Local Editor

On the first of the ten Ashura nights, Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech at Sayyed al-Shuhada [Lord of Martyrs (peace be upon him)] Compound in Ruwais, which covered the ongoing aggression against Gaza.

Here is the full text of that discourse:

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, Thanks and Praise be to God, Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds, peace and prayers be to the seal of the prophets, Prophet Muhammad, his infallible household, his chosen companions and all the prophets and messengers ....

Peace be upon you, O Imam Hussein, the son of the Messenger of God, my salute and greetings of peace go to you, so long as I exist and as long as there is night and day...
Peace be upon Hussain and upon Ali the son of Hussain, the children of Hussain and Hussain's companions.

Brothers and sisters,
Peace, God's mercy and blessings to you all,
Condolences to you all, on this commemoration of what befell your Lord Aba Abdullah al-Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet (peace be upon him), on days such as these, in the month of Muharram.

Dear brothers and sisters,
It is unfortunate to begin the Islamic Hijri and Christian Gregorian year, witnessing a major humanitarian calamity in the Gaza Strip, a tragedy that claimed the lives of loved ones, martyrs and wounded, with the martyrs exceeding three hundred, the wounded a thousand in the Gaza Strip, which is under siege, oppressed, and downtrodden, yet at the same time resisting, patient and steadfast.

Today, we need not speak about the notion as we are witnessing the model of a new Karbala. What is taking place today helps us understand history more. Karbala's reality is about a few believers, who had refused humiliation and yielding to tyrants. Those believers were made to choose between humiliation and disproportionate confrontation that may lead to martyrdom...and so they chose martyrdom.

This group after being besieged with hunger, thirst, intimidation and threats, now they start killing them, yet they do not retreat, this is while martyrs are falling one after the other.
Is this not what happened with Karbala's Imam Hussain (pbuh)?

It was there that the original example was set, and upon which this Islamic humanitarian school was founded; everyday, throughout history we echo Imam Hussain's famous words, especially on the tenth day of the Hijri month of Muharram: "Verily, that claimer, the son of a claimer, [pointing to ‘Ubaidullah Bin Zyiad] is overwhelmed by shame and disgrace! He has placed us between two choices, to either fight in a disproportionate confrontation or a humiliating and degrading surrender."
Hussain (pbuh) made his choice: "And how far disgrace is from us! Allah refuses us the life of disgrace, His Messenger and believers do too."

Why did he declare "And how far disgrace is from us", Why did he say "we shall never be disgraced?"
It was not an emotional outburst; it was rather a matter of humanitarian, ideological spiritual, religious and humane commitment, which springs from human values, dignity and human rights, for Hussain (pbuh) later tells us "...Allah refuses us the life of disgrace, His Messenger and believers do too, Indeed, proud, exalted and lofty spirits will never prefer to obey the vile people, rather than the death of the honorable ones."

This is the Hussaini-Mohammedan Prophetic school of Karbala.
Thus when man chooses the martyrdom of the honorable and the dignified over living a life of vile people, deprived of their honor, dignity, rights and sanctities, man is actually acting in harmony with his innate nature, humanness, religion, Islam and his commitment.

Thus was the choice in Karbala.
This choice was taken during the July 2006 war when you, the resistance community, supporters and all those who had embraced the resistance, were to choose between surrender and confrontation, either a humiliating surrender, in which you had to accept the American-"Israeli" conditions for the war to stop, or war and destruction and massacres.

You chose to stand up and refuse disgrace regardless of the tens of thousands of homes destroyed and the hundreds of martyrs and injured. You stood up against collusion, betrayal and disgrace for a dignified and honorable death instead.

Hence some of you fell martyrs, yet with your martyrdom you manufactured the historic victory in Lebanon.

It was with this Hussaini, Karabalan logic, you rejected humiliation and shame, and insisted on continuing the confrontation and resistance, despite the destruction of tens of thousands of your homes, and the fall of thousands of martyrs and the wounded men, women and children, with few supporters by your side, abandoned by those close to you, and the collusion of those far from you.

The outcome was a victory of the blood against the sword.

What is happening today in Gaza is identical, I would not say it is similar, but a Palestinian replica of what happened in July 2006.
As Lebanese, we can understand what is happening Gaza well. It is the same as what happened here, the same choices are offered, the same battle, the same collusion and God-willing the same consequence and result.

When we look at the Gaza Strip, besieged with hunger and thirst, surrounded by iron, fire and intimidation, which yesterday gave martyrs and wounded by the hundreds, yet we find its people patient and firm, they do not express weakness or frailty...when its legitimate Prime Minister Ismail Hanieh comes out from under the rubble and fire to say "even if they wipe out Gaza completely, we will not surrender or back down, and we will preserve our dignity and our rights.'
This is true Karbala...when man, faced with fire day and night, while martyrs' bodies and body remains are being mourned, still refuses humiliation and shame.

Today, brothers and sisters, let me speak frankly about some things in this confrontation, in the July War I did not speak frankly, and I understand the situation our brothers in Gaza find themselves in very well, the Palestinian situation is more difficult than ours at the time [of the July War].

Therefore, they are more concerned of having a carefully considered and weighed rhetoric, but let me today call a spade a spade, come what may!
Today, we need to express truth loudly and clearly, so that the entire nation bears its responsibility in the face of what is happening.

Brothers and sisters,
In Gaza as in Lebanon, what is happening is very clear.
Let me describe what is happening clearly and explicitly.
It is clear that there is an ongoing American-"Israeli" project in the region that wants to impose an unequal settlement on the rest of the Arabs, after Egypt and Jordan signed so called peace treaties with "Israel". Palestine, Lebanon and Syria remain, and the Americans and Zionists want to settle the issue according to their conditions. Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians are to obey and surrender to these conditions and are not allowed any other option.

Americans and Zionists work on imposing these conditions by force, through pressure, blockade, internal strife to trap resistance movements in internal sedition, through media, political and psychological warfare, assassinations and wars.

What is intended here is to subdue those who have not yielded so far to American and "Israeli" conditions and will.
Some Arab regimes are true partners and part of this project.

So let us be very clear, we are before a partnership and the complicity of some Arab countries in what is happening in our region.

The 2006 war was waged against us in Lebanon with Arab consent, at certain times upon Arab request. The "Israelis" were crystal clear when they revealed this and the Arab regimes cannot deny this because the "Israelis" might possess evidence on their collusion, that the "Israelis" were being contacted and asked to "rid us of" Hizbullah.
When the war started, they were comforting the "Israelis" after their initial failure in the first few days, yet, those Arab regimes continued to demand "Israel" to eliminate Hizbullah and "cut Hizbullah's head off."

This is what is happening in Gaza today.
Those same sides are asking "Israel" to eliminate Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the rest of the resistance factions, to roll the heads of the mujahidin and resistance fighters, to do away with and settle this battle once and for all. In fact they are helping the Zionist entity in this, and this is the truth.
We have heard "Israeli" officials say that the magnitude of Arab support to the war on Gaza well exceeds their support to the "Israeli" war on Lebanon in July 2006, and this is very unfortunate.

This is the true picture.
I even say to you that some of these Arab regimes are the real and original cause behind internal Palestinian division and fighting.
These regimes contributed, instigated, financed and armed, so that the situation comes to the level of fighting between Palestinian factions, just as they did before in Lebanon.
The former [Lebanese] cabinet could not have dared take such notorious decisions on 5 May, had it not been at the encouragement, cover and support of some of these Arab regimes. They wanted to drag Lebanon into the grip of a cruel internal war, and real internal sedition, but it was overcome in those days, by the performance of the opposition.

They are not neutral, they are not even uncomfortable, they are convinced of what they do and are doing what they are doing from a level of commitment to the project, and this is the a very unfortunate thing.

Then when infighting and internal division in Palestine or Lebanon happen, these very same Arab regimes use that as the excuse to pull out and say "Well, look at the Palestinians, when they kill each other what are we to do?" They, regrettably, use it only to evade and rid themselves of the responsibility towards Palestine or Lebanon.

No one asked these Arab regimes in the July 2006 war and today in the Gaza Strip; to open their fronts and fight in lieu of the Lebanese previously and on behalf of the Palestinians now, but only to make a fair and appropriate political stand on media level at least.
Yet again, as in the July War, we find the Arab regimes hold the victims responsible.

