the public themselves accepts me to go, and neither should other parties present at the table" (in view of direct Israeli threats to assassinate Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah).
Sayyed Nasrallah said: "I understand Parliament Speaker Berri's decision on two discussion items. This is a consultative meeting that resulted from the political impasse reached by the country as a whole, other points previously discussed are points for the dialogue table."
"But now there is an emerging circumstance which is the demand of some political forces to have a national unity government, within which we can resume discussions of the presidency, the defence strategy and other issues."
"The others are raising such fears as the return to the tutelage era and this is very strange. Who is who wants to return Lebanon to the time of guardianship? Is it Amal Movement who is in the government? Or is it Hizbullah? These two do not work towards returning Lebanon to that era. It is the group in power who were in government during the tutelage period."
"Does the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) or other political forces want to take Lebanon back to hegemony time? That is an accusation."
"If there is any concern over bringing Syrian tutelage to Lebanon, it is with this governing group for whom it is easy swap positions and simply ‘transfer the gun from one shoulder to the other', so to speak."
"Should a settlement occur between America, Syria or Lebanon, we will witness a change in their political speech. The concern of taking Lebanon back under tutelage comes from them and not from other political forces who want to join the government.
"That is an unjust and false accusation, not based on historical reality, against political forces that were not part of the tutelage regime, but rather this ruling majority was."
Regarding the International Court, Nasrallah said: "it is the ‘bloody shirt' they use to intimidate and confront any political group of the opposition by accusing them of obstructing the International Tribunal."
"That topic is over and done with, because the Lebanese government headed by His Excellency President Lahoud made the decision. We opposed then for an administrative issue and because of the absence of written text on the matter. Hence, we boycotted the session and the government made a decision on the principal, and asked the United Nations to proceed with forming the court."
"In this government or in a national unity government the draft for the International court will be discussed according to the Constitution, which must be agreed on by both President of the Republic and the Prime Minister before referring it to the Cabinet, where the proposal will be discussed positively whether in this government or in a national unity government, in addition the FPM already announced it was with the principle of an International Tribunal."
"About the International Tribunal (IT) proposal, until now, no official text has been received by the Cabinet for discussion, and we are studying the proposal."
"I and the leadership of the party do not have a clear idea and are unable to assess or evaluate His Excellency's remarks. However, we are serious about discussing the IT proposal, and about bringing to account the killers of PM Hariri, a matter we have all voiced consensus in. Concurrently we do not accept political and intellectual terrorism being practiced on us - no one can confiscate the subject and we will discuss the details when we reach them."
"The truth is we want results, fairness and justice. We presume the text provides judicial and legal guarantees assuring of a fair trial and fair results, because there are concerns of accusing and convicting someone other than the real murderer."
"Today, there are four officers ‘left' in prison, based on a testimony given by a witness in France, while we all want Prime Minister Hariri's killers uncovered and prosecuted. We want a text that guarantees justice and will discuss this issue, in this government or in the national unity government".
Replying to a question, he said: "I think that the Saudi Arabian Kingdom plays a role in pacifying and bridging the gap between the two teams. If everyone concurs with the principle of a national unity government, then none of us will be under any pressure from anyone else during the next seven days, nor will Speaker Nabih Berri have cornered the people in this way."
"The other team up until now refuses the principle and accuses the opposition of a coup on the Taif accord alongside other accusations."
"Today we say to them, let us return to the people and run opinion polls. Let the other group nominate more than one independent and impartial body to conduct a survey of the public's choice.
"There is also a second form of public choice."
"Here we are not talking about early elections, but if consultations, dialogue and political efforts fail to yield a national unity government, we are forced to take to the street, and we will, and it will no longer be certain if the demand will continue to be a national unity government, we may call for early elections."
"They should be ashamed of themselves for talking of unrest and use of bullets, when it is our natural constitutional right to express our political stance through the street.
If anyone is waiting for bullets to be fired, so that they can take the country to sedition and the VII Chapter, then I reassure them we will not fire any bullets."
