Nasrallah: Palestine belongs to Palestinians from sea to river

"This is the greatest humiliation of this nation. The second message is to stress the historic, religious and legitimate responsibility of the Muslim nation towards Jerusalem, Palestine and the Palestinian people."

He warned Israel not to attack Lebanon. "I have always said that the way of the resistance is not a classic war. We are ready to help the resistance of the Palestinian people. But those who attack Lebanon – we shall face them.

"(Defense Minister) Ehud Barak spoke in the past about five divisions which would invade Lebanon, and today he talks about eight. Okay, he may have made new calculations. But you should know that your eight divisions will be destroyed on our territory by our fighters. If Israel makes this mistake… The enemy and the friend know these things are promises from the Arab victory periods and are not taken from the times of past defeats."

The Hizbullah leader went on to attack the United States and Britain. "We do not deny the influence of the Zionist lobby in the world, but Israel does not control the US. It is an entity created by the British. Israel is the product of the US and Britain aimed at tearing the region apart. It is the arrowhead of this inspiration.

"We understand this. Our holy lands will not be liberated through talks with the West. The way to return the lands and liberate the Palestinian people is through desire, resistance and self-sacrifice in the region – the same resistance which succeeded in imposing itself on this entity."

'Weapons from black market to Lebanese army'

Nasrallah also blamed elements in the Arab world for not acting against Israel. "Unfortunately, there were those among the Arabs who took advantage of the conflict within the Palestinian people to wash their hands off the Palestinian issue. If the Arab nation does what is needed, the liberation of Jerusalem will be possible, maybe even soon."

The Hizbullah leader went on to speak about the military armament in Lebanon. "Following the reports in Lebanon that Israel objects to the US equipping the Lebanese army with a number of arm systems, can we maintain the sovereignty of Lebanon and its people this way? Must we really wait for permission from the US and Israel to equip our national army and give it all it needs to carry out its secret missions? This is unthinkable.

"As for the resistance, they were angered by it because it did not need anyone's permission to arm itself, and thus this weapon is one of the reasons for power."

He turned to Lebanon's new unity government: "We need the unity government to make a brave decision that we do not need anyone's permission and we will equip our army. We will establish a special cabinet of ministers, and in this framework the state will purchase weapons, even in the black market, as the resistance does.

"If we wait for the United State's permission, we might receive trucks, weak armored personnel carriers, etc, but we will never get weapons which will allow us to face the Zionist enemy. A national force is not built through an external entity, but through national determination."

'Israel the enemy of Islam'

Nasrallah added that Israel was the enemy of all Islamic states. "Israel is not only the enemy of the Palestinian people, but also of Lebanon, all the Arab people and all the Muslim nations. Israel is a cancerous tumor, as Imam Khomeini said.

"Today, as in the past, we stress that the only way to return the land and overcome the difficulties is through the way of resistance – by the Palestinians, the Lebanese and the rest of the region's nations. It's still possible, but today more can be done that ever before."

The Hizbullah leader said the Muslims must achieve their dream, even if it interrupts Israel's vision.

"Today the time of the Zionists' dreams has passed and the time of our dreams has begun. Today we don't just dream, we implement our dreams. After the year 2000 and following the historic victory in southern Lebanon, the al-Aqsa Intifada broke out. It was a historic golden opportunity to realize these hopes. Unfortunately, the entire Islamic nation did not stand by the Palestinians, who were forced to sacrifice victims."

As for dreams, Nasrallah went on to say that "while some people were busy with the internal crisis in Lebanon, there were people in the resistance who did not sleep at night since the end of the war – led by the shahid Imad Mugniyah, and they are still working to realize the dream."

Addressing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's resignation, Nasrallah said, "Olmert, although he naturally should have stepped down following the Winograd Commission, remained in his seat thanks to vigorous American involvement.

"The post-war Israel is facing a leadership crisis. One of the most important developments was that Olmert admitted that the Greater Israel dream has come to an end, after (opposition leader Benjamin) Netanyahu admitted in the past that Zionism is facing a crisis.

"Out of all these things, the public's lack of faith in this entity and its future is the most important. Polls released in Israel recently say two-thirds of the public believe they are living in an area where they feel insecure."

Nasrallah spoke during the al-Aqsa Day events, a tradition launched in Iran by Ayatollah Khomeini which calls for "Jerusalem's liberation and is marked on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan.

The Beirut event was attended by representatives of the Lebanese president and army commander, the parliament speaker, diplomats and other supporters. It was held in the Sayyed Al-Shuhada Mosque, Hizbullah's main mosque in the Dahiya quarter.