Award-Winning Palestinian Journalist Mohammed Omer Details Abuse by Israeli Security Officials

AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us what happened and when it happened? You were just coming back from London after receiving your award?

MOHAMMED OMER: Well, let me mention before I start that I’m also writing for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs in Washington, D.C.

When I was coming back from my award ceremony and also a speaking engagement, I was stopped for nearly one hour and a half before an Israeli Shin Bet officer came to me and started collecting my bags, which were securely checked already. I kept waiting for some time until they got my luggage and they started checking everything.


The Shabak officer just came to me and then said, “You are a crazy man.” And I just kept quiet and listened to what he’s going to say. And then he said, “Is there anyone who has been to the Netherlands, to France, to Sweden, to Greece and to the United Kingdom and come back to Gaza Strip? Gaza is a dirty place. Why do you come back to Gaza? Gaza is a dirty place, and the people there are dirty. Why do you come to live in such a place, where there is no electricity, there is no light, and there is darkness, and there is shortages of fuel, and there is lots of difficulties? Why don’t you live in France, instead?”
And I continued to explain to the Shabak officer that I choose to come, because I want to come back to Gaza and to be a voice for the voiceless. I want to be the person who gets the message out of the Gaza Strip and to help the world understand what’s going on. And then he answered me, “OK, Mohammed, then it’s your choice. You choose to suffer.” I said, “Not really. I don’t choose to suffer. I choose to tell the truth.”
Then he started to ask me how much money I have. I told him that I have Jordanian dinar, I have Israeli shekels, and I have euros, and I have also English pounds. He said, “Put all the money on the table here.” I put all the money on the table, and then he said to me, “How much English pounds do you have?” I said, “I have 480 pounds.” And then he said, “No, you have more.” And then I said, “No, I don’t.” Then he said, “You’re a liar.” I said, “I’m not a liar. All the money I have is here.” And then I understood what he’s asking about when he was stressing about the English pounds. Then I told him, “Well, if you are asking about the money that I won from the prize, the Martha Gellhorn Prize, then I don’t have them on me now, and they will be sent via bank.”
Avi took me inside a room, where he asked me—in an empty room, where he asked me, “Take off your clothes.” I told him, “I’m not going to take off my clothes, because I have the Dutch embassy waiting for me outside.” After some time, I had to take off my clothes. He said, “Take off your T-shirt.” I take it off. I took off my jeans. I took off my shoes and my socks. And then he’s coming to me—he’s getting closer to me, and then he says, “Take off your underwear.” I said, “I’m not going to take off my underwear. There is an embassy waiting outside for me.” He said, “I know that there is an embassy waiting for you. Take off your underwear.” I said, “I’m not going to take it off.” Then he was putting his hand on his revolver and kept looking at me. “Mohammed, take off your underwear,” he says. And then I said, “I’m not going to take it off, because this is a humiliation. You’re trying to humiliate me. It’s not security checking, because I went through the security system like anyone else, and you are treating me differently.” And then he said, “Take it off.” And then I said, “I’m not going to take it off.”
So he went down to my knees, where he pulled down my underwear to make me totally naked. I looked at him, and then I told him, “OK? So what are you trying to do here?” And he said, “Go right, go left.” I said, “I’m not going to move right or left. I’m totally naked.” And then he started humiliating me and laughing. And I continued explaining to him, “Why do you treat me that way? I’m a human being, and I don’t deserve this kind of treatment.” Then he said to me, “Well, still, you have seen nothing. You will see more.” He continued to interrogate me and to continue to search me, stripping and searching me while I was totally naked. And then he told me, “Go and get your clothes on.” I put my clothes on, and I went back to the hall where the travelers are coming.
And then I had all my clothes on, and I found the Shabak agents. They are checking everything. They have collected all the documents that I have in my suitcases. They’ve collected all the information—my cell phone, my memory cards, my business cards for parliament members I met in the Swedish parliament, in the Dutch parliament, in the Greek parliament, and also they have seen also the House of Commons parliament members that I met. And then he started on me, “Oh, you were even on the BBC World Service.” I said, “Of course, I was on the BBC World Service, talking about Gaza and the humanitarian situations there.” “You were at this parliament, at that parliament. You were speaking here, you were speaking there.” I said, “Of course,” because he can see all the people I met, he can see all the business cards that I have in there.
And then he said, “Then I have only one problem,” that I’m talking too much. I said, “Well, it’s my job to talk, and I want that, and it’s my choice. I want to get the message out.” Then he said to me, “If I knew that you would be coming back to Gaza, I wouldn’t have let you out in the first place. If I knew that’s your dream, I thought”—he said, “I thought that your dream is like the other Gazans, young men who get out of Gaza and never come back again.” I told him, “Well, that’s not my dream. I want to come back, because Gaza is my home, and I want to be a voice for the voiceless.”
He continued to check everything and every detail, just checking my clothes and every detail, just collecting all the notebooks and all the information and all the brainstorming information and everything that I got from the parliament. He was making even fun of the parliament members that I met, including House of Commons. “Do you think those people are going to help you?” he asked. And then I tell him, “Well, I’m trying to get the message out. I’m not seeking for their help. I’m trying just to inform them about what’s happening in Gaza.”
He starts interrogating, and then he said, “Why do you bring all this perfumes?” I said to him, “Excuse me. Could you do me a favor? Once you check everything in this suitcases, could you please return it as it is? I don’t mind you checking it. No problem. But return it as it is.” And then he said to me in Hebrew, “Sheket,” which means “shut up.” And then I said, “Well, as a journalist, I’m not used to shut up, but I will have to keep it quiet at some point.” And then he said, “Why do you bring these perfumes for?” I said, “These perfumes are for friends and people I love, and they are just gifts for people that I like.” And then he said to me, “Oh, is love part of your culture, as well?” I said, “Of course.”
And then he continued interrogating, and he saw a trophy from the Union of Greek Journalists. I have received a trophy as a courageous journalist for 2008 from Gaza. And then he said, “What’s this?” I explained that it’s a trophy from the Union of Greek Journalists. And then he said to me, “Mohammed, you know that Greece is not a friend of Israel? You know that Greece is a friend of the Palestinians? Only the Palestinians and not Israel?” I said, “Well, I don’t really care. And that’s none of my business. It’s a country. I have received an invitation from the parliament in Greece, and I went there to speak after—or before I went to collect my prize.”
I collapsed during the interrogation. I fainted and—on the ground. And I started vomiting everywhere. And then the soldiers, they started gathering around me. I estimate nearly one hour and a half vomiting on the ground. And one of the Shabak officers—I was unconscious for most of the time, but I can remember one of the things that they were doing to me. He was using his nail fingers and pinching me all the way, trying to cause me pain under my eyes and under the soft part of my eye. I thought what these people are doing is basically they are trying to torture me. And one of them who was trying to do that, the same thing, pinching me using his nail fingers under my ears, and then one other of them who tried to—who put his shoes on my neck. I could feel actually the outline of his shoes on my neck, moving right and left.
I started vomiting again and again, especially after one of the soldiers, he had both his two fingers inside the hole between my neck and my chest. There is a little hole, and he put it all the way inside and tried to grab my bones, to grab me from my bones different times. That was the most painful thing. And then, other one who was trying to put his hands on my chest and all his weight on my chest. He was—it was actually meant to break me and to break my ribs, because he put all his weight. And the man who continued, or the soldier who continued to do—to put his feet and his shoes on my neck, that can’t be first aid at all. When I told the doctors here in Gaza what happened to me, they said that can’t be a first aid, and it can’t be something like that, that’s torture.
They continued to do that until one of the soldiers, he dragged me out from my feet, and my head on the ground, on the floor, and my back on the floor. He dragged me all the way, taking me into a few meters away, where they started to make fun, and they were joking. I could hear they were joking while I was lying down. At that moment, I felt how it feels for a black African man to be under the apartheid system. That’s what I felt at that moment. I was unconscious, on and off, and suddenly I found that they are taking me in a wheelchair, and they have said that I had nervous breakdown.
They take me to an army doctor. I could see the M-16 gun with the army doctor who tried to treat me. He tried to put—to install the heart machine to do heart test on my body. And then he suddenly—and still, there is one on the table while I was lying down. He is pinching me, trying to torture me in the same way. And I think he is also the same one who was doing the job before. They continued to do it. And after that, I heard the soldiers shouting at each other in Hebrew. And I could hear the English word more than one time, “ambulance, ambulance, ambulance,” after they realized that I am not conscious for some time.
And then they transfer me into a Palestinian ambulance for the Red Crescent, where I was taken from there into other place. And then, before the ambulance started to move, the ambulance driver and other paramedic, who was a Palestinian guy from Jericho, they had someone knocking at the door of the ambulance, and that is Shabak officer. I think it’s Avi, the same soldier who asked me to strip and to take off all my clothes. And then they say, “Mohammed, you have to sign on this.” I wasn’t really totally conscious to know what he wants me to sign on, but he wants me to sign on a paper showing that Shabak or Shin Bet Israel security is not responsible in what’s happening to me when I leave. I did not sign it, because I wasn’t conscious. And also, the other guys, the ambulance driver, they say, “Mohammed is unconscious, and he cannot at all do anything or sign any paper.”
It continued like that until the ambulance driver told them, “Should I tell the Dutch embassy? They are waiting outside. Should I tell them to follow us and to come to the hospital, tell them that Mohammed is inside the ambulance?” And he told him, “Listen, it’s none of your business. Don’t tell the Dutch that Mohammed is in this car. Just take him to the hospital, and that’s it. Don’t tell anybody about what happened.”
When I was transferred to the hospital, I found myself suddenly in a hospital surrounded by doctors, and that is—I asked him where I am. They say, “You are at Jericho hospital,” where I was—I called—the hospital called the embassy, and the embassy came from there to take me. And I was transferred from Jericho to Gaza, where I was transferred to the Gaza European hospital, where I spent many days, having nearly sixty days—six days it’s been since I was in the hospital.
AMY GOODMAN: Mohammed Omer, we just have two minutes, and I wanted to ask—John Pilger, who gave you the award, a well-known Australian journalist who lives in Britain, a filmmaker, wrote a piece about your treatment and said, “The former ambassador Jan Wijenberg said: ‘This is by no means an isolated incident, but part of a long-term strategy to demolish Palestinian social, economic and cultural life … I am aware of the possibility that Mohammed Omer might be murdered by Israeli snipers or bomb attack in the near future.’" Again, that was the former Dutch ambassador who said this. Your final comments?
MOHAMMED OMER: Well, I think this is possible. Once Israel has killed our colleague, the Reuters cameraman, they can kill me. I thought that the fact that I’m being given this international prize was going to bring me protection, but who cares? Israel doesn’t care. Israel is trying to provoke the public opinion. They’re trying to provoke everybody and trying to torture people and to kill them. I mean, will Israel care to kill a journalist? Of course not. They have killed a family on the beach of Huda Ghaliya; eight family members were killed. They have killed five children who were collecting strawberries two years ago. And they continue to kill on a daily basis people from day to day. Will they care to kill Mohammed Omer? Of course not.

