Hezbollah flexes muscle in Jerusalem Day parades
Lebanon, Politics, 1/24/1998

Hizbullah on Friday marked Jerusalem Day with parades and speeches vowing to continue the fight against Israel.

The event, which is held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, marks the capture of Arab East Jerusalem by Israel in 1967 and is acknowledged with rallies and parades in most Middle East countries.

In Lebanon, Hizbullah guerrillas paraded through streets south of Beirut, as well as in Tyre and Baalbek.

Guerrillas wearing black uniforms marched to the tune of military music, including a group from the party's suicide squad with dynamite sticks strapped to their chests.

At least 10,000 Hizbullah supporters attended the parade in a Beirut southern suburb, in which the group's secretary-general, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, gave a fiery speech vowing to continue the battle against Israel.

In response to recent comments by the Israeli army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Amnon Shahak in which he said Israel was capable of staying in south Lebanon for a thousand more years, Nasrallah said Hizbullah would do the same and for a longer time.

"Who told Shahak that he or his country will be here for that long? We will fight Israel not for a thousand years but for thousands of years and we will continue to fight until Jerusalem is free of Jews," Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah also blasted Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and urged Palestinians to resume the intifada against Israel. "Arafat is more Jewish than Netanyahu, and the Palestinians should rebel against him," he said.

In the southern port city of Tyre, Hizbullah supporters displayed a model of an Israeli combat boot, inspired from Israel's botched commando raid on Insariyeh on Sept. 5 in which 12 Israeli soldiers were killed. Supporters also burned a "tiger" signifying Israel as they chanted anti-Israeli slogans.

Previous Stories:
  Hizbullah leader turns down Israeli offer   (1/12/1998)
  Nasrallah pledges resistance against occupation   (12/1/1997)
  Hezbollah chief to run for third term   (11/15/1997)

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