Strikes on Lebanon will face Katyushas on “Israel”: Hizbullah

“ Hizbullah said Tuesday its leadership still feared being targeted by “Israel” and warned that it will respond with Katyusha rockets on northern “Israeli” settlements to any strike against Lebanon.

"If the “Israelis” carry out an aggression against Lebanon, the Katyusha rockets will be ready to be launched on their northern settlements" said Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hizbullah’s Deputy Secretary General.

"They should understand this very clearly," said Kassem, whose group spearheaded a guerrilla war that led to “Israel” ending a 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon last May.

Kassem, at a conference at the state Lebanese University in this southern port city, warned that the Katyusha rockets had "a longer range" now that “Israel” had withdrawn from the former "security zone" it had maintained in southern Lebanon.

He also said Hizbullah maintained a state of alert among its ranks after hearing “Israeli” threats to target the group, particularly its leader and other senior officials.

"This issue can happen any time, and if the “Israelis” could have done any such thing in the recent past they would have done it," he said.

"We have to remain careful. We cannot deny the danger faced by Hizbullah officials, and chiefly Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah," he said.

“Israeli” officials have threatened to strike Lebanon after Hizbullah captured four “Israeli” servicemen in October to carry out a prisoners swap.

Kassem also called for an "escalation of the intifada," or Palestinian uprising against “Israel” that broke out on September 28.

"The intifada should be escalated through armed resistance. We call for offering all the financial, political, cultural, media and military help" for it, he said.

"We are not convinced in peace negotiations with the enemy. In any case, we do not call them negotiations, we call them organized compromises," he said.

"The struggle with the “Israeli” enemy is not over a piece of land, but it is a struggle of existence, and we believe that the Zionist entity is an artificial entity which cannot live in this region," he said…(1)

Regarding Syria’s presence in Lebanon, he said it had helped the country recover its strength and face the “Israeli” “danger.”
“There are other aspects relating to this presence, and these should be discussed frankly by upper circles in the two states.”
He described relations with Syrian President Bashar Assad as “excellent.”
“We consider Syria as a basic supporter of the resistance in Lebanon and of the Palestinian people’s rights.”
Qassem also said there was little difference between America’s Republican and Democratic parties as far as their attitude towards “Israel” was concerned.
“Both administrations are committed to “Israel’s” security and military supremacy, and to defending the “Israeli” entity and interests,” he said.
Regarding the question of “Israeli” soldiers held captive by Hizbullah, Qassem said there was “nothing new so far,” and that his group was “still in the stage of exchanging messages”…(2)

Lebanon’s Palestinian refugees want to return home…(3)

“ -The question of the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon has been one of the major obstacles to the Mideast peace process. Tens of thousands of people still live in 12 makeshift camps across the country. Ein el-Helweh, in Southern Lebanon, is one of the largest. 

“ Approximately 40,000 out of the 360,000 registered refugees in Lebanon live in the densely populated Ein el-Helweh camp. They live in makeshift houses, that lack proper sanitation in polluted narrow streets. The refugees have very limited access to the job market outside the camp. Ahmad Naif was forced out of Palestine during the “Israeli”-Arab war in 1948, when he was nine years old. His family came to Ain Helweh, thinking that they would soon return. Now he is 61 years old, but he has never given up the dream of going back. Naif says: "Our life is full of hardship and it is impossible for us to live in peace in another place except in our own land. We will never accept an alternative to Palestine". The UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, has helped the refugees since their arrival in Lebanon. UNRWA maintains most of the schools and health centers in the camps but since the start of the peace process in 1993 the flow of financial aid has been substantially cut. Even food subsidies have been reduced. Palestinians strongly believe that only be returning to their homeland will their living conditions improve. Salah Salah, President of the Refugees Committee of the National Palestinian Council said there were a number of reasons why the refugees must return home: One they have a right to return because “Israel” forced them out of it. Second, the UN legitimacy and resolution 194 demands their return. Third the only way out of the economic, social and political conditions in which they live is for them to return to their homes. Fourth, Lebanon rejects their resettlement. Fearing that resettling the refugees would tilt the sectarian balance in Lebanon, the government in Beirut has refused to grant any form of social status to the Palestinians. Ghazi Alaridi, the Information Minister in Lebanon says the refugee presence is temporary and is a result of “Israeli” occupation. Palestinian negotiators insist on the mass return of the refugees, estimated at 3.7 million scattered around the Middle East. But “Israel” only wants the return of a few thousand of them. Mai Masri, the well-known Palestinian film-maker has been making documentaries about the issue of the refugees for many year. Now, despite the deadlocked peace talks, she sounds more optimistic that a solution will be found. (Masri saying: "The question of refugees is coming to a head. I have been making films for 20 years and all my life I have been living the Palestinian dilemma. I feel that in the next few months or may be next year there will be a turning point. I think that 53 years is long enough"). The hope to return is not limited to the elderly refugees, the big question remains whether the young will be able to see their homeland. At school songs about Palestine are taught to children and stories are passed down from older generations in the hope that one day they will be able to return to their land. 

Jewish settlers burn and destroy Palestinian belongings…(4)

For the second consecutive day, groups of armed Jewish settlers caused material damages to Palestinian belongings in the Mawasi village near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.

These aggressions are taking place while the “Israeli” leadership revealed that it allowed the settlers to carry guns and attack Palestinians under the protection of the army and in coordination with them.

“Israeli” settlers raided Palestinian properties, heavily damaging and burning 70 thousands square meters of plantations in the region of Mawasi.

Two elderlies and two women were beaten up by “Israeli” settlers when trying to protest and obstruct bulldozers from sweeping their fields.

The “Israeli” settlers also with the permission of their authorities based some four caravans near the coastal area in an attempt to build a new settlement.

Collaborators with Iraeli occupation hunted down, killed…(5)

Today again masked Palestinians shot dead Murshid Toufik, 40 years, convicted of collaborating with “Israeli” authorities, in the Ajja village near the northern West Bank town of Jenine.

The Palestinian Authority, which executed on Saturday two Palestinians collaborating with "“Israel”", extented the ultimatum given to collaborators to surrender themselves. They now have 45 days to turn over themselves.

The Izz el-Deen al-Kassam brigade, military branch of Hamas, criticized the new ultimatum, saying it will not stay with hands tied.

The military wing of Hamas pledged to hit all those collaborating with the Zionist regime, aggressing the Palestinian people.

Footnotes:

1-      AFP, 16-1-2001.

2-      The Daily Star, 17-1-2001.

3-      Future TV, 16-1-2001.

4-      Manar TV, 16-1-2001.

5-      Same source.