JUMBLATT TO ATTEND FEBRUARY 14 RALLY ‘LIKE ANY ORDINARY CITIZEN’
Daily Star
Feb 11 2010
Lebanon
BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt said
that he would take part in the February 14 rally to commemorate
the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri,
but added that he would not deliver a speech at the ceremony. "I
agreed with Premier Hariri on this and I will attend the rally like
any ordinary citizen … like all the Lebanese because in the end
Rafik Hariri belonged to all the Lebanese," Jumblatt said.
Following a meeting with Premier Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail
Wednesday, Jumblatt said he will not visit Syria before February 14.
"When the Syrian government finds it suitable for me to visit Damascus,
I will not refuse," he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, Jumblatt and his son Timor visited the
headquarters of the Armenian Tashnag Party in Burj Hammoud and held
talks with party head Hagop Mekhtirian and MP Hagop Pakradounian.
In an interview with As-Safir newspaper published Tuesday, Walid
Jumblat denied that he had called on the US to invade Syria during
a 2006 interview with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.
"I never called for the invasion of Syria by the US Army … this
is crazy," Jumblat told As-Safir. "Maybe I thought at the time the
condition of the opposition in Syria could improve."
"I hope my clarification today would wipe out the offensive words
against the Syrian people and the Syrian leadership," he said.
Jumblatt also slammed the ongoing attacks by March 14 figures against
Syria.
"I don’t see a need for that particularly after the historic settlement
began with Premier Saad Hariri’s visit to Damascus." He added that
certain figures from the March 14 Forces wanted to overlook the fact
that Hariri paid a visit to Damascus.
Tackling the string of assassinations which rocked Lebanon between
2005 and 2008 and targeted politicians as well as journalists, Jumblatt
said the assassinations continued even after the withdrawal of Syrian
troops from Lebanon in April 2005.
"Maybe someone wanted to pour oil on fire," he said.
On Hizbullah and the resistance, Jumblatt expressed solidarity with
the resistance.
"We only see solidarity with the resistance in Lebanon and with Syria
because Israeli madness could lead to war anytime," he said.
"That’s why I say we are with the Syrian leadership above anything else
in our commitment to confront the Israeli enemy," the PSP leader added.
He told As-Safir he would meet with Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah soon.
Touching upon the February 14 rally to mark five years since Hariri’s
assassination, Jumblatt reiterated that he hoped the occasion would
bring all Lebanese together.
"Unfortunately some people are trying to isolate us from the
commemoration and seeking to build a hostile atmosphere against us
without any justification," he said.