Award Willing Palestinian Journalist, Mohammed Omer, Detained, Strip-Searched, and Beaten by Israeli Occupation Security Forces, on his return to Gaza

By Mohammed Omer
and Nora Barrows-Friedman
and Dennis Bernstein

John Pilger with Dahr Jamail and Mohammed Omer

"......Flashpoints: Mohammed, if you could tell us where you are and what happened to you on Thursday.

Mohammed Omer: I am in hospital in Gaza. I have difficulty breathing. And I have also difficulty swallowing in addition to some damage on my larynx. As I started to approach the terminal of Allenby bridge, the Israeli soldiers stopped me and they say that I have no permission. When I give my passport to the passport control, they say that I have no permit to go into Gaza, back to my own home. They ask me to sit for one hour and a half. After that, they rechecked my bags, my suitcases, and everything, making fun of me, making fun of everything I got, making fun of my life, and saying that I am a crazy man to come to Gaza. I have been to France, Sweden, Greece, England, and to Holland, and I decided to come back to the hell of Gaza. They told me, "The Shevak is unfit to me. There is no electricity there. How come you go there? There is no life, there is no security, there is no food, there is no cooking gas, there is no cooking oil, there is nothing. You'd better go out back." And I told them that I want to be the voice for the voiceless, and I want to get the message out from the Gaza Strip to the world. Then he said to me, "Okay. Then you should suffer." I said, "No, I should tell the truth.".......

The soldier is asking me, "Mohammed, why do you bring the perfumes? " I said that I got these perfumes as a gift for the people that I love. He said to me, "Do you have love in your culture?" I said, "Of course." He saw a trophy from other journalists in Greece. He asks me, Where is this trophy from?" I said, "Greece." He said, "Mohammed, you know that Greece is not a friend of Israel? It's a friend of the Palestinians." I said, "I don't care. It is none of my business."........

And there I am, laid up at the [around 22:52 European?] hospital. I can hardly breathe, I can hardly, I cannot swallow at all. I have a fracture in my chest and I can't wait for the days to retire as a war correspondent.

Flashpoints: Mohammed, you're 24 years old. You have your entire life ahead of you. You've just won the Martha Gellhorn Prize for journalism. You were awarded it along with our good friend and special correspondent, Dahr Jamail. In any other country in the world, you would be treated as someone of the utmost importance and with pride and honor. But because you are a Palestinian journalist from Gaza, trying to get home after winning this award, after speaking to many European parliaments, you are now suffering and you're in the hospital. Is there anything that you would want to say, maybe to the Committee to Protect Journalists or to the Israeli government right now?........"

