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Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah making his way through celebrating crowds in Beirut. (AP)
Last update - 22:20 19/01/2008
Source: Nasrallah speech proves he is seeking deal
By Fadi Eyadat and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondents, News Agencies and Haaretz Service
Tags: Lebanon, Hezbollah 

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is under pressure to reach a deal with Jerusalem on Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails, security officials said on Saturday.

The officials made their assessment after the Lebanese militant chief said Saturday that his organization is holding the body parts of Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed during the Second Lebanon War.

"Oh Zionists, your army is lying to you... your army has left the body parts of your soldiers in our villages and fields," Nasrallah said.
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"Our mujahideen used to fight these Zionists, killing them and collecting their body parts. I am not talking about regular body parts. I tell the Israelis, we have the heads of your soldiers, we have hands, we have legs... there is even a near-complete body, a half or three-quarters of a body, from head, to chest to the torso," he added.

The security sources said the speech marked the second time in the recent past that Nasrallah made such statements.

A statement released by the IDF Spokesman's Office said the statements "constitute a cruel and cynical move by an organization that fragrantly tramples the most fundamental, ethical codes, shows no respect for human rights or the international conventions that govern these matters... we call upon all those with the most basic common sense to view him as cowardly and to condemn him."

Nasrallah addressed a crowd of followers in southern Beirut during a rally to mark the Shi'ite Ashoura festival.

The last time Nasrallah appeared in public was in September 2006 at a victory rally marking the end of the month-long war between Israel and the militant Shi'ite group. Since then, he has only addressed his supporters through video-links or on television.

Karnit Goldwasser, whose husband Ehud was kidnapped by Hezbollah militants in the cross-border raid that sparked last summer's war, said Nasrallah's speech constituted nothing new. "From our perspective, he hasn't said anything," she said.

Ayal Regev, whose brother Eldad was kidnapped along with Goldwasser, said that "by our estimation, Nasrallah did not address the abducted soldiers... It's all part of the psychological war he is carrying out."

In his speech Saturday, Nasrallah vowed that Lebanon would not accept a "surrenderist" peace plan with Israel, declaring the only way was "resistance."

"I announce that our forces are on full alert to confront any possible war against Lebanon," he said.

"If Israel carries out any new aggression against us, we promise to retaliate in a war that will change the whole map of the region," Nasrallah warned.

Referring to recent violence in the Gaza Strip, Nasrallah said: "We will not accept this oppression against the people of Palestine. I call on the Arab nation to stand and back their resistance movement's military, and financially to confront [U.S. President George W.] Bush's massacre of the people of Gaza."

"Bush wants to convince our rulers and people that Iran is the enemy, that Iran poses a danger and a threat, and that Israel is a brother, a beloved friend and neighbor for whom we must extend our hand in peace," Nasrallah said.

"Is there in history a greater forgery, deceit and hypocrisy?" he asked. Nasrallah called on Arab governments to confront Bush's "satanic visions for the Middle East," which he said serve only the interests of the U.S. and Israel.

"The entire (Arab) nation is called upon to reply to Bush's trip by staying committed to the choice of (armed) resistance and supporting resistance groups everywhere," he said.

Footage broadcast on Hezbollah's al-Manar television and other stations carried pictures of the black-turbaned Nasrallah surrounded by a sea of people.

Hezbollah supporters marched in procession with banners proclaiming: "We will not be humiliated". They also blocked suburban roads, chanting "death to America, death to Israel."

"Oh God protect Nasrallah," the huge crowd chanted. Veiled women wept as the Hezbollah leader walked among them, while men raised their fists chanting, "Nasrallah is our leader."

The Ashoura festival marks the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, who died in a battle in 680 against the leader of what became the Sunni branch of Islam. The battle took place in Karbala, which is located in present-day Iraq.

Nasrallah further denounced Bush's tour to the Middle East last week as "devilish."


