Jumblatt on Government Formation: Where are the Druze?

The head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, said in an interview with Russia Today that “I previously met Biden in Lebanon, as well as in the United States, and had a friendship with him, and he has big problems, which is how he will deal with him. that Trump left behind. “

He stressed that “among these problems is the destruction of the internal US unity and the withdrawal of the United States from international treaties such as UNESCO, the climate agreement and others, and Trump had threatened to leave the arms control treaty with Russia.”

He said: “The road is long for Biden to get to the Lebanese question, but yesterday I reminded him of the two-state solution in Palestine according to Resolution 242 and then with Oslo.”

He noted that “on the one hand, Israel is occupying, and on the one hand there is the presence of Iran, and we want that if Biden returns to the nuclear deal with Iran, this will not be at the expense of Lebanon.”

Regarding the US sanctions, Jumblatt emphasized: “It was clear to me that the sanctions do not weaken Hezbollah, but damage the Lebanese economy.

He stressed that “it is strange that Gebran Bassil defends himself as if he were an angel on the ground, and we must reach an independent judiciary in Lebanon to be held accountable, instead of receiving lessons from abroad that the political class is corrupt and even the moment the administration of Michel Aoun has disrupted the judicial formations that could have been reduced to a minimum “. Independence of political decision.

Regarding the formation of the government, Jumblatt pointed out that “since everyone demands chastity and says that we will participate in the government, I have the right, as a representative of the Progressive Socialist Party and the Arab Druze community, to say where the Druze are from throughout this issue? Why are we considered hateful and should we be excluded or assigned to secondary ministerial positions? ” .

Jumblatt said that “French President Emmanuel Macron did not present ideas that are far from the investigation. Rather, he called for a tax reform and said that the large number of Lebanese banks should be reconsidered and called for reforms in important sectors, especially the sector. electric”.

Regarding the investigations into the Beirut attack, he considered that “they have not reached and will not reach a conclusion, because all the administrations since 2014 that have taken over the government and the administration of the Beirut port were aware of this amount of nitrates , and it was clear to me that the quantities were brought to Beirut by the Syrian regime. I don’t think it was used with barrel bombs. ”