The Journal Of An Arab Executioner

Nizar Qabbani (1923-1998)

Contributed by Abed

"1

O people
I have become a sultan over you
Break your idols after straying, and worship me…
I don’t always reveal myself…
So sit down on the patience pavement to see me
Leave your children with no bread
And leave your women with no husband…and follow me
Give thanks to God for His grace
He has sent me to write History
And History is not written without me
I am Joseph in beauty
The Creator did not create golden hair like mine
Or a forehead as prophetic as mine
My eyes are a forest of olive and almond trees
Always pray for God to safeguard my eyes
O people
I am Majnun Layla
Send your wives to be impregnated by me
And send your husbands to thank me
It is an honor that you eat my body’s wheat
It is an honor that you pick my almond and figs
It is an honor that you resemble me
For I am an event that hasn’t happened
For thousands of centuries…

2

O people
I am the first, the fairest
And the finest among the rulers
I am the full moon and the whiteness of jasmine
I am the inventor of the first gallows, and the best divine messenger
Whenever I think of retiring from power, my conscience holds me back
Who, I wonder, will govern after me this good people?
Who, after me, will heal the lame, the leper, and the blind…
And who will revive the bones of the dead?
Who, I wonder, will take out the moon from his coat?
Who, I wonder, will send the rain to people?
Who, I wonder, will flog them ninety lashes?
Who, I wonder, will crucify them above the trees?
Who, I wonder, will force them to live like cows?
And die like cows?
Whenever I thought of leaving them
My tears overflowed like a cloud
And in God I trusted…
And decided to mount the people…
From now…until the day of resurrection…

3

O people
I own you
Like I own my horses…and my slaves
And I walk over you as I walk on my palace’s rugs
So prostrate yourselves before me as I stand
And prostrate yourselves before me as I sit
Didn’t I find you one day
Among the papers of my ancestors?
Be careful not to read any book
I will read for you…
Be careful not to write any speech
I will write for you…
Be careful not to listen to Fairuz in secret
For I know all your intentions
Be careful not to enter the tomb without my permission
This is for us a great sin
And adhere to silence when I speak to you
My words are a Holy Quran

4

O people
I am your Mahdi; await me
My blood is pulsing in the heart of the vines; drink me
Stop all the songs that children are singing
In the love of the homeland
For I have become the homeland
I am the one, the eternal of all beings
I am instilled in the memory of the apples, of the flute
And blue songs
Raise my portraits over the squares
Cover me with the haze of words
And betroth to me the youngest wife…
For I do not age…
My body does not age…
My prisons do not age
And the repressive apparatus in my kingdom does not age…
O people
I am al-Hajjaj, if unmasked you will recognize me
I am Genghis Khan and I have come to you…
With my spears…my dogs…and my prisons
Do not be fed up, O people, with my tyranny
I kill so that you don’t kill me
I hang so that you don’t hang me
And I bury you in that mass grave
So that you don’t bury me…

5

O people
Buy me newspapers that write about me
They are displayed like prostitutes in the streets
Buy me green paper as shiny as spring grass
And ink…and presses
Everything is bought in our era…even the fingers
Buy the fruit of thinking…and keep it in front of me
Cook me a poet
And make him one of my dishes…
I am illiterate, and I have a complex with what the poets say
Buy me then poets who praise my goodness
And make me the star on all covers
Stars of theater and dance are not at all more beautiful than I
Because, with hard currency, I can buy anything
I can buy the poems of of Bashshar Ibn Burd
Al-Mutanabbi’s lips and Labid’s hymns
For the millions in the treasury of Muslims
Are old inheritances of my father’s
Take some of my gold
And write in handbooks
That my reign is Harun al-Rashid’s

6

O people of my country
O masses of the Arab peoples
I am a pure spirit who has come to wash away the dust of barbarism
Record my voice on audio tapes
My voice, like an Andalusian fountain, has a beautiful cadence
Draw me smiling like the Jocund
And gentle like the Magdalene’s face
Draw me
Devouring poetry with my teeth
And sucking the blood of the alphabet…
Draw me
With my dignity and glory
And my military staff
Draw me…
As I am hunting a wild goat or a deer
Draw me…
As I hold you on my shoulders to the eternal abode
O masses of Arab peoples…

7

O people
I am responsible for your dreams, when dreaming
I am responsible for every loaf of bread you eat
And for the poetry that, behind my back, you read
Because the security apparatus in my palace delivers to me
The birds’ news…and the spikes’ news
And delivers to me what happens in the bellies of pregnant women
O people, I am your prison guard
And your prisoner…You shall forgive me
I am the exiled within my own palace
I don’t see a sun, or a star, or an Oleander
Ever since I came to power as a child
The circus men gather around me
One blowing a flute…
One beating a drum
One wiping broadcloth…One wiping shoes
Ever since I came to power as a child
The palace advisor never said “No”
My ministers never said “No”
My ambassadors never said “No” to my face
None of my women said “No” in bed
They have taught me to see myself a god
And to see the people from the balcony as sand…
Forgive me if I turned into a new Hulagu
I never killed for the sake of killing
But I kill you…to have fun…"

Iranian Leader Opens Up

When correspondent Mike Wallace interviewed him in Tehran last week, it became apparent that he sees the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah — a militia Iran has long supported — as part of a larger battle between the U.S. and a militant Islam for control of the Middle East.

08/13/06 "CBS" -- -- "Very clearly, I will tell you that I fully oppose the behavior of the British and the Americans," Ahmadinejad tells Wallace. "They are providing state-of-the-art military hardware to the Zionists. And they are throwing their full support behind Israel. We believe that this threatens the future of all peoples, including the American and European peoples. So we are asking why the American government is blindly supporting this murderous regime."

Wallace tried to ask him about Hezbollah's use of missiles, rockets furnished by Iran, but he wanted to talk about Israel's attacks with American bombs.

"The laser-guided bombs that have been given to the Zionists and they're targeting the shelter of defenseless children and women," the president said.

"Who supports Hezbollah?" Wallace asked. "Who has given Hezbollah hundreds of millions of dollars for years? Who has given Hezbollah Iranian-made missiles and rockets that is making — that are making all kinds …" he continued as he was interrupted.

"Are you the representative of the Zionist regime? Or a journalist?" Ahmadinejad asked Wallace.

"I'm a journalist. I am a journalist," Wallace replied.

"This is not journalism, sir. Hezbollah is a popular organization in Lebanon, and they are defending their land," the president said. "They are defending their own houses. And, according to the charter of the United Nations, every person has the right to defend his house.

"What I'm saying is that the killing of innocents is reprehensible. And making this — the displacement of people and making them refugees, again, is reprehensible,"

"Well, what has Hezbollah, though — wait a minute," Wallace asked. "Hezbollah is displacing and damaging and making bleed all kinds of people. You know that."

"Please tell me, are the Lebanese inside the occupied lands right now or is it the other way around, that the Zionist troops are in Lebanese territory?" Ahmadinejad replied. "Lebanon is defending its independence. We are not at all happy with war. That is why on the first day we condemned these recent — conflict. And we asked for an immediate cease fire."

Ahmadinejad told Wallace the United Nations Security Council has not passed an effective ceasefire resolution because the Security Council is in America's pocket.

"Tell, the reason is, that the United Nations Security Council is there to safeguard the interests of the British and the Americans. They are not there to provide security. It's very clear," the president said.

"The UNSC, the United Nations Security Council, is there to protect the interests of the United States and the British. That's what you say?" Wallace asked.

"It has been created to help with peace and justice. But we see that it is not responding to atrocities. If we search for the root causes we see the hand of the British and the Americans," Ahmadinejad said. "People, innocent people are being killed. … And houses are being destroyed. Where is the UNSC? Also, the draft resolution which has been circulated only serves the interests of one party. And it is not just."

