A week after the proceedings of the Sixth International Conference in support of the Palestinian Intifada ended in the Iranian capital Tehran, we visited member of the loyalty to the Resistance Bloc Lebanese Member of Parliament Dr. Hassan Fadlullah to talk about the importance of the Conference and the speech of the Supreme Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei. Dr. Fadlullah stressed the necessity for commitment to the draft of the final statement of the conference which stated that the Palestinian issue is at the first top of the list of priorities in the Islamic world until the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, with emphasis on the importance of exerting enough effort to make sure not to marginalize or distort the Palestinian cause or amid the challenges inflicting the region and uniting with the aim of supporting the Palestinian people.
Below is the the full transcript of the interview conducted by freelance journalist and political writer Marwa Osman from Beirut, Lebanon:
What distinguishes the 6th conference to support the Palestinian Intifada this year and at this particular time, especially after the speech of the supreme leader Sayed Ali Khamenei, which some considered as a declaration of the final statement of the conference in the first couple of minutes of the conference opening?
Without a doubt the conference was a political, popular and resistance landmark toward the Palestinian cause because its timeliness comes at a sensitive stage where we see attempts to eventually obliterate the entire Palestinian question. Even those who were taking the path toward a possible settlement with the Zionist entity received a massive blow in light of the positions declared by US President Donald Trump and the Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toward the Palestinian state. There is an attempt to change the point of the conflict in the region and switch the focus towards other regional predicaments, the work of the and timing of the Conference were crucial to say that the Palestinian cause is still a firm and persistent one and that there is one single state in the world willing to hold such a high level parliamentary gathering of intellectual, cultural, and political and popular facades. This congregation of parliament speakers, parliamentarians, public figures from the resistance movements and from various Palestinian factions all came to this Conference to reaffirm the Iranian choice to fully adopt this Palestinians cause and that Iran is the main supporter of Palestine, the Liberation of Palestine and the resistance in Palestine. The speech of Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei which was considered a core document, in fact a general framework, to the draft of the final statement of the conference, put forward the steps that could be followed by the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance powers in order to achieve its core objectives. If we read this speech carefully, it shows that the conference was devoted solely for Palestine and did not raise any other issues to confirm that the aim of the Conference is the Palestinian cause and nothing else. This has been the case in the Islamic Republic of Iran since the days of late Imam Khomeini until today with Imam Sayyed Khamenei. Iran has proved that it is sincere in adopting the rightful issues of the Arab countries with Palestine in the forefront. Throughout all the historical changes that Iran has witnessed from the days of the revolution until the current time, the Palestinian cause has always been a pivotal issue for the Iranian people. Another important aspect n the speech of the Supreme Leader was his emphasis on how other parties or states’ choose to be at proximity from the resistance or choose to distance themselves from the resistance rather than classifying these groups and states according to their political, religious or national affiliations. Imam Khamenei classified these powers on a single base: those who stand with the resistance have the backing of Iran, and those who refuse to stand with the resistance will not have the backing of Iran.
The leaders of the various Palestinian fronts and factions whether leftist or Islamic received much attention in Iran and mainly during the Conference, which was considered as a message of support and a distinctive sign of relationship with Iran. But how will this relationship be translated on the ground in Palestine given that some Palestinian factions have previously declared disapproval of Iran options in the region and in Syria, particularly?
This is exactly why the Supreme Leader did not position Iran's stance toward any Palestinian faction according to the attitude of these factions towards any regional and local cause. For example, he did not classify factions according to who stood with Syria or against Syria, with Yemen or against Yemen, with Bahrain or against Bahrain, or with any other issue. As I stated before, the speech of Imam Khamenei had a very important message for all the resistance movements. The Iranian support for the resistance is based on Iran’s position from the Arab Israeli conflict and not on any other matter, which opened a lot of diplomatic doors for everyone. The other important matter touched in the speech of Imam Khamenei was his reaffirmation that the banner of resistance will remain held high and if abandoned by the current factions, others will emerge from within the Palestinian people in the occupied territories because the spirit of resistance in this nation has existed since before 1948, since the early revolutions in the 1930s to the emergence of the resistance to the development of the resistance until our present day. And this is what we see in the historic path for the Palestinian people, when one faction abandons the resistance, there comes another faction and raises the banner. Even today, we see that the current intifada started from the Palestinian youth’s motivation to face the occupation. Perhaps many of them do not even belong to any Palestinian faction and this what the Leader was referring to in one way or another.
