Walid Joumblatt welcomed by Albert Costanian and Samy Gemayel. (Credit: L'Orient-Le Jour)
Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt took part in a public debate with Kataeb chief Samy Gemayel in Bikfaya, the party’s stronghold in the Metn District.
Joumblatt made sure to make a point of “thanking” U.S. President Donald Trump following his surprise announcement Tuesday regarding the lifting of sanctions on Syria.
“This is a breakthrough that will have many positive repercussions for Lebanon,” Joumblatt said, who positions himself as a supporter of Syria’s new authorities following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
“We cannot separate regional developments from Lebanon,” he said. “We hope to preserve the geographical borders defined by the Sykes-Picot Agreement. What matters to us is preserving Greater Lebanon, which remains tied to a solution in Palestine,” in a clear reference to Israeli attempts to fragment both Lebanon and Syria.
Referring to efforts led notably by Washington to push the region’s countries toward normalizing ties with Israel, Joumblatt said, “Who said Lebanon is opposed to the Abraham Accords? The idea itself originated in Lebanon, in 2002, at the Arab League summit in Beirut, which endorsed the principle of land for peace” as a way to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, Joumblatt recalled.
At that summit, Arab countries proposed a peace initiative to Israel, offering collective normalization in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state and Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territories.
Joumblatt reiterated his current position: for now, Lebanon should return to the 1949 Armistice Agreement, as [today], normalization is not yet possible “while the wound remains wide open,” he said, referring to ongoing massacres committed by Israel. He added, “Wait a little. Once all the Arabs have joined, Lebanon will follow suit.”
Gemayel concurred, stressing that Lebanon “will not be able, in the future, to stand apart from Arab unanimity.”
“Lebanon today finds itself at a historic crossroads,” the Kataeb leader said. “For the first time in years, no side can decide on behalf of the other.”
Beyond regional issues, the meeting between the two leaders at the House of the Future (a research and documentation institution founded by Gemayel’s father, Amin Gemayel) whose respective parties were long at odds, particularly during the Lebanese Civil War, aims to lay the foundation for a new chapter in Lebanon’s history.
Joumblatt’s “historic” visit to the Kataeb stronghold also builds on Gemayel’s call in Parliament for a “national conference on truth and reconciliation.”
For the Kataeb leader, had the Lebanese spent decades working to build trust, “we could have avoided the recurring wars.”
“What is needed,” he said, “is an approach based on candor, so that wounds on both sides stop bleeding and fears are dispelled.”
He added, “Together, and with the help of the PSP, we must work toward rebuilding the foundation.”
Gemayel praised the “wisdom” with which President Joseph Aoun is addressing the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons, while insisting that disarmament must precede any dialogue.
“The presence of a non-Lebanese arsenal is as much an assault on Lebanese sovereignty as the presence of an Israeli soldier on Lebanese soil,” Gemayel said.
He acknowledged that while the wounds of the civil war have relatively healed, particularly through the 2001 Druze-Christian Mountain reconciliation, the wounds of the Shiite community remain “fresh” and must be taken into account.
This article was originally published in French in L’Orient-Le Jour. It was translated by Sahar Ghoussoub.