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Lebanese author and political commentator Jean-Marie Kassab said in an October 12, 2021 show on MTV (Lebanon) that he demands peace with Israel, and that in exchange for peace and comfort, he would happily let Israel simply keep the Shebaa Farms in the border region between Lebanon and Israel. Kassab also said that he demands peace with Syria, which he said is worse than Israel, and he called for war to be declared against Iran.
Jean-Marie Kassab: "Why is it called 'the Islamic Resistance'? I am a Christian. Why should I be protected by an 'Islamic' resistance? Why is it called 'the Islamic Resistance'?"
Interviewer: "This resistance makes sacrifices for the sake of all Lebanese."
Kassab: "It does not make sacrifices anymore. We have a Syrian enemy that shoot at us and ruined us, yet [Hizbullah] has done nothing about it. On the contrary, they dragged us into Syria and ruined us there.
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"Personally, as a commentator, I demand peace with Israel. There is a difference between peace and reconciliation. There is a great contention between Israel and us. Many people died, many people’s homes were ruined, and there is a mental impact. I want to make peace! I want to put an end to the wars. Since June 1967, we Lebanese people... The [Cairo] Accord of 1969 was the outcome of a war with Israel, for which we have been paying the price.
Interviewer: "First of all, Israel is still occupying your land."
Kassab: "What land is Israel occupying? Where is it?"
Interviewer: "The Shebaa Farms..."
Kassab: "I don’t want them."
Interviewer: "This is treason."
Kassab: "Treason? Fine. Then I am a traitor. I don’t want those Shebaa Farms."
Interviewer: "Why not?"
Kassab: "They can take it as a gift."
Interviewer: "You may give Keserwan, where you live, as a gift, but this is the land and property of the people of south Lebanon."
Kassab: "Not true. Nobody lives in Shebaa Farms. There are no people there. Nobody lives in Shebaa Farms. It’s in Israel. Occupied by Israel..."
Interviewer: "Great, but there is Lebanese property there..."
Kassab: "They are welcome to it. If those 20 kilometers..."
Interviewer: "But these are the Shebaa Farms..."
Kassab: "Fine. I want to sacrifice the Shebaa Farms for the sake of my comfort. Let the Israelis take them. Or I can give it as a gift to Syria, or I can give them to UNRWA so that they can settle Syrian refugees there. Whatever.
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"I demand peace with Israel. I am not talking about reconciliation – that is up to the two peoples. It takes time, I understand that. Similarly, I demand peace with Syria. Our situation cis-a-vis Syria is worse than vis-a-vis Israel. The way I see it, it’s worse with Syria than with Israel, because it attacked us, ruined us... We may have not shot a few missiles at Israel, but we have done nothing to Syria. We have always had a neighbor dispute with Syria, because it is bigger than us, but the Al-Assad family – Bashar and his father – raised the level of enmity towards us to a military level, and they ruined us.
[...]
"I want to declare war against the Iranian occupier. I want to brandish a weapon – like that, as a symbolic gesture – and walk down the street, and hopefully, the army will stop me, and I will say: 'Why did you stop me? I have the right to wage resistance.' Why are you laughing?"
Interviewer: "You are going in the wrong direction. We are peaceful people. We want to collect the unlawful weapons, and you are telling the people from the other side to bear arms, so that everybody will have guns?"
Kassab: "Yes, I am. We are not peaceful people. We are people who are in constant wars."
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