Friday, January 15, 2010, the Arab International Forum for the Support of the Resistance held its opening ceremony in the UNESCO Palace in presence of hundreds of participants from all over the world. The Forum coincided with the first anniversary of the epic of Gaza. Representatives from the Arab world were present, in addition to some representatives from Europe, the United States, and many other countries, who came to express their support of the resistance.

Dr. Khaled Al Sufyani, head of the preparatory committee of the forum, gave the opening ceremony speech which held his hopes about the forum and what it might achieve, hoping that all participants would cooperate to achieve the forum's goals.

Hizbullah Secretary General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, also gave out a speech showing his support for the forum, stating the importance of the resistance world wide- whether the Lebanese, Palestinian, or Iraqi - as well as representing the historical roleof the resistance and what it has done.

As for Hamas' Khaled Meshaal, he stated his total support for the resistance, and thanked Iran for the support it has been giving. He also referred to the state in Gaza, calling upon the international community to take part in the current aggressive situation in Gaza, taking into consideration the current building of the illegal Egyptian steel wall.

Iraqi representative Hareth Al Dari, talked about the current situation of the Iraqi resistance, stating the importance of the resistance by all its means in order to get rid of the enemy invading the different countries. 

Many speeches from representatives from all over the world were made, more than thirty speeches, all having the same objective as to achieve what the forum aims at and to lead the resistance world wide into a better and safer place.

The 16th of January, the second day of the conference was a rich day, for it was made out of a group of workshops and seminars distributed between the Commodore Hotel and the Bristol Hotel in Hamra, Beirut.

The Commodore Hotel:

The Commodore Hotel held the political and economic resistance workshops, in addition to those related to Al Quds and Gaza under siege, and the role of the popular Arabic movement in helping the resistance. Most representatives from the Arab world were present at the Commodore, where a combination of these workshops took place.

Abed Al Aziz Al Sayyed, head of the Commodore section, made an opening on the goals of the workshops, where many participants declared their statements.

The Lebanese National Movement spoke about the need to face Zionism, and that it was time to take into consideration the resistance and its needs all over the world.

The spokesman also saluted Hizbullah and all the resistance movements in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq, stressing that they don't believe in a settlement with "Israel" that would lead to their surrender, stating the importance of the Palestinian reconciliation between the Palestinian forces.

Layla Khaled, from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said that the political resistance is a necessary security measure. She added that the resistance should be supported in Palestine, for although it is surrounded by the Arab countries that supported it from the beginning, yet they backed out of where they stood.

"This world needs a bomb explosion so the people could listen", she added, referring to the operations done by the Palestinian resistance confronting the Zionist enemy, which says that the Resistance are the terrorists, which in reality, "Israel" is terrorism its self.

Kassem Saleh, from the Nationalist Social Syrian Party talked about what Lebanon passed through because of the 1982 "Israeli" invasion, stating that it should have been the international law that helped in the withdrawal of the enemy, yet if it wasn't for the resistance of all forms, Lebanon would have been under total invasion right now.

The resistance of the 1948 occupied lands also took part in a speech, in addition to the Iraqi resistance, whose spokespersons stated some recommendations for the congregation to take into consideration for the final statement, including forming committees to take care of the national and international rights of the resistance in all its forms.

The Bristol Hotel:

Most of the participants of the forum in the Bristol Hotel section were foreigners, including Europeans, Americans, Africans, and many Arabs and Asians as well.

At the Bristol Hotel, law resistance, media resistance, cultural and educational resistance workshops took place.

The law resistance workshop was headed by Abed Al Rahman Ben Omar, and it mostly shed light on legal sides and international laws supporting the resistance against the invasion.

One of the most significant participants of the forum was the Jewish American attorney, Stanley Cohen, who spoke in this workshop about the legal aspect of the resistance, stressing on the American law which lacks the presence of a law concerning the resistance, although "America is proud of its laws" as he said.

He also added that if he is at his home in New York, and someone came and invaded his home and killed his children, it is thus his duty to resist the invaders and that is what the resistance in Palestine is doing.

He also added the laws that stated the right of freedom and self defense that international laws speak of, including the American law, yet it does not abide by it.

The workshop further spoke about the international "Israeli" violations in Palestine and against the resistance, especially the violations shown in Gaza, during last year's war.