"At Ramel el-Aali, an intentional crime was committed, and the investigation has not yielded any conclusions, because it is being toyed with. However, if Hizbullah wanted an opportunity to make a coup, as they accuse us of doing, then the deliberate act of murder at Ramel el-Aali would have being a golden opportunity, where more than 750 bullets were fired on civilians. We do not behave this way."
"We stress for them not to wait for bullets to be fired by us or our allies, for we fire our bullets towards our `Israeli` enemy."
"I advise them not to make the mistake to respond to going into the street by another street."
"Our insistence on a national unity government is not for fear over Hizbullah. We are not afraid for Hizbullah. Israel, America and the entire world cannot detract from Hizbullah's glory. We are concerned for the country. If they want to challenge us, then let them run early elections, and we will take to silence for the next four year term, if they win a majority."
"The way the country is being run in politics, economics, reconstruction and reforms are not ‘okay'. Do we continue in this manner in the country?"
"If no positive points are reached by the end of the week, we will, therefore, begin the zero hour on the Monday following the Monday when the consultations meeting are to be launched."
"In the case of `February 14` forces boycotting or annulling the consultations, we will then consider ourselves free of our obligations to the consultations. Thereupon we will carry out quick consultations and define the mechanism for the time and place for our moves and the mechanism for the required popular action."
"Fear here is not of a constitutional vacuum, but from the group monopolizing power within the government pushing matters in a direction that is not in the country's interests.
The current division in Lebanon is political, and a sectarian sedition is non existent in Lebanon. Any talk of that is mere intimidation."
"Our mobilization will come from all religious communities, denominations and political forces which belong to many and various groups. Yes, there are those who are trying to push matters into chaos. There are many who are using a sectarian title to which we have made a decision of ‘no response'."
On the subject of the resistance, Nasrallah said: "this war has proven beyond any doubt that the resistance strategy is one hundred percent correct, as it presented Lebanon as a regional power capable of real steadfastness in the face of the most powerful army in the Middle East."
"This resistance survived 33 days in the face of the most powerful army in the Middle East. I emphasize that the reason that prompted the Americans and Israelis to stop the war is for fear of a collapse within the Israeli army, had the war continued in southern Lebanon. The war was stopped for Israel's sake and not for Lebanon's."
This does not mean we did not want the war to stop. On the contrary, each moment we wanted the war stopped, for the goal of our defense through resistance is to stop the aggression."
He added: "As I said on the September 22nd that the resistance recovered and regained its strength. When I, at the Victory rally, said that the resistance possessed 20 thousand missiles, they began objecting by saying that there is "slackness" at the borders, which is not true, because when the resistance had earlier announced it had more than 13 thousand missiles in possession, in fact it possessed more than 33 thousand missiles (. . . )
"We have basically been busy with preparations for the past six years, because we expected this Israeli enemy not to tolerate its year 2000 defeat or an honourable resistance at its border."
"Now, what we used to have, we still possess, and do not face any problem in that regard. Furthermore, I assure friends and enemies that the resistance in Lebanon is strong, cohesive, capable and ready. They could not and cannot harm it, God willing, whatever the challenges ahead."
On the prisoner exchange file he said: "I would like to assure all those interested in this issue that negotiations are running. There are serious negotiations swiftly taking place and the delegate tasked by the Secretary-General of the United Nations is carrying out this mission. He meets with a committee from Hizbullah, and at the other end the Israelis involved with this issue."
"Negotiations are on and have reached a stage of exchanging ideas, proposals or conditions so to speak."
"This is how much I can speak about it at the moment, because in principle this subject is to be kept away from the media."
"I just wanted to give reassurance and say that this issue is on track. Negotiations committees were formed and have now entered into discussing principles, conditions and details, which means we have progressed on this issue, but as far as how long to go, all depends on the nature of the negotiations. I like to add that the price of the two Israeli prisoners is high."