Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech delivered on December 29th in solidarity with Gaza

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah the Lord of the World and peace be on our Master and Prophet - the seal of the Prophets – Abi Al Qassem Mohammad bin Abdullah and on his pure and chaste Household and chosen companions and on all prophets and messengers.

First we address the pure souls of Gaza martyrs - men, women, children, adults, infants and resistance fighters – and offer them the reward of reading Al Fatiheh.

Peace be upon you all. First, many thanks and high estimation for your answering this call – the call of solidarity. You are today in this place in this cold whether expressing your continuing commitment to answering this call annually. Today is one of Al Hussein's (pbuh) days and one of the days of struggle and one of the days of martyrdom. You've always answered the call without any hesitation. Nothing prevented you from answering the call ever: neither chilling cold, nor the burning sun, nor an internal threat, nor an external enemy. You in the southern suburbs, under the rain, you're the resistance. Under the shelling, you are the resistance. In risks, you're the resistance. You are qualified for such a call. You are answering the call of Al Hussein (pbuh) through the ages – this call which represents every oppressed, persecuted human being, every man deprived of his rights, besieged and threatened and every man committed to his dignity, honor, humanity and rights.

Today, you are answering the call of that great Imam, His Eminence Sayyed Khamenai (May Allah prolong his lifetime) for the nation – and we are part of this nation - to express its solidarity, consolation, sorrow and pride in the martyrs. We say to our people in Gaza: your sorrow is ours; your happiness is ours; your pain is ours; your wound is ours. Today you are answering the call of our steadfast people there who are day and night under shelling. You know what shelling means. You know what house demolishing means and what emigration of those beloved, the killing of men and children and the steadfastness of resistance fighters on the confrontation fronts mean. Thus your answer today was a natural answer that goes in harmony with your present time, your history and with the hope set on you. Though your answer is natural, it is still worthy of our thanks because it shows your obligation and is but a cry to be heard by the whole world which must comprehend that Gaza is not alone and that Palestine will remain in the mind, conscience and heart of this nation. Neither decades, nor scores of betraying media means, nor the retreat of some political elites which claim culture and education, nor time passing, nor much bloodshed can wipe Palestine from the mind and heart of the nation. That's because time can't make what's righteous unjust and what's unjust righteous. Palestine will remain righteous and Israel unjust and whoever stands with Israel is backing righteousness and whoever fails to back Palestine is unjust.

Brothers and sisters:

We meet again today during Al Hussein days and martyrdom days to show our pride in Gaza martyrs and at the same time offer our condolence. We and you are the nation of martyrs. We hold the culture of martyrs. The culture of martyrdom means the culture of true life with dignity and pride. It's the culture of standing steadfast on our feet with our heads raised up. We know the status Allah Al Mighty gave the martyrs. The martyrs in Gaza as the martyrs in Lebanon fell in the most clear, the greatest and the holiest battle. If you searched worldwide for a clearly legal battle on the religious, lawful, moral, political and humanistic level, you won't find a clearer battle. These are the martyrs in the path to Allah. And is the path to Allah other than the path of the oppressed, whether men, women or children? Is it other than the path of human dignity? Is it other than the path of defending the sanctities and restoring Al Qods and refusing to give up one grain of the holy land soil.

