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<font size=3><b>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/03812DD0-F18E-4015-AD5E-381ABD3EAD7C.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/03812DD0-F18E-4015-AD5E-381ABD3EAD7C.htm<br>
</a>Nasrallah: Invasion will not stop rockets<br><br>
Monday 24 July 2006, 8:41 Makka Time, 5:41 GMT <br><br>
Nasrallah said the priority was to end Israeli attacks on
Lebanon<br><br>
</b>Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, has said that an
Israeli ground invasion would not prevent Hezbollah from firing rockets
into northern Israel.<br><br>
"Any Israeli incursion will have no political results if it does not
achieve its declared goals, primarily an end to the rocketing of Zionist
settlements in northern occupied Palestine," Nasrallah said in
remarks published on Monday.<br>
<br>
"I assure you that this goal will not be achieved, God willing, by
an Israeli incursion," he told As-Safir newspaper. <br><br>
His remarks came after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at Israel on
Sunday.<br><br>
Responding to reports about diplomatic efforts to end the fighting,
Nasrallah said the priority was to end Israeli attacks on Lebanon, but
added he was open to discussing initiatives.<br><br>
Nasrallah, whose whereabouts are unknown, also said Hizbollah would not
object if the Lebanese government were to negotiate a prisoner swap,
under which Hizbollah freed the two Israeli soldiers it captured on July
12 in return for Lebanese and Arab prisoners in Israeli jails.<br><br>
<b>International force<br><br>
</b>Nasrallah would not take a stand on proposals to send an
international force to southern Lebanon to keep the peace, but said it
was "very noteworthy" that Israel first rejected and then
accepted the idea of a NATO-led force.<br><br>
In a shift of Israel's position, Amir Peretz, the Israeli defence
minister, said on Sunday his country could accept an international
force, preferably NATO, on its border to ensure the peace in southern
Lebanon.<br><br>
"This shift in Israel's position must be studied and considered well
before taking a positive or negative stand on this idea," he
said.<br><br>
Nasrallah downplayed Hezbollah's loss of the strategic border village of
Maroun al-Ras, saying Israeli media have hyped up the first major ground
operation of the 13-day-old confrontation "as if it's the conquest
of Stalingrad".<br><br>
He said Israel's losses in the fighting for Maroun al-Ras showed the
weakness of the Israeli army. Israel has said five soldiers were killed
in the fighting there. <br><br>
"The enemy is seeking a military achievement in order to exaggerate
it, and use it in the media and in politics," Nasrallah
said.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=3><b>Prisoner swap<br><br>
</b></font>He also indicated that his group was still interested in a
trade of two Israeli soldiers that Hezbollah captured in a brazen
cross-border raid on July 12, sparking the current crisis, for Arab
prisoners held by Israel.<br><br>
An envoy from Germany's Foreign Ministry visited Beirut on Sunday while
the German foreign minister was in Israel, leading to speculation that
the European nation may embark on a mission to negotiate the prisoner
swap.<br><br>
Nasrallah said that Hezbollah has not been in contact with Germany but
that the "German channel is still valid." He said he wouldn't
object to other channels that the parties agree to.<br><br>
In 2004, Germany negotiated a previous prisoner exchange between
Hezbollah and Israel.<br><br>
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