Former Minister and MP Walid Jumblatt said today that ‘the war raging in Gaza is continuing, as is the Israeli aggression against south Lebanon, and it may last for more than a year,’ adding that ‘any talk that the war will stop and the Palestinian state will see the light, after the American president and his foreign minister remembered the Palestinian state, is useless…’

He added: ‘We are trying with House Speaker Nabih Berri, Hezbollah Secretary-General, Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, and the loyal people in the country to avoid the expansion of the war and to stop it…Basically there are occupied and disputed lands and all of Hockstein’s missions in this regard have not succeeded, but we are trying from our part, knowing that the war is expanding in the region…We do not know the adventures of the Israeli mind, but if the worst happens, as in 2006, we are ready to receive our people from the south, as we did in the past, but we hope that does not happen.’

Jumblatt continued: “With regards to internal pol
itical matters, there are no indications of electing a president, but we succeeded, through the efforts of the Democratic Gathering, to extend the term of the Army Commander and we hope to appoint a Chief-of-Staff in the near future.”

Jumblatt’s words came during his tour today in the city of Aley, where he visited the home of Democratic Gathering bloc member, MP Akram Chehayeb, and the Progressive Socialist Party’s Interior Branch where a wide meeting was held in the presence of MP Chehayeb, Mayor of Aley Wajdi Mrad, and a number of dignitaries.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon