Jumblat: No Ties Bind Me with Rafik Hariri Except his Memory

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat criticized the March 14 camp’s conduct, accusing it of increasing the dangerous internal divide in Lebanon that “is targeting an entire sect.”

He said in an interview with al-Akhbar published on Wednesday: “Failure to form a government is an escalatory measure by the March 14 forces ahead of the March 13 rally without it actually having a key to end the crisis.”

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri is not like his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, he said.

The senior Hariri “was a unique and approachable individual. No ties bind me to him except his memory,” the MP continued.

“He never severed his ties with Hizbullah and Syria,” he noted.

He also accused former ally MP Marwan Hamadeh of employing the same sectarian incitement, describing his rift with him as “complete and final.”

He added that the Mustaqbal movement is seeking to turn the Druze against him.

Jumblat also rejected allegations that Syria is behind the delay in the government formation, accusing the United States of being behind the current stalemate in Lebanon.

“They obstructed the Saudi-Syrian initiative and they are escalating their position through the March 14 forces’ campaign of employing the indictment against the Resistance’s arms, while in the past we sought hard to eliminate any of the indictment’s possible negative repercussions,” he noted.

“How can the issue of the arms possession be resolved without the least amount of calm in the country? What does Hariri want? Break Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati and the economy and then what?” he asked.

Jumblat stressed that Hariri’s contacts with Hizbullah and Syria are completely severed, noting that this is the first time that contacts between the Lebanese are totally cut.

Furthermore, he revealed that during their visit to Lebanon on February 22, U.S. Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman informed him that Hizbullah was behind Rafik Hariri’s assassination.

The MP listed to them the number of reasons that have cost the Special Tribunal for Lebanon its credibility, saying that the U.S. encourages the equation of Hizbullah’s arms against the indictment.

Addressing caretaker PM Hariri’s latest visit to Saudi Arabia, Jumblat said: “The fact that he returned with renewed drive in his campaign against the party’s weapons indicates that March 8 camp claims that the Kingdom is upset with Hariri are inaccurate.”

“It’s not true that Saudi King Abdullah was angry with him after Hariri announced the end of the S-S initiative,” he added.

Jumblat said that his ties with Saudi Arabia are “severed at the moment,” saying that Hariri is turning the Kingdom against him.