Pleased be the martyrs of Gaza. They gained the pride, happiness, high status and the eternal life all the martyrs in the path of resistance and defending the dignity of the nation and its sanctities have gained. Brothers and sisters, today we adhere again to our responsibility. I don't mean what I said yesterday. I have more to say concerning the ongoing confrontation. First in the name of those gathering here, in your name all of you, I like to address first His Eminence the President of the Lebanese Republic General Michael Suleiman saying: we call on you as a consensus president of Lebanon to exert effort and play a central role in moving towards holding an Arab Summit because some are working against holding such a summit for other considerations. The president of the Lebanese Republic may take into consideration the Lebanese consensus that condemns the aggression on Gaza and it's supposed that all Lebanese condemn and have condemned this oppressive aggression. He may depend on the Lebanese consensus calling for halting the aggression on Gaza unconditionally and Lebanon is among the countries which have suffered mostly from aggressions, massacres, demolitions and killing. So he may depend on this national consensus to play an intensified role towards holding a summit without any considerations or Arab sensitivity. Today the Lebanese official position must be in solidarity with the people of Gaza and not with this or that Arab regime. These are diabolic considerations. Humanistic considerations say that Lebanon publicly and officially stand with those who are being killed, slaughtered and shelled in Gaza. In Gaza, children and women are being killed; mosques, worship centers, schools, universities and medical warehouses are being shelled. The Lebanese President may also depend on Lebanon's experience with the victorious resistance which he had followed up from his position as the head of the army during July War in which Lebanon – as army, resistance and people – gained victory. As such, the president is called upon to play a central role in the summit. As we have heard his courageous voice in the Interfaith Summit in the United Nations, the voice of Lebanon via the voice of the President must reverberate in any Arab Summit refusing to give up any rights while courageously backing the oppressed, sacrificing and tortured Palestinian people.

Secondly, today I address the Palestinian people in and outside Palestine to unite, adhere to each other and cooperate. Mistaken is he who believes that this war is on Hamas or the government of Hamas. The war is on the Palestinian people, on the will of the Palestinian people and on the rights of the Palestinian people. Here I want to clarify a point to Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and to every nation. Brothers and sisters, as for the US government, its project is to control the region and to consolidate Israel as the central arrogant power superior to all governments and peoples in the region. It's not concerned with who rules in Lebanon, or in Gaza or in Ramallah, or in Baghdad, or in Kabul or in any capital, or Arab or Islamic country. The US administration is not concerned with ideologies, beliefs, religions, races and nationalities. I frankly tell you, the US administration has no objections should an Islamic party or movement rule any Arab or Islamic country. Whoever believes that the battle is with an Islamic movement or government or the like is mistaken. The Americans have no problem in principle should the ruler be an Islamist, a socialist, a Marxist, a Leninist, a Maoist, or a nationalist. It doesn't matter to them whatever your beliefs and ideologies are. What counts is your political program - your position from Israel and America. Do you agree to sell oil for low prices for US companies? Do you accept submission to the US administration and interests? Do you recognize Israel and make a humiliating reconciliation with Israel? Are you ready to give up your sanctities, your nation's soil and your people's rights? What's your political program?

That's what rules the US stance towards any party, movement, organization, group, rule or political regime in the Arab and Islamic world. The evidence on what I say – and I'm not concerned to issue sentences whether positively or negatively. Enough with troubles – is Afghanistan. Islamic movements and parties are represented in the Afghani government. In Iraq, the president has two vice presidents; both are members in Islamic parties. The Iraqi premier is a member in an Islamic party. The Americans have no problem should the Palestinian government be ruled by an Islamic movement whether Hamas, Fateh, Jihad, the Public Front or whatever organization or faction from among the Palestinian factions. The Americans and the Israelis are not concerned with our prayers and fasting. Pray, fast and make pilgrimage to Mecca as much as you want, but leave control and the great political interests to be schemed by America and Israel. So the conflict is not with Hamas as an Islamic movement or with the Palestinian factions in Gaza as a result of their ideological, religious and intellectual affiliations but rather as a result of their political resisting program. I want to stress this point again in going back to year 2000 which I mentioned yesterday when I talked about Camp David negotiations between Barak and late president Yasser Arafat. Fateh Movement was categorized as a terrorist movement. But it was wiped from the terrorist list as it entered negotiations. President Arafat was allowed to enter Palestine and form the Palestinian authority. But in Camp David, in the last negotiations with Barak in 2000 when he refused to submit to the conditions set by Clinton and Barak and refused the settlement which was offered to him in Camp David which was backed by some Arab regimes, he returned to Ramallah. He was isolated, boycotted, combated and abandoned by the so called free world. He spent the last month of his life besieged in Ramallah District. Then they wrought and proceeded in killing him with poison as reports are showing.

