LEBANON: Irish troops on UN peacekeeping duty in Lebanon were welcome as long as they adhered to the terms of their mission, which was to help the Lebanese army "to defend the Lebanese people", a prominent member of Hizbullah said in Dublin yesterday.
However, Ibrahim Mousawi, from the pro-Hizbullah television station al-Manar, expressed concern that the US and other superpowers might try to manipulate the UN force.
He said there was always a fear that there could be "a kind of swerving from the mission, that another agenda could be dictated in this regard". The UN was not considered "a trustworthy body" in Lebanon.
"The Irish soldiers and the Unifil forces, all of them are welcome in Lebanon. There is no problem and they are not at risk as long as they stick to the mission that they came [ for], to support the Lebanese army, which is helping the Lebanese people." But if the troops departed from their mission, "then the problem will happen".
He said disarming Hizbullah was "an internal Lebanese issue that should be domestically discussed and cannot be dictated or imposed from outside, whether from the UN or the US or any superpower".
Mr Mousawi is a member of the board at al-Manar, the Beirut-based television station founded by Hizbullah in 1991. He was formerly head of political programmes at the station and has been invited here by the Irish Anti-War Movement for a series of talks on the Iraq war, culminating in a public meeting in Dublin on Saturday afternoon where he will share a platform with British anti-war MP George Galloway.
Predicting that the situation in Iraq would get even worse for the US forces, he said they had "destroyed the country". The best solution was for the US and its allies to withdraw "and let the Iraqis manage their affairs by themselves".
He added: "Even if there was a kind of bloodletting for some time, things [ would] settle down." Nothing could be worse than the occupation, which was "the worst of scenarios for Iraq or for any other country".
Giving his assessment of the situation inside Israel, he said there were "deep divisions" and "deep confusion" in the aftermath of the July war. There was a feeling of Israeli vulnerability and "no more this boasting belief [ about] the invincible army".
"They should have learned the lesson this time that has been given to them by Hizbullah, not to attack other countries and not to occupy their territories."
Asked what Hizbullah's long-term aim was, Mr Mousawi replied: "The prevailing of peace, whatever it takes." He added that the root cause of conflict in the Middle East was "the occupation of Palestine".
Most of the Arab and Islamic world did not recognise the state of Israel: "What is built on occupation is not accepted." He compared Israel to the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. If Saddam Hussein had sent a million Iraqi settlers to Kuwait, it still would not have legitimised the occupation.
The fact that Israel had been in existence for 58 years did not make the state legitimate, he said.
On Hizbullah's relationship with Syria and Iran, he said they were "allies for Hizbullah, politically and morally". He added: "Iran itself represents a kind of spiritual capital for Hizbullah." It was not a question of getting arms supplies from these countries: there was an "open market" for weaponry in the Middle East.