NNA – Progressive Socialist Party Chief, Walid Jumblatt, considered that "with the parliamentary majority, we can impose our word,” but questioned, “Will they kill us?"
Referring to the maritime border demarcation negotiations, he believed that "everything that MP Gebran Bassil and President Michel Aoun are doing is aimed at lifting the sanctions off Bassil, and for this reason they initially insisted on line 29 and now 23, and are doing all that satisfies the Israelis and the Americans."
Speaking about the Gulf States, Jumblatt said: “After the clouds resulting from the random and arbitrary statements of Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement group on Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, which almost destroyed our relationship with the Gulf and our presence in the Gulf as Lebanese, we hope that the Kuwaiti and Saudi ambassadors will return to the Gulf and carry out a movement of political and economic balance for Lebanon, lest we remain hostage and under Iranian and Syrian control.”
Touching on the agreement with the International Monetary Fund, Jumblatt considered it as Lebanon’s “last chance”. He added: “It seems that the crisis is a bit long; it may be long with known limits, and it may be long and open to all possibilities, but the whole matter is dependent upon the seriousness of the government’s work in approving the protocol with the IMF, bearing in mind that the initial agreement is not sufficient if it is not practically translated into endorsement by the current Parliament, in order for the IMF to provide Lebanon with the aid they announced…”
“However, the Lebanese state is supposed to first carry out reforms through reforming the electricity sector and restructuring the banking sector and the administrative apparatus,” he said.
Jumblatt’s words came in a talk with Lebanese expatriates, published by “Al-Anbaa” Newspaper, during which he valued the role of the Diaspora members in supporting their fellow Lebanese back home especially during the challenging times of the COVID pandemic.
He called for “staying united with the Lebanese expatriates in the upcoming elections and other junctures,” adding, “We did a great job during the past two or three years in terms of supporting our institutions, confronting and mitigating the outbreak of the Coronavirus, and providing hospitals with equipment and medicines, in addition to the fact that the world has advanced and then came the blessing of the vaccine that allowed us to pass this difficult ordeal, taking into account how many friends, relatives and loved ones have fallen victim to this disease.”
Jumblatt encouraged an expanded number of contributors amongst the Lebanese Diaspora, noting that “we need a joint effort on our part and on the part of expatriates in the Gulf countries and others, alongside the remarkable expatriates’ work and through the ‘You Help’ Foundation and this unique quality that has extended valued assistance.”
=========R.Sh.
