Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that the decision of war and peace lies in the hands of the Israelis since 1948 and not in his movement's hands. Nasrallah was speaking at a ceremony to mark "Resistance Week" in Beirut's southern suburb. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the event.

The sons of assassinated leaders Sheikh Ragheb Harb, Abbas Moussawi and Imad Moghniyeh made separate speeches and pledged to follow the path of their fathers. 
 
Nasrallah said that the assassinated leaders have become a symbol. "What martyrs and leader martyrs had in common was faith, sincerity, sentiments, jihad, love of people and unprecedented steadfastness."

He stressed the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and its south has not stopped. "Facing Israeli aggression has been ongoing since the fall of Palestine in 1948. Since that day Lebanon and its southern villages have suffered from this aggression even many of the Lebanese do not know this part of history or pretend not to know it however some Lebanese leaders intentionally ignore it," he said. "When we used to discuss the defensive strategy at parliament and when I spoke about Israeli aggression on Lebanon since 1948 until the early 70s that is before Palestinian factions came to south Lebanon, some of the attendees protested and said that Israel had not done anything since then and that the problem of Israel with Lebanon began with the arrival of Palestinian factions. This is mere ignorance. I tell the shallow minds in Lebanon, who speak about war and peace decisions, that Israel is the only side that has been taking the decision of war or peace. The decision that we take is our legitimate, moral, humane and natural right in order to defend our people, land and country at a time of negligence by the government and the world."

He continued: "If you want to extract this decision from Olmert, Barak and their masters in the US you have to be lions and heroes. This is a war that the Israeli launched and today there is a new term: the open war. This is a war that has been open since 1948 when neither I, Sayyed Abbad, Hajj Radwan (Imad Moghniyeh) nor Sheikh Ragheb Harb were born. The Israelis opened this war on Palestine and our Arab and Islamic nation as well as Lebanon." 
 
Hizbullah's Secretary General said that Moghniyeh's killing was a clear sign that Israel was preparing a new war against Lebanon but said his troops stood ready for a new "victory". "We will kill you in the fields, we will kill you in the cities, we will fight you like you have never seen before," said Nasrallah, "Israel will be left without an army, and without an army Israel cannot exist." 

He vowed to avenge the death of Hajj Radwan through the destruction of Israel, which he said was destined to disappear. "The disappearance of Israel is inevitable, it is Divine law." "The presence of Israel is but temporary and cannot go on in the region,"

© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)