Walid Jumblatt
Template:Short description Template:Family name hatnote Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Walid Kamal Jumblatt (Template:Langx; born 7 August 1949) is a Lebanese politician, who was the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party from 1977 until 2023.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> A Druze and former militia commander, Jumblatt led the Lebanese National Resistance Front, allying with Amal, the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and Marada Brigade during the 1983-1990 phase of Lebanese Civil War. He worked closely with Suleiman Frangieh to oppose Amine Gemayel's rule as president during the Mountain War, consolidating his control of the Chouf. After the civil war, he initially supported Syria but later led an anti-Assad stance during the start of the Syrian Civil War. He is still active in politics, most recently leading his party, the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in the 2022 Lebanese general election.
Early life and education
Jumblatt was born in August 1949,<ref name="AvonK2012">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Reich1990">Template:Cite book</ref> the son of the Lebanese Druze PSP's founder Kamal Jumblatt. He is the maternal grandson of Emir Shakib Arslan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Walid Jumblatt graduated from the American University of Beirut with a bachelor's degree in political science and public administration in 1972.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="harpers">Template:Cite news</ref>
Career
Upon graduation, Jumblatt worked as a reporter for An Nahar in Beirut.<ref name="harpers" /> The BBC describes Jumblatt as "leader of Lebanon's most powerful Druze clan and heir to a leftist political dynasty based around the Progressive Socialist Party".<ref name="bbc">Template:Cite news</ref> Assem Qanso of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Lebanon accused Jumblatt of abandoning his father's beliefs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 12 January 1982, he survived a car bomb explosion near his house in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In an Al Jazeera interview decades later, Jumblatt said that Elie Hobeika was responsible for the attack and said that Hobeika told him in a meeting in Damascus that he wanted to kill him.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, occupying its entire southern half and dismantling the PLO stronghold in the country. After the evacuation of remaining PLO militias from Beirut in September 1982, Walid’s Progressive Socialist Party saw a resurgence following the Lebanese Army’s attempt to return to formerly occupied areas. In July 1983, after Amine Gemayel became president, Suleiman Frangieh, Rashid Karami and Walid Jumblatt formed a coalition of armed factions led by his party, known as the Lebanese National Resistance Front, informally known as “Jammoul” to challenge Gemayel's rule and the pact between Lebanon and Israel that was financially supported by the US. <ref name="mil23jul">Template:Cite news</ref> Jumblatt served as minister of public works, transport and tourism in the National Unity cabinet led by then prime minister Rashid Karami, which was formed in May 1984.<ref name="owen84">Template:Cite journal</ref> His main ally during the war was Amal Movement's leader, Nabih Berri.
In the 1996 Rafic Hariri cabinet, Walid Jumblatt was appointed Minister for Refugees.<ref>Middle East International No 538, 22 November 1996; Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dictator Dennis Walters MP; George Trendle p.14</ref> He was a supporter of Syria, but following the death of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in 2000, he campaigned for Damascus to relinquish control.<ref name="eaa00au">Template:Cite journal</ref> Jumblatt's close links with the Syrian old guard alienated him from the new presidency of Bashar al-Assad.<ref name="eaa00au" /> This pitted him against then president Émile Lahoud 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?"<ref>Chicago Tribune interview, 11 August 2006.</ref> In the 2009 general elections, Jumblatt won a seat from Shouf as part of the 14 March Alliance list.<ref name="lic">Template:Cite web</ref> Following issues with Hezbollah's community, his son Taymour Jumblatt fled to France with his family after multiple death threats which prevented him from joining the local political scene.
With the onset of the Syrian civil war, Jumblatt and the PSP moved towards an anti-Assad stance.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Jumblatt has been crucial in negotiations regarding the Syrian Druze during the Syrian Civil War, and has stated about al-Nusra Front "I cannot classify, like Western countries, Nusra as terrorist because most of Nusra are Syrians. The regime of Bashar obliged the Syrians to join Nusra".<ref name=Stratfor>Template:Cite web</ref> After al-Nusra Front allegedly killed 20 Druze villagers in Qalb Loze on 10 June 2015, Jumblatt responded that "Any inciting rhetoric will not be beneficial, and you should remember that Bashar Assad's policies pushed Syria into this chaos".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Jumblatt believes that the order to kill his father came from Hafez al-Assad.<ref>Robert Fisk, On the 40th anniversary of Kamal Jumblatt's death, is trouble brewing again in Lebanon?, Independent, 19 March 2017</ref> He said he would rather "commit a political suicide" than reconcile with his son Bashar al-Assad.<ref>Michael Young, Walid Jumblatt hunkers down in survival mode, The National, 21 September 2016</ref>
In 2014, Jumblatt declared himself in favor of the legalisation of cannabis in Lebanon.<ref>Druze leader Jumblatt calls to ‘legalise hashish in Lebanon’, Middleeasteye.com.lb, 15 December 2014</ref> In 2015, he admitted hiding the Swedish spy Stig Bergling during the early 1990s in a remote place in Lebanon upon the request of Russian authorities.<ref>Robert Fisk, The curious tale of the Swedish Soviet spy and the sheltering Druze, Independent, 8 February 2015</ref> On 4–7 May 2015, Jumblatt testified at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon related to the investigations of the assassination of Rafic Hariri.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In May 2017, the trial of four men accused of conspiring to assassinate Walid Jumblatt began.<ref>Trial of Jumblatt would-be assassins begins Template:Webarchive, Daily Star, 11 May 2017</ref>
In late May 2023, Walid Jumblatt declared his resignation as leader of the Progressive Socialist Party after a 46-year tenure. Around 2,000 supporters gathered in Ain Zhalta, a Druze town in the Chouf mountains, where members of the Progressive Socialist Party named political heir, Taymour Jumblatt, as their new leader.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> Taymour was the sole contender.<ref name=":1" />
On 22 December 2024, Jumblatt and his delegation met with Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, in Damascus following the fall of the Assad regime.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life
At the age of 20, Jumblatt married an Iranian actress, ten years his senior.<ref name=harpers/> His father did not endorse the marriage and the two became estranged.<ref name=harpers/> In 1981, after a divorce and his father's death, Jumblatt married Gervette,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> a Jordanian of Circassian descent.<ref name=eyal/> Together they had three children. Later he married Nora al-Sharabati, daughter of the former Syrian defence minister Ahmad al-Sharabati.<ref name=eyal>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, his son Taymur Jumblatt replaced him as a candidate for parliamentary elections.<ref name=eyal/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Honours
- Medal of the Order of Friendship (Russia)
See also
- Cedar Revolution
- Druze in Lebanon
- Lebanese Civil War
- Lebanese National Movement
- Mountain War (Lebanon)
- People's Liberation Army (Lebanon)
- Jumblatt family
References
External links
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- 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, 23 February 2005
- 1949 births
- Living people
- People from Chouf District
- Lebanese Druze people
- Progressive Socialist Party politicians
- Members of the Parliament of Lebanon
- Lebanese warlords
- Lebanese democracy activists
- Lebanese left-wing activists
- Jumblatt family
- Lebanese politicians of Kurdish descent
- 20th-century Lebanese politicians
- 21st-century Lebanese politicians
- American University of Beirut alumni
- Tourism ministers of Lebanon
- Public works ministers of Lebanon
- Transport ministers of Lebanon
- People of the Lebanese Civil War