Mohamad Shmaysani
Readers Number : 745
18/02/2010 Two days have passed on Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s speech and Israel has made only shy comments.
In his speech on Tuesday marking Hezbollah Martyr Leaders’ Day in Dahiyeh, Sayyed Nasrallah set a new equation that would shape the next round of confrontation with Israel.
The Hezbollah leader vowed to strike the Ben Gurion airport if martyr Rafiq Hariri’s International airport was hit by Israel. Sayyed Nasrallah also signaled that Hezbollah now possesses destructive power that would be used in Israel’s economic and populous center extending from Haifa to the south of Tel Aviv in case Israel used destructive power against buildings, factories, oil refineries, and the country’s infrastructure.
In Israel, Sayyed Nasrallah’s speech and comments have been banned.
Instead Haaretz published a report about a speech delivered earlier by the Secretary General over obligations towards the civil society and the state.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was renewing calls for Syria to return to the negotiations table stressing “we don’t need another war.” Yedioth Aharonoth’s Website quoted Barak as saying: “I don’t advise any neighbor, including Syria, to test us because I am convinced that our mutual interest is to start negotiations.”
For his part, Israeli army Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said that Israel was seeking calm on the northern front and that it will strongly and unhesitatingly retaliate against anyone seeking to break the calm over there.
In Lebanon, reactions on Sayyed Nasrallah’s speech varied between indifference, relief and anxiousness. Hezbollah’s main political foes, namely the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb (Phalanges) Party showed reservation and refused that “Sayyed Nasrallah turns into a military general who speaks on behalf of Lebanon.” Other parties like the Mustakbal (Future) of PM Saad Hariri were divided. Some expressed ‘moral relief’ at the speech in which Sayyed Nasrallah stressed Hezbollah was longing for war with Israel, but it does not want it. Others in the same party questioned the new balance of fear that was set by the Hezbollah chief. Other even went further to defend the speech. MP Samir El-Jisr told El-Nashra News Website that peaceful approaches did not prevent Israel’s aggression against Lebanon. He added that it was not required that Sayyed Nasrallah faces up Israeli threats with an olive branch.
For his part, MP Walid Jumblatt told Assafir daily that “parallel to stating his desire not to go war, Sayyed Nasrallah reassured that the resistance in Lebanon possesses enough defensive force to respond and repel any Israeli attack on our country. Sayyed Nasrallah wanted to tell the Israelis the following: Do not try again so that you don’t fail again.”
House Speaker Nabih Berri said that any Israeli war on Lebanon will be the grave mistake of an arrogant state.
Former Prime Minister Salim Hoss stressed after the speech that Israel won’t make stupid mistakes anymore unless it wanted to test the credibility of Sayyed Nasrallah.
ALL OF GUSH DAN IN HEZBOLLAH ROCKET RANGE
Undoubtedly, Sayyed Nasrallah’s an-eye-for-an-eye formula is unfamiliar to the Israelis.
Hezbollah determined the fate of the cities of Haifa, Khadira, and Afoula some 80km south of the border with occupied Palestine. Sayyed Nasrallah’s 2010 speech, however, has determined the fate of the heart of the zionist entity, Gush Dan or the The Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area.
Gush Dan extends from Netanya in the north to Ashdod in the south at a distance of 90km and from the Mediterranean in the west to Ariel in the east at a distance of 20km.
The area is closely linked to the city of Tel Aviv through social, economic, and cultural ties. The Tel Aviv metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in Israel (1,500 km2) and consists an estimated population of over 2 million; more than 1/3 of the Israeli population. This metropolitan area is not equipped with enough shelters and underground emergency exits since it was considered to be an area far from rocket threats.
In the past few years, Gush Dan cities witnessed inner migrations from volatile areas near the border with Lebanon. Gush Dan comprises 22 cities and towns: Tel Aviv, Bat Yam, Holon, Ramat HaSharon, Ramat Gan, Giv’atayim, Bnei Brak, Herziliya, Or Yehuda, Giv’at Shumuel, Kiryat Ono, Petah Tikya, Ra’anana, Rishon LeZion, Hod HaSharon, Kfar Sava, Yehud, Ramla, Lod, Rosh HaAyin, and Ness Ziona, Rehovot.
Gush Dan is also Israel’s technological and industrial center where the Ben Gurion airport is located.
Israeli leaders have said that Hezbollah possesses thousands of rockets that can reach as far as 256km. This means that all of Gush Dan including its farthest point (Ashdod) that lies at 170km from the border with Lebanon, will be in the range of Hezbollah’s rockets. However Israel has not yet tested the destructive forces of these new rockets.
“I want to tell the Israelis the following: Not only if you hit Dahiyeh we’ll hit Tel Aviv, but if you hit martyr Rafiq Hariri’s International airport in Beirut, we’ll hit your Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv; if you hit our ports we’ll hit yours; if you hit our oil refineries, we’ll hit yours; if you hit our factories, we’ll hit yours; if you hit our power plants, we’ll hit yours....if you hit one building in Dahiyeh, we’ll destroy buildings in Tel Aviv,” Sayyed Nasrallah said during his speech last Tuesday.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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