And, he told Wallace the Security Council is also doing America's bidding by trying to prevent Iran from developing nuclear energy. The Security Council is demanding that Iran stop all uranium enrichment by the end of this month, which Iran is refusing to do.

"But if Mr. Bush thinks that he can stop our progress, I have to say that he will be unable to do that," Ahmadinejad said.

Asked to elaborate, the president said: "We want to have access to nuclear technology. We want to produce fuel. Do you not think that the most important issue of the world of tomorrow that is will be energy?

"We think that Mr. Bush's team and the parties that support him want to monopolize energy resources in the world. Because once they have that they can impose their opinions, points of view, policies on other nations and, of course, line their own pockets."

"President Bush said — vowed — he will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. You believe it?" Wallace asked.

"Basically we are not looking for — working for the bomb," the president said. "The problem that President Bush has is in his mind he wants to solve everything with bombs. The time of the bomb is in the past. It's behind us. Today is the era of thoughts, dialogue and cultural exchanges."

But "dialogue and cultural exchanges" don't sound like his policy toward Israel.

"Israel, you have said time and again, Israel must be wiped off the map. Please explain why. And what is Iran doing about that?" Wallace asked.

"Well, allow me to finish with the nuclear dossier first," Ahmadinejad said.

"No, you finished with that. You finished with that. Please," Wallace continued.

"No, it's not finished, sir. It's not finished. We are just beginning," Ahmadinejad said.

"OK, oh!" Wallace replied with a chuckle. "That's what I was afraid of. But go."

"Well, the Americans are overly sensitive. And, of course, the American government. I don't know why they're opposed to Iranian progress," the president said.

Asked if he really believed that the United States is against Iranian progress and development, Ahmadinejad said, "That is true. That is what I am saying."

"You know that's not so," Wallace replied.

President Ahmadinejad then offered an explanation for his theory.

"Before the revolution, the German, French, American government and the Canadian government had signed contracts with us to produce nuclear fuel inside Iran. But immediately after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, their opposition started," he said. "Right now, they are opposed to our nuclear technology. Now why is that?"

The United States is convinced that nuclear energy is just a smokescreen and that what Iran really wants is the bomb. Then Wallace tried to get the president back to his most inflammatory statement regarding Israel.

"You are very good at filibustering," Wallace remarked. "You still have not answered the question. You still have not answered the question. Israel must be wiped off the map. Why?"

"Well, don't be hasty sir," the president said. "I'm going to get to that. I think that the Israeli government is a fabricated government."

"Fabricated" following the Holocaust, which he's said may also have been fabricated.

Last December, Ahmadinejad said the Europeans had created a myth of the Holocaust.

"What I did say was, if this is a reality, if this is real, where did it take place?" Ahmadinejad replied.

"In Germany," Wallace said.

"Who — who caused this in Europe?" Ahmadinejad asked.

"In Europe. If I may … so …what you're suggesting — one moment — what you're suggesting then, that Israel should be over in Germany because that's where the holocaust took place?" Wallace asked.

"I'm not saying that, mind you," the president replied.

But he has said Israel could be moved to Europe, or even to the United States but it shouldn't be in Palestine.

"Well, if an atrocity was committed in Germany or Europe for that matter, why should the Palestinians answer for this?" the president asked. "They had no role to play in this. Why on the pretext of the Holocaust they have occupied Palestine? Millions of people have been made refugees. Thousands of people to-date have been killed, sir. Thousands of people have been put in prison. Well, at the very moment, a great war is raging because of that."

"Look if you could — if you could keep your answers concise. Concise. I beg you. We'll get more questions in," Wallace requested.

"Well, one of your questions required — all of your questions require a book-long answer. If you want me to just finish the interview, please tell me and we can wrap up right now," the president said.

"No, no, no, no, no," Wallace said.

"Do you, perhaps want me to say what you want me to say?" Ahmadinejad said to Wallace.

"No, no," Wallace insisted.

"If that is the case, then I ask you to please be patient," the president replied. "Maybe these days you don't have a lot of patience to spare. Maybe these are words that you don't like to hear, Mr. Wallace."

"Why? What? What words do I not like to hear?" Wallace asked.

"Because I think that you're getting angry," Ahmadinejad said.

"I couldn't be happier for the privilege of sitting down with the president of Iran," Wallace said.

And with that established, Wallace moved on to the topic of Iraq.

"I am told that your revolutionary guards, Mr. President, are taking bombs, those — those roadside bombs — the IED's into Iraq. And what they are doing is furnishing the insurgents in Iraq with the kind of material that can kill U.S. soldiers. Why would you want to do that?" Wallace asked.

"Well, we are very saddened that the people of Iraq are being killed," Ahmadinejad replied. "I believe that the rulers of the U.S. have to change their mentality. I ask you, sir, what is the American army doing inside Iraq? Iraq has a government, a parliament. Iraq is — has a civilized nation with a long history of civilization. These are people we're dealing with."

Asked if he thinks Saddam Hussein was a civilized, reasonable, leader and whether the United States was wrong about going into Iraq, Ahmadinejad said: "Well, Saddam's story has been finished for close to three years, I would say. He belongs in the past. … And the Americans are openly saying that 'We are here for the long run,' in Iraq that is. So, a question for you, according to international law, the responsibility of providing security rests on the shoulder of the occupying, rather army. So, I ask them why are not — why are they not providing security?"

Instead of security, he says the United States is oppressing Iraq, and instead of calling the United States, "the great Satan," as the Ayatollah Khomeini did, Ahmadinejad calls the United States "the great oppressor."

"We are opposed to oppression," the president told Wallace. "We support whoever is victimized and oppressed even the oppressed people of the U.S."

A senior European diplomat in Tehran told Wallace that Iran's president feels the United States should be confronted in Iraq — and around the world — because he truly believes that the U.S. government is against Islam, and the developing world, that America keeps pushing Iran and other countries around, and he is determined to push back.

The Bush administration paints Iran's president as America's mortal enemy — as a man who wants nuclear weapons and supports Islamic terrorists. For his part, President Ahmadinejad views the United States as his major adversary.

He's the son of a blacksmith; was a commando during the Iran-Iraq war; has a Ph.D. in civil engineering, and became president a year ago by running as a populist man of the people. He is savvy, self-assured and self-righteous, but he rarely gives interviews to American journalists. His last U.S. newspaper interview was six months ago in USA Today.

But he sat down with 60 Minutes because he wanted to speak directly to the American people — and to President Bush.

Asked what he thinks of Mr. Bush, Ahmadinejad replied, "What do you think I should think about the gentlemen? How should I think about him?"

"Come on. Come on. You're perfectly capable of handling that question if you have the courage to answer it," Wallace pushed.

"Well, thank you very much. So, you're teaching me how to be bold and courageous," Ahmadinejad said, laughing. "That's interesting."

"Answer the question," Wallace said.

"I think that Mr. Bush can be in the service of his own people," Ahmadinejad said. "He can save the American economy using appropriate methodologies without killing people, innocents, without occupation, without threats. I am very saddened to hear that 1 percent of the total population is in prison. And 45 million people don't have a health care cover. That is very sad to hear."