Yesterday, we heard an Egyptian official holding the side that "aborted the Palestinian national dialogue efforts as responsible for what is happening in Gaza."
By that he meant Hamas, he then adds, that in their view, they had forwarded cautions and "those who do not heed to them, bear the responsibility on their own!"
Could a human being believe that such talk comes from an Arab person or official?

When at the height of the blockade on Gaza, when Gaza was suffering from hunger and illness, that same person said "we will break the leg of anyone attempting to cross into Egypt!"

By God, brothers and sisters,
Allow me to draw on history.
When we see such examples of officials, leaders and figures in the Arab world, I personally understand something in the words spoken by Al-Hussein (pbuh) at that time when he said "I do not see death, but happiness and life among tyrannical as deadliness only."

By God there is no value for life in the shadows of such figures and leaders of this kind plotting and planning against the nation.
When there are 300 martyrs massacred in Gaza in minutes, an Arab official stands to declare he hold the victims and the martyrs responsible for the confrontation, as if what was expected of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian factions in Gaza was to agree to an extension of the calm of the blockade, the calm of the starvation and the calm of the humiliation, they were being exercised against them for the previous six months!

Brothers and sisters, this is the picture today, the people of Gaza have taken their hard decision, they are in effect exercising that decision in their steadfastness, resistance, defiance, honor and glory as you yourselves did in 2006.

The amount of sacrifices, destruction, tears, blood and being abandoned has not prevented them from continuing to insist on their right to jihad, resistance and steadfastness.
But what is the responsibility of the nation today?

We as a nation are faced with a central goal we ought to aim for in the current crisis: the central goal has to be stopping the Zionist attack on Gaza and not allowing this attack to achieve any of its goals, purposes or objectives, thus the victory will be for Gaza despite the great sacrifices.
Every State should work toward this goal, not only the citizens of Gaza.

People whose governments have not taken any action at all, should force their governments to act, it is not at all justifiable for people to say "we cannot move because of repressive regimes."

We ought to go out to the street in both the Arab and Islamic worlds, to raise our voice to the world and put pressure on our Governments, even if they shoot us, it is still a must, whoever falls martyr in these protests is a martyr on the path to al-Quds (Jerusalem), a martyr of Islam, and a martyr of a whole line of prophets and divine missions, they are martyrs of humanity.

Officials may not apologize for their inability, the people may no longer complain about suppressive rulers.

In July war I did not ask this of the Arab peoples, but in Gaza war and the aggression against the Gaza Strip, I would say it is a duty for all of us, to go out to the streets in the thousands, tens and hundreds of thousands, to demand these government, to make them responsible, and they know well what they can do, particularly in the current times, they can do a great deal, when the United States and European countries are suffering financial and economic crisis.

Firstly, today the Arab world possesses the oil, money and the political position, our government and regimes simply can, with modest efforts, stop the aggression against our people and our people in Gaza.

Secondly, all the Arab and Islamic peoples to demand the Egyptian regime, particularly today, whose position is the cornerstone of what is happening in Gaza, not to open a battlefront or fight, but only to open the (Rafah) crossing for food, medicine, water and even weapons to reach our people in Gaza, for in Gaza there are people and resistance, men and women capable of resistance, steadfastness and victory-making, they have performed very well in all previous phases.

In the July war in Lebanon, we did not ask any Arab country to open a battlefront, but yes, we did ask for opening of borders.

This is when we recognized and acknowledged Syria for its favour and partnership in our steadfastness and in our victory in the July war, because Syria did not close the border, despite the repeated aerial bombardment of all the border crossings and the main roads leading to them.

Egypt is only required to open the crossing, indefinitely, for the living and not for the injured or the martyred.

This Egypt, the Mother of the World, the largest and most important of Arab States, it is not a Red Cross or a Red Crescent institution, to deal with the people of Gaza in this way.

What is required of the Egyptian leadership and regime is to resolve this issue, and not to take advantage of the war politically to pressure Hamas, the resistance factions in Gaza to accept "Israeli" conditions in return for stopping the war or a ceasefire, as some of us here in Lebanon did in the first days of the July aggression, but they must help the people of Gaza politically, to stop the aggression without restriction or condition, this is the real responsibility. This is what our Arab and Islamic worlds should be calling to and demanding the Egyptian regime for.

