Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaking on the occasion of Martyrs’ Day, defended Sunday, November 11, the party’s armaments and declared the inevitability of another Israeli attack. The following are excerpts from his speech, aired on the Hezbollah owned media outlet, Al-Manar.

[Recent Israeli military drills] don’t mean that there is a decision to attack Lebanon. But the enemy, with its aggressive nature, is preparing for a decision of this type or an eventuality of this type...We ask what have you [the government] done to regain the Shebaa Farms, and what contacts have you utilized to regain the Shebaa Farms. They have not even been able to convince the Zionist enemy to place the Shebaa Farms under international control... If we move on to the issue of [Israeli] aggression, is there no one who holds any influence who can stop the Israeli aggressions on Lebanon, if only to gain credibility for the government side, or to show that the political and diplomatic track can achieve anything? And they claim to be the defenders of national sovereignty?!

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The Israeli exercises in the north [of Israel] mean nothing to these people. They do not consider Israel to be an enemy. For he who declares openly that he is part of the US project in the region, it is only natural that he does not consider Israel to be an enemy. If we wanted to be more cynical, I will say that some on this side [of the border] – and here I say some and not all – were delighted by the Israeli military exercise in northern occupied Palestine. We hear from here and there that some from this side are banking on a new Israeli war against the resistance and the opposition...And so, we say this to the enemy: This is the real message of the exercises. The resistance in Lebanon possesses the will and the determination. The resistance in Lebanon has brave men. The resistance in Lebanon possesses weapons and enough of them, God willing. The resistance in Lebanon possesses the necessary knowledge and scientific plan for the defense [of Lebanon], God willing. The resistance in Lebanon possesses command and control. The resistance in Lebanon is ready day and night and at every location to defend the South of Lebanon and all of Lebanon, and not just to defend it, but to create a historic victory which will change the face of the region.

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In all probability these reports [of militant activities in the Palestinian refugee camp of Bourj al-Barajneh] are not true. We depend on good relations between Beirut, the South and the refugee camps. In reality, the Palestinians know that there are people in the world who like them, but they will never find a people who like them as much as we do...We bank on the good relations with the Palestinian factions in the camps whether, they are in the PLO or in the Coalition. We must cooperate so as not to allow the Israelis or the agents of the Israelis in Lebanon to misuse or direct events in the wrong way... For those who talk about embroiling Hezbollah and even Amal in a new War of the Camps, I say unequivocally: There will be no war of the camps here at all.

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The manner and spirit in which he [next president of Lebanon] will be elected, and the person of the president, in other words the name and character of the president will point to the general political direction of Lebanon... Imagine if that side [14 March Forces] appoints an army commander who thinks the way it does, or who has the same mentality and feelings. I don't know what will happen to the army and the country. That side has been dreaming of using the army against oppositionists and the resistance. Until today, what has stopped this is the command of the army, the mentality of the army, its composition and its national creed...Therefore there cannot be any leniency when it comes to the presidential election. The matter cannot be resolved through niceties.

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Thus, there can be no flexibility regarding the issue of presidential election. Nor can the issue be resolved through courtesies, acquaintances, kissing cheeks, or embarrassing each other into accepting certain conditions. This is the issue. Therefore, even in the framework of discussing the person of the president, all issues must be discussed in connection to each other and the country's political course must be discussed...If we cannot reach a consensus, and one is elected on a half plus one formula, the opposition will not recognize this president and will consider him a usurper of power.

If we return to the early elections, it will be said to us that if the other party does not secure the two-third quorum there will be a return to the consensus principle. No, I am proposing a return to early elections with a prior commitment by the minority to secure the two-thirds quorum for the majority to elect the president that represents it. Thus, we will have made the Lebanese people our judge and we will have looked for an exit to the impasse. This will mean that we have not returned to early elections and then we got stuck again with the story of two-thirds and half plus one.

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We appeal to His Excellency President Emile Lahoud to do what is dictated upon him by his conscience, national, legal, and constitutional responsibility, and his constitutional oath to preserve the country and the people and to take a salvation move or a national initiative to prevent a vacuum in the country if no consensus is achieved. Election by half plus one is worse than vacuum, and not electing a president by consensus and maintaining the authority in the hands of an illegitimate and irresponsible government is worse than vacuum...However, His Excellency the president, who did not keep silent about millions of square meters from southern Lebanon upon the demarcation of the border in 2000 and stood with full courage in against the threat of the US Administration and the US secretary of state, will definitely be entrusted with not millions of square meters only, but with the whole of the national Lebanese soil, which must not be relinquished by anybody nor handed over to a group of thieves and killers from the followers of the US-Zionist scheme in Lebanon.

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I still affirm that the person of the president is a sensitive and very important issue. We want a president unlike the one wanted by the Americans. What do the Americans want? The Americans want nothing from the president but to implement Resolution 1559. That is all. Have you ever seen the Americans saying that they want a Lebanese president who wants to tackle the economic situation in Lebanon?...I said it and say it once again: If the entire world comes, let alone a new president of the republic, it will not be able to implement the article in Resolution 1559 concerning the weapons of the resistance. This is not an issue for joking, talking, or playing. The Israelis themselves said that there is no army in the world that can disarm Hezbollah, and I say to them there is no one in the world that can disarm Hezbollah.

Source: Now Lebanon