MP Walid Jumblatt, head of the Democratic Gathering bloc, said that any national dialogue must revolve around the Taif Agreement.
“Changing the balance established by the Taif Agreement might lead to a civil war,” Jumblatt told NTV on Sunday. “It embarrassed us and the Resistance when the Iranian vice president said that the détente over Iran’s nuclear dossier will have positive repercussions for Lebanon,” he added.
Jumblatt said that President Sleiman’s inauguration speech was very clear about the Resistance and noted the possibility of joining the Resistance and the state as long as the latter is the one to make decisions.
“There is no relation between the existence of [the Resistance’s] weapons and the legislative elections,” Jumblatt added.
He also said that not all Shia accept the Iranian Guardianship of the Jurist and greeted the appointment of independent Ibrahim Shamseddine as a minister of state, while slamming some “artificial stances created by dollars.”
Jumblatt said that in order to bring assassinations in Lebanon, whether committed by Israel or other parties, to an end, there must be a serious dialogue with Hezbollah on the national defense strategy.
“I have kept up contacts with Speaker Nabih Berri, as he represents a vast portion of the Shia community, and he is the house speaker, irrespective of what is being said about him closing the parliament,” he said.
Jumblatt said he understands Berri’s desire not to see Lebanon’s Special Tribunal adopted because it might focus on the Syrian regime, and Berri does not want to be seen as someone who helped weaken Damascus.
Jumblatt said he will not visit Damascus until after a verdict is issued by the Special Tribunal.
“I am frustrated by the US policy in Lebanon,” Jumblatt said, adding that the US and France “have given us a major boost on the issue of the government.”
“The only successful US intervention in Lebanon was in 1958,” Jumblatt said. “We called on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to work for the Israeli withdrawal from the Shebaa Farms, not to have Syrian FM Walid Mouallem say that putting the territory under UN supervision will not bring it back under Lebanese control.”
“Over the past three years, we have disregarded sometimes our Arab principles and have purposefully forgotten the Palestinian cause.”
“The March 14 Revolution has no echo in the Arab world if it is not related to the Palestinians cause,” Jumblatt said.
“I am still holding to the principles, but I am flexible,” he said.
Commenting on the recurring violence in Tripoli, Jumblatt said he hopes that a reconstruction project has been planned for the city, rather than letting militias get funded by “the owners of private jets, and by this I don’t mean the Future Movement.”