Beirut - Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shiite movement Hezbollah, called Monday for an open-ended protest to begin this week and last until the Gaza siege is lifted.

He called for a demonstration to be held next Friday in Beirut's southern suburbs to protest Israel's blockade of Gaza in response to militant attacks.

"Our actions that will start on Friday will not end on that day, but until the Gaza siege is lifted," Nasrallah said in a televised speech broadcast on al-Manar TV, mouthpiece of Hezbollah.

"The Gaza siege is aimed at defeating the will of the Palestinian people so that the Zionists can impose their conditions," Nasrallah said.

He slammed Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for saying Israeli-Arabs who had national aspirations should move to a Palestinian state when it is established.

"What Livni said was not a slip of the tongue," Nasrallah said.

Livni drew criticism on Thursday for saying: "My solution for preserving Israel as a Jewish and a democratic state is to establish two nation states with certain concessions and with clear red lines."

"So among others I could also come to Israel's Palestinian citizens, those whom we call Arab Israelis, and tell them: 'Your national solution is somewhere else'."

Nasrallah also called on Egypt to open Rafah border crossing permanently to ease the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has been criticized by international humanitarian groups.

Addressing Arab and world countries, Nasrallah said: "From a humanitarian position I tell them that there are one and half million people in Gaza who face sickness and death." (dpa)