Walid Jumblatt

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Picture of Walid Jumblatt

Walid Jumblatt (Arabic: وليد جنبلاط‎) (born August 7, 1949) is the current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party "PSP" of Lebanon, and the most prominent leader of the Druze community. He is currently one of the most outspoken anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon and is allied with the March 14 Alliance, which includes the Future Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Qornet Chehwan Gathering.

Family

The origin of the Jumblatt family is the Kurdish Janpoulad family coming from Shamel Janpoulade and dating back to Janboulad Ibn Kassem al Kirdi al Kaisari, known as Ibn Arabou (1530-1580), and governor of Aleppo. Walid Jumblatt is the son of Kamal Jumblatt, the assassinated founder of the PSP, the party which Walid Jumblatt currently leads. He is the maternal grandson of Prince Shakib Arslan. His first wife was Gervette "Gigi," a Jordanian woman of Circassian origin who is the mother of his child Timour. His current wife is Nora.

Military life

In 1977 Walid Jumblatt became the head of the Lebanese National Movement that was at war with the Lebanese Front.One of the most fierce battles that happened between the two, was after the sudden Israeli withdrawal from the Chouf Mountain of Lebanon in August 1982 and later in 1983, in wich Jumblatt's PSP militia , backed by Soviet weaponry from Syria, combated the Lebanese Forces militia led by Samir Geagea,who controlled a large part of the Aley district and part of the Chouf region,mainly in villages of Maronite majority, during the battles most Christian families migrated to the Christian part of the country after they were evacuated from Deir al-Qamar by the United Nations, the PSP militia was capable through this battle to regain its control over South Mount Lebanon after it lost large part of it in 1982.Also the Progressive Socialist Party led by Jumblatt fought against the Syrian backed Amal Movement after this movement attacked the PLO controlled Palestinian camps in west Beirut.Also, several battles where fought with his opponent and leader of the Lebanese Armed Forces Eighth Brigade at the Aley village of Souk El Gharb, General Michel Aoun is again his opponent, but at the ballot box.

Political life

The BBC describes Jumblatt as "being seen by many as the country's political weathervane." He has a successful record of changing allegiances to ensure that the sectarian interests of the Druze emerge on the winning side of the political issues and conflicts shaping Lebanon, from the turmoil of the 1975-1990 civil war to Lebanon's reconstruction. Like several other sectarian leaders, he was a supporter of the Syrian military presence (described as an occupation by anti-Syrian elements) in Lebanon after the civil war, but since the death of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in 2000, he has campaigned for the end of Syrian domination of Lebanon. This has pitted him against President Émile Lahoud, whom he considers a Syrian puppet, and the Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah of which he said: "Their fighters have done a good job defying and defeating the Israeli army, OK, but the question we ask is where their allegiance goes: to a Lebanese strong central authority or somewhere else?"

After the assassination of Rafik Hariri in 2005, Jumblatt said that a shaken Hariri had told him months before that Hariri had been personally threatened by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a 15-minute meeting in the Syrian capital Damascus in August 2004: "(President) Lahoud is me ... If you and Chirac want me out of Lebanon, I will break Lebanon."]. Jumblatt said, "When I heard him telling us those words, I knew that it was his condemnation of death." His comments have been included in the FitzGerald Report, the United Nations's report on the investigation of the Hariri assassination. The report criticizes Syria for the political tensions which preceded the assassination. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have demanded a Syrian pullout from Lebanon and an international investigation into Hariri's murder.

Jumblatt has publicly spoken of his fear of being assassinated, like Hariri, because of his current stance towards Damascus. The unsuccessful attempt on the life of his closest political ally and friend, MP Marwan Hamadeh, in October 2004 was interpreted by many as an ominous message addressed to Jumblatt. In an interview with The Chicago Tribune, when asked about his concerns for his safety, he answered, "That's trivial; I don't think about it. When they will come, they will come."

See also

• Cedar Revolution
• Kamal Jumblatt
• Progressive Socialist Party

External links

• Walid Jumblatt, by Gary C. Gambill and Daniel Nassif, Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, Vol 3, No 5, May 2001
• "It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq" quoted in Beirut's Berlin Wall, by David Ignatius, Washington Post, February 23, 2005
• "Rebel with a cause" by Massoud A. Derhally, Arabian Business, March 27, 2005
• "Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt Accuses Hizbullah, Iran and Syria For Lebanon Crisis" Transcript of interview of Walid Jumblatt, broadcast on Al-Arabiya, July 20, 2006
• We Should Treat the Syrian Regime the Same Way It Treats Us: With Car Bombs, Assassinations and Destruction. Bashar Al-Assad Is a Liar. Transcript of interview of Walid Jumblatt, broadcast on Al-Arabiya, December 28, 2006
• Attacks Hizbullah, Iran, and Syria, and Says: I Support a Two-State Solution, Not the Liberation of Jerusalem Transcript of interview of Walid Jumblatt, broadcast on Al-Jazeera TV, January 31, 2007
• On Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad: "An Ape Unknown to Nature, a Creature That Is Only Half-Man." Excerpts from an address delivered by Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 14, 2007.
• Bush Meets With Anti-Semite Who Celebrated The Killing Of American Soldiers.