Jumblat: Aren't We Better Off Forming New Govt. Instead of Waiting for Magical Solution in Syria
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat slammed on Monday the political deadlock in Lebanon given the the local and regional instability.
He wondered in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “Aren't we better off forming a national unity government instead of waiting for magical solutions that will not be achieved in Syria?”
“With the new government, disputes will no longer be fought on the streets, but at cabinet,” which will seek to ease the tensions in the country, he remarked.
On this note, he condemned Sunday's ambush that resulted in the killing of four people - two from the Jaafar family, one from the Amhaz clan and a Turk whose mother is Shiite - in a barren terrain near the northeastern towns of al-Qaa and Arsal.
The Jaafar and Amhaz clans are well-known Shiite families in the regions of Baalbek and Hermel.
Jumblat continued: “Aren't we better off supporting the Lebanese army in its arduous mission in keeping calm in Lebanon instead of maintaining the debate over the Constitutional Council and the extension of parliament's term?”
“Didn’t some of the lawmakers who are criticizing us for backing the extension originally support the agreement to extend the mandate in the first place?” he asked.
The parliament extended its four-year term at the end of May after the rival parties failed to agree on a new parliamentary electoral law, pushing the polls to November 2014.
President Michel Suleiman and the Change and Reform bloc however submitted to the Constitutional Council petitions to challenge the ruling.
The council is failing to meet over the boycott of three judges – two Shiites and a Druze.
“Aren't officials better off organizing the political disputes instead of dragging Lebanon towards the Syrian crisis through calls for jihad and others to combat alleged takfiris?” wondered the lawmaker.
“The Syrian people are not in need of calls for jihad that only tarnish the image of their revolution and steer it away from its goals, which will ultimately serve the Syrian regime,” he stressed.
“Aren't we better off supporting Suleiman's positions that stem from his keenness on national sovereignty?” he asked.
“Aren't we also better off supporting Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi who hit the nail right on the head when he expressed the Lebanese people's exasperation with the severe divide between the March 8 and 14 camps?” Jumblat continued.
“Aren't we better off seeking to restore calm in Lebanon instead of issuing fiery stances? Aren't we better off approving a number of important measures that would tackle the poor economic situation instead of continuing the fall in the Syrian crisis?” he asked.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has justified his party's involvement in the fighting in Syria alongside regime forces by saying that it is combating American, Zionist, and takfiri agendas in Syria.
17 June 2013, 16:28
210
no Jumblat. Disputes are supposed to happen at parliament level, not government. The government is supposed to be homogeneous and productive. When you are sober, review your democracy courses, and hey, put me some of that stuff you are taking on the side...
17 June 2013, 16:39
17
Parliament is where different opinions are discussed and resolved.
the cabinet is there to tend to people's needs.
however, with the presence of weapons with some parties and a gun on the table, nothing can happen in our country normally.
look at the constitutional council formed of judges: it should not be politicized! judges should never be bias.
17 June 2013, 17:16
24
How do you want to run the elections without a Government ?
Or you want and trust a one-sided interim "tesrif a3mal" government handle the elections ?
A government aligned with exemplary democracies that are Syria and Iran ? How would you trust the results ? Or would you blindly trust them ?
I for one would never trust M8 members in any electoral process based on historical tampering of individual members. I wouldn't even trust the current interior minister...
So how would you run the elections ? Based on what law.
17 June 2013, 17:55
14
aren't we better off without all those inefficient politicians paid for nothing with lebanese money?
17 June 2013, 18:13
13
Jumblatt is such a peculiar figure to be in politics. How can he make any sort of a principled agruement about anything, when his actions are not guided by principles, but by expediency and survival. Even if he decided that Lebanon had to disappear so that he could survive in the Mountain, he would be for that proposition, and has supported that proposition from time to time.
The Cedar Revolution seemed to be a turning point for Jumblatt whereby he would end his roaming about and acrobatic politics, but with this new instability in Syria, he has resumed these old habits of the survivalist. He is not Kamal Jumblatt, as he has often said.
17 June 2013, 18:23
22
The source of Lebanon/s problems is its leaders and its people. The so called leaders have perfected the art of dividing the populace and conquering/dividing the Lebanese pie. Tools used by them are secterian tools, ideology tools, liberation Palestine tools, Zionist ISraeli tools, elections laws etc. etc.
We get busy analyzing their words and cheering their positions while they continue to be busy confiscating our wealth.
17 June 2013, 20:38
21
Well said helicopter.... to add to your point of view, look at Naharnet's sections: business, entertainment, sports, culture, arts, technology. You don't see one comment or opinion posted. All comments are in the political section with the same rhetoric of hate and filth.
17 June 2013, 20:44
21
I travel, I come back, I lurk, I observe and I post sometimes for the fun of it. Basically, it is the same people posting with nothing new, no solutions, no innovation. The world is passing by and the lebanese are busy hating each other and rooting for their favorite in Syria. Who cares if a guy eats the heart of another in Syria? Africa is full of cannibals. So, we as Lebanese must go and save them? In Mynamar Buddhists are burning moslems alive, so do we need to go there and defend them. In Nigeria, Boka Haram is torching churches, do we go and defend the christians there? We have no sense of citizenship and we don't yet deserve democracy.
17 June 2013, 21:18
22
@liberty. You have spoken conventional wisdom about Lebanon. Many, maybe 85-90% in the diaspora have come to the same conclusion that you have reached, as well as helicopter in his comment.
The Lebanese are not ready nor do they deserve democracy. Democracy is more than elections. An electorate that demans patronage from its political class should not be surprised, embarrassed, disgusted etc. that they have created a cravenous political class that will do anything to find a money patron and to keep them. This is not how democracy works.
17 June 2013, 21:23
12
Democracy is about elections, but it is also about holding elected officials accountable; it is about holding elected officials as public servants, not the people as servants of the elected official.
As it is now, the Lebanese political leadership has been made servants of those who provide them with patronage money for redistribution to their political followers. In a sense, the Lebanse are following the worst characteristics of the American political class which does the same thing. The American people have a favorable view of the Congress that rates at 12%, 88% have an unfavorable view. In Lebanon, it is the same. But our demands for our politicians is what drives the political classes that we get. We deserve no better than we demand. So Liberty, you are so correct, the Lebanese are not yet ready to be the boss of their own country and future.
18 June 2013, 08:34
10
Look at this hypocrite gobelin! once a traitor always a traitor his whole politics stand on following the strongest and thats why he followed Assad for 40years after killing his father! what do u expect of people like this? they only want to rule! and what fusses me is that vermin Joumblat always give lectures and critisizes ohers like here for instance: Jumblat: Aren't We Better Off Forming New Govt. Instead of Waiting for Magical Solution in Syria. As if he was not waiting himself!