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      1.   meir dagan why are you not on to him? 12:12  |  ephraim halevy 19/01/08
      2.   Nasrallah draw Arab haters as honey draw flies 12:13  |  Natallie Durson 19/01/08
      3.   GOD BLESS NASRALLAH 12:17  |  indrajaya 19/01/08
      4.   NASR`AL-LAT... TRALALLAH 12:44  |  Iskander 19/01/08
      5.   Why wasn`t the thug liquidated? 12:57  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 19/01/08
      6.   # 3 Indra 12:57  |  Iskander 19/01/08
      7.   Where is the truth? 13:12  |  Lebanese Guy 19/01/08
      8.   I think he looks well 13:26  |  Chris Linthwaite 19/01/08
      9.   Not a Beirut crows 13:28  |  khaled 19/01/08
      10.   Ummm... I actually saw one of those heads on Almanar some years 13:30  |  Israeli 19/01/08
      11.   This is what you expect when you venture 13:34  |  samir salameh 19/01/08
      12.   #3 13:36  |  rico 19/01/08
      13.   # 2 everyone gets what he/she deserves 13:38  |  Kris 19/01/08
      14.   Is this Arab Cannibal? 13:41  |  Rick and TC 19/01/08
      15.   Israel-Heres a chance to swap 2000 Terro killers for some bones. 13:47  |  Alan 19/01/08
      16.   WHAT a "victor"?? gutlessly in hiding for months and talking big 13:47  |  PETER SM 19/01/08
      17.   #2 nutullie and bin laden the blind spot from the usa 13:49  |  v hardman 19/01/08
      18.   Would have been media savvy 13:49  |  Paul Wood 19/01/08
      19.   To Indraaya #3 13:58  |  dovale 19/01/08
      20.   God Bless Nasrallah 13:58  |  Maher 19/01/08
      21.   ecce homo 13:59  |  b.a. 19/01/08
      22.   nasralah`s death is coming 13:59  |  A 19/01/08
      23.   Isn`t it time that Israel got rid of this pig? 14:01  |  Nechama 19/01/08
      24.   No-holds-barred... 14:06  |  Esther 19/01/08
      25.   Don`t buy into propoganda, hezballah loves to lie and manipulate! 14:06  |  Roni 19/01/08
      26.   Nasrallah is human? 14:17  |  Pedro 19/01/08
      27.   Sick. 14:26  |  British Leftie 19/01/08
      28.   # 9, DOVALE 14:29  |  indrajaya 19/01/08
      29.   As we have said all along, with Hizballah we have business with 14:29  |  Anat 19/01/08
      30.   Traders in human parts in addition to being traders in human 14:30  |  Anat 19/01/08
      31.   Nasrallah should know what sin is --to hold body parts 14:34  |  Sal 19/01/08
      32.   # 2 Natallie Durson "...as honey draw flies." 14:38  |  not honey, Dear 19/01/08
      33.   This guy has truly terrorised israel! Thank heavens for that! 14:56  |  lakshmi 19/01/08
      34.   #3,#10 14:58  |  Yonni 19/01/08
      35.   israelis body parts 15:00  |  jorge luis 19/01/08
      36.   I wondered which families were lied to 15:06  |  Paul Wood 19/01/08
      37.   Let go of our prisoners 15:11  |  A. Shuman 19/01/08
      38.   Flaunting arms legs etc...Tell us something we don`t know 15:11  |  topanga 19/01/08
      39.   Trade them for lebanese bodies 15:11  |  Yakova 19/01/08
      40.   "impotent railing " 15:18  |  Gemayel 19/01/08
      41.   #33 lakshmi 15:28  |  British Leftie 19/01/08
      42.   Israel ahs been terrorizing Palestenians for years 15:41  |  Christopher 19/01/08
      43.   the third Newton´s law 15:42  |  kaled 19/01/08
      44.   Nasrallah - Our Hero 15:47  |  Ahmed 19/01/08
      45.   then you must have the dog tags too? 15:50  |  v hardman 19/01/08
      46.   # 41, BRITISH LEFTIE (RE: LAKSHMI) 15:51  |  indrajaya 19/01/08
      47.   Pitiful Nasralla 15:51  |  Ahmad 19/01/08
      48.   Nasrallah - Our Hero 2 15:54  |  Ahmed 19/01/08
      49.   BONES; PERETZ; NASRALLA 15:56  |  JOHN ISH ISHMAEL 19/01/08
      50.   sicko 16:00  |  David K. 19/01/08
      51.   Islam and Body parts - 16:02  |  is it halal? 19/01/08
      52.   Nasrallah`s remarks. 16:13  |  David Nigel Braham 19/01/08
      53.   I LOVE THIS MAN NASRALLAH 16:14  |  muslim 19/01/08
      54.   #46 Indrajaya 16:14  |  British Leftie 19/01/08
      55.   Feel sorry for Nasrallah supporters 16:18  |  USA 19/01/08
      56.   This is what Israel deserves 16:19  |  Natalie 19/01/08
      57.   The Most Evil Person Now Reaching New Low 16:25  |  Jane 19/01/08
      58.   #42 Christopher 16:26  |  British Leftie 19/01/08
      59.   another surprise from master nasrallah 16:27  |  mona 19/01/08
      60.   Hezbollah 16:30  |  mario 19/01/08
      61.   Just watched "Inside Mecca" by National Geographic Society 16:31  |  I have a question 19/01/08
      62.   #36 Paul Wood 16:37  |  Sol 19/01/08
      63.   Nasrallah the coward 16:38  |  John B. Fellows 19/01/08
      64.   "I wondered which families were lied to" 16:45  |  Omar Hussein 19/01/08
      65.   He Must Be So Proud of His People 16:45  |  b`galil 19/01/08
      66.   Nasrallah 16:47  |  Danny 19/01/08
      67.   Nasrallah 16:47  |  Sol 19/01/08
      68.   Had God`s Love failed, we`d all be dead. God is a God of Mercy. 16:49  |  and He says, 19/01/08
      69.   Body parts 16:55  |  marcel 19/01/08
      70.   What A Miserable Ghoul! 17:00  |  Bill Foonman