Your convictions and your movement's identity, the color of your flag; yellow, green, black, brown, red… don't matter. What's being fought today in Gaza is your political agenda and not your Islamic name and movement. What's being fought is the program of the resistance. I frankly tell you, should brother Khaled Mishaal or any leader in Hamas contact any Arab or European agent and tell him we are ready to recognize Israel, to go to negotiations with Israel and to confer all the conditions for a settlement with Israel, instantly the shelling will come to an end in Gaza and killing stops. Hamas will be welcomed. They'll have no problem in making it assume power not only in Gaza but in the West Bank also. So no one must be misled. Such was the issue in Lebanon. Don't imagine that the US and Israel's problem with Hezbollah in Lebanon for instance is because it is an Islamic party or a religious party. Never! Now the Americas are saying concerning the upcoming elections: should the opposition win, such and such will take palce and they threaten the Lebanese! Now I tell you if any leader in Hezbollah contacted the Americans- and they wish to contact, sit, talk and negotiate with us – and tells them: Well we as a party are ready to recognize Israel, bargain the resistance, and tackle the Lebanese sovereignty, the Americans will help us to assume power in Lebanon along with our allies. They don't have problem with our prayers, fasting, scholars and beards. Their problem is with our political agenda which refuses giving up a grain of our soil, any of our prisoners, our dignity, our honor, our true sovereignty and our true independence. The same applies in Palestine today. The target in Gaza is not Hamas, Jihad or the resistance factions. The target in Gaza is the resistance, the Palestinian will, the Palestinian adherence to rights. Thus I add my voice to all the Palestinian leaderships which have called for a third Intifada in Palestine and to more uprisings all over the Arab and Islamic worlds. Gaza today is a nation entangled in a decisive battle for Palestine and not only for the government of Hamas. Thus the call for all the Palestinian factions to unite, abandon conflicts, cooperate, keep away from preconditions and work seriously to halt the aggression without allowing this aggression to achieve any of its goals.

Thirdly, today we renew our call to the Arab and Islamic peoples to continue their action because the aggression is continuing and because the aggressive will is strong and it needs strong confrontation. In April Aggression 1996 on Lebanon, Qana unequaled massacre and in 2006, Qana second massacre at least embarrassed the Zionists. It halted its operations after 48 hours. But what took place in Gaza is that the war started with a massacre and still the aggression did not stop neither in that day nor during the following hours. This means that they're insisting on making use of the time given to Israel to make the greatest possible achievement. Here we address the Arab leaders to make haste even if they didn't hold a summit. Let them make true efforts. Let's call on them to exert effort. But the final word remains to the battlefield. We are making our call here. Cries are heard here and in many Arab and Islamic capitals, praise be to Allah. People are hitting the streets in thousands, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands. This is a good sign. The scenes we are witnessing today in Arab and Islamic capitals weren't seen during July War 2006. This is a clear advancement in the position of the nation and its peoples. The people's action must escalate hour after hour, day after day. We are all concerned; let's stand and shout. Yesterday when I talked about things clearly, I knew before hand that I'll be confronted with a stream of accusations and insults. I was ready for that. I believe that defending Gaza and the people of Gaza – meaning the nation – deserves offering our blood and falling as martyrs in the path to Allah. So what if one was subject to some insults? That's the least offered. When we call for awareness, taking stands and demonstrating, that's because we are all engaged in the war of spreading awareness in the nation in face of the misleading campaigns of ignorance and falsehood practiced by more than one side. Yesterday on one of the Arab channels, I was listening to one of the "insulters". It goes without saying that they are insulters. Yet they are liars too. He was saying that Hezbollah shelled the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut. Did anyone shell the Egyptian Embassy? Frankly, it would've been natural had we held the first demonstration two days ago in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut. Yet we purposely avoided going there because we can understand the special conditions and don't want to confront anyone. We are staging a peaceful action. We are making a peaceful demand calling for a change in the Egyptian stance. But we are not concerned with attacking anyone. We are engaged in the awareness battle along the Arab and Islamic world in face of accusations and falsehood, as was the case with us during July War.

