Jumblat: I Didn't Betray Rafik Hariri, Sometimes We Must Forget about Truth for Stability's Sake
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday stressed that he has not betrayed the memory of slain premier Rafik Hariri.
“I’m cautioning against the threats. I am with justice and stability but sometimes it is better to forget about truth for the sake of stability,” Jumblat said in an interview on MTV.
“My theory is that stability and justice should go together, because should justice lead to instability we would not be doing justice to Rafik Hariri,” Jumblat added.
Addressing MP Bahia Hariri, the sister of the slain premier, Jumblat said “it is true that ‘tons of spite’ had killed Rafik Hariri, but tons of spite might explode following the (recent) release of the (Special Tribunal for Lebanon) indictment because of the game of nations.”
Jumblat warned against employing the indictment in efforts to disarm Hizbullah, noting that “there is no link between weapons and the fulfilling of justice, because the issue of arms should be resolved through dialogue.”
The Druze leader stressed that Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government is “committed to the international resolutions,” noting that “there is a campaign to strip Miqati of his patriotism and Sunni identity.
“Before Miqati (was designated as premier), someone had at least agreed on preventing the domestic repercussions of the indictment,” Jumblat said, referring to former premier Saad Hariri, the slain premier’s son.
“I believe that civil peace is in danger and we may start with a tribunal and its repercussions and end somewhere else,” he warned.
Addressing the controversial issue of Hizbullah’s weapons, Jumblat said: “I’m optimistic because one day we will reach an agreement and these arms will become in the possession of the Lebanese State and I’m not afraid of time.”
“I’m with returning to the national dialogue table and I’m not with one of (Hizbullah chief) Sayyed (Hassan) Nasrallah’s statements in which he said he was against dialogue,” Jumblat added.
“If a certain group believes that Hizbullah might be involved in the assassination, we must talk with them and sit with them around the dialogue table,” he advised.
Jumblat stressed that “no party can eliminate its rivals in this country, no matter how strong it may be.”
Commenting on the shift in his political alliances following the 2009 parliamentary elections, Jumblat said his new political alignment “spared the country a Druze-Shiite strife that could have spread across Lebanon” during the infamous May 2008 clashes.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/10182 |