Jumblat: STL a Fait Accompli, National Interest Requires Funding It

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday called for tackling the thorny issue of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in a “new, serious and calm manner.”

In his weekly column in his party’s mouthpiece Al-Anbaa newspaper, Jumblat stressed that he totally understands “Hizbullah’s reservations over this tribunal,” but noted that “the STL has become a fait accompli.”

He also reminded that he was the first official to warn against media leaks on the tribunal.

“Lebanon’s higher national interest requires us to allow the funding” of the STL by the Lebanese government, Jumblat added, reminiscing that “the STL article was the first article to be unanimously approved during the 2006 national dialogue conference.”

Addressing the crisis in neighboring Syria, Jumblat noted that “the Arab initiative is the best way for Syria to exist this crisis and to break the chain of violence and counter-violence.”

“This can only happen by the means of a sweeping political reform, as clearly stipulated by the terms of this initiative,” he added.

“It is crucial that the terms of the initiative be immediately implemented, as we reiterate our rejection of foreign intervention under any alibis,” Jumblat said, adding that “only a political solution is capable of ending this severe crisis.”