25 May 2011

BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman called on the Lebanese to stand united and protect their country in the face of the enemy, his press office said Tuesday.

Congratulating the Lebanese on the occasion of the 11th anniversary of Resistance and Liberation Day, Sleiman emphasized the importance of national unity amid rapid developments in the region.

Lebanon, which has shown it is capable of freeing its land from occupiers, can bring together its ability to secure itself and fend off plans by the enemy, with its ability to build a state for the citizen, justice and rights: a modern state to accommodate the peoples ambitions, said Sleiman.

Celebrated on May 25, Resistance and Liberation Day marks the end of over two decades of Israeli occupation of south Lebanon, except for the land of Shebaa Farms, which remains under Israeli control.

However, 11 years after the Israels withdrawal from south Lebanon, the president said that Israel continues to violate international law. At the height of the Israels July 2006 war on Lebanon, the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 1701, which called for an immediate cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the deployment of the Lebanese Army in south Lebanon.

But Israel has continued military flights over south Lebanon, arguing that they are to safeguard regional security from Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, just a day before the 11th anniversary of the Liberation Day, the Israeli army went on alert along the Lebanese border, the state-run National News Agency reported Tuesday.

The NNA said that the Israeli army, including tanks, were patrolling the stretch on the eastern front of the Lebanese-Israeli border. The Israeli army may have gone on alert in anticipation of Hezbollahs celebrations Wednesday in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah is however planning a large-scale rally in the Baalbek village of Nabi Sheet to mark Resistance and Liberation Day. The partys leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is due to deliver a televised speech, where he is expected to respond to U.S. President Barack Obamas accusations earlier this week that Hezbollah practiced assassinations in order to achieve political gains.

For his part, caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Tuesday that the main reason behind Israels withdrawal from south Lebanon was the countrys national unity in the face of the Israeli enemy.

More than ever before, all Lebanese should take a moment to reflect on the national and patriotic significance of this important event, which marks the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, said Hariri in a statement issued by his press office.

This years celebration of the anniversary of Liberation Day coincides with the exceptional and unprecedented circumstances, which Lebanon and the Arab world are experiencing, the statement added.

Hariri also said that the Israeli armys withdrawal brought the Lebanese people together. This is how the Lebanese will succeed in fortifying their homeland to face the storms that blow across the region and to preserve the important achievements of the liberation [in 2000], he said.

Copyright The Daily Star 2011.