LEBANON: Hezbollah calls for unity government or early parliamentary elections, and warns the people may have to take to the streets

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in remarks broadcast on the party's al-Manar Television on Sunday (November 19), called on his followers to prepare for peaceful protests to topple what he described as a U.S. government in Lebanon. He told them to prepare to take to the streets to demand a national unity government or early parliamentary elections but did not say when Hezbollah (Hizbollah), in conjunction with other opposition forces, would call for the protests. "Let's take it to the people. No one is talking about weapons, no one is talking about riots, no one is talking about a coup, no one is talking about a popular uprising, and no one is talking about disobedience. All that we are saying -- in a very calm manner -- that today we have a problem in the country," Nasrallah told an assembly of Hezbollah activists on Saturday (November 18). "We shall not accept for you (the government) to remain --of course we shall object using the means that we have been talking about: the civilised, peaceful and constitutional means -- (we shall not accept) for your to remain in control of the country because you are an American government," he said. Shi'ite Muslim ministers from the pro-Syrian groups Hezbollah and Amal quit the cabinet on November 11 after the collapse of all-party talks over giving the opposition a decisive say in government, dominated by anti-Damascus factions. "We must all be ready to take to the streets -- on the psychological and moral level. We (must) understand why we might take to the streets, that this is one of the required methods of action. And we must be psychologically prepared. Because it seems -- from the discussions that we've been having with the members of the opposition -- that when we call for demonstration we may not make the call three or four days or a week in advance. We might give 24-hour's notice. Or 12 hours' notice. Or 6 hours' notice. So we have to be ready," Nasrallah told supporters, emphasising that violence was not an option. Druze anti-Syrian leader Walid Jumblatt said on Sunday Hezbollah and its allies will be responsible for any civil riots or troubles in the country if they rejected the special court to try the killers of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri . Jumblatt, who was addressing his supporters in the annual conference for his party the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), said they can discuss and accept the expansion of the cabinet if the opposition accepts the draft UN statutes for Hariri's tribunal. "We are for a compromise. Yes, an honourable compromise. That's if, of course, the other group accepts a compromise. A compromise premised on the acceptance of the (international) tribunal and maybe even, later on, the expansion of the cabinet. But they have to accept the tribunal first. But if they absolutely refuse the tribunal then the country will be in a real crisis. We have several options. But we will not -- and must not -- be the ones to initiate civil riots. Let them take the responsibility for any civil riots," Jumblatt said . Six Lebanese ministers including five Shi'ite Muslim ministers from Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal movement, quit over the collapse of talks on their demands for effective veto power in the government. Nine of the cabinet's 24 members must resign for it to fall. A Sunni Muslim minister quit in February, though his resignation was not accepted, leaving 17 ministers in the cabinet. Politicians and analysts said the crisis was likely to spill into street confrontations that could shatter stability and damage efforts to recover from a devastating war with Israel. The anti-Syrian majority coalition has accused Hezbollah of implementing a Syrian-Iranian plan to overthrow the government and to foil efforts to set up the court to try Hariri's killers. The United States has already accused Iran, Syria and Hezbollah of plotting to topple the government, which Washington holds up as an example of emerging democracy in the Middle East. Hezbollah has denied trying to obstruct the Hariri tribunal, saying it had agreed to it but wanted to discuss the details. Anti-Syrian leaders have pledged counter-demonstrations should Hezbollah take to the streets, raising fears of violence at a time of rising tension between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims. Many Lebanese blame Syria for the killing of Hariri, a Sunni, in a suicide truck bombing. Damascus denies involvement. Hariri's 2005 assassination led to mass protests against Syria. Under international pressure, Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April last year and anti-Syrian politicians swept to victory in ensuing elections. A UN commission investigating the assassination has implicated senior Lebanese and Syrian security officials.

ITN Source | November 19, 2006

Tags:. .psychological. .tension. .moral. .democracy. .coup