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Jumblat: No Pact of Honor with Assassins and their Subordinates

Druze leader Walid Jumblat, one of Syria's staunchest foes in Lebanon, has renewed his attack on Damascus and its Lebanese allies saying that there will be no "pact of honor with assassins or their subordinates."
Jumblat, who has lately refrained from making his customary fiery statements, launched one of his strongest attacks in recent months on the Syrian regime and its Lebanese supporters challenging an agreement between political leaders to avoid triggering further tension.

"There will be no settlement, no pact of honor and no peace with the tyrants of Damascus, with those who have violated Lebanon's independence and killed its free men," Jumblat said.

"As for the pact of honor that we have agreed on, we will respect it with a free and democratic society but we will not respect a pact with assassins or their subordinates," he added.

The gentlemen's agreement was reached last week at the latest round of national reconciliation talks in the aftermath of riots sparked by a satirical TV show that poked fun at Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Jumblat was speaking at a ceremony organized by the youth branch of his Progressive Socialist Movement in the Shouf mountain town of Beiteddine.

His comments came as Speaker Nabih Berri was seeking an Egyptian or Arab mediation to help mend relations with Damascus that reached their lowest after former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination.

The Druze leader's remarks also came a day after chief U.N. investigator Serge Brammertz handed his report on the Hariri murder to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The report was cautiously positive about Syria's response to the commission's requests saying it was "timely" and "comprehensive" but warned that full and unconditional cooperation was critical for the investigation.

The Druze leader accused Damascus and its allies in Lebanon of wanting to derail the inquiry and impede the international tribunal to try the suspects in the Feb. 14, 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.

"We should focus on the goal of establishing an international court where Brammertz, or maybe someone else, will be prosecutor general and drag the highest (authority) in Damascus and in Lebanon to trial," Jumblat said.

On Hizbullah, Jumblat said that its role as a national resistance movement has ended and that it should now let the army take over.

"The resistance's mission is over. We can learn from its experience in defending Lebanon but only under the government's authority. We will not accept a state within a state," he said.

Beirut, 12 Jun 06, 09:05


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