New Delhi
12 March 2007
The United States and Israel were totally responsible for turning
West Asia into a volatile region and Syria, Iran, the Hezbollah and Hamas had forged an
international front only to resist the challenge posed by those two countries, Ali Fayyad
of the Hezbollah said.
"We don't want war but what option do we have?" the Hezbollah leader on Monday
wondered aloud at the inaugural session of the three-day International Conference on
War, Imperialism and Resistance: West Asia, which is being hosted at the India
International Centre.
CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, Shahid Siddiqui of Samajwadi Party and others
listened on intently as Fayyad and the other delegates from West Asia, Fawwaz
Traboulsi and Prof Clovis Maksoud, articulated the position of Arab world and urged India
to exercise her diplomatic weight and to help remobilise the "constituency of
conscience".
Speaking in Arabic, Mr Ali Fayyad said that Hezbollah resistance movement had no other
aim but to liberate Lebanese territory, free prisoners and to face the Israeli challenge to
the sovereignty of Lebanon.
"The international front against the US hegemony is not based on ideology or religion, it
is a political alliance to face the challenge posed by the US and Israel," he said. "It is a
defensive (front), not offensive, ... for balanced deterrence," he explained.
The Hezbollah leader said that Palestine was not a religious cause, it was "an Arabic
cause with Islamic attachment". That, he said, explained why the international resistance
front comprising Syria, Iran, the Hezbollah and Hamas was political in nature, and not a
religous grouping. "Our support to the Palestinian struggle (should be seen in this light),"
he said.
A former League of Arab States ambassador to India, Prof Clovis Maksoud, in turn, said
that "resistance" could not be equated with "terrorism" because terrorism was devoid of
morality and legitimacy. "After 9/11 the US lost the art of diplomatic persuasion and
became addicted to policy of dictation," he observed. He maintained that the principles
of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) remained relevant today and could be reactivated or
repackaged to suit the world of today.
For his part, Fawwaz Traboulsi of Lebanon said that the people of Lebanon were still
waiting for ceasefire. "We still don't have a ceasefire, (we have) only cessation of
hostility," he said. He felt that the war last year was not fought as much between
Hezbollah and Israel as it was between the people of Lebanon and Israel. He also
mentioned that the invasion of Iraq had caused irreparable damage to society and
people, especially children.
Scholar Aijaz Ahmad said that the US violated every international law in Iraq and was
preparing to attack Iran because only Iran can potentially confront Israel.
Talking to reporters later on the sidelines of the conference, Mr Fayyad commended the
Indian Army, which is deployed as United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.
"The role of Indian army deployed as part of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon is
very positive and it has no problem with the people and Hezbollah," he said.
"We decided and we still deal positively with the international forces deployed in
southern Lebanon .... Hezbollah fully complied with the UN resolution 1701 despite
knowing that the resolution is biased and against the Lebanese people .... We are
looking for more co-operation and more political and diplomatic support from India to the
people of Palestine and Lebanon," he said.
Mr Fayyad dismissed the US allegation that Hezbollah was training the Iraqi Shi'ite
militias. "We don't have any relation with Iraqi parties and our role is in Lebanon only.
We refuse to make any influence in other countries," he said. He accused the US of
leading the world towards chaos and violence, and destabilising Lebanon and said there
was no civil war in his country. During the three-day conference, academics and political
activists including those from Hamas and Hezbollah and Arab leaders will express their
views and opinions over the region's crisis and its possible solution.
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