And he was sad also not to hear any answer from President Bush to an 18-page letter he sent three months ago, urging him to be less bellicose in his view of the world. The White House dismissed the letter as a publicity stunt.

Asked what he expected to hear back from President Bush, Ahmadinejad said: "I was expecting Mr. Bush to give up or, I should say, to change his behavior. I was hoping to open a new window for the gentlemen. One can certainly look on the world from other perspectives. You can love the people. You can love all people. You can talk with the people of the Middle East using another language, other words. Instead of blind support for an imposed regime, they can establish a more appropriate relationship with the people of the region."

"You can love the people. That's very easy to say," Wallace remarked. "You despise certain people. You despise the Zionists."

"Well, I don't despise people or individuals, I should say," Ahmadinejad said.

Pushed further on Zionists, the president said, "What I am saying is that I despise heinous action."

And as for his letter to Mr. Bush.

"In the letter you praise Jesus and ask President Bush how he could be a follower of Christ and claim to support human rights but at the same time attack and occupy other countries, kill thousands of people, spend billions of dollars on wars. And you urged him, the president, out of respect for the teachings of Christ to be a force for peace instead of war. How is that so?" Wallace asked.

"That is true, which was a part of my letter," Ahmadinejad acknowledged.

And then he had a new message for President Bush: "Please give him this message, sir. Those who refuse to accept an invitation to good will not have a good ending or fate."

Asked what that means, Ahmadinejad said: "Well, you see that his approval rating is dropping everyday. Hatred vis-à-vis the president is increasing everyday around the world. For a ruler, this is the worst message that he could receive. Rulers and heads of government at the end of their office must leave the office holding their heads high."

After Ahmadinejad answered the question, an assistant handed the president a note. Asked what he was telling him, Ahmadinejad said he had been told to rearrange his jacket.

"Why are they worried about your jacket? I think you look just fine," Wallace said, laughing.

"That is right. They have told me the same thing. They tell me that it's a very nice looking coat," Ahmadinejad replied.

Asked if he is a vain man, Ahmadinejad said, "Sometimes appearances — yes, you have to look your back… that is why I comb my hair."

"What do you do for leisure?" Wallace asked.

"I study. I read books. I exercise. And, of course, I spend some time — quality time — with my family," said Ahmadinejad, who is a father of three.

"How long has it been since the leaders of Iran and the leaders of the U.S. have had any conversations?" Wallace asked.

"Twenty-six, 27 years," the president replied.

Asked if he has a desire to resume relations with the United States, Ahmadinejad said, "Who cut the relations, I ask you."

"That's not the point. The question is would you, the president of Iran, like to resume relations which have been gone for 26, 27 years with the United States," Wallace pressed.

"Well, we are interested to have relations with all governments … and all nations. This is a principle of my foreign policy," Ahmadinejad said.

"I know that," Wallace said.

"Allow me to finish myself," Ahmadinejad said.

"Why don't you just answer, say yes or no?" Wallace asked. "Do you want to have relations now, after 26, 27 years, with the United States? What harm could come from that?"

"We are not talking about harm. The conditions, conducive conditions, have to be there," Ahmadinejad said.

Asked what those "conducive conditions" are, the president said, "Well, please look at the makeup of the American administration, the behavior of the American administration. See how they talk down to my nation. They want to build an empire. And they don't want to live side by side in peace with other nations."

"Who does not? Washington does not?" Wallace asked.

"The American government, sir. It is very clear to me they have to change their behavior and everything will be resolved," Ahmadinejad answered.

"I am told that your aides want us to wind up our interview. But you kindly promised to answer my questions," Wallace said. "And I still have just a few left."

"Well, you might have five more hours of questions now," Ahmadinejad said. "Well, I have other appointments to get to. It's time for the night prayer, sir."

"Last one," Wallace said. "You have a special unit of martyr seekers in your revolutionary guard. They claim they have 52,000 trained suicide bombers ready to attack American and British targets if America should attack Iran."

"So, are you expecting the Americans to threaten us and we sit idly by and watch them with our hands … tied?" Ahmadinejad said.

Asked if the Americans have threatened him, Ahmadinejad said: "I do hope that the Americans will give up this practice of threatening other nations so that you are not forced me to ask such questions. I wish you well."

Produced By Robert G. Anderson ©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Marcel Khalife: The liberation of poetry and resistance

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The veteran musician and all-round superstar spoke exclusively about music and the courage of universal love to Zak Brophy for The New Arab.

Tags:

Marcel Khalifeh, music,Palestine,

Editor's note: Marcel Khalife is a musician - a composer, singer and oud player - originally from Lebanon. His lengthy career has seen him teach at the prestigious Beirut Conservatory of Music, reaching worldwide popularity and fame with music characterised by the political poetry of dispossession and exile made famous by Mahmoud Darwish. He spoke exclusively to The New Arab.


You rose to fame as a protest musician in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, pushing for radical change, championing social justice and Arab unity.

Today, in the wake of the revolutionary winds blowing across the Arab world, we see revived authoritarianism, sectarianism, war and division. Is there hope amid the chaos?
I see hope in creativity, in beauty. Without creativity, life will always be full of difficulties. Daily life is subject to ideology, but creativity is more free - music and songs do not submit to any ideology. 
The importance of creative and artistic work is the content that evolves a certain vision. As such, creativity is that artistic work which stands alone and has its freedom to communicate. 
If this message reaches the enemy then that is almost more of a success that communicating the message to a friend. Music can serve a cause but it cannot use the cause.
You have sung some of the most famous odes to Lebanon and Beirut. With the country in such disarray and the whole political system so corrupted, how do you feel when you sing about your homeland these days?
It is a truly lamentable situation that we have arrived at, and the reality we are passing though. But still we hold onto the dream and vision that we will move on from this place to what we yearned for in my music. 

My music and my songs liberate me from this hopelessness. The source of these wars and this dark void is not just in our region, it is global. What is being weaved in small rooms for these people and these countries? 
Of course our region carries its own responsibility, but globally, what are we planning for this region? What is the vision?

	Listen now: Marcel Khalife plays 'Rita'

Do you see the roots of real and sustainable change among the #YouStink protesters who have rallied against the political elites this past year?
The people are agitating. They want to stand up and say "no" to all this despair that we are living in. They are calling out to say "no more". When you revolt against corruption and misery and against everything you are living through this has to be something positive. 
I look at it all with the view that it is pushing our means of struggle, our means of building a new and better society.
During the #YouStink demonstrations there were occasions when protesters demanded the sound systems stopped playing your music. They wanted new music that reflected their voice.

Are you relevant to this generation of revolutionaries or do you represent a generation that failed and is part of the problem?  
Everything in life changes and moves on. There are always new phenomena and new personalities who are taking the music forward - and there is so much thriving in Lebanon and the region right now.

