Jumblat Fears Sunni-Shiite Division May Escalate into a Conflict

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed the need for renewing contacts between caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri and between Speaker Nabih Berri and Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

The severance of contacts will only lead to more problems, he said.

He told Al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published on Wednesday that he fears that the “Sunni-Shiite divide in Lebanon may develop into a conflict.”

“The direction Lebanon is heading to may lead to unforeseen results that will harm everyone,” he added.

Furthermore, he revealed that he has tried to suggest initiatives to bring the disputed sides together, but he has so far failed.

In addition, Jumblat said that he recently contacted Hariri requesting him to resume ties with Berri, but the Mustaqbal movement leader did not give him a reply.

He also met with former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora at a mutual friend’s house for the same end, “but Saniora cannot do anything without Hariri’s approval.”

The MP noted that Hariri had raised his political rhetoric to such an extent on March 13 when he rejected the possession of arms that he doesn’t know what step he will take next.

“Hariri should take a step back …. Whether we like it or not, he is still the Sunnis’ main representative in Lebanon,” he added.

“Dialogue is the only method to end our disputes,” Jumblat stressed.

Addressing the government formation process, he refused to blame any side for the delay, adding: “The obstacles it is facing can all be overcome.”

In addition, he noted that the ongoing construction violations in the South, the unrest in Roumieh prison, and the failure to reach any progress in the investigation into the kidnapping of the seven Estonian cyclists is a sign of the “fragmentation of the state” that has been caused by the government vacuum.