Bush offers Hezbollah an olive branch

President George Bush held out an olive branch to Hezbollah tonight, saying the militant Shiite Muslim group could be part of the political mainstream in Lebanon despite its terrorist past.

“We view Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation,” Bush said after an Oval Office meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah.

“I would hope that Hezbollah would prove that they are not by laying down arms and not threatening peace.”

Hezbollah has been flexing its political muscle in Lebanon, organising two huge pro-Syrian rallies.

It has nine MPs in Lebanon’s 128 seat parliament.

Lebanon considers Hezbollah a legitimate resistance movement that led the guerrilla war against Israel’s 18 year occupation of southern Lebanon. It also has social functions such as running medical clinics.

But a UN Security Council resolution demands that Hezbollah disarm and that Syria withdraw its troops from Lebanon. The US has long listed the Iranian-founded, anti-Israeli Shiite Muslim group as a terrorist organisation.

Some European leaders and some in Lebanon have been urging a move to nudge Hezbollah into mainstream, legitimate political life in Lebanon. Bush appearedto be open that idea, emphasising the chance for Hezbollah to change its ways.

“One of our concerns, the majesty and I discussed, is that Hezbollah may try to derail the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians,” Bush said.

“Hezbollah has been declared a terrorist organisation by the US because of terrorist activities in the past.”

Earlier today in a Beirut suburb, about 2,000 pro-Syrian demonstrators protesting American interference in Lebanon marched toward the US embassy.

On Monday, the opposition to the country’s pro-Syrian government organized a huge demonstration of its own that brought about a million people into the capital.

Also, as Bush spoke, Syrian military intelligence were clearing out headquarters in Beirut and vacating another office in the capital. Syria has been moving its troops from northern and central Lebanon to eastern positions closer to the border.