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Na’srallah – A self-appointed leader of the Arab cause

A day after the announcement about the prisoner swap with Israel, Hizbullah’s leader is on top of the world. On Sunday, looking smug, he gave a speech in which he spoke of his movement as if it was a regional superpower.

“I call on our brothers in the Arab world… if you know of any Egyptian, or Arab, or any other national, who is imprisoned in Israel – let us know so we can deal with his case in the second phase [of the agreement],” said Na’srallah. By saying this, he literally sees himself as a modern Sallah A-Din, a hero to all Muslims.

Na’srallah went on to say: “We present this achievement to our Arab and Muslim nation, and we hope more achievements will follow. This file is not closed yet. As long as Israel exists, as long as there are occupied lands, as long as there is an Arab-Israeli conflict – there are also martyrs, and prisoners, and a fight, and a resistance, and an intifada, and negotiations, and prisoner swaps.”

Na’srallah does not regard himself merely as the leader of a local Lebanese organization. His words are addressed to all Muslims and Arabs. His fight will end not when Israel withdraws from the Shib’a farms in southern Lebanon, but when Israel ceases to exit.

Israel is well known for the high price it’s willing to pay for its soldiers (and citizens). It released over 1000 prisoners in 1985 in a similar swap, and this time plans to release 435 prisoners. That is why Na’srallah expects Israel to pay a very high price in the second phase as well, which is supposed to include information about the missing Israeli airman Ron Arad. The Arad affair is an open wound in Israeli society, and Na’srallah counts on that. According to him, the thousands of Arab prisoners still imprisoned in Israel are “Hizbullah’s sacred debt”, and his aim is the release of them all.

His conclusion is somewhat disturbing. Upon listening to it, one must wonder if there isn’t any hidden message in it to abduct more Israelis: “In conclusion, I want to make it clear – we will not give up on any prisoner, we will head forward. We have options, we have a vision, the doors are not shut in front of us, and we have many hopes. I tell you; in the future we will be able to achieve much more than we did in the past,” said Na’srallah.

Na’srallah is a very happy man today. His body language revealed calmness and high self-esteem. He even allowed himself to joke around with the journalists from time to time. Like it or not, Hizbullah is a regional power, not a mere resistance movement. Na’srallah knows it. Sharon probably knows it too.