Hezbollah MP rejects to link Shebaa to bilateral talks

BEIRUT, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Hezbollah member of parliament Nawwaf Moussawi rejected Sunday to link Israeli withdrawal from Shebaa Farms to any negotiation between Israel and Lebanon, the local Elnashra website reported.

"Any withdrawal must take place without preconditions and without direct or indirect negotiations," Moussawi said.

Speaking in southern town of Naqoura, he claimed that the United States was trying to link the Israeli withdrawal to direct or indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

On June 25, 2000, Israel pulled out of southern Lebanese towns which it occupied since 1976 and later during its invasion in 1982,but stayed in border towns of Shebaa Farms, northern part of Gajarand Kfarshouba Hills.

Lebanon claims that the Shebaa Farms area was actually Lebanese, and Hezbollah views Israeli occupation as a reason for its continuous attack on Israel. However, Israel views that the land is not Lebanese, as it was Syrian at the time when Israel captured it during the Six Day War in 1967.