As for the music I was making some 40 years ago, it remains prevalent because it does not belong to any one era or one place, but songs such as Rita, Oumi and Jiwaaz As Sifar transcend the time they were from. It is music that enters into the depths of our humanity and it gave what it had to give. 
I know people who come to the concerts and the songs are older than they are, but they embrace the music and love it. Families - from grandparents to the young children - share in this music.
For many people looking at the Arab world through the narrow lens of the media and news, the narrative is dominated by violence, conflict and migration. What is your role as a musician and artist in countering that?

Music plays an important role that you cannot easily describe.  
It is deeper than something you can see or touch. People take from my music what they need, it can be spiritual, emotional - or something intrinsic to the individual. Music is a universal language and you can connect with and learn from people from any part of the world regardless of their language. 
I believe my new album Andalus al Hub is significant because it is pointing the listeners towards the most important cause, which is love. Not just romantic love but that universal love. The courage of this love - we can export it, make it resonate, realise it.

Palestine has often been a central theme of your musical work. With the region riddled with so much internal conflict has the Palestinian cause dropped off the radar?
Without any doubt. With these wars engulfing the Arab lands, the Palestinian cause has been left behind. 
There were many platitudes offered to Palestine - but in many ways there has proven to be a lack of depth or substance to the Arab-Palestine relationship. In my reading of events, these wars are being waged to distract us from the issue of Palestine. 
The Palestinian cause remains the rightful cause and the primary cause. There needs to be a real uprising against the ongoing sufferings of the Palestinian people. We cannot solve our other problems if we cannot solve this issue.
Some people say your continued success rests on nostalgia for ideas of 'The Nation' or 'The Resistance'…  Is that fair? 
No, Not at all. I am much broader than that. There are works that don't have a direct political expression or nationalist idea. There are works that have value in their musical content, in their poetic content wider than specific labels.

	Listen now: Marcel Khalife plays 'Jiwaaz As Sifar' [with subtitles]

You came to fame as a cultural figurehead for the resistance, or, 'al Muqaawemeh', a popular Arabic resistance against imperialism, Zionism and capitalism.

That whole term, 'resistance' has become intrinsically associated with Hizballah and as such is ensnared in the Syrian conflict. Do you still identify as being part of 'al Muqaawemeh'?
All work that aims to move us forward is a work of resistance; whether it be musical, social, intellectual or poetic. Resistance is not just bound to the liberation of land. 
Everyday, I am striving for self-liberation, internal liberation, so I can then help liberate other things. I can not liberate anything else if I am not liberated. 
If I am in any resistance it is to carry this message, that to liberate the land you have to liberate the self first.
How do you lend your weight to the Palestinian cause these days? Are there any movements - such as the BDS campaign - that you support?
I am not in the media or a political person, I am an artist. 
I have another language, music and the Qaseda. If you put this work as an addition into the evolution of man then I never abandoned any cause in which I participated - and that includes the Palestinian cause.
What is the central message of your new album Andulus al Hob? 
I wanted to dedicate this work to the memory of 75 years since the birth of Mahmoud Darwish. When Mahmoud and I were together in Paris, he said he wanted to show me something and he recited the poemAndalus al Hob. 
And then gave me a piece of paper, on which he had written: 'Marcel Khalife, you are my musical twin.' 
I wanted to repay Mahmoud Darwish with my love this year. This poem speaks about love. This is important because in this era through which we are living, the deafening monstrosity, the only way to face it is through this work - coming in a different language from a place far away from this world laden with screaming, violence and pain. This is Andalus al Hob.  

The Uncensored Anger Manifesto - Part V.

The Uncensored Anger Manifesto part V or you may call it the "Hot Bed".
The rules have not changed : If you don't like it...move on.
As for others, who tolerate my "bad" language, you will undoubtedly agree with me that Part V is long overdue.

By Layla Anwar

".....For me, the whole of Iraq is a hot bed...a burning bed, an inflamed spot...that will devastate you, once and for all. You motherfuckers.

They blew the Sarafiya bridge up and now they are constructing a wall to separate the "sooneees from the shiites". They can't even pronounce the damn word. They would not know what a sunni or a shia is...just as they can't tell their ass from a hole in the ground.

But,I have news for you. There is nothing to tell, you fucking idiots.
We have intermarried and lived together as ONE for hundreds of years...until the self flagellating hypocrites from Qum took over backed by your shits called the brave boys.

And your brave boys...Don't make me laugh please. Most of them have not been in an airplane in their lives...Hence they join their army. Free travel. I kind of miss Juba, the sniper of Baghdad...really.

So what happens if someone is married to a sunni or a shia, will they fuck across a wall...? Like mind fuck across the sectarian wall that you have erected ? Or should they get an authorization from the Al Sadr rapists, or from Maliki the dual ass licker or maybe from your smelly ugly "brave boys"?

Since you cannot erect anything else, you erect walls...A sign of your impotence maybe? Which reminds me of your anglo-saxon brothers, the Brits. They "sexed up" the lies about WMD's. The word "sexed up" was used on a daily basis in your media prior to the "liberation". Must have been a real turn on, bombing an innocent country.
What can one expect from rapists but this kind of thrill?

So what's the story of hotbeds and erected walls? Something missing in your bedrooms maybe...a misplaced sexual frustration transposed across the ocean? The judeo-christian mind set must have had you right below the belly...

And now we have the enlightened "experts" on Iraq, telling us that soooneees were favored in the past...to the detriment of others. Bang your heads against the wall like your jewish brethren...and keep talking to that wall.

A wall in Palestine and a wall in Baghdad...And you fuckers are so stupid, you can't even see the similarities...and those of you who do see...Oh well, Ahmadimidget has promised you some inflatable dolls, more inflatable dolls to tintillate your fantasies...But do me a favor, don't use the real sufferings of the Iraqis to balloon your plastic dolls will you?......

I wake up every day and wonder, who is dead who is alive today...I wonder will I be alive or dead today...and how much more can I take without imploding, exploding.
But you want me to explode and you want me to implode. This is your aim.

And I tell you, I am here to stay to remind you of your impotence and your failure. Not only have you failed like your jewish zionist neurotic complexed frigid friends who erect walls in the name of Zion covering up for their fake divine orgasms, you are also defeated you motherfuckers...DEFEATED. You may want to erect a hundred walls...you are already history. And tell your friends from EYE RAN, that they are defeated too......

My oh my, dual occupations. Nay, triple occupations. Nay, quadruple occupations. And they are mighty hard. But true Iraqis are hard too...as hard as your walls. You know hard? That thing you cannot get, so you build cement instead...

And I still can't get over the fact, you are incapable of pronouncing the damn words correctly...Mediocrity is your motto. You absolutely adore mediocrity. You love it, thrive on it and revel in it. Mediocrity is safe. Very safe. And you America are a mediocre people. I don't give a fuck about your technological progress, nor about your discoveries, or your so called scientific advancements. In my eyes, you have always been and remain mediocre...You lost the essential and this is what matters most but it seems not to matter to you......"

Netanyahu calls Saban and Adelson

Big money to the rescue…

By Marwan Bishara

As dozens of Democrats threaten to boycott Benjamin Netanyahu's speech amid mounting calls for its cancellation or postponement, the Israeli prime minister turns to two of his mega financial backers among the powerful Zionist 1 percent in the United States. Marwan Bishara could only imagine his exchange with Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban.

