[Interview] Lebanese Ambassador urges Israel to accept cease-fire

It is over 15 days since Israel invaded Lebanon. in an interview at his office in Yongsan, Seoul, the Lebanese ambassador to South Korea, Hussein Rammal, expressed his distress with the actions of Israel and the United States, which have rejected requests of a ’cease-fire.’

"At a meeting of world diplomats and U.N. delegates in Rome Wednesday, an appeal for an ’immediate cease-fire’ was rejected due to the objections of the U.S. and Israel. Israel should stop its air strikes against Lebanon immediately. Israel is violating international law by attacking civilian vehicles," the ambassador stressed.

Question: Why do you think Israel and the U.S. disapprove suspending the war?

Answer: Israel has no interest in release of its Israeli soldiers, which it said was the cause of the initial invasion. It is not Israel’s real purpose for the war. The two nations refuse to stop the war because they want to attack Hezbollah. The U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, already declared that their goal is to establish a ’new Middle East.’

Q: What do you think ‘new Middle East’ means?

A: They are aimed at controlling other regions in the Middle East, following Palestine and Iraq. Israel wants to rule the entire Middle East. If the U.S. wants democratization there, it should admit Hamas - which was elected through democratic process - or Hezbollah.

Q: Israel claims that Hezbollah is a terrorist group.

A: Hezbollah is a Lebanese political party and it is a ’resistance group,’ not a terrorist group. Eight members of Hezbollah were chosen as lawmakers in a democratic election and another two became ministers of the nation.

Q: Do you think that the stationing of multinational forces, a plan under consideration by Western nations, could resolve the current situation?

A: As the concrete plan for stationing multinational forces is not clear yet, I cannot judge whether or not it is a real resolution. A demilitarized zone (DMZ) or buffer zone should be established after equally occupying the land of the two nations. Why is it that Israel continuously occupies south Lebanon and creates a buffer zone? Israel has detained Lebanese prisoners for over 20 years and it has occupied the Chebba Farms region in south Lebanon. When Israel occupied the region, it laid about 350,000 mines and it has not handed over the map [showing the location of these mines]. The best solution is to accept an immediate cease-fire, and then we can proceed with measures such as the exchange of Lebanese prisoners and Israeli soldiers, restoration of land occupied by Israel, and providing a map to remove mines.