BBC Monitoring Services is reporting an
IDF Radio transmission from this morning.
Israel's Shalom to clamour for Hezbollah disbandment at US talks
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on 6 March said he would be holding talks in the US to ensure that the Syrian withdrawal does take place and that Lebanon's Hezbollah party is included in the list of terrorist organizations and ultimately disbanded.
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"I would like to add that one of the purposes of my US visit is to try and form a unanimous international front against the Syrian threat, against the Syrian occupation. Toward that end, I will meet tomorrow with the UN secretary general, who is responsible for the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolution, and naturally also with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Steve Hadley in Washington on 8 March," Shalom told Israel radio on 6 March.
He added: "The objective is to act to make sure that the Syrian troop withdrawal takes place, to have Hezbollah included in the list of terrorist organizations, and that its terrorist infrastructures are disbanded."
"I think this can contribute to our other objective - progress with the Palestinians, which is possible and is taking place. If we are able to do both concurrently, it will contribute to stability in the Middle East and to a possible dialogue between us and many more Arab and Muslim states, which are only waiting for the possibility of a more open dialogue with both Israel and the United States," Shalom said.
The more I see the more I am convinced that George Bush is reading from Likud's playbook over Lebanon and that Israel not Syria was behind Hariri's assassination.
BTW, anyone who doubts Hezbollah's position on the future of Lebanon should read this article in Lebanon's Daily Star.
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"Today, our responsibility and commitment for a nation make it obligatory for all parties to avoid further deterioration," he said. "God forbid, if the roof collapses, it collapses on all of us."
Nasrallah warned it was not the time to steal "factional or narrow minded gains. As Lebanese, we have no choice except to meet and discuss our differences. We must not repeat the mistakes of the past."
Unlike other partisans' calls for a conditional dialogue, Nasrallah reflected more reconciliatory views concerning the issues for discussions.
"Despite our fixed commitments to certain principles, we are ready to discuss all issues of concern," he said.
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"We assure everyone the next elections would produce an exceptional political institution that would deal with the Lebanese issues for the next four years or may be for decades to come," he added. "We do not seek special favors or positions but insist on preserving civil peace, which would be a valuable gain for Lebanon and the Lebanese people."
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"We gather today to express the people's will to protect the resistance movement against all attempts that aim at eliminating its presence and ending its role,"
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"I regret talking about resorting to a referendum," Nasrallah said, "but what I meant was that we should never settle our disagreements in the street and in numbers insignificant in the Lebanese equation," Nasrallah said.
"No party could cancel the other, or community exclude the other ... our fate is to share this country and live in it in peace," he added.
I think the last but one paragraph is a reference to the opposition supporters demonstrating in Beirut's Martyr's Square.