Sayyed Fadlullah: the Palestinians should establish a unified leadership that would outline the political and security agenda of the Palestinians;a program in which all parties play complementary and not conflicting roles

Asked in his weekly seminar the following question : The Palestinian dialogue in Cairo ended without reaching conclusive agreements, while the UN General Assembly decided to submit the issue of the separating wall to the International Court of Justice despite, the fact that the E.U backed down… How do you read the general situation the Palestinians face at this stage?

The Religious Authority Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah said:

I have always considered that Palestine plays a pivotal role in the current and future political changes in the region.

All what happens in the region whether positive or negative is nourished by the developments that take place in Palestine... Any positive development in Palestine will have a positive impact on the Arabs and Muslims especially in Iraq and the neighboring countries, and any negative one will also have its negative effects on the region. That is why the developments in Palestine and around it are very critical, especially with the enemy getting ready for a new stage of pressure and containment.

Meanwhile, we have noticed of late that there are some international political movements which apparently seek to condemn certain Israeli aggressions but which actually strive to give the Israeli occupation a realistic political legitimacy… The American maneuvers and the European formal objections, which only seek to score some points in the international competition of promoting the interests of the various parties, enable Israel to expand and strength its occupation.

Therefore, as we do not understand why the states of the EU did not vote in the UN General Assembly in favor of condemning the racist wall, we would like to emphasize that the wall is a political issue and not a security one. It is part of the Israeli stalling maneuvers that seek to create new facts on the ground that cannot be removed.

What the EU, America and the entire world should do is to remove the occupation, for all the Palestinian leaders have announced many a time that they are ready for peace, and that they will not fire one single shot if the occupation withdraws…

We do not know what prevents the Security Council and its effective members to take the matter into their own hands… Moreover, why do they insist even in the Road Map on the Palestinian security obligations and not that of the Israelis who kill Palestinian children for example on a daily basis.

We hope that the EU stances will be different from that of America, which provides absolute support even for the Israeli atrocities. In this respect, we have noticed that the EU is aware that Sharon’s Israel is building a separating and permanent border and not solving a security problem. This wall will undermine the Palestinian state even before it exists. As for the American plan to support this state, it is but a part of the show the Americans are staging to reelect Bush… Thus, we believe that the credibility of the EU is at stake, for without coming up with a working mechanism for a solution in Palestine, nothing will stop Sharon from pursuing his plans.

We feel that the Palestinians should be aware of what is going on around them in this critical stage, which is characterized by keeping their cause dependent on the American elections and international relations, as well as being a prisoner of stalling.

We also feel that the Palestinians should continue their dialogue, but not based on adapting to the international and regional changes. They should seek to find the means to strengthen their internal front to face the coming stages, which could be more dangerous than the current one. This could be done by establishing a unified Palestinian leadership that would outline the political and security agenda of the Palestinians; a program which envisages for all parties to play complementary and not conflicting roles... Any development in the region and in the world should be utilized in what serves the Palestinian cause and not the opposite... especially that the world is aware of the magnitude of the Israeli crises.

If this happens America will not be able to pressurize the world as a whole, for there is no place in the third millennium for any occupation.