Thursday, July 17, 2008

Arabic Video of Sayyed Nasrallah's Speech Marking the Freeing of the Prisoners


كلمة السيد حسن نصر الله في استقبال الاسرى المحررين - ملعب الراية في الضاحية الجنوبية لبيروت 16/07/2008

Al-Manar

COMMENT: This was a speech of substance and not just style. I do not have time to list all the elements of substance which he addressed, but I will stress a couple that struck me.

He spoke about the unity and the continuity of the resistance movement in Palestine and Lebanon. He stressed that many of the prisoners (alive or dead) were taken at a time when Hizbullah did not even exist. He stated that Hizbullah built on and continued the same resistance path already in place and started by others (Fatah?). He stressed the unity of goals, vision and fate of the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance.

He made a point of stressing that Hizbullah insisted on the release of Palestinian and other Arab prisoners in spite of Israel's excuses that Hizbullah was not in a position to represent these prisoners. His condition was the release of those prisoners regardless of which political entity or state they were handed over to.

He, passionately and in a very firm manner, reminded the Arab and Muslim worlds that they have done nothing to free the more than 11,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. He reminded that some of the Arab countries are some of the richest in the world with very close relations with the US (obvious reference to KSA and the Gulf states); he questioned why they are not doing anything to free these Palestinian prisoners.

He then chided all those "moderate" Arab leaders who keep talking about "diplomacy" and negotiations as an alternative to resistance. He ridiculed them and asked (rhetorically), how many of those prisoners have they freed with their approach? He stated that he did not care which approach the Arab and Muslim countries took as long as the issue of the prisoners and their release becomes a priority towards which they seriously mobilize and start to work.

I liked the theme of united resistance that he spoke of, where the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine (Iraq too?) work together and learn from each other to accomplish complementary goals.

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