Up until now we have been talking with tact, and speaking of making appeals, but after what happened yesterday, we say to the Egyptian regime:

I tell the Egyptian officials, if you do not open the Rafah border crossing, if you do not come to your brothers' rescue in Gaza, then you are party to the siege and the killing, partners in the siege and in causing the Palestinian tragedy.

Egyptian officials have to hear this from all the peoples of the Arab and Islamic worlds, from religious scholars, political parties, elites, intellectuals and media professionals from different sectors of our societies, they must know that they are the subject of the condemnation of the entire nation and its history, the prophets and the martyrs, if they do not rush to take this humane and historical stand now.

First and foremost, this is where, the speech is directed to the people of Egypt, to its Muslim, Arab and proud people, the defiant, the generous, the resistance and the decent, the courageous and noble people of Egypt, whom we all know what their hearts and minds have stored, we know how they think, let the Egyptian people go out on the streets in their millions.

Can the Egyptian police arrest millions of Egyptians? 

No they can not!

We all call upon the Egyptian people, because they are the ones facing this regime, which will close the Rafah crossing.

People of Egypt you must open this Rafah crossing with your bear chests if you have to, and I do not hypothesize here, as I'm talking from a position of having participated to the resistance, which fought for 33 days, and the people who fought, sacrificed and gave martyrs.

The presence of everyone on board today is what changes the equation, Egypt today with its people, its political parties, religious scholars, Al-Azhar religious law institution, all the armed forces as well as the political elites. I do not think there is an excuse for anyone to fall back, for what changes the equation today, is to modify the political position of Egypt.
That is what rulers of the Arab world and the Egyptian peoples must demand from the rulers of Egypt.
If the Rafah crossing was opened for water, medicine, food, money and even weapons to our people in Gaza, a victory epic that took place in Lebanon will be repeated again, though we are confident of that victory despite all the harsh conditions that our people in the Gaza Strip are living in.
Brothers and sisters, should Gaza endure this onslaught, for days or weeks, the aggression will stop, as this enemy does not endure a war of attrition nor withstand long days of war.

This enemy will eventually stop the aggression; its objectives will fail, and with them will fail the leaders who wanted to retake power by using the Palestinian blood in the "Israeli" election ballot boxes.
Yes, some will say to us, in Lebanon too, that the solution lies in a just and comprehensive peace. This is the solution to end the tragedy they tell us!
Regardless of our ideological principled position on the subject of a just and comprehensive peace, I ask, since Madrid, before and after Madrid, what have you gained from "Israel" so far other than only massacres, killings, aggression and more humiliation and the imposition of conditions?
In the Palestinian settlement, the Palestinian Authority's negotiations at Camp David by the late President Yasser Arafat went far away, the negotiations were not held with the Likud or Kadima, but with the Labor Party, with Barak himself when he was head of the enemy Government, however, at Camp David, the Palestinians did not receive even the minimum of their rights, not even enough for face saving.
Which 'just and comprehensive peace' can be achieved under humiliating "Israeli" conditions that exclude the 'right of return', al-Quds (Jerusalem), the Palestinian territories where a viable Palestinian state can be established?
What is this theorizing and nonsense, all of which while we are being killed and slaughtered in Palestine!
As was done to us in the past and now in Lebanon, some talk about a 'just and comprehensive peace', to them I say, have you first convinced the "Israeli" with a 'just and comprehensive peace' to come now and demand the resistance movements to lay down their arms? 

Have you gotten anything from the "Israelis" until now, in Lebanon, Palestine or anywhere for that matter?
Have they returned your legitimate rights or the least minimum of that? Never!
Some tell us, and this is the existing nonsense in Lebanon, that the international community will protect us; well where is the international community now that is supposed to be protecting the unarmed people in Gaza, the children and women of Gaza?

That we are protected by international resolutions, where are the International Resolutions in the Arab-"Israeli" conflict, of which none has been implemented, not even a single resolution, even the 425 IR?
That Arab solidarity protects us, what Arab solidarity?
Arab rulers need days before they agree to hold a meeting they have not come to agree on holding until now! As a result of reservations here and there!

