BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt called Monday for a “new, serious and calm” approach to be adopted on the divisive issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, whose funding he described as in “Lebanon’s highest national interest.”
“We look forward to a new, serious and calm approach to be adopted in dealing with this matter [the STL], with complete understanding of the reservations expressed by Hezbollah over the tribunal,” Jumblatt wrote in his weekly editorial in the PSP’s al-Anbaa newspaper.
“I was the first to warn of the dangers of leaks to the media [of STL findings], but this does not negate the fact that the tribunal has become a reality, and Lebanon’s highest national interest requires that funding [for the tribunal] is passed,” the Chouf MP added.
The issue of STL funding is currentlydividing the Cabinet in two camps. Prime Minister Najib Mikati, President Michel Sleiman and Jumblatt favor funding the court, established by the U.N. to try the assassins of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and other figures, while Hezbollah, a key member in Mikati’s Cabinet, rejects the funding and has called for putting the matter to a vote in Cabinet, where it’s likely to be voted down by the party and its allies who together enjoy a majority.
The STL indicted four Hezbollah members in late June, but the party denies any involvement and has slammed the court as a “U.S.-Israeli tool” targeting the resistance.
Touching on the ongoing unrest in Syria, Jumblatt said that the Arab League’s initiative is the best way for Syria to emerge from the crisis.
“And this does not take place except through radical political reform as clearly stipulated in the items of the initiative,” he added.
The PSP leader said that his party condemns the “threatening and escalatory rhetoric” of right-wing Israeli groups and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Iran “over its acquisition of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.”
“It [PSP] views this to be aimed at drowning the entire region in chaos in order to disavow the legitimate historical rights of the Palestinians,” Jumblatt said.
Jumblatt reiterated his support for the resistance’s arms in defending Lebanon against Israeli aggression.
“But this does not cancel the need to return to national dialogue at the suitable time to study the circumstances – determined by the resistance – for the gradual integration [of the resistance’s arms] into the state, which remains the ultimate recourse for all Lebanese and southern residents in particular.”
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