The Arab Bar Union Deputy President, Samih Khreis, also added that the resistance in the international laws is of a higher level than it is in the local laws, referring to the United Nations' conventions which clearly state the right of the neighboring countries to help the next-door countries under invasion. He concluded that it is every Arab's duty to help the the Palestinian people and support the Palestinian cause.

The cultural and educational resistance workshop focused on the fact that "we are in the time of cultural warfare, where globalization is effecting the whole wide world." The workshop distributed its recommendations, yet it did not occur broadly.

As for the media resistance workshop, Ibrahim Farhat spoke about the American law that contradicts the freedom of speech and the international conventions. The spokesman referred to the article 19 in the Convention of Human Rights, which states the freedom of speech with no interference, in addition to the freedom of spreading news and opinions.

Iraq's Sheikh Jawad Al Khalisi said that Iraq is being set to propaganda, and what is present on media about Iraq is completely different of what is actually happening. "To the world, Iraq seems to be getting to a better place, but that is not true. The media is showing the opposite side of the real situation in Iraq, which is chaos and dead people everywhere all the time. Media is oppressed in Iraq, and that is why we come to try to clearly state the true situation in Iraq", Sheikh Jawad stated to moqawama.org.

Syria's Sawsan Al Bawadki, mostly spoke about the need for the electronic media nowadays, for it is easy to be reached not world wide, in addition that it can be presented in more than one language, which helps the Arabs in concentrating on their important causes that matter.

She added that the youth now are the most important sections of the nations, and they are the ones who are mostly interested in the electronic-technological aspects. "Therefore" she added, "if we focus on the electronic media, our Arab youth will understand and keep in mind our causes, so we should develop the means of the electronic media in order to spread it."

The workshops ended with statements of recommendations and hopes that the forum will take into consideration every step in this congregation.

The workshops ended on Saturday the 16th of January, waiting for the 17th to know the International Declaration in Support of the Resistance, which will be announced as a landmark document.

The 17th of January, the last day of the congregation, was a trip to the south, which gathered almost all the participants of the forum. The trip was a group of almost a thousand participants from all over the world. The first destination of the trip was to the Fatima gate on the borders between Lebanon and occupied Palestine. After that the Trip continued to Maroun Alras, a village on the borders, which has a view to the Palestinian occupied territories. 

When the participants arrived, side by side the Muslim nations gathered to pray together on the land facing occupied Palestine. In Maroun Alras, the final declaration and the call for liberty of the congregation were spoken out. 

The call for freedom declared some of the following:

We the participants of the Arab-International Forum for the Support of the Resistance confirm that the freedom of speech and media is a sacred right mentioned in the international and religious conventions, and we ask all nations to fight for this right.

We also condemn the American law which stands against the Arab satellites which are committed to the Palestinian cause, and which also called those satellite channels as terrorist. So the Arab-International Forum for the Support of the Resistance asks the international media organizations to confront the American law and fight for the right of having a liberal media.

Many other statements were stated by many participants from Europe, America and the Arab world. And in the end, Jewish American Stanley Cohen ended the decelerating process, when he said that: "It is always with great pain and great shame as a Jew and as an American to come to this land which has suffered so long by my people. Every time I come, I walk away with hope, for the resistance will be the road to victory". He added that the resistance could be found by many forms; by guns, words, and prayers, but together resistance is the most powerful on earth, adding that it can't be stopped and it won't be stopped. His final words in his statement were: "Inshalla, next year we meet in Al Quds."

The trip then took its road back to Tyre where Sheikh Nabil Kawouk, Hizbullah representative in Southern Lebanon, was waiting to host all the participants of the forum for dinner. During the dinner, Sheikh Nabil Kawouk spoke and thanked all the participants who came from all over the world to help in building this congregation, hoping to rejoin in other congregations with deeper causes that serve the Palestinian causes and the Arab cause of resistance.

At the end of the forum, just like its beginning, the word was for the President of the congregation, Dr. Khaled Sufyani. He gave the closing speech in which he thanked all those who organized the forum, and those who took part in all the workshops and declarations that took place, presenting his high hopes towards the next step of the Arab-International nations, that are Pro-Resistance and Anti-Zionist.