Dear brothers and sisters,
What happened and is still happening today in Gaza, and what took place during the July 2006 aggression, should be enough to convince each and every Arab, every nationalist in his homeland, and every person whose dedication for his rights, homeland and nation that what protects our peoples and restores our rights is the resistance, the jihad, the steadfast resistance of blood, all other options are mere illusions and a mirage!
To wake up and acquire this awareness and faith, do we - in both Arab and Islamic worlds - need a hundred massacres more like that of Qana or Gaza to learn this awareness? Do we need hundreds more of Deir Yassin massacres? Do we need hundreds more of Ibrahimi Mosque massacres? 

By God this matter is deeply regrettable, when this enemy, whom you want peace with, offers you a new massacre every year or so, as proof of its terrorist, criminal, racist nature and of its thirst for the blood of the innocent.
Your calls for peace will only be met with more killing and murder. Do we need more massacres in order for our leaders, peoples and elite to realize that we are before an enemy, whose inherent nature is brutality, racism and terrorism, with whom it is impossible, under any circumstances, to establish peace, how then can peace with humiliating conditions be achieved with such an enemy?
Do we need more blood to be convinced of that? 

In any case, with this clarity possessed by the resistance in Lebanon and in Palestine, we are confident the people of Gaza and its resistance are a people who depend on God, whose faith is in God for the divine victory, though some may not believe in this.
Here and on your behalf, on behalf of the resistance in Lebanon, the families of martyrs, of prisoners, the wounded, and on behalf of every resistance member and honorable Mujahid in Lebanon, I congratulate them on their martyrs as we pay our condolences to families of the martyrs, and ask God Almighty for a speedy recovery of their wounded.
The Gazans are in the field, steadfast in battle, with no boundaries on giving, they are a people of dignity, defiance and resistance.
These are the real factors that will bring victory. Faith, loyalty, honesty, consistency and steadfastness is what evokes the victory, and God is your champion and aid, the entire nation has the responsibility to stand by your side, it is not permissible for anyone to lag from their abilities and potential in your support and aid.

As for Lebanon, I like to say a few words during the current events.
Since the beginning of the bloody "Israeli" aggression on Gaza, Olmert, Barak, Livni, and a number of "Israeli" officials, made strong threats and warnings to "any other front," with which they particularly meant Lebanon, and that they took the proper precautions on the border, and that they are on full alert on the northern border of occupied Palestine.
Today they sent calls to the population of the settlements in northern occupied Palestine, to prepare and equip their shelters, and many messages more are being directed in this regard.

Now, we need to be speaking with a nationalist and moral responsibility, I do not want to frighten anyone or cause concern to anyone but we cannot mislead anyone, here, since there are two existing possibilities: 

1-Everything the "Israelis" say or do in the northern occupied region of Palestine may be preventative precautions, to deal with any developments on the Lebanese front;

2- the other possibility we can never overlook, is the "Israeli" enemy resorting to act of aggression against Lebanon, in the presence of collusion by some Arab regimes and a weak Arab stand, an international vacuum, a world busy with financial crisis and a political vacuum in the current phase of US decision making process, right between president Bush's departure and Obama taking the reigns of power.

The "Israelis" may take advantage of this gap in world timing, to direct a hit against Lebanon, as they need something of this sort, whether for their elections or to restore "Israel's" deterrence image.

It is not permissible to feel reassured by statements that claim "Israel" cannot fight on two fronts. It has fought on 3 and 4 fronts in the past. This must make the Lebanese Government, army, people, as well as the Lebanese resistance more attentive, vigilant, cautious, not to take light of what is going on around us, including the issue of missiles discovered eight days ago, just before the start of the military attack on Gaza! I in turn ask the already posed question as well: who placed these missiles where they were before the war began?

When several Katyusha rockets were discovered in al-Naqoura, some personalities in Lebanon suddenly appeared, making loud concerned theories and statements, and started pointing accusative fingers at us, so much so that one of them said: "no one can make moves in that region, but Hizbullah", yet regrettably we did not hear the voices of these same political forces and figures, when the Zionists kidnapped the two Tarraf brothers from the Southern Blida within this same period, their nationalistic concern and bleeding hearts for Lebanon were not heard or seen. 

