Editing Hezbollah (section)

=== Attitudes, statements, and actions concerning Israel and Zionism ===
{{See also|Foreign relations of Hezbollah}}
From the inception of Hezbollah to the present,<ref name="The Hizballah Program">{{cite book |author=Itamar Rabinovich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iVJR9UZnTVAC&pg=PA425 |title=Israel in the Middle East |publisher=UPNE |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-87451-962-4 |access-date=18 November 2010}}</ref><ref name="UN document">United Nations Document A/54/723 S/2000/55, citing Al Hayyat, 30 October 1999{{cite web|url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.NSF/fd807e46661e3689852570d00069e918/50862df07adbd884852569ad0054a527!OpenDocument |title=Letter dated January 25, 2000 from the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General |access-date=17 August 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310192305/http://domino.un.org/unispal.NSF/fd807e46661e3689852570d00069e918/50862df07adbd884852569ad0054a527%21OpenDocument |archive-date=10 March 2007 }} . Retrieved 17 August 2006.</ref> [[Calls for the destruction of Israel|the elimination of the State of Israel]] has been one of Hezbollah's primary goals. Some translations of Hezbollah's 1985 Arabic-language manifesto state that "our struggle will end only when this entity [Israel] is obliterated".<ref name="The Hizballah Program" /> According to Hezbollah's Deputy-General, [[Naim Qassem]], the struggle against Israel is a core belief of Hezbollah and the central rationale of Hezbollah's existence.<ref>''The Shifts in Hizbullah's Ideology: Religious Ideology, Political Ideology, and Political Program''. Joseph Elie Alagha, Amsterdam University Press, 2006, {{ISBN|978-90-5356-910-8}}, p. 380.</ref>

Hezbollah says that its continued hostilities against Israel are justified as reciprocal to Israeli operations against Lebanon and as retaliation for what they claim is Israel's occupation of Lebanese territory.<ref>Joshua Mitnick. [http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0822/p10s01-wome.html Behind the dispute over Shebaa Farms], ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'', 22 August 2006.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1771766,00.html|title=Flashpoint farmland|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=10 May 2006|access-date=8 September 2013|location=London|first=Brian|last=Whitaker}}</ref><ref>"Central to this issue is Hizballah's claim, which was also espoused by Lebanon's former pro-Syrian government, that the disputed Shebaa Farms are Lebanese rather than Syrian territories and are occupied by Israel. Therefore, Hizballah maintains that it is a legitimate resistance movement fighting for the liberation of Lebanese territory. Under this pretext, Hizballah, supported by some Lebanese parties, could argue that it is not a militia and thus it is outside the jurisdiction of Resolution 1559." Robert Rabil. [http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2395 Reinforcing Lebanon's Sovereignty], [[Washington Institute for Near East Policy]], 8 November 2005.</ref> Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, and their withdrawal was verified by the United Nations as being in accordance with resolution 425 of 19 March 1978; however, Lebanon considers the [[Shebaa farms]]—a {{convert|26|km2|sqmi|abbr=on|adj=on}} piece of land captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 war and considered by the UN to be Syrian territory occupied by Israel—to be Lebanese territory.<ref name="SC/6878">{{cite web|date=18 June 2000 |publisher=United Nations Security Council |title=Security council endorses secretary-general's conclusion on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as of 16&nbsp;June |url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20000618.sc6878.doc.html |access-date=29 September 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5281178.stm|title=Israeli views on Shebaa Farms harden|date=25 August 2006|publisher=[[BBC News Online|BBC News]]}}</ref> Finally, Hezbollah considers Israel to be an illegitimate state. For these reasons, it justifies its actions as acts of defensive jihad.<ref name="Thisreen1999-1">Thisreen (Syrian newspaper) 21 June 1999, reprinted by MEMRI [http://memri.org/bin/opener.cgi?Page=archives&ID=SP3699 Secretary General of Hizbullah Discusses the New Israeli Government and Hizbullah's Struggle Against Israel]{{unreliable source?|date=November 2012}} {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930150748/http://memri.org/bin/opener.cgi?Page=archives&ID=SP3699 |date=30 September 2008 }}. Retrieved 30 July 2006.</ref>

{{Quote box|align=right|width=33.3%|If they go from Shebaa, we won't stop fighting them.&nbsp;... Our goal is to liberate the 1948 borders of Palestine,&nbsp;... The Jews who survive this war of liberation can [[go back to Poland|go back to Germany]] or wherever they came from. However, that the Jews who lived in Palestine before 1948 will be 'allowed to live as a minority and they will be cared for by the Muslim majority.'|— Hezbollah's spokesperson Hassan Ezzedin, about an Israeli withdrawal from Shebaa Farms<ref name="In the Party of God" />}}