Sir, - Were Conor MacCarthy (letters, February 24th) to be correct in his claim that Hizbullah is fighting only to "liberate" south Lebanon, then the solution to the problem of south Lebanon would not be too difficult. Unfortunately, Hizbullah's aims are not confined 19 Lebanon, but rather Hizbullah is committed to the destruction of Israel.
The secretary-general of Hizbullah, Hassen Nasrallah, stated on February 7th: "The struggle is over Palestine, the Golan and south Lebanon." Previously a member of Hizbullah's Political Council, Ali Tah, commented (January 26th, Voice of Islam Radio): "The struggle against the Jews and Zionists is one of existence and not a struggle over borders.
Due to Hizbullah's aim of the destruction of Israel, it is clearly opposed to the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Hizbullah leaders regularly call for the assassination of Yasser Arafat and other Arab leaders willing to make peace with Israel.
Conor MacCarthy writes of Iranian economic and ideological support for Hizbullah. He ignores, however, massive Iranian military aid which Hizbullah is receiving regularly from Iran and which is transferred to Lebanon by Iranian cargo planes to Damascus, and from there overland to Lebanon. Financial and military Iranian assistance to Hizbullah is estimated to have been set for $100 million for 1997.
As far as Israel is concerned, Israel has no territorial claim on Lebanon and the security zone ists solely to prevent terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. Israel expects Lebanon to carry out its duties under international law and to disarm terrorist groups such as Hizbullah. Continued attacks by Hizbullah, however, cannot but have a negative effect on negotiations with Lebanon and Syria. - Yours, etc.,
First Secretary, Embassy of Israel, Dublin.