From the Daily Star, with thanks to Ali Dashti:
BEIRUT: Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot called on the European Union Monday to place Hizbullah on its list of terrorist organizations as a means to dry up financial support for the group from Europe.
However, Hizbullah said on Tuesday that it considered the move as only serving Israel’s interests in the region.
“It has become normal that the demands of some European countries are only raised to serve the interest of Israel in the Arab region,” Hizbullah MP Mohammad Raad told The Daily Star. “We will place such antagonizing calls behind our back.”
According to political analyst and expert on Hizbullah Nizar Hamzeh, the move is aimed at applying political pressure to disarm the party’s military wing.
Hizbullah has 12 MPs in Lebanon’s Parliament, in addition to a military wing considered by the Lebanese government as a legitimate resistance group, which was the major force behind the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon in 2000.
Although The Netherlands has drawn a distinction between Hizbullah’s military and political wings; Bot told Parliament Monday that both wings are dedicated to the same ends.