Jumblat Says Recent Stances Not a New 'Realignment'

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed Tuesday that his latest stances are not signs of a new political “realignment,” denying that he has requested to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Following talks with visiting Russian presidential envoy Mikhail Margelov, Jumblat said: “What I have said is not a realignment, it is only a reminder of what was agreed around the national dialogue table. It is beneficial for one to remember things every now and then.”

In remarks published Monday in his party’s Al-Anbaa newspaper, Jumblat hit back at Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi over the latter’s recent statements on the Syrian crisis and Hizbullah’s arms.

The latest “fear-inciting remarks on the rise of Salafist or fundamentalist (Islamist) movements … are being used as a ‘scarecrow’,” Jumblat wrote.

“These remarks remind us of the old-new approach that calls for an alliance of minorities” in the region, Jumblat added, noting that such an approach “has destroyed Lebanon.”

In his editorial, Jumblat also warned that “linking the issue of (Hizbullah’s) arms to the issue of naturalization (of Palestinian refugees) will keep Lebanon endlessly entangled in regional conflicts.”

Criticizing the Druze leader’s remarks in Al-Anbaa, Hizbullah’s mouthpiece Al-Manar television on Monday said Jumblat’s statements indicated that he had joined “the campaign being waged against Patriarch al-Rahi by the Lebanese Forces and its subdivisions.”

Jumblat noted Tuesday that he did not understand what Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad meant by saying “let’s wait for a while until we find out what’s behind Jumblat’s stances.”

Asked about ex-information minister Michel Samaha’s recent remarks that communication channels between the Druze leader and Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Jeffrey Feltman have been restored, Jumblat said: “I didn’t hear Samaha’s remarks and I believe that he is more familiar with ‘Chinese affairs’.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour said: “Is MP Walid Jumblat the only person who has commented on the patriarch’s remarks? Do MP Jumblat’s remarks contain something new or any backtracking on his previous stances?”

“Is it blasphemy if Jumblat criticizes attempts to link between the issues of resistance and naturalization? Is it blasphemy if Walid Jumblat calls to mind the resolutions reached through national dialogue? Has Walid Jumblat ever said that Hizbullah’s arms should be linked to the issue of naturalization or the solving of all problems in the region?” Abu Faour asked rhetorically.