Walid Jumblatt, the 35-year-old Druze leader, once known for his ambivalent attitude towards Israel, now describes Israel’s policy in Lebanon as a complete fiasco and says that Israel’s own political and military establishments are responsible for this situation.
Jumblatt has emerged as one of Lebanon’s main political forces after his victory last month over President Amin Gemayel’s army. He is Syria’s ally but, paradoxically, is not hostile to Israel. Israeli sources say that Jumblatt and his men scrupulously honor their promises and have generally managed to keep the areas under their control free from Palestinian infiltrations.
Once Israel carried a great deal of weight in Lebanon. Now it only wields a relatively minor influence outside south Lebanon where the Israelis are in control. The fault, according to Jumblatt, is Israel’s and Israel’s alone. Former Premier Menachem Begin and former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon bear most of the responsibility, but Sharon is mainly to blame for the reversal of Israel’s influence in Lebanon, he stated.
Israel’s political and military establishments are also to blame, Jumblatt asserted in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “When I look at Israel’s leaders I seem to see a reflection of our own living mummies, men like (Pierre) Gemayel and (Camille) Chamoun, relics of another era with their fixed ideas and vested interests. It is not a question of age but of mentality and when I look at Israel’s leaders I seem to see our own.”
PESSIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTURE
Jumblatt and this correspondent met toward the end of the Lebanese reconciliation talks last week at a small lake-side inn away from the luxurious palace where most of the other leaders had stayed. For 10 days, he had bitterly opposed, at times, his traditional enemies, the Gemayels, but had also worked hard to try and reach some sort of agreement and put an end to the 10 years of near constant bloodshed and fighting.
After having berated some of his opponents, whom he referred to as “godfathers” interested mainly in sharing the spoils, he was preparing to leave Lausanne, pessimistic about the future.
Regarding Israel, the Druze leader stressed that its main mistake was its reliance on force, and practically on force alone. “Israel’s experts only seem to know one method, one system alone: force,” he observed. “They send military columns, trucks, tanks, armored cars a cross the Awali (river). Sometimes they even reach Khalde (a village only six miles south of Beirut). But, so what? No one really cares. People are no longer afraid. We get used to everything, even fear, and people don’t even look out through their windows any longer when the Israeli columns pass. Force is simply not effective any longer. Israel has failed to try something else.”
Jumblatt’s mother, the widow of Khaled Jumblatt the traditional Druze leader still revered by most of the community as their national hero and herself a “grande dame” to her fingertips, joined in the conversation. “The Lebanese have seen so many things, each more horrible than the other, that little scares them now. And by using force, what can Israel do? Occupy the south? Move back into Beirut?”
Jumblatt, usually dressed in a leather jacket and close-fitting blue jeans, is dressed in a suit for the occasion and even sports a tie, flamboyant red, as befits some say, the leader of the Lebanese Socialist Party, the most leftwing formation in the country although it is still very much to the right of center.
KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT ISRAEL
The Druze leader works generally, including in Lausanne, without the large staff of experts and advisers which surround the other leaders. His main advisers are his cousin, Khaled, and a former reporter Marwan Hamade. Although he gets most of his information from the press and radio, Jumblatt is remarkably well in formed.
He knows a great deal about how Israel’s political machinery functions, who the men in power are, and how decisions are made. He thinks Israel has few trump cards left in Lebanon. The occupation of the south has made things difficult for Israel everywhere, he believes.
“The continuation of what Israel calls terrorist activities is an encouragment to all anti-Israeli elements and anti-Israeli policies,” he pointed out. “What is probably even more serious for the Israelis is the emergence of the Shiites. They will turn out to be a bigger problem than the Palestinians and Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon (where the Shiites form the majority of the population) has caused it to clash head long with them.”
Two days after our meeting, Jumblatt practically gave the signal for the reconciliation conference’s downfall. “I cannot wait here endlessly,” he said. “I have to be with my people in Lebanon.”
THE POSSIBLE END OF A LAST ATTEMPT
After his decision to leave became known, Syria’s Vice President Abdel Khalim Khadam and Shiite leader Nabih Berri announced their departure as well. It was the end of what might be the last attempt to settle Lebanon’s difficulties and contradictions through diplomatic methods. Fighting erupted again as the end of the talks became known.
Before leaving Lausanne, Jumblatt went to a gun shop in the center of the city. He and his cousin bought half a dozen sidearms, including some of the most sophisticated and deadly pistols now in production. Khaled Jumblatt told the salesman that “this is the sort of gun we have difficulty finding in Beirut.” He did not say, but it was obviously inferred, that these types of guns will now be needed more than ever.
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