Walid WallyJumblat
... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
on Thursday advised Hizbullah to allow Premier Najib Miqati's government to pay Leb's annual 49% share of funds to the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Leb.
"We've heard Hizbullah describing the suspects (in the 2005 liquidation of ex-PM Rafik Hariri) as 'sacred', but they must understand that those who were martyred, starting from Rafik Hariri all the way to (slain MP) Antoine Ghanem ... are also 'sacred'," Jumblat said in an interview on Al-Arabiya television.
"Why don't they go defend themselves in court?" Jumblat suggested, warning that "boycotting the tribunal would harm Leb."
Addressing the crisis in neighboring Syria, Jumblat said he was "against using Leb against Syria and vice versa."
"We respect the Syrian security forces, but they also have to respect the Lebanese security forces," Jumblat said when asked about recent controversy on the abduction of Syrian dissidents in Leb.
"I'm with security and military coordination between Leb and Syria, but it should have regulations," Jumblat stressed.
He called for a "settlement" between
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
's regime and its opponents, but underlined "the need to prevent foreign intervention."
"The Syrian people is capable of reaching a new Syria. I'm with a political settlement in Syria and it should be implemented in an appropriate manner," the Druze leader added.
He also said he was not opposed to "the intervention of some influential powers such as Turkey and Iran in Syria should the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
deem that as necessary to stop the bloodshed."
On the other hand, he urged Assad to "accept the vaporous Arab League's initiative" to end the violence.
"We're not betting on the fall of the Syrian regime, but rather on reforms that would stop the bloodshed. I urge the Lebanese parties to sit together and engage in dialogue over how to protect Syria and I believe that Hizbullah will benefit the most in that case," Jumblat noted.
Asked about his relation with former premier Saad Hariri
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
, Jumblat said: "We exchange holiday greetings and we are former allies. We did not part because of a dispute over the principle of the tribunal, but rather over regional alliances and the fear of civil strife."
"Hariri and I should both help Syria exit its crisis by endorsing the Arab League's paper," he called on his former ally.