BEIRUT: Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah declared on Sunday that Hizbullah will not be dragged into a civil war and is "giving up" its demand of "19+11" as the formula for the new cabinet - and told the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to go ahead and "replace" the six ministers who left in November.
"We don't want the 19+11, thank you very much, as you," said Nasrallah, who made a point of noting that he was speaking on behalf of Hizbullah, "not the opposition" as a whole.
"If we have to pick between a civil war and keeping the situation as it is, we prefer to continue with the political deadlock," he said during a ceremony honoring 1,734 university graduates belonging to the resistance.
After offering his best wishes to Christians on the occasion of Easter, Nasrallah told his followers that the doors are "completely closed" against further dialogue and there now exists "only two solutions" to five months of political impasse.
"Now we have to return to the people, and do a national poll on what they want, or we carry out early parliamentary elections. These are the only two ways out now," Nasrallah said.
He also warned the ruling coalition to decide "soon."
"Now it is easier to reach a settlement than later," he said, "because later, we will be deciding whether or not to give you the 11."
Nasrallah also denied reports that his party will be sending the UN Security Council a detailed list of modifications to the international court to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
"Many have asked to see the list, including Iran and Saudi Arabia ... but we refuse to show it to anyone, expect the other Lebanese side," he said. "Unfortunately, the majority never wanted to discuss our modifications seriously."
"[UN Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon and others have now become the experts on Lebanese Constitution and have started to rule Lebanon," he quipped, criticizing pro-government MPs for having sent a petition that called on Ban to establish the court through the UN security Council.
Nasrallah accused the ruling majority of "scheming" and taking "their orders from the US."
"They don't want a national army, they want a sectarian one they can manipulate," he added. "But the army will not give in to the rule by militia leaders."
He also praised President Emile Lahoud as a "man" who withstood "wave after wave of insults and campaigns by the ruling majority."
Nasrallah also criticized the "weak" state, saying: "When you become a strong state, then come and talk to us about us becoming a state within a state."
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has accused Hizbullah on Saturday of setting up "a state within the state," saying a settlement to the political crisis was not in the offing and urging the army to control tunnels allegedly used to smuggle weapons from Syria.
"The opposition is a state run by Iran and the Syrian regime in Lebanon. There is a state within the state," Jumblatt said in an interview with al-Jazeera satellite television. "We have the Hizbullah army in addition to the Lebanese Army, we have Hizbullah intelligence in addition to the Lebanese Army intelligence, there are territories that the Lebanese Army cannot enter and the Lebanese state cannot practice its authority on such lands." -- Yoshie