Bibi: Shalom H'aivreh, hello friends.

Sheldon: Shalom, shalom. 

Haim: Ahlan Bibi, MaHainyaneem - How's it going?

Bibi: Shega'on - Craziness.

Haim: That's what I love about our country; it's a political mess… 

Sheldon: It's because you're a troublemaker, Haim. You thrive on controversy. 

Bibi: I won't get between you two, but seriously, I need your help in dealing with that snotty president of yours.

I am not calling you to intervene with Obama; I am calling to see how we could mitigate the crisis which the White House manufactured; how to secure the support of the Democratic Party leadership, and strengthen the Republican resolve. Obama's campaign to undermine me and discredit my - our - positions on Iran has gone unanswered even as it's gathering steam.

Sheldon: He's not my president!

Haim: OK, I am the Democrat here, but you all know I've supported Hillary; she's my girl. I paraded her around Brookings the other day along with your Avigdor [Lieberman], what a sight. It was fun.

Bibi: Guys, I am not calling you to intervene with Obama; I am calling to see how we could mitigate the crisis which the White House manufactured; how to secure the support of the Democratic Party leadership, and strengthen the Republican resolve. Obama's campaign to undermine me and discredit my - our - positions on Iran has gone unanswered even as it's gathering steam.

Sheldon: I agree - when the weasel at the Times, Friedman, takes Obama's side, I worry because he's an opportunist who senses which direction the wind is blowing.

Haim: We should've done it, Sheldon; we should've bought the New York Times.

Sheldon: Yeah, and the Washington Post, but we missed our chance. You know, with the exception of the Wall Street Journal and FOX, much of the media outlets are biased; they speak of Israeli occupation and Palestinian rights as if either exists.

Bibi: But even Chris Wallace who works for our friend - Rupert's FOX, says the way we went about being invited was 'wicked'. And also our friend Bloomberg is not helping either.

Haim: You know, it's not only the issue of media where we have certain influence; it's the economy. Obama is on the up and up, with unemployment low and the economy growing again.

Sheldon: Spoken like a Democrat! What growth!  What rise! He's just lost an election for cryin' out loud. Look at the debt he compounded. It's the Republican governors that are pulling the country up.

Haim: Sheldon and I may disagree on Democrat-Republican lines, but we are in total agreement on Israel and on providing you with total and unconditional support.

Sheldon: Yes sir.

Bibi: And that's why I am calling you; we need to deter the Democrats from continuing to undermine my visit and speech. This needs to stop. We need to refocus the attention on Iran.

Haim: We need to make the case for Obama's weakness; how he's been handling Iran with too many carrots but few sticks. And, as I said in the past, 'I would bomb the living daylights out of the sons of bitches,' if other means fail.

Sheldon: You turn people off when you speak like that, Haim. Let's try to be cool but resolute.

Bibi: How do you suppose we do that? Are you guys at the Israel American Council coordinating your activity with AIPAC? Because, you know these guys at AIPAC can be paranoid if they feel that you're competing with them.

Haim: Well, I can start with my close circle of friends and the network of contacts that I have as the chair of the international Advisory Board of the Saban Center at Brookings.

Bibi: And your friends on the West Coast?

Haim: You mean the big guns who attended my 'Friends of the Israel Defense Forces' fundraiser last summer? Oh, what a night - despite the anti-Israel bias during the Gaza war, we collected $34m for FIDF. I insisted that there be no unanimous contributions; I wanted them all to be proud of supporting Israeli Forces.

Sheldon: I was there - and we could certainly recruit the hundreds who attended the fundraiser to exert pressure on the Democrats.

Haim: It's such a pleasure to squeeze these high society Americans for the cause of Israel. But my people at Brookings tell me that their polls show it's mostly the older and more religious Americans who support us. The younger, more diverse and open-minded Americans seem to side with Obama and J Street. I also hear we are losing support at universities and trade unions. We need to stop the bleeding.

Sheldon: AIPAC leaders need not be afraid of IAC; rather, they should fear those liberals at J Street lobby who coordinate their support for Obama directly with the White House. They're the ones undermining AIPAC. At IAC, we are mainly focused on organising the hundreds of thousands of Israelis living in America.

Empire - Obama and Media - Web extra - Foreign Press: Off the White House agenda

Bibi: Ok, so we agree to mount a new offensive in order to remind members of Congress of their commitments to Israel. I spoke to Chuck Schumer earlier this week and I must say he sounded sort of wobbly; Obama is intimidating everyone.

Sheldon: It's easier on the Republican side, but we'll work on both sides of the isle to extract greater commitment towards Israel.

Haim: We're already seen as the 'Koch Brothers for Israel', but it's Sheldon that commands the big bucks. We will remind everyone that money, lots of it, will go to those who are loyal, or against those who betray us. 

Sheldon: I am certain that between Haim, me and a few others, we'll stand out during the presidential campaigns and we'll eventually become kingmakers come next elections.

Bibi: Kol Hacavode? Respect… But I want to remain focused on the next several weeks. Because I can't afford to be humiliated by Obama, or by poor attendance in Congress. It seems even Biden won't show up. And I certainly cannot afford to be embarrassed on the eve of the Israeli elections.

Sheldon: You know my Israeli newspaper Hayom supports your candidacy. And by the way, I like your TV ads; pretty clever to portray the liberal opposition as childish; literally kindergarten childish. But yes, you can't afford humiliation.

Haim: Should we think of fallback positions, or ways to save face? Obama has no more elections to win, but you do, Bibi. Perhaps Hillary can help. Maybe she can be the mediator?

Bibi: Barack told me last week that there are no compromises possible; that only by withdrawing my acceptance to speak would a greater crisis in relations be aborted. But if Hillary and Bill could help, I welcome it.

Sheldon: How dare he be so condescending!

Haim: He's resurging in the polls.

Sheldon: He's delusional and he doesn't care for Israel; not one iota. I would like to erase that annoying smug look off his face every time he speaks about Israel.

Bibi: It's like when Jay Leno joked the other day in Jerusalem, Obama keeps on saying that the US-Israel relationship is unbreakable because he's been trying to break it for the last six years.

Haim: I hate to be the positive guy here, but come on, Obama did stand by Israel many times, regardless of whether he was motivated by duty or desire. He's not the enemy.

Sheldon: With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Bibi: Obama's attempt at silencing me and sidelining Israel in the debate over Iran's nuclear programme is as rude as it is dangerous.

Sheldon: You are the best public speaker for Israel, Bibi, and we need to see and hear more from you on US TV networks, on the main networks and on CNN with the likes of Wolf Blitzer.

Bibi: You know, Wolf was the correspondent for the Jerusalem Post before CNN, and he used to write for Jewish Week under the Hebrew name [translated] Ze'ev Barak?

Sheldon: Nope, didn't know that. It's good to know our people are everywhere.

Haim: We shouldn't hide or mask our support for Israel and its right to defend itself against nuclear Ayatollahs. If it's ok for the Koch brothers and the 'one percent' to get what they want from politicians, it's kosher for us too. We should rally and lobby for Israel openly and proudly.

