Jumblatt: Resistance Does Not Lead Us To Disaster

     Al-Hayat     2003/08/15

Walid Jumblatt, head of the Progressive Socialist Party confirmed that the resistance is the strategic option for liberation. And after his meeting with Hezbollah's Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Jumblatt said: "I offered my condolences towards the martyr Ali Saleh, and then we moved to other issues, local and regional in addition to the Arab situation."

He added: "the limits of the international game today in Palestine are what is called the Roadmap that was stillborn, and the Arab regimes do not know the future… that would not be fulfilled except through liberation, which has components represented by weapons and money, in addition to a clear resolution like the Syrian-Lebanese one: unconditional liberation. The Arabs did not and will never be committed to it, and their only aim was trying to subjugate and extinguish the resistance in Palestine." He also mentioned the "American pressures in order to create a democratic regime in Iraq like in Sweden and Germany after the war," considering that "at the end, Iraqis are the ones that decide which regime they want and the way they solve their problems. The resistance began and will expand."

He continued saying that: "it is our right and the national and Islamic resistance's right to defend ourselves and confront the aerial intrusions over Lebanese airspace." He saw that "the European position and that of the UN was and will always be aligned to the enemy." He also said: "the resistance is the primary option to liberate Shebaa Farms and the Golan, and it will always be considered as the strategic option for the Arabs and Muslims to, sooner or later, liberate Palestine. We will never abandon the resistance, which is also, next to the Lebanese Army, a way to brace and defend Lebanon. And it is not true what is said in some of the newspapers or articles that the resistance will lead us to disaster, it will never do. We support the resistance which is the basis, and upon its choice we build a resisting economy."

After heading a meeting of the Democratic Assembly, Jumblatt said that the Assembly sees in the by-elections in Aley-Baabda to fill the Maronite's seat after the deceased deputy Pierre Helou, a "confirming of cohabitation and the reconciliation in Mount Lebanon sponsored two years ago by the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, in addition to the balanced development, taking in consideration the voice of the resistance." He wished that "Henri Helou (the deceased's son) would represent these ambitions so that we can start with the issue of support," pointing out that he will meet him on Monday. He also considered that "there are voices of challenge and others rejecting reconciliation."

On the Israeli threats he said: "they don't frighten me, and I imagine that Israel itself is the one that is scared due to the huge summering in the regions north of the occupied Palestine and Golan in the summer season. In principal, the resistance proved a great and successful experience when we unconditionally liberated the land in spite of all the Israeli omnipotence and its threats at the time." Jumblatt cleared out that the reunion considering the balanced development, defines the principles starting with the issue of garbage and up forth. He considered that "the council of ministers decided today to annul the contract with Sukleen and that is what we consider success under the political pressure and that of the municipalities that pays to Sukleen from its own money," hoping that "there will be a more convenient contract to the citizen and cleanliness."

On the subject of electricity, he said: "without holding the thieves accountable, which means those who were behind bringing electricity stations working on gas while there was no gas, and without annulling the contract with Al Baroudi's and holding them accountable them and others, there will be no result," inviting to "review this file to the end" and "not ignoring it because the file concerning electricity is similar to that of Al Madina Bank, but more important." And about not allowing municipalities in Mount Lebanon to set up high-voltage electricity relays, he said: "these municipalities have to set up these relays and the Electricity of Lebanon Company will reimburse the costs later. None of the municipalities, whether in Beisour or elsewhere, can offer any fact as an excuse against these relays specially made to connect the hexagon network."

An on the point related to the Italian Prime Minister (president of the European Union) Silvio Berlusconi's position towards Hezbollah, Jumblatt said: "he has Mussolini's ambitions."