Sayyed Fadlullah: We have to keep the broader interests of the nation in mind when we deal with more specific ones .

Asked in his weekly seminar about the emergence of the new regionalist trends in the aftermath of the war on Iraq that revitalized the local issues at the expense of the issues that have to do with the fate of the nation… The Religious Authority Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah said:

The recent developments in the region have undoubtedly given a boost or even a rise to certain new political isolationist trends that prefer to solve the problems of the country at the expense of the major causes of the nation.

These trends have remerged either as a response to the enormous international pressures, or, as in some cases, out of belief that it has become very costly to continue to confront the international arrogance and defy the escalating international pressures.

Thus, we have witnessed of late a resurgence of narrow regionalism in the Arab and Islamic world, that even begun to criticize parties or groups for acting in a way that was believed to be in the interests of the Arab and Islamic causes.

Countries in the Arab and Islamic world have begun to be occupied in their own affairs even if it involves taking hostile stands against other Arab or Islamic states. Some have even openly said that we have to get rid of the Palestinian cause and concentrate on our internal affairs; perhaps some have started to think, and probably act as well, that we should open up on Israel and support America, by acting in a way that promotes its project in the region, so as to avoid any loss, that might be caused by standing with the causes of the nation and its unity.

We are witnessing these days a deliberate neglect of the Palestinian cause which enables Israel to broaden the scope of its security and political pressures on the Palestinians. This would also enable the international powers to execute their plan of ending the Intifada and besieging the Palestinian people, with some Arabs acting as tools that brighten the image of certain projects especially that of the Road Map.

We call on addressing the major causes from the viewpoint of the interests of the nation, but without neglecting internal oppression, especially if it reaches the level the Iraqis were subjected to. Nevertheless, we should take a balanced stand that opposes international arrogance being a continuous threat to the nation on the one hand, and confronts internal oppression on the other hand. We say to all Arab nationalists and Islamists: When we are dealing specific issues we should not forget the general ones, for they might undermine all what we have done on the internal front. When the international arrogance reflects on its interests it is bound to create a new tyrant to succeed the one whose job has ended, even if the new tyrant is presented to be flying a nationalistic or even an Islamic banner.