Jumblatt: Ahmadinejad attempting to revive Persian Empire
In his weekly editorial, to be published tomorrow in the Progressive Socialist Party’s Al-Anbaa weekly, MP Walid Jumblatt condemned the “Israeli killing machine,” which he said aimed at completely eradicating the “unarmed Palestinian people.” He echoed the belief that the massacres should justly be called a holocaust, as described by Abu Mazen.
The events in Gaza, Jumblatt continued, were reminiscent of “the holocaust in Qana, the siege of Beirut and the bombing of Sidon in 1982.”
Jumblatt expressed his rejection of American support for Israel in its aggressions against Palestinians, which he said undermined all modest attempts at a settlement that would resolve the conflict.
In response to accusations that the March 14 forces were in need of US warships, he said the American guided-missile destroyer deployed off the Lebanon coast on Thursday had no effect on the regional political balance. He added that such questions should be redirected toward Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Baghdad “under the protection or understanding of America.”
Ahmadinejad began a two-day visit to Iraq on Sunday, which he said was a new start for the two former enemies who fought a vicious war in the 1980s. He also launched a fresh attack on US President George W. Bush from Iraq, stating that “the Iraqi people do not like America.”
Jumblatt commented on Ahmadinejad’s visit, stating that it was made possible under American auspices. “Why the silence of his allies, not to say agents, around his visit to Baghdad, from the airport to the Green Zone under the protection of America on the day of the Gaza holocaust… And they talk about a barge in a sea overflowing with barges,” he added.
Jumblatt indirectly accused Ahmadinejad of attempting to revive the Persian Empire. He also accused the Iranian and Syrian regimes of abandoning the Palestinian cause for their national interests. He added that Syria “traded” the Palestinian cause to enter Lebanon in 1976 and “liquidated the revolution and the Lebanese national movement.”
“Did Ahmadinejad coordinate with his ally Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah before visiting Iraq under American protection? Did Bashar Al-Assad also coordinate with his ally – so as not to say his tool – Nasrallah in his secret negotiations with Israel in the July War?” Jumblatt asked.