Seven Arab villages currently in northern Israel belong to Lebanon and should be ceded, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in an election rally in Lebanon Thursday. Nasrallah’s demands regarding the villages have been voiced before and mark the latest attempt to deflect growing calls for the Hizbullah to disarm, Arab affairs expert Eyal Zisser told Ynet in response to the report. “Nasrallah mentioned this several times in the past, including prior to the IDF’s withdrawal from Lebanon,” he said. “It should be viewed as a tactic in an attempt to… avoid disarmament.” Nasrallah looking for excuses? Meanwhile, political sources said Nasrallah’s remarks are an effort to extend the group’s “resistance” efforts, after other disputes with Israel on the Lebanese border have been resolved. The villages in question were annexed to what is today Israel prior to the state’s establishment through agreements between France and Britain, but Nasrallah chose to provide his own reasoning for why the area should in fact be considered Lebanese territory. Deputy Defense Minister Ze’ev Boim also dismissed Nasrallah’s comments. “It’s surprising that Nasrallah is even attempting to find excuses to justify his war of Jihad against Israel, which is his only objective,” Boim said. “Nobody is surprised by his threats.”