JAKARTA LIFE'S STYLE

Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, the Iranian president, has declared that the people who built Israel were "mortal", in remarks that revived his charge the Jewish state should be wiped out.

Mr Ahmadinejad, who received rapturous applause while visiting Lebanon's border with Israel, heaped scorn on a country forced to invade Lebanon to protect itself from indiscriminate attacks by the Iranian-backed Hizbollah militia in successive decades.

"The world should know the Zionists are mortal," he said. "Today the Lebanese nation is alive and is a role model for the regional nations."

The Iranian leader told a crowd of thousands in Bint Jbeil, just two miles from Israel's border posts, that Hizbollah had won a historic victory over the country that occupied the territory as a security zone.

"You proved that your Resistance is stronger than all dark swords in the hands of the Israeli enemy," he said. "They have no way but surrender to the nations and go back to their first homes. Be sure that Palestine will be liberated."

Earlier in a speech at Lebanon University, Mr Ahmadinejad condemned the West for developing nuclear weapons and then seeking to stop other countries from mastering the technology. The UN has imposed harsh sanctions on Iran as evidence mounts it is attempting to produce a nuclear weapon. He said Lebanon should start its own nuclear programme to produce electricity.

Israeli officials said they were more worried by the impact on Lebanon's increasingly fragile domestic politics, seeing the trip as evidence of both Hizbollah's growing influence in the country and of the wider regional ambitions of Iran, the group's patron.

"Iran's domination of Lebanon, through its proxy Hizbollah, has prevented Lebanon from being a partner in peace and turned Lebanon into an Iranian satellite and a hub of regional terror and instability," Mark Regev, the spokesman for Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister said.

The border town Bint Jbeil bore the brunt of Israel's 2006 offensive to recover soldiers abducted on the border by Hizbollah. Locals describe the town as Lebanon's Stalingrad. Its fortunes have since been transformed as Iran provided the funds for Hizbollah to pay for the rebuilding of houses, office blocks and shattered streets.

Locals have good reason to be grateful to Iran for building up Hizbollah into the most powerful force in Lebanese politics.

"It's good, good," said Mohammad Nasr, a carpenter. "It shows our strength in the face of Israel that we can have a man like Mr Ahmadinejad here right under their noses and they can do nothing about it."

Bint Jbiel residents like Arafat Mohsen, 35, have built prosperous lifestyles under Hizbollah's aegis. When Israel abruptly withdrew from attempts to establish a security zone in southern Lebanon in 2000, Mr Mohsen returned from nearby Tyre where his family had fled.

After the fierce war in 2006, the shopkeeper's home and premises were both badly damaged and Hizbollah later gave him the money to repair the damage. His shop selling army surplus and replica football shirts does an active trade in Iranian flags and Hizbollah T-shirts.

"In fact they paid me too much for the work I needed to carry out," he said. "More than that local people are good customers because they have money and jobs thank to Hizbollah. My house, my wife, my son are all thanks to the end of the Israelis here."

Mr Mohsen declared himself satisified with Mr Ahmadinejad's speech. "He said we are here side-by-side with the Lebanese. We are here to assist you, assist the Lebanese army, assist the Resistance to ensure that you are safe," he said.

A small crowd gathered on the Israel side of the border fence just under the hill on which part of Bint Jbeil was clearly visible. They released a barrage of blue and white balloons to symbolise the colours of the Israeli flag.

Banners suspended beneath the balloons carried verses from the Koran and the Jewish Torah that prayed for peace. Organisers hoped that the messages would float across the border and land "under the nose" of Mr Ahmadinejad – but a northern wind blew the balloons deeper into Israeli territory.

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