Moreover, if this is the information upon which they build their political analysis, then this is a disaster, as this information is both incorrect and false, or it is someone's attempt to shift the blame on to Hizbullah for that matter.
I would like to say to those that in Hizbullah, we possess the courage to take responsibility for any action we take, and we do not hide or shy away from our responsibilities as some do!

We possess such courage, and we do not need to defend ourselves against an accusation, but what occurred is, yes, suspicious but of the other side, for couldn't "Israel" have penetrated southern Lebanon to set up missiles of this type?
Couldn't "Israel's" collaborators - there are many in Lebanon as individuals and networks - carry out such acts, not in solidarity with our brothers in Gaza, but to provide a justification for "Israel" to launch an aggression against Lebanon? Unfortunately, those politicians provided a justification and helped set one up. When they condemned the Katyusha, they said that this provides a pretext for "Israel" to attack Lebanon!
Who says it provides a pretext?
Had such an occurrence taken place before, does it justify an assault on Lebanon, to destroy and confront Lebanon?
You are providing "Israel" with excuses through such rhetoric and absurd and unfounded statements. 

I will not delve deep into this matter now, but I am in the process of inviting Lebanon, as I do the region, yet my focus now remains on Lebanon specifically, the country that rattled "Israel" twice, and many more times, but the most well-known "Israeli" defeats occurred in year 2000 and 2006.
Yes we ought to be on alert. 

I do not want frighten you, but to avoid this subject from becoming a media leak, I will share with you that I asked the brothers in the South particularly, to be present, vigilant and cautious, because we face a brutal and treacherous enemy. We do not know the size of the schemes hatched around us, regionally and in the world; we are not fearful of what happened in 2006 or of what happened or what is happening in Gaza.
We believe in the choice we made, and are quite prepared to confront any assault on our land, country and dignity, we wrote our slogan in blood and willing and prepared to confront all aggressors, no matter whom, through being present, in our resistance and our belonging to "how far disgrace is from us." 

Brother and sisters,

All of us in Lebanon, and throughout the Islamic and Arab worlds are called upon during these historical days, especially in Ashura days, to shoulder the historic responsibility and responsibility of faith towards what's happening in Gaza.
The results of what goes on in Gaza should not be born by Gaza or Palestine alone but by the entire nation.

We must continue our efforts and actions, and should not settle for a protest here and a sit-in there, an action here or there; we ought to invest every effort in defending our people in Gaza.
Tomorrow is a day of mourning as announced by His Eminence Sayyed Ali Khamenei (May he live long), for all mujahidin, resistance fighters and the free.
Tomorrow is important to us, to express our solidarity with and sympathy for our people in Gaza, to mourn the martyrs who passed away there.
I in turn invite everyone tomorrow afternoon, to participate in a large gathering at al-Rayah football ground to pay tribute and participate in this mourning of the martyrs of the resistance in Gaza, to express our solidarity with people of Gaza. I know there are a lot of Ashura gatherings to be held in neighborhoods, mosques and Husseiniya halls tomorrow. 

I call for the cancellation of all of these congregations for everyone to attend at al-Rayah instead, men, women, and children, young and old to meet in a stand of solidarity with Gaza and its martyrs.
Tomorrow, we ought to make the world hear our voice, and see our fearless Hussaini fists, in declaration to the world that we remain standing here, unyielding to murder, blood or intimidation. 

I used to invite you on the tenth of Muharram to al-Rayah football ground, but tomorrow is a tenth Ashura day, since everyday is an Ashura and every land is Karbala.
Tomorrow is a call to Hussain as well as an answer to his call; tomorrow the response is yours God willing. 

Peace be upon you, O Imam Hussein, the son of the Messenger of God, my salute and greetings of peace go to you, so long as I exist and as long as there is night and day...
Peace be upon Hussain and upon Ali the son of Hussain, the children of Hussain and Hussain's companion, and on all the martyrs on the Hussaini path of resistance.

Peace and God's mercy and blessings be upon you all.