Jumblatt Rejects Attempts to Drag Lebanon into Crisis, Calls for Tribunal to Try Israeli Leaders
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt has expressed his refusal of turning Lebanon into a “mailbox” for exchanging military and security letters and an open battlefield for regional crises.
Jumblatt said the “allegedly anonymous rockets” that were being launched from South Lebanon into “the occupied territories” proved that Lebanon risked being turned into an “open battlefield for the wars of others.”
In a statement on Thursday, Jumblatt said a “healthy and strong” Lebanon was an asset to the Palestinian cause and called on the Lebanese army and UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to be on high alert in all southern regions to forbid the continuation of “this mockery called rockets.” Rocket-launching could aim to implicate Lebanon in a crisis, he said. Residents of southern Lebanon had suffered tragedies, he added. “Let us save them from a new suffering decided on by others.”
Jumblatt also said that the Arab Peace Initiative was based on the consensus of Arab and Islamic countries. “Calling for its suspension now is similar to calling for the suspension of international resolutions, with the knowledge that this initiative was fought against by known regional regimes who sought to cancel the Mecca agreement and exacerbate Palestinian divisions,” the statement read.
Jumblatt voiced his support for an international tribunal similar to that of Serbia to try Israeli political and military leaders as war criminals. “Gaza is not witnessing a war between Israel and a Palestinian faction, but an [ethnic] cleansing of the whole Palestinian population,” he said.