Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah
צילום: רויטרס
Lebanon's top Shiite cleric fears peace conference cover for aggression
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah says in announcement fears upcoming international peace conference is nothing more than 'cover for a new American-Israeli aggression in region and would constitute basis for another military adventure'
Lebanon's top Shiite Muslim cleric expressed fears Sunday that a US-sponsored peace conference in the late autumn would serve instead as a cover for renewed aggression by the United States and Israel.
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah also charged that the United States had given Israel the green light to destroy Hamas-controlled Gaza by supporting its decision last week to designate the strip a "hostile territory".
"We fear that the American peace conference that Bush has called for in the fall would be a cover for a new American-Israeli aggression in the region and would constitute the basis for another military adventure," Fadlallah said in an announcement.
Fadlallah, the top religious authority for Lebanon's 1.2 million Shiites, warned Arab countries against "directly or indirectly joining this game".
Some Arabs fear that the United States or Israel, or both, plan to strike at Iran and possibly Syria. Fadlallah has often criticized the US for its Mideast policies and recently said Washington's reaction to September 11 had increased global instability.
US President George W. Bush called in July for a conference to reinvigorate the stalled search for a peace deal to end the six-decade-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
The conference is expected in November or December in the US, but details remain uncertain. Fadlallah also blasted America's support of the Israeli decision this week to designate Gaza a "hostile territory".
"We fear that America may have given the green light for Israel to destroy the Gaza Strip and invade it after completing the economic and military siege against it," Fadlallah said.
