Jumblat Lauds Shatah's Call for 'Neutralizing' Lebanon from Conflicts in Syria, Region

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday called for "neutralizing Lebanon from the blazing Syrian crisis,” warning against “drowning in the massive chaos the region is going through.”

“The assassination of an enlightened and moderate figure such as the martyr Mohammed Shatah cannot stop the progress of moderation, free thinking and dialogue because that would be contradicting with the principles championed by the martyr himself,” Jumblat said in his weekly editorial in al-Anbaa newspaper.

“The perpetuation of the memory of the martyr Shatah and the other innocent martyrs must happen through further insistence on the approach of moderation and dialogue, despite the grief and agony,” added Jumblat.

He warned that “falling into the trap of the obscurantist ideology that targeted Mohammed Shatah, who is an influential and intellectual figure, will only lead to drowning further in the massive chaos the region is going through, which might take the form of protracted bloody conflicts.”

And as he described Shatah as a “free thinker,” Jumblat noted that “he had a unifying futuristic vision for the Arab Orient which reflected the depth of his knowledge and understanding of the Lebanese and regional changes.”

The Druze leader acknowledged that he had some disagreements with the slain finance minister, but he lauded Shatah's call for “neutralizing Lebanon from the blazing Syrian crisis, because its flames might gut Lebanon soon if the issue was not tackled with patience, wisdom, calm and rationality.”

“The more we hurry up in Lebanon to neutralize the domestic scene from the regional developments and changes, the more we would be sparing this country additional problems and tragedies which are being aggravated by the constitutional, political, institutional and security exposures and the governmental vacuum,” Jumblat advised.

Tensions have surged in Lebanon following the assassination of Shatah, who was a close aide to former premier Saad Hariri, in a car bombing on Friday in Beirut that also left seven other people dead and dozens injured.