Walid Jumblatt
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| Walid Junblatt | |
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 Picture of Walid Jumblatt |
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| Born | August 7, 1949 |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Home town | Moukhtara |
| Title | Chairman of the Progressive Socialist Party |
| Predecessor | Kamal Jumblatt |
| Political party | Progressive Socialist Party |
| Religion | Druze |
| Spouse(s) | Nora Jumblatt |
| Children | Taymour (b. 1982) Aslan (b. 1983) Dallia (b. 1986) |
| Parents | Kamal Jumblatt May Arslan |
| Relatives | Shakib Arslan (grandfather) |
| Lebanon |
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Walid Jumblatt (Arabic: وليد جنبلاط) (born August 7, 1949) is the current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party "PSP" of Lebanon, and the most prominent leader of the Druze community.[1]
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[edit] Family
The origin of the Jumblatt family is the Kurdish Janpoulad family coming from Shamel Janpoulade and dating back to Janboulad Ibn Kassem al Kirdi al Kaisari, known as Ibn Arabou (1530-1580), and governor of Aleppo. Walid Jumblatt is the son of Kamal Jumblatt, the founder of the PSP, the party which Walid Jumblatt currently leads. He is the maternal grandson of Prince Shakib Arslan[2]. His first wife was Gervette "Gigi," a Jordanian woman of Circassian origin who is the mother of his child Timour. His current wife is the Syrian Nora Sharabati,the daughter of the former Syrian Minister of Defense Ahmed Al-Sharabati. Walid Jumbulatt is graduated from the American University of Beirut in Political Science[3][4]
[edit] Political life
The BBC describes Jumblatt as " the smartest leader of Lebanon's most powerful Druze clan and heir to a leftist political dynasty based around the Progressive Socialist Party.[5]
He is seen by many as the country's political weathervane - consistently emerging on the winning side through the twists and turns of the 1975-90 civil war and its troubled aftermath.
He was a supporter of Syria after the war but, since the death of strongman Hafez al-Assad in 2000, he has campaigned for Damascus to relinquish control. Jumblatt has spoken openly of the fear that he - like murdered former PM Rafik Hariri - may face assassination because of this stance.[5]. This pitted him against former president Émile Lahoud, whom he considers a Syrian puppet, and the Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah of which he said: "Their fighters have done a good job defying and defeating the Israeli army, OK, but the question we ask is where their allegiance goes: to a Lebanese strong central authority or somewhere else?"[6]
After the assassination of Rafik Hariri in 2005, Jumblatt said that a shaken Hariri had told him months before that Hariri had been personally threatened by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a 15-minute meeting in the Syrian capital Damascus in August 2004:[7]"(President) Lahoud is me ... If you and Chirac want me out of Lebanon, I will break Lebanon."]. Jumblatt said, "When I heard him telling us those words, I knew that it was his condemnation of death." His comments have been included in the FitzGerald Report, the United Nations's report on the investigation of the Hariri assassination. The report criticizes Syria for the political tensions which preceded the assassination. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have demanded a Syrian pullout from Lebanon and an international investigation into Hariri's murder.
Jumblatt has publicly spoken of his fear of being assassinated, like Hariri, because of his current stance towards Damascus. The unsuccessful attempt on the life of his closest political ally and friend, MP Marwan Hamadeh, in October 2004 was interpreted by many as an ominous message addressed to Jumblatt.[citation needed] In an interview with The Chicago Tribune, when asked about his concerns for his safety, he answered, "That's trivial; I don't think about it. When they will come, they will come."
As recently as November 2009 Jumblatt changed tack again. Syria, he now says, is the core of the Arab world; Lebanon is destined to be on its side. If he had once spoken ill of Bashar Assad, it was only in the heat of emotion, Jumblatt told al-Manar, the television station run by Hizbullah.[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ [1] latimes.com Accessed August 3, 2009
- ^ Kamal Jumblatt Biography Entry NNDB.com Accessed October 16, 2007
- ^ Lebanon’s new miracle
- ^ Jumblatts’ family history captured in a painting Lebanonwire.com November 30, 2002 Accessed October 16, 2007
- ^ a b BBC Who's who in Lebanon
- ^ Chicago Tibune interview Aug.11, 2006
- ^ Behind Lebanon Upheaval, 2 Men's Fateful ClashNYT, By NEIL MacFARQUHAR Published: March 20, 2005, Accessed Oct. 16, 2007
- ^ Syria: Has it won?
[edit]
- Rebel with a cause by Massoud A. Derhally, Arabian Business, March 27, 2005
- Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt Accuses Hizbullah, Iran and Syria For Lebanon Crisis, Transcript of interview of Walid Jumblatt, broadcast on Al-Arabiya, July 20, 2006
- We Should Treat the Syrian Regime the Same Way It Treats Us: With Car Bombs, Assassinations and Destruction. Transcript of interview of Walid Jumblatt, broadcast on Al-Arabiya, December 28, 2006
- I Support a Two-State Solution, Not the Liberation of Jerusalem Transcript of interview of Walid Jumblatt, broadcast on Al-Jazeera TV, January 31, 2007
- On Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad: "An Ape Unknown to Nature, a Creature That Is Only Half-Man." Excerpts from an address delivered by Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 14, 2007.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Walid Jumblatt |
- Walid Jumblatt, by Gary C. Gambill and Daniel Nassif, Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, Vol 3, No 5, May 2001
- "It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq" quoted in Beirut's Berlin Wall, by David Ignatius, Washington Post, February 23, 2005