Sheldon: The problem is that lots of our compatriots, especially among the rich Jews, continue to support Obama's liberal agenda. We need to alert them to the danger of Obama's policies and Iran.

Bibi: That's what I'm talking about. We need a nationwide campaign to get everyone in line with our agenda. Can't let the president get away with dictating US policy on his own.

Sheldon: Spoken like a true American…

Haim: You're an Israeli chutzpah. 

Bibi: Yep. That's yours truly…

Haim: Baruch Hashem, God Bless...

Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Source: Al Jazeera

Statement from the General Secretary of Hizballah

Statement from the General Secretary of Hizballah, Hasan Nasrallah

To the Nation, the Lebanese people, the resistance fighters, the Zionists, and the Arab leaders.

Translated by Muhammad Abu Nasr

07/15/06

In this first address that I give in these days following Operation True Promise, I would like to say a few words – a word to the Lebanese people, a word to the resistance fighters, a word to the Zionists, and a word to the Arab rulers. I will not offer words to the international community because I have never for one day believed that there is any such thing as an international community, just as many in our nation feel.

First, I say to the Lebanese people: dear people – who embraced the resistance, by whom the resistance was victorious, and for whom the resistance won its victory on 25 May 2000 – this people who were the makers of the first victory in the history of the Arab struggle with the Israeli enemy, despite the basic inequality in forces, and in spite of the fact that the majority of our Arab brothers and the majority of our Muslim brothers abandoned us and despite the silence of the whole world, this Lebanese people made the miracle of the victory that stunned the world and humiliated the Zionists. Those Zionists look upon this people in a special, unique way because they accomplished in the history of the struggle with them a special and unique accomplishment. The battle today is no longer a battle over prisoners or the exchange of prisoners. It might be said that the Zionist enemy is responding any time there is any operation where men are captured anywhere in any part of the world, by any army or any state that has borders and regulations. What is taking place today is not a response to a capture of their soldiers; it is a squaring of accounts with the people, resistance, state, army, political forces, regions, villages, and families that inflicted that historic defeat on that aggressive usurper entity that has never accepted its defeat.

Today, therefore, this is a total war that Zionism is waging to clear its whole account with Lebanon, the Lebanese people, the Lebanese state, the Lebanese army, and the Lebanese resistance, in revenge and reprisal for the victory they won on 25 May 2000.

Dear steadfast, mujahid, and noble people, I know that the overwhelming majority of this people, in their minds, hearts, wills, culture, thoughts, love, passion, and sacrifice are a people of nobility, dignity, honor, distinction, and pride, not a people of servility, subservience, submissiveness, and surrender. I say to you that in this battle we are faced with two choices – not “we” as in Hizballah, or as in the resistance, the Hizballah resistance – but Lebanon as a state, a people, an army, a resistance, and a political power – we are faced with two choices: either to submit today to the conditions that the Zionist enemy wants to dictate to us all, using the pressure, support, and backing it has from America, from around the world, and, I’m sorry to say, from Arabs. Either we submit completely to its conditions, which means taking Lebanon into an Israeli age under Israeli domination – in total frankness this is the extent of the matter – or we stand steadfast. That is the other choice: that we persevere, that we persevere and confront....

During the Grapes of Wrath in 1996, or the clearing of accounts in 1993, in the beginning they had the upper hand and our situation was much worse. But today, the situation is different. Believe me, and I mean this, the situation now is different. All that we need is to persevere, stand steadfast, and confront them united, and I know and I will bet that the majority of our people are a people of steadfastness, a mujahid people who can sacrifice, who have no need for pep talks. What I’m saying now is only by way of completing the idea, and affirming the choice, and clarifying what this means.

Now, as for my words for the resistance fighters, for my dear and beloved brothers: upon them rest the hopes of every Lebanese, every Palestinian, every Arab, every Muslim, every free and decent person in this world, every oppressed, tortured victim of injustice, every lover of steadfastness, courage, dignity, values, and nobility – the characteristics they embody by their presence on the field of battle and in their fight with this enemy... To the Zionists, to the people of the Zionist entity at this hour I say to them: you will soon discover how foolish and stupid are your new rulers, your new leaders. They do not know how to assess reality. They have no experience in this area. You Zionists say in opinion polls that you believe me more than you believe your officials. So now I call on you to listen well and believe me. Today we have persevered despite the attack that took place last night in the southern suburbs. However the attacks multiply in every village, neighborhood, street, and home in Lebanon, there is no difference between the south Beirut suburbs, the City of Beirut, or any home in south Lebanon, in the Beqaa, or the north, or Mount Lebanon, or any corner of Lebanon.

The equation has now changed. I will not say today that if you strike Beirut, we will strike Haifa. I will not tell you that if you hit the south Beirut suburbs, we will hit Haifa. You wanted to get rid of that equation, so now we and you have got rid of it in actuality. You wanted open warfare, and we are going into open warfare. We are ready for it, a war on every level. To Haifa, and, believe me, to beyond Haifa, and to beyond beyond Haifa. Not only we will be paying a price. Not only our houses will be destroyed. Not only our children will be killed. Not only our people will be displaced. Those days are past. That was how it was before 1982, and before the year 2000. Those times have come to an end. I promise you those times have passed. Therefore you must also bear the responsibility for what your government has done, for what that government has undertaken. From now on, you wanted open warfare, so it will be open warfare. You wanted it. Your government wanted to change the rules of the game, so let the rules then be changed. You don’t know today whom you’re fighting. You are fighting the children of Muhammad, of Ali, of al-Hasan, of al-Husayn, of the Prophet’s family, the Prophet’s Companions. You are fighting a people who have faith such as no one else on the face of the earth possesses. And you have chosen open warfare with a people who take pride in their history, their civilization, and their culture, and who also possess material power, ability, expertise, knowledge, calm, imagination, determination, steadfastness, and courage. In the coming days it will be between us and you, God willing.

As to the Arab rulers, I don’t want to ask you about your history. I just want to say a few words. We are adventurers. We in Hizballah are adventurers, yes. But we have been adventurers since 1982. And we have brought to our country only victory, freedom, liberation, dignity, honor, and pride. This is our history. This is our experience. This is our adventure. In the year 1982 you said and the world said that we were crazy. But we proved that we were the rational ones, so who then was crazy? This is something else and I don’t want to get into an argument with anyone. So I tell them simply: go bet on your reason and we will bet on our adventure, with God as our Supporter and Benefactor. We have never for one day counted on you. We have trusted in God, our people, our hearts, our hands, and our children. Today we do the same, and God willing, victory will follow. The surprises that I promised you will begin starting now. Now, out at sea off the coast of Beirut an Israeli military vessel that attacked our infrastructure, that struck the homes of our people, our civilians; you can see it burning. It will sink and with it dozens of Zionist Israeli troops. This is the beginning. There will be a lot more said before the end. Peace be upon you and the mercy of God!

General Secretary of Hizballah, His Excellency Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah, to the Nation, the Lebanese people, the resistance fighters, the Zionists, and the Arab leaders.

Translated by Muhammad Abu Nasr Friday, 14 July 2006.

Arabic original at: http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/phpfolder/loadpage.php?page=JOU214.html http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/phpfolder/loadpage.php?page=JOU214.html