Yesterday, Arab official papers, unfortunately were accusing Hamas and the resistance factions in Gaza as selling their people for the interests of some regional regimes –namely Syria. What interest does Syria have in the killing of people in Gaza? On the contrary, Syria, which has its viewpoint, took the initiative to stop the indirect negotiations with Israel via Turkey. They were also accusing Hamas of defending Iran. This was said in Lebanon for 33 days; that we were defending Syria or the Iranian nuclear program. These are absurdities. These are loathsome, malicious and detestable accusations whoever and wherever they were issued from. Hamas, Jihad and the other Palestinian factions in Gaza are defending the people in Gaza. When the appeasement came to an end, they returned to their natural program because the appeasement means dying of hunger and humiliation. So it's not an appeasement. So they are not only holding the victim responsible but also accusing the victim in his national and religious affiliation. They're accusing him of being unfaithful to his people. Indeed those resistance fighters in all resistance areas are but the noblest among people. They are the most dignified, generous and pure among people. Whoever abandons them is an accomplice in the crime, in the killing and in the treachery. We are calling for opening Rafah cross point. Now if we watched attentively to all the slogans and listened to all the speeches and outcries all over the Arab and Islamic worlds, we find an Arab and Islamic consensus in the nation calling on the Egyptian government to open Rafah cross point. Gaza is steadfast, courageous and able to make victory. It needs us to backs its steadfastness and the first condition for such steadfastness is opening a door for it.

Brothers and sisters:

Today we stand before what's taking place in Gaza. As we used to say in Lebanon, the decisive element is the battlefield. True there are great numbers of martyrs and wounded, but so far and God willing, the political and military leadership is steadfast. We are witnessing in Gaza fighters from all resistance factions in the battlefield, public steadfastness, a continuing public backing to the resistance and its choice. The continuing rocket launching in scores since the first day of the aggression on which is targeting new settlements is an evidence of the strength in the battlefield in Gaza. We can understand that very well pursuant to our experience in July War. I've said that what's taking place in Gaza is very similar to July War. The Zionist air force will fail to kill the will of the resistance fighters who are launching rockets. The inhabitants of the settlements 20 and 40 kilometers away from Gaza will remain outside their settlements or in shelters. The battle now is that of time. Our brethren fighters in Gaza understand that very well. The Israelis can't stand for a long time. Questions will be posed about the futility of what they've done. They've said that one of the conclusions drawn from Lebanon's second war is that air force only is not able to put a decisive end to the battle. Yes in Lebanon hundreds of warplanes were shelling us daily. The strategic air force stock was exhausted during the first days. The Israelis say that the sum of shells they rocked Lebanon with from air surpasses the sum of rockets they shelled during all the Arab-Israeli wars. Still the air force failed to decisively end the battle. Many martyrs fell among us and many wounded. Tens of hundreds of houses were demolished. Still arms did not fall neither the will nor the rocket. In Gaza, as long as the will of the resistance is launching rockets, the Israelis will find out that they flopped in achieving their goals despite the great sacrifices made by the Palestinians. The Israelis might find a land operation inevitable. Today the Israelis are bullying as they are waging a psychological war against the Palestinian through allowing channels to broadcast life images of tanks movements – as they did in Lebanon. But when the land action takes place, they'll be confronted with the courage and will of the fighters. Then the Israelis will start losing. The Israeli voice will be heard. Today the battlefield is what gives the final word. We are calling on Egypt, the Arab world and the whole world: if you can't stop the aggression, let's make available the conditions of steadfastness, firmness and continuity for confrontation and resistance in Gaza and the fate of this resistance in Gaza will not be less than a dignified victory.

Brothers and sisters:

Our rally today is not the last for Gaza. I call on you and on all the Arab and Islamic peoples to continue taking action on every level. We must think in every domain of ways to support our brethrens in Gaza. I hope that you brothers and sisters who are rallying here and who have answered the called of Abi Abdullah Al Hussein and the call of the oppressed and noble fighters to be ever ready to answer such calls, stances or decisions. With you we renew the vow and pledge of allegiance to back the resistance and every resistance fighter. We answer Al Hussein who made his cry hundreds of years ago: we will always answer your call: "At your service we are, O Hussein". Glory and dignity to the great pure martyrs in Gaza and to all the resistance fighters. Victory to the resistance fighters and pride and honor to our Arab and Islamic nation. Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessing.