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| 02/07/2008 Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah held a press conference to explain the circumstances of the swap deal with Israel.
Sayyed Nasrallah began his conference with criticizing a British decision to consider what it called "Hezbollah's armed wing" as a terrorist group. "This decision does not surprise us. I personally consider it a normal decision by a country that contributed in the establishment of the Zionist entity; a country that played a major role in uprooting the Palestinians from their lands; a country that made the Belford Promise; a country that honored the author who made the ugliest accusations ever against Prophet Mohammed. Who are the fighters of the Islamic Resistance compared with our Prophet. The decision is a normal one and I believe it came somehow late," his eminence said.
The Hezbollah chief however stopped at the timing of the British decision. "The timing is sketchy, especially when the West as well as the Arab world is interested in the swap deal."
Sayyed Nasrallah said that the swap deal establishes the Islamic Resistance's respect of man, "and this is why Britain is seeking to present a different image." "The coming decades will witness all attempts to falsely charge the resistance vanish in the wind," his eminence said.
Going back to the swap deal, Sayyed Nasrallah explained that a German official commissioned by the United Nations conducted the mediation. "The mediation is international not German," he explained. "This does not mean that the German government did not exert any effort. On the contrary, it interfered whenever things got complicated."
The Hezbollah chief stressed the only concern was the humane concern that all detainees return and the fate of the missing is determined. "Our condition was to keep the talks secret for the safety of negotiations…Therefore, we distanced ourselves from the media and we were not the source of any leak."
"On the July 12 (2006), I did not set a ceiling. As for Samir (Kintar), the operation that was conducted back then was for the sake of his release. There was no need for us to set a high ceiling through the media. We are convinced that if we want to do this, we do it in the process of the negotiations."
Sayyed Nasrallah also said that this is the first time that someone from Hezbollah talks about the exchange deal. "Hard and long negotiations had started. They used to stop sometimes but they were never deemed over. Our negotiating team is highly competent and very much experienced. Months before the accomplishment of the deal, we were negotiating on principals and then we moved on to details. In principle, the deal should include all Lebanese detainees including Kintar, all the remains of Lebanese, Palestinians and Arab martyrs, the file of all individuals who went missing even before 1982 and the release of Palestinian and Arab detainees as well as the four Iranian diplomats whom the Lebanese Forces handed over to Israel," he added.
His eminence went on saying that Israel also had demands.
"Ron Arad, the two soldiers, the body parts of more than 10 soldiers and the exclusion of Kintar," he said.
He added that releasing Palestinian and Arab detainees was refused in principle, "but negotiations continued and we adhered to our principle. In the following months, some breakthroughs were made. As a result we made an exchange of the body of a drowned Israeli sailor with a detainee and the bodies of two martyrs. The issue of Samir Kintar had not been complete, but he was introduced to the deal not a long time ago and later on, the deal comprised all detainees."
As for detainee Yehya Skaf, Sayyed Nasrallah said that the Israelis insist that he was martyred during an operation with late resistance fighter Dalal Moghrabi. "We demanded his body be exhumed as well as the bodies of all the martyr who took part in the Dalal Moghrabi operation in order to be returned to their families."
The Hezbollah chief also confirmed that DNA tests on the bodies of the martyrs will determine whether Mohammad Farran is among the martyrs to be handed over to Lebanon. Farran is a young fisherman from the city of Tyre who went missing after an Israeli military boat opened fire at his fishing boat on which blood stains were found later.
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed Hezbollah did not link between the two captured soldiers and Gilad Shalit who was captured by Hamas in occupied Palestine. "We agreed with Hamas not to tie our negotiations with Israel to theirs because this will complicate things…But we insisted on the Palestinian issue because of its symbolic indications. So, we accepted this agreement, and we think it is important. Today I officially announce that we accept the agreement. Palestinian detainees especially women and children will be released. The UN chief will issue something in this regard and so will Olmert," he said.
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed Hezbollah's team agreed on technicalities with the mediator. "The only thing left is the timing that should be specified soon… but if we set a date, Israel will counter that. Nevertheless, I expect it will happen in a week or two. There are Israeli legal and judicial issues on Samir Kantar’s release.
His eminence highlighted three final points:
"First, I congratulate all Lebanese on this achievement and I hope that all the Lebanese consider it their achievement. We will deal with it just as we dealt with the 2000 victory and we will not use this new achievement for internal ends. This is our principle and these are our values. I hope the Lebanese appreciate this achievement that if it is completed, Lebanon will be the first Arab country in the Israeli-Arab struggle to close the detainee file after liberating the land, excluding the Shebaa Farms and the Kafar Shouba hills," Sayyed Nasrallah said.
"The second point is the bodies that will return to Lebanon… Our national and ethical responsibility is to maintain what these martyrs sacrificed and died for, and their funerals should be a national, unified event, a chance for the Lebanese to meet again… I personally announce Hezbollah’s absolute openness to any political meeting under any title and in any context if it helps in uniting Lebanon, preserving civil peace and overcoming the previous phase in Lebanon," he added.
"The final point is that I urge all popular powers to distance themselves from any provocation so that we can make good and civilized use of the sacred blood in bridging the gaps between the Lebanese. Also, allow me to speak firmly of celebratory gunfire. This is a very dangerous matter…People are falling victims by this kind of firing. We can no longer tolerate this. Anyone who fires a gun to celebrate is firing that gun at me, at my head, at my heart and at my turban," the Hezbollah chief said.
Sayyed Nasrallah answered the questions of the reporters which focused on the swap deal and assured them that Israel is incapable of launching an attack against Iran.
His eminence refused to comment on a question about the possibility of undertaking future operations to capture Israeli soldiers. He also stressed Lebanon’s defense strategy was first formally concretized in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah. "We are always ready to discuss the defense strategy. We are not afraid of discussion. Anyone afraid of discussion is weak and has done something wrong. We have a comprehensive defense strategy, and we are ready to discuss it at all times."
Sayyed Nasrallah also said that the Israelis had previously handed over mine maps to Lebanon, "but they were not enough."
"There are also no maps for cluster bombs," his eminence concluded. | 
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