Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said Hizbullah's Islamic Resistance force in the South constitutes a reserve army to protect Lebanon whenever it is threatened by Israel. Fadlallah's comments came on Monday during his meeting with the UN's Secretary General Representative in South Lebanon Gere Pederson. The meeting focused on the UN's role in consolidating internal stability through protecting Lebanon from greater Israeli influence in the country and other attempts at foreign intervention. The cleric said the UN had a political and a security role to play to protect Lebanon from foreign pressures and interference in its domestic affairs.Meanwhile, Higher Shiite Council vice president Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan said the arms of the Palestinians in Lebanon should remain in the hands of their resistance groups for "as long as we live in fear of the Israeli enemy that violates our skies." He also urged the government to permit Palestinian refugees to own homes on Lebanese territories outside the refugee camps and allow them to travel freely outside the camps so that they might better contribute to the country's development.