US, Israel dealt blow to Arab peace plan

Hezbollah secretary general Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has described the latest speeches by the US president and the Israeli prime minister as a final blow to Arab peace initiative.

Addressing thousands of his supporters in the eastern village of Nabi Sheet on the occasion of “Liberation Day,” which celebrates Israeli military withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 after 18 years of occupation, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday that Obama and Israel have the same goals: continuation of occupation and damaging resistance.

Nasrallah said when President Obama made his speech at the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, he hinted that Israel does not have to stay behind its 1967 borders.

Obama in his Middle East speech last week insisted that the borders issue should be the basis for stalled direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He later emphasized that his position reflected the stances of previous US administrations and not his own.

Nasrallah also slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for calling al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of Israel.

He also criticized Netanyahu for urging the Palestinian Authority to abandon a unity deal with Hamas, saying this shows that Israel and the US do not want Palestinians to unite.

He also urged the Arab League to drop a peace initiative with Israel, presented by Saudi Arabia in 2002 which offers Israel full normalization of ties in return for its withdrawal from occupied Arab land and the creation of a Palestinian state.

“Is it not time that this initiative be dropped as an option?” asked Nasrallah.

The popular cleric also urged Syrian people to “protect their country” and give a chance for the Syrian leadership to implement reforms, stressing that toppling the Damascus regime would serve only US and Israeli interests.

“We are worried about what is being plotted for the regime in Syria and the Syrian people,” Nasrallah said adding that “President Bashar Assad believes in reform and is serious and ready to go a long way toward reforms, but in a calm and responsible manner.”