Hezbollah leader says Lebanese dialogue has failed
The Associated Press
Published: April 8, 2007
BEIRUT, Lebanon: The leader of the militant Hezbollah said Sunday a dialogue among feuding Lebanese leaders has failed to resolve the country's political crisis and proposed a public referendum or early parliamentary elections as a way out of the four month long stalemate.
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah also vowed that Hezbollah will keep its weapons until a strong Lebanese army capable of defending the country against Israeli attacks is established. The Hezbollah leader apparently was responding to repeated calls by the country's anti-Syrian parliamentary majority for his group to disarm in line with a U.N. resolution that ended last summer's Israel-Hezbollah war.
Nasrallah spoke at a ceremony in south Beirut marking the graduation of more than 1,700 Hezbollah supporters from Lebanese universities. After his speech that lasted more than an hour, he handed certificates to the graduates during the ceremony attended by thousands of people.
"The latest bilateral dialogue has reached a dead end," Nasrallah said, referring to last month's meetings between Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an opposition leader aligned with Hezbollah, and Saad Hariri, the leader of parliament's pro-government majority.
"When we reach a deadlock, the only logic is to resort to the people who are the source of power, rather than resorting to the outside world because the outside world is a party (to the conflict) and is supporting a party," Nasrallah said, referring to Arab and Western countries that support the Lebanese government.
Hezbollah leader says Lebanese dialogue has failed
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