-Excerpts from Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s press conference to discuss the party’s imminent prisoner swap deal with Israel:

-In light of the importance and the sensitive nature of our topic today, I will skip the introduction … All talk in this press conference will not affect the prisoner swap. The talk that will [affect the swap] we will leave to the day the detainees are freed.

-I want to focus briefly on the negotiations, the content of the agreement, and the phase remaining for the complete execution [of the agreement].

-The UK’s decision today to list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization does not surprise me, as this is a country that founded Israel… the country of the Balfour Declaration, the country currently home to Salman Rushdie, the country that honored the writer who insulted the Prophet and Muslims everywhere. Whoever accuses our Prophet of all that… will naturally accuse the Resistance of terrorism. I consider that that is normal… the occupiers of Iraq, Afghanistan… the wrongdoer’s decision is thus a medal of honor to us.

-But I would like to note the timing [of the decision], which is sketchy… The Resistance’s insistence on returning all its sons to the homeland and uncovering the fate of all those missing reveals its humanitarian nature… The future will show that all the attacks on and the attackers of the Resistance will go with the wind.

-On the negotiations that led to the agreement, after the end of the [July] War and the issuance of [UN Security Council] Resolution 1701, there was a need for efforts to ensure the release of detainees… The mediator was the UN and its secretary general, and not Germany, as the media has reported. The UN secretary general appointed a German mediator… but the reference is the UN and its secretary general.

-From the onset of negotiations, we tried to make sure that they remained secret so as to keep the process safe and secure… Our main concern was the humanitarian aspect, the return of living detainees and bodies to the homeland.

-If any information was leaked, we did not leak it, and we berated those who leaked information, who acknowledged their act. What we have learned from previous negotiations is that the media only complicates the process.

-The liberation of Samir Kantar was a major point of contestation in negotiations… Serious negotiations should remain outside the media and its complications, for we wanted to reach a result [in Kantar’s case]. Therefore, as you’ve noticed, this was the first time an Israeli official comments on an issue… The negotiations were long and complicated… slow at times, and at times they would come to a complete halt … but we never reached the point where the negotiations were over and we had to look for an alternative means to resolve the issue.

-Our negotiating team is extremely capable and experienced, and made so many efforts. I also want to mention the tireless efforts of the German mediator.

-For over a year, we could not agree on the principles of the agreement… The principles we proposed posited that the agreement should comprise of all Lebanese detainees, including Samir Kantar. Secondly, the bodies of all Lebanese or Palestinians in mass graves must be returned to us. Thirdly, we want closure on the dossiers of all those lost before and after 1983… The release of Palestinian and Arab prisoners was also a principle we worked on in the negotiations, as well as the four Iranian diplomats who we believe the Lebanese Forces handed over to the Israeli enemy.

-Israel was concerned with the two soldiers [kidnapped in 2006], and the 10 soldiers detained in Lebanon after the July War. Yet when it came to the principles we suggested, Israel agreed to all except the release of Samir Kantar. Israel refused to release Samir Kantar and the Palestinian and Arab detainees at first. For a year, we held firmly to our principles and them to theirs. In the past few months, however, what was called “humanitarian incentives” were taken… and then, the Resistance received the bodies of two of its martyrs and handed over the body of an Israeli soldier. The final step before the final agreement was the release of Nassim Nisr and our handover of the bodies of Israeli soldiers… We will talk of the details of Samir Kantar’s release on the day he returns.

-Israel insists that Yahiya Skaff died… We asked for his body to give to his family, but Israel declined to hand it over… DNA tests will reveal whether Yahiya is among the bodies we are to receive, or whether he remains detained by Israel.

-Approximately 200 bodies should be returned to Lebanon. The families of the martyrs know the feeling when their child or father is returned to them after so many years… The most important honor for these martyrs, then, is personal graves rather than numbers in mass graves.

-The German mediator is to receive a report on the four Iranian diplomats in the coming days, and in parallel, we will submit a written report on the Israeli airman.

-We had an agreement with Hamas not to tie our negotiations with Israel to theirs.
 
-From our perspective, and from that of the Palestinians, the release of Palestinian detainees is symbolic and important. We agreed, then, that I send a letter to the UN secretary general … and the international community to work for the release of the women and children imprisoned. The UN will do something about this.

-Regarding the Arab detainees, the UN secretary general said that, as this involves so many countries, he will work with [Israel] to resolve it.

-Although Israel, Palestine and many others have spoken in detail, I will not speak in detail of Samir Kantar… for there are so many more who remain in prison.

-We accepted this agreement, and we think it is important. Today I officially announce that we accept the agreement.

-Our team agreed on technicalities with the [German] mediator. The timing should be specified soon… but if we attempt to set a date, Israel will fight and counter that, but I expect it will happen in a week or two, around July 15. Still, there are Israeli legal and judicial issues on Samir Kantar’s release.

-I have three concluding points. First, I congratulate all Lebanese on this victory… I hope that all Lebanese consider this achievement theirs, this victory theirs. We do not want to use this victory for internal gains... No one should feel defeated, or feel this is a message to them. I hope the Lebanese appreciate the importance of this achievement, for if it is completed, Lebanon will be the first Arab country in the Israeli-Arab struggle to close its detainee dossier. No Lebanese bodies will remain in Israel. Lebanon will be the first country to have achieved this, after having liberating all its lands excepting the Shebaa Farms and Kfar Shouba.

-The second point is the bodies that will return to Lebanon… Our national and ethical responsibility is to preserve what these martyrs sacrificed and died for, and their funerals should be a national, unified event, a chance for the Lebanese to meet again… I personally announce Hezbollah’s absolute openness to any political meeting under any title and in any context if it helps in uniting Lebanon, preserving civil peace and overcoming the previous phase in Lebanon.

-The final point is … that we should bridge the gap among the Lebanese during the reception of the bodies. Allow me to speak firmly of celebratory gunfire. I spoke kindly before, but apparently it did not work. We can no longer tolerate that there should be victims of gunfire whenever there is a national celebration or a leader speaks… Anyone who fires a gun to celebrate is firing that gun at me, at my head, at my heart… So all those who truly love and appreciate the Resistance must know this. Every building should form a committee on this matter. We do not want to hear a single gunshot.

[Reporter: Why did you not get the Lebanese government involved in your negotiations?]

-We had nothing against involving the government. After the July War and even during the war, as you remember, Speaker Nabih Berri met with many foreigners and was under a lot of pressure… Regarding the government, however, you’ll remember that I said I had no objection to their involvement… We had nothing against the government holding negotiations as long as the two [Israeli] soldiers remained with us… If we had handed the soldiers over to the government, how long would we have held on to them? ... I’m not talking law and constitution, I’m talking facts… As yet, Israel has no clue as to whether the soldiers are alive.

[Reporter: Will you allow Hezbollah’s arms to be discussed at the dialogue table?]

-Lebanon’s defense strategy was first formally concretized in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah... We are always ready to discuss the defense strategy. We are not afraid of discussion. Anyone afraid of discussion is weak and has done something wrong. We are unafraid. We have a comprehensive defense strategy, and are ready for discussion at all times.