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Last update - 21:49 07/03/2009
Hezbollah expects West to use new language in contacts
By News Agencies
Tags: Israel News, Britain, Lebanon 

Hezbollah deputy leader Sheik Naim Kassem on Saturday said his Iranian-backed militant group expects new language from the West in dealing with it.

Kassem's comments came after Hezbollah officials said they will welcome public talks with Britain. He also said he welcomed a new European approach toward the militant Lebanese group.

Earlier in the week, Britain announced its decision to reestablish ties with Hezbollah as part of an effort to press the militant organization to disarm.
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The U.S. State Department said late Friday that it has not changed its stance regarding Hezbollah, and that it feels the time is not right for renewed contacts with the Lebanon-based militant group.

The U.S. also said it would closely follow developments between the U.K. and Hezbollah.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Friday explained his country's decision to renew contacts with Hezbollah.

"In the Lebanon, they have one Cabinet member and we've sanctioned low-level contacts with them so that we can make absolutely clear our determination to see United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for the disbanding of militias among other things in Lebanon, taken forward with real speed," Miliband said Friday on BBC Radio 4's Today program.

The resolution also ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, which Israel launched after Hezbollah guerillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.

Miliband said Hezbollah's military wing remains on Britain's list of outlawed groups.

Hezbollah calls move a 'step in the right direction

Earlier Friday, a spokesman for the Lebanese Shi'ite group said Britain had taken a "step in the right direction" by signaling willingness to talk to Hezbollah.

"This policy revision is a step in the right direction and we shall see how it translates in practical terms," Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim al-Moussawi said.

Britain's Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said this week that his country had reconsidered its position because Hezbollah had joined a national unity government in July, formed under a deal to end a paralyzing political conflict in Lebanon.

Britain's policy since 2005 had been to shun contact with the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Islamist group, which was founded in the early 1980s to fight Israeli occupation of Lebanon and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States.

In announcing the attempts to re-establish contact, Britain's Foreign Office said Thursday that its ambassador attended a meeting in January in Beirut alongside a Hezbollah lawmaker, and that the government was seeking to build relations with other legislators attached to the group.

"Our objective with Hezbollah remains to encourage them to move away from violence and play a constructive, democratic and peaceful role in Lebanese politics, in line with a range of UN Security Council Resolutions," the ministry said Thursday.

Hezbollah itself makes no distinction between its political and military functions. It also runs medical, educational, social and reconstruction activities. Its leadership is highly centralized and all members undergo military training.

The group, which has 14 members of parliament, has taken part in successive Lebanese governments since 2005. It has just one minister in the current cabinet, but along with its allies, wields veto power over important decisions.


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      1.   Smart move on behalf of the american 17:52  |  Reza Shah 06/03/09
      2.   As often, good old Britannia paving the world the way..... 19:09  |  Swiss (Dino) 06/03/09
      3.   good going 19:18  |  jay 06/03/09
      4.   Renewed Hezbollah contacts are bid to disarm group ?????????????? 19:40  |  Vittorio 06/03/09
      5.   To Dino, Britain is Great, It Gave the Jews Israel 20:33  |  Eli 06/03/09
      6.   #1 Swiss: Good Old Chamberlaine paved a road for HITLER and WW2 20:44  |  Vittorio 06/03/09
      7.   #2Exactly,as Chamberlaine talked to democratically elected Hitler 21:02  |  Vittorio 06/03/09
      8.   Sharia Law coming to a European city near you! Yey! 21:18  |  4;20 06/03/09
      9.   The Article Explains Why Hezbollah is Needed 21:47  |  Joseph Bloughberg 06/03/09
      10.   Their so called objective 22:41  |  Taghayee 06/03/09
      11.   The Nazi party in Germany also was a political party 23:27  |  Dan 06/03/09
      12.   Again UK is practising a path of CHAMBERLAINE................... 23:50  |  Vittorio 06/03/09
      13.   Laughable 23:54  |  Angela 06/03/09
      14.   talking to bring peace has worked in NI 00:13  |  Hannah 07/03/09
      15.   Hizbollah Will Need their Weapons 00:47  |  Baruch Gold 07/03/09
      16.   Talking not killing 07:42  |  Palestinian Brit 07/03/09
      17.   Hizbollah is Globally Recognized as terror Organization 11:39  |  Baruch Gold 07/03/09
      18.   The Hizbullah. 12:36  |  Jean Van Daem 07/03/09
      19.   Britain and Hezbollah 16:24  |  Ron 07/03/09
      20.   Dealing with reality 21:57  |  Mark Lincoln 07/03/09
      21.   Ron where do you get your disinformation from 22:09  |  Labhras 07/03/09
      22.   My oh my Hezbollah sure is getting arrogant 23:03  |  Gee 07/03/09
      23.   That`s MR. Hezbullah to you 23:47  |  Aphemia 07/03/09
      24.   Oh come on... 23:54  |  Taz 07/03/09
      25.   They Change the Rules Again 01:15  |  Angela 08/03/09
      26.   #1 since you hate Israel your opinion is worthless 02:15  |  McQueen 08/03/09
      27.   Britain will Hezbollah to disarm 03:54  |  Arnold 08/03/09
      28.   Hello Mr. Joseph Bloughberg 04:03  |  Arnold 08/03/09
      29.   Sometimes talking liberates the mind 04:11  |  allang 08/03/09
      30.   "New language"? I think that`s a great idea! 04:47  |  flyingdoc57 08/03/09
      31.   Hizbollah Understands One Language 05:07  |  Baruch Gold 08/03/09
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