Jumblat: Lebanon Should Keep Quiet over Syria Instead of Proposing Solutions to Crisis
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat criticized on Monday Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour’s position on the Syrian crisis, saying that it is harming Lebanon’s credibility.
He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “If only Lebanon’s envoy at the Arab League meetings would remain silent over the Syrian crisis instead of proposing solutions to the unrest.”
He added that Lebanon should also maintain its position of distancing itself from the Syrian developments instead of suggesting solutions to the crisis.
Addressing the Arab observer mission to Syria, he compared it to a similar international observer mission that was sent to monitor the situation in Kosovo in the past.
The MP noted that the number of observers to Syria should have been greater than those that headed to Kosovo seeing as the Arab country is much larger than the European one.
Jumblat also wondered if the Arab observers are even qualified enough to be fulfilling their mission.
Furthermore, he stated: “Syria is likely headed towards more violence, which will gradually lead to a civil war, because of the ongoing oppression and repeated rejection of all initiatives to end the crisis.
The PSP leader also praised the recent Alawite intellectuals’ statement that sought to distance the sect from the Syrian regime’s practices.
Alawite intellectuals denounced last week what they said are efforts by the Syrian government and parts of the opposition to link their sect to the regime, warning against the consequences of casting a popular uprising for civil rights in a sectarian light.
Jumblat wondered when the predominantly Druze residents of Jabal al-Arab in Syria would take a similar stand.
He noted the residents’ revolt against foreign powers, such as the French mandate in the 20th century, and asked: “Should the oppression of outsiders be confronted, while that committed by fellow Syrians be disregarded?”
“We salute the few voices from Jabal al-Arab that have spoken against the Syrian regime and reject attempts by some of its leaders to cover up the crimes being committed against the Syrian people,” he added.
“Isn’t it time for Druze soldiers to reject orders to kill their Syrian brothers in Homs, Hama, Idlib, and other regions?” wondered the MP.
Addressing Iran's Quds Force, Brig. Gen. Qasem Soleimani’s recent statements on Lebanon and Iraq, Jumblat said: “It would have been better had he not made such remarks. They go to demonstrate the need to return to the national dialogue to devise a defense strategy for the country in manner that would take advantage of the resistance’s capabilities in confronting Israel.”
“We reject attempts to turn Lebanon once again into an open ground for settling regional and international disputes and praise Moqtada al-Sadr’s rejection that Iraq become an open ground for other people’s wars,” he said.
Soleimani said last week that the people of southern Lebanon and Iraq are under the effect of Iran’s “way of practice and thinking.”
Commenting on the Syria’s kidnapping of three Lebanese fishermen on Sunday and murder of one of them, the Druze leader stated: “We hope the Lebanese army would control the situation along the land and maritime borders in a manner that would prevent the repetition of such incidents.”
“This development also highlights the need for demarcating Lebanon’s border with Syria, which was approved during the national dialogue in the past,” Jumblat stressed.
23 January 2012, 18:03
26
Praise the Alawite intellectuals. Why haven't we heared from the Lebanese Shiite intellectuals?
23 January 2012, 19:05
55
Too bad this low life and the other low life Rafic Syria, may he rot in hell, kept quiet throughout their friends' occupation while scheming against their countrymen and filling their pockets with millions of filthy money. But what can you do in a country that is filled with filthy leaders followed by filthier idiots?
23 January 2012, 19:13
25
first: there is no more a solitary syrian bullet outside syria
second: where are the lebanese shiites?????????they have to wake up b4 the opening of the gates of hell.PERIOD.
23 January 2012, 21:48
21
Who is talking, he think himself a professor in politics, but he is on the war criminal list, so join you friend Assad regime.
24 January 2012, 02:53
11
Lebanese politicians just cannot resist the stupid envy to comment on what is going on in Syria while also at the same time telling us how important it is to disassociate Lebanon from the events in the neighboring country which appears to be sitting on a volcano that is smoldering and nearing a major eruption. Instead on focusing on taking care of internal issues, the political scene is so caught up and divided over Syria that it is slowly but surely bringing Lebanon tension and more divisiveness. The advice to Jumblatt and others is to shut up and stay away from the syrian crisis and instead focus on internal matters calling for calm and try to cater to resolving social and economic issues that are of prime importance to the nation.
24 January 2012, 09:23
22
Hahahaha, Good One Mr. Walid. For the first time You got me laughing in here and You are right! I mean come on... Look at Mansour... A Frog Face Look alike is the person who is representing OUR country's Foreign affairs and dealing with Lebanon's image abroad. What a brilliant image Lebanon is getting with such a loser!
24 January 2012, 14:14
02
the best statement we wish to make is to be neutral with whats happening in Syria... wow! that's what we call manhood!
typical Lebanese cowered political behavior!
i wonder why do we still put the cedar in the middle of our flag?!
i wonder why do we still teach our kids at school that our ancestors were heroes... they freed us at the age of bechara el khoury in a patriotic way, they have stood against the Turkish many times back in a time and resisted for ages, bla bla bla...
24 January 2012, 14:15
01
what do you think it would cost us to stand up just for once, once again and tell the world that we - who are directly related to the Assad regime and who are still directly and indirectly controlled by his intelligent forces - stand against the injustice in Syria! stand against the massacres there! that we don't want the Syrian people - whatever they did to us in the past - to suffer from this tyrant regime as we did for ages! what would it cost us? in their any more price we can pay that we didn't pay already?
if people supporting the Syrian regime and people just requesting to distance themselves from what's happening there are proudly considering themselves Lebanese... so i'm ashamed to be one!!!
24 January 2012, 15:27
12
Mowaten I am usually against your ideology but what you said here is the truth. Jumblat goes with the flow, he is a big crook, I never liked him but he plays it safe
25 January 2012, 08:11
10
Why should we listen to a murderer; Jumblat should be the first to go on trial...
25 January 2012, 09:33
00
As usual, he is more funny than credible, but yet again he always gets what he wants. He is jumping as usual, but he is preparing ground for his son in order not to be like him. He is waiting to see what really happens to Syria then will disappear ( i hope ) from the lebanese scene. He wants to leave for his son a stable position of the PSP. But it would b funny though if he gets killed. He deserves it and anyone with brains would not even fight to avenge him...
