The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah called Friday on Arab leaders at their upcoming summit to supply arms to the Palestinians and open up borders with Israel for those willing to join the "holy war" against the Jewish state.
Hezbollah called for "adopting practical measures to ... open the borders for those who want to join the resistance and the jihad (holy war), and to provide the Palestinian people with weapons to defend themselves."
"They should adopt decisive measures for breaking diplomatic, economic and media relations and stop all kinds of normalization," the Shiite fundamentalist group said in a statement.
Hezbollah urged Arab leaders "to adopt measures and positions in line with the aspirations of their people who see the uprising of the Palestinian people and their resistance against the occupation as a national choice and the only way to liberate the land and regain Jerusalem."
"It is the choice that proved to be right and successful when it was adopted by the Lebanese people in its heroic resistance that defeated the aggression and liberated the land without offering any compromises," it said.
The fundamentalist group, which recently enraged Israel by capturing four of its officers to swap them for Arabs detained in Israel, spearheaded the guerrilla war against Israel during its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon that ended on May 24.
"The choice of the popular armed resistance has proved that the enemy only understands the language of force and war," Hezbollah said.
"Negotiations and settlements are a sterile choice which only ... divides the Arab people and their leaders and subjects them to the hegemony of the powerful forces, chiefly the United States, which is the prime backer of the enemy entity and its massacres of Palestinians and Lebanese," it said.
The summit Saturday and Sunday in Cairo "is a historic chance for Arab presidents and kings to fill the gap between them and their people by adopting decisions in line with the demands of the Arab."
Hezbollah reiterated "our right to regain our occupied lands in Lebanon, Palestine and Syria while asserting our support for the Palestinian people in their blessed uprising until the liberation of Palestine, with it capital Jerusalem" – BEIRUT (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
