Israel agitates regional woes with belligerent move to destroy eight Palestinian Villages

Hezbollah slams Israeli move to destroy Palestinian villages

25 July, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Lebanon’s Hezbollah late Tuesday condemned an Israeli decision to destroy eight Palestinian villages in the West Bank to make way for an Israeli army training ground.

Hezbollah slammed the decision as the “new Zionist crime which violates all boundaries”, adding that such acts are displayed for “those who are still in favor of negotiations with the enemy.”

The powerful Lebanese group called on “both the Muslim and Arab nations, as well as the international community, to assume their duty of protecting the Palestinians, and annihilating all evacuation decisions.”

It also called on the Palestinian people to “hold on to their lands and to their resistance.”

Hezbollah said the Israeli move came “in the light of complete Arab silence and international abstinence from preventing Israeli decisions and their implementation.”

Israel’s decision to destroy the villages, which are located south of Al-Khalil, and displace the native Palestinian population of 1,500, falls under “the extensive Zionist plan to cleanse Palestinians from their remaining lands while occupying it under violence and force,” the statement read.

“This new crime is nothing but a clear indication of the degree of the Zionist hatred towards the Palestinians, and their continuous blatant arrogance when dealing with them, while their cleansing practices affecting the entire land of Palestine, and especially Jerusalem, go unquestioned.”

Israel maintains a military occupation of the West Bank, and continues to expand illegal Jewish settlements in defiance of international law.

Hezbollah fought a two decade Israeli occupation of south Lebanon, forcing the Jewish state to withdraw in 2000. Hezbollah again fought off an attempted Israeli invasion of Lebanon in July 2006.

Fears of a renewed conflict have escalated in recent weeks, with increasing rhetoric from Israel of a potential strike on Lebanon and Syria as the Syrian crisis intensifies. …source