The following are excerpts from an interview with former Lebanese PM Michel Aoun. Al-Jazeera TV aired this interview on May 3, 2005.

Michel Aoun: As for Hizbullah's weapons, you most certainly made an important point. The region is on the path to peace – however long it takes - and we must prepare for this. If a conflict continues between the Israelis and the (Arab) peoples, which acepted this peace only because their governments and regimes surrendered to a certain international (pressure) imposed on them, and so they (Arab regimes) accepted this peace because of their interests - then the Arab-Israeli conflict will assume a different dimension. It will be about culture, development, and civilization, and thus weapons should be transformed into ideas, and into competition, especially in economy. This mentality, rather than weapons, must underlie the new conflict. Victory through weapons has become impossible. As everyone knows, for the last century it has brought no results. The Arabs' battle against Israel is one of development and progress.

We try, from a Lebanese prospective, to strengthen the centrality of the state and of the decision-making, in a defensive framework, pertaining to Lebanon, so Hizbullah will hand over (its weapons). We will not disarm Hizbullah, because Hizbullah must be convinced of this. We are not in armed conflict with Hizbullah, and nobody wants to use a Lebanese rifle against the Lebanese. We prefer to be on the same side and we don't want to cause or to imagine any military operation against the Lebanese. We want to convince Hizbullah, through dialogue, that the Lebanese interest dictates that it voluntarily hand over its weapons - of course this must be done in the framework of a program for uniting combining defense with everybody's interests.