What do you think is required today of the Palestinian factions to restore momentum once again to the Palestinian cause and make it one of the region’s priorities?
The final statement of the Conference was based on three pillars: first it stated that the resistance is the only way to liberate Palestine so we all should commit to any the option of resistance. Secondly, the unity of the Palestinian people for the option of the resistance that is the resistance is basis of this unity. And thirdly, that the current intifada is a real opportunity for everyone to work for their support in order to help it grow and continue. We know that the first intifada in the late 1980s had rocked the Israeli entity, and the ascending operations of resistance in the 1990s led in the end to the liberation of the Gaza Strip. It was the resistance that rendered Gaza to be free. As a result of the conference, we put together these three pillars with the consent of the conference attendees and the consent of the Palestinian factions, and considered these pillars as the rules to proceed in this new stage. Therefore, what is required today at the level of the Palestinian factions is the reaffirmation of the resistance option and give momentum to the action of resistant through unity, because dispersal and schism are factors of weakness, therefore unity obliges the pursuit of the resistance option. Today we have an emerging situation through the Palestinian youth who initiated the simplest acts with tremendous effects, so when unity becomes the only option then I believe that the Palestinian people needs to abide by these three pillars.
What is the role of the Palestinian Authority in all of the above, especially concerning the unity between the factions and the emphasis on the resistance option?
We have said since the very beginning that the option of negotiations with the Israeli entity is a sterile option and today we see the results of that option. Even those who walked in the path of negotiating, arrived to the point where they could not get to anything in return. The latest Trump and Netanyahu meeting was a very clear sign that the negotiating track as come to an end.
Further on, during the visit of the Israeli entity’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the US president Donald Trump, Trump assured of the US’s full support for the establishment of an Israeli state on the Palestinian land and the US’s support for the Zionist regime against all kinds of resistance in the region. Does this position signal a green light to Israel to attack the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine?
The United States has always been loyal to the Israeli side. There was never a day that the United States was biased to any of our causes in the region and especially with regard to the conflict with the Zionist enemy. The United States has always adopted the Israeli policies, and Trump came to reveal the true face of America and to express publicly the secret practices of the consecutive US administrations over the years throughout the long conflict. Is this a green light for future wars? Well, we consider that the Israeli aggression has been a permanent one and that its actual presence is an aggression and its occupation of land is an aggression and an act of war, but this war sometimes witnesses a cease-fire. Today, aren’t the practices of the Israeli entity in Palestine an act of war against the Palestinian people? The building of settlements, the stealing of lands, the establishment of the wall, the detention of thousands of Palestinians, the continuation of the occupation of certain parts of Lebanese lands, the continuation of the occupation of the Golan, the violation of the Lebanese sovereignty constantly in the air and the sea and the mainland. These are all acts of hostility and war. But the Israeli enemy will not launch a comprehensive or a large war because it fears the results of such an act especially after the 2006 July war when the Israeli leadership became obsessed with the idea of achieving a clear victory. This clear victory has so far not been able to design mechanisms that the Zionist regime can resort to in order to reach victory because there exists a strong resistance capable and ready to defeat them, God willing. Therefore the options of war for the Israeli entity is not only politically covered by the US. The options of war for the Israeli entity is also linked to the Israeli potential in achieving actual victory, but Israel is aware today that it is unable to achieve this victory because what faces its aggressive ambitions in Lebanon as well as in Palestine is a resistance seeking to defeat Israel.
How do you describe the readiness of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon Hezbollah in case a war was ever imposed on it by the Zionist entity?
I think it was submitted by His Eminence the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in his recent speeches the readiness indicator for the resistance where Israel will not be able to absorb the results of this war and that any Israeli adventure with a war against Lebanon would not be for the benefit of the Israeli entity, on the contrary it will result with a great defeat for the Zionist regime.
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