Hezbollah leader urges Palestinians to follow guerrillas' lead

May 28, 2000
Web posted at: 9:36 p.m. EDT (0136 GMT)

In this story: 'We have to continue to negotiate' Talks may resume by weekend, officials say Guerrillas will keep weapons in border areas Clinton, Barak expected to meet RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

JERUSALEM -- Hezbollah guerrilla leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, whose fighters effectively control the Lebanese border territory with Israel after the Israelis pulled out last week, says Palestinians should follow the lead of Hezbollah's militancy.

At a weekend rally of supporters, large portions of which were carried by Israeli television, Nasrallah told Palestinians, "With the example of our martyrs, you can impose your demands on the Zionist aggressors.

"Israel may have nuclear weapons and heavy guns, but by God it is weaker than a spider's web," Nasrallah said.

VIDEO CNN's Jerrold Kessel says Lebanese officials are calling for Palestinians to rise up in the wake of Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K    INTERACTIVE: Scenes from the Israeli withdrawal     MESSAGE BOARD Israeli withdrawal     RESOURCES CNN In-depth Special: Mideast Struggle for Peace

In demonstrations on Palestinian streets, Hezbollah banners fly, and many Palestinians praise what they see as the beating handed the Israeli army by the Lebanese irregulars.

But grass-roots Palestinian leaders, while lauding what has happened, caution that there can be no simple translation of the Lebanese situation to theirs.

"We have to continue to negotiate around the table, and at the same time we have to fight against the settlements and the Israeli policy about the prisoners," said Palestinain activist Marwan Barghouti.

"We can go ahead with the two," he said.

But a key Israeli minister who has been involved in back-channel negotiations with the Palestinians says there is no need to play a double hand.

A package is on the table, says Shlomo Ben Ami, Israel's minister of internal security.

"It will include -- it may include -- statehood for the first time in the history of the Palestinian people, fully recognized by its powerful neighbors, Israel, by the international community and by the U.S.

"This," Ben Ami said, "is not a territorial dimension, it's perhaps even more important."

Hezbollah leader Nasrallah told CNN the fight with Israel is not over

With the situation on the border with Lebanon now seemingly stable, the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are set to resume by the end of this week, officials say.

And what had been back-channel contacts in Sweden -- abruptly cut short by Israel after a week of demonstrations on the West Bank and in Gaza -- will become the main channel of communication, leading negotiators hope, to produce at least a framework agreement by as soon as mid-June.

In an interview with CNN, Nasrallah said the fight with Israel was not over, since Israel had not, he said, withdrawn from all Lebanese territory.

"There is a part known as the Shebaa Farms (which Israel refuses to hand over). This is Lebanese land, and we should take it back. We have the right to continue resisting the occupation until the liberation of our land."

Nasrallah said that Hezbollah would wait until it had regained the Shebaa Farms and secured the release of all Lebanese detainees before deciding its next action.

"But for sure there will be more problems with continuous Israeli aggression against Lebanon. Just today (Sunday) they broke the sound barrier over (the Lebanese capital) Beirut, and they had promised not to violate Lebanon's air space after this withdrawal."

The Hezbollah leader said, "As long as Lebanon is under Israeli threats, it is natural for the resistance to preserve its soul and keep its arms in readiness to defend Lebanon."

Nasrallah added, "Let Israel withdraw from all Lebanese land and then we will state our position in a straightforward way."

Barak said Sunday that Israel will not give up the Shebba farms

Nasrallah also said the guerrillas would continue to keep their weapons in the border areas "first and foremost to defend these towns," but the weapons would not be as visible as they are now.

Syria and Iran have lent their voices to the Shebaa issue. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi held talks with Syrian President Hafez Assad on Sunday, and both backed Lebanese demands that Israel quit the Shebaa area.

A presidential spokesman said, "Both sides discussed the recent developments in Lebanon and cooperation between Syria and Iran for the welfare of the peoples of the region and their rights."

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa held separate talks with Kharrazi and was present at the meeting with Assad.

A spokesman for the foreign ministry said, "Both ministers condemned Israel's evading implementation of the rest of the United Nations resolutions dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict."

Israel says the Shebaa Farms area was captured from Syria in the 1967 war and is not covered by U.N. Security Council Resolution 425, the resolution that covered its withdrawal from south Lebanon.

The United Nations considers the strip part of the Golan Heights, rather than south Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday that Israel will not give up the Shebaa Farms.

"The prime minister noted that according to maps of the United Nations and Israel, 90 percent of the territory of the farms did not belong to Lebanon, and therefore the territory will not be evacuated," said a statement from Barak's office.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Bill Clinton, in a telephone conversation, congratulated Barak on Sunday on the pullout, and both leaders agreed they should meet soon, Barak's office said.

"The two leaders also discussed the entire peace process and ways to advance negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians," said a statement issued by the prime minister's office after the phone call.

"The two men agreed on the need to hold a meeting between them in the near future," the statement said. "In the coming days a date and place for such a meeting will be set."

Clinton and Barak were set to meet a week ago, but Barak postponed the meeting because of the Palestinian demonstrations.

In Washington, U.S. national security adviser Sandy Berger said he believed Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat both wanted to reach an agreement this year "for a whole series of reasons.

"In part because they have in President Clinton a partner that they both trust, but mainly for their own security reasons," Berger told CNN's "Late Edition."

"It's not by accident that this has not been resolved in 50 years, but I believe this is the best chance we will have for a long time for there to be a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians," Berger said.

Beirut Bureau Chief Brent Sadler, Correspondent Jerrold Kessel and Reuters contributed to this report.

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May 22, 2000
In face of renewed tension, Barak demands end to violence
May 19, 2000
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May 20, 2000
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May 16, 2000

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