Hizbullah Rejects Presence of 'Israeli Agents' in Lebanon: We're Not Proud to Call Them Lebanese
Hizbullah announced on Saturday its rejection of the presence of “Israeli agents” in Lebanon, in an apparent response to Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi “who went to the Palestinian occupied territories to convince them to return" as the party said.
"Someone went to occupied Palestine to convince some agents who withdrew with the enemy's soldiers in May 2000 to return to Lebanon,” Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Ali Meqdad said at a party event in the Bekaa city of Baalbek, expressing that “this issue has annoyed” him.
"Theye have become Israelis and do not want to regain the Lebanese and Arab identity,” he stated.
Al-Rahi on Friday said during a visit to the Druze village of Isfiya near the northern Israeli city of Haifa that the Lebanese state must not deal with its citizens who fled to Israel in 2000 as “criminals,” rejecting also that their possible return to the country be tied to “an amnesty or international resolutions.”
Meqdad added: “We tell those who are preparing a draft law on these traitors' return that they themselves have announced their rejection of such a decision.”
He continued: “The resistance acted with high morality after the liberation. It did not retaliate or penalize agents, but left this issue to the judiciary. It did not seek revenge against their families, but on the contrary, it dealt with them as our religion and our culture stipulate with openness and without retaliation.”
"We do not want Israeli agents among us in Lebanon, what we suffered during the occupation was enough, and just like they are not proud of their Lebanese identity, we are too not proud to call them Lebanese.”
Thousands of Lebanese fled across the border with Israeli forces in 2000 when Israel ended its 22-year occupation of Lebanon.
Trained, financed and armed by Israel, the South Lebanon Army (SLA) battled Palestinians and Hizbullah fighters during the occupation of southern Lebanon.
Many SLA veterans feel they have been abandoned by Israeli authorities in their adopted home, often working in low-paying factory, restaurant or cleaning jobs, but unable to return home for fear of retribution from Hizbullah and others who considered them traitors.
But others, like former commander of an SLA special forces unit Victor Nader, said he was content with his new life in Israel.
"We are very happy here and my son is serving in the Israeli army," he told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.
S.D.B.
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