Friday, August 18, 2006

Walid Jumblatt and Hassan Nasrallah

In his televised address on Thursday 17th August, Walid Jumblat put his finger on the core of the problem facing Lebanon and its people, namely, that any decision affecting the destiny of the nation, be it war or peace, should be and remain the exclusive prerogative of the State, represented by its democratically elected institutions, i.e. the Council of Ministers and the House of Deputies, and that no such decision should be taken by any one group, specifically Hizbullah. He stressed the fact that Lebanon should not be a pawn in the geopolitical interests of Iran and Syria, in their confrontation with the United States. Both Jumblatt and Saad Hariri, the leader of the Parliamentary majority, also in a televised address, strongly criticised Syia and its President Bashar el Assad, whose speech a few days ago was designed, primarily, to sow the seeds of discord in Lebanon and to foment confessional differences, leading possibly to civil war.

Nothing would please Syria more than to see civil war in Lebanon. The hate and venom that the leader of that heretical sect, the Alawites, bears towards Lebanon and its leaders because Syria was kicked out of Lebanon, is unique in the annals of history.

Be that as it may, the fact remains, as stressed by Walid Jumblatt, that the democratically elected Government of Lebanon and its constitutional institutions should have and exercise exclusive responsibility and authority over the destinies of that battered country.

We may ask ourselves whether Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and his Party whose victory over Israel have enhanced their prestige, will agree to fuse his Party within the institutions of the State. If so, Lebanon will be rebuilt and prosper. If not, we fear the worst.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cher tonton, je lis ton blog avec plaisir, espère que tu vas bien et continue de nager le crawl régulièrement. Maman m'a dit que tu avais joué au golf, mabrouk. Que Dieu vous protège tous, grosses bises, Amal

Anonymous said...

He stressed the fact that Lebanon should not be a pawn in the geopolitical interests of Iran and Syria, in their confrontation with the United States.

Although Jumblatt makes this statement it is clear that his respect among the people of Lebanon is on shaky ground. Besides, it is a little late to be making this statement, seeing how Lebanon is already the pawn of this geopolitical conflict.

With that said I would like to add, that Lebanon, Syria and Iraq have been the pawns of a long and drawn out political offensive of Europe and the US since the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

Its hard to imagine that the Lebanese people do not know this?

wasalaam

Anonymous said...

do we really have to listen to this ridiculous statement "Hizbullah should ask permission to fight an invader...[paraphrasing the israeli defense claim]... or must give out plans of a carefully prepared defense mechanism against that invader?"
I hate to say it, but we seem to always be put on a political swing by our politicians, especially by Mr Jumblat, so much so that we fail to understand where is it they feel is right place for lebanon to be... Keep us guessing and rule...and impress the naiive political reader.

PS That political swing is the proverbial "Baydat lim gharbil..."