Walid Jumblatt | |
---|---|
Chairman of the Progressive Socialist Party | |
![]() Walid Jumblatt | |
Predecessor | Kamal Jumblatt |
Personal details | |
Born | 7 August 1949 |
Nationality | Lebanese |
Denomination | Druze |
Parents |
Kamal Jumblatt Princess May Arslan |
Spouse | Nora Jumblatt |
Children |
Taymour (born 1982) Aslan (born 1983) Dallia (born 1989) |
Occupation | Politician |
Walid Jumblatt (Arabic language: وليد جنبلاط) (born 7 August 1949) is a Lebanese politician and the current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). He is the most prominent leader of Lebanon's Druze community.[1]
Early life and education[]
The origin of the Jumblatt family is the Kurdish Janpoulad family coming from Shamel Janpoulad and dating back to Janboulad Ibn Kassem al Kirdi al Kaisari, known as Ibn Arabou (1530–1580), and governor of Aleppo. Walid Jumblatt was born in August 1949.[2][3] He is the son of Kamal Jumblatt, the founder of the PSP, the party which Walid Jumblatt currently leads. He is the maternal grandson of Prince Shakib Arslan.[4] Walid Jumblatt graduated from the American University of Beirut with a bachelor's degree in political science and public administration in 1982.[5][6][7]
Career[]
Upon graduation, Jumblatt worked as a reporter for An Nahar in Beirut.[7] The BBC describes Jumblatt as "the smartest leader of Lebanon's most powerful Druze clan and heir to a leftist political dynasty based around the Progressive Socialist Party".[8] Assem Qanso of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Lebanon accused Jumblatt of abandoning his father's beliefs.[9] In July 1983, after Amine Gemayel became president, Suleiman Frangieh, Rashid Karami and Walid Jumblatt formed a Syrian-backed National Salvation Front to challenge Gemayel's rule and the pact between Lebanon and Israel that was financially supported by the US.[10] Jumblatt served as minister of public works, of transport and of tourism in the National Unity cabinet led by then prime minister Rashid Karami, which was formed in May 1984.[11]
He was a supporter of Syria, but since the death of Syrian President Hafez Assad in 2000, he has campaigned for Damascus to relinquish control.[12] Jumblatt's close links with the Syrian old guard alienated after the presidency of Bashar Assad.[12] 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?"[13] In the 2009 general elections, Jumblatt won a seat from Shouf as part of the 14 March alliance list.[14]
Although, on 21 January 2011, Jumblatt said he supported Hizbollah and Syria stance,[15] with the onset of the Syrian civil war, Jumblatt and the PSP moved towards an anti-Assad stance.[16][17]
Personal life[]
Jumblatt was twenty when he married his first wife, who was an Iranian actress and older than him.[7] His father did not endorse the marriage.[7] His second spouse was Gervette "Gigi," a Jordanian woman of Circassian origin, who is the mother of his child Taymour (born 1982).[7] His current wife is the Syrian Nora Sharabati, the daughter of the former Syrian defense minister Ahmed Al-Sharabati.
In popular culture and arts[]
As many political leaders, Walid Jumblatt originated important imagery since the late 1970s.[18] The photographer Ziad Antar made a portrait of him using a film expired since 1976, provoking ghosty effect. The image supposedly evokes the danger the Lebanese Druze leader faces after having criticized Hezbollah and the Syrian regime.[19]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ "Walid Jumblatt's exit could weaken U.S.-backed coalition". 3 August 2009. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/08/lebanon-departure-of-druze-ally-could-spoil-us-backed-coalitions-majority.html. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ↑ Dominique Avon; Anaïs-Trissa Khatchadourian; Jane Marie Todd (10 September 2012). Hezbollah: A History of the "Party of God". Harvard University Press. pp. 204. ISBN 978-0-674-06752-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=xOC6v4-XCHgC&pg=PA200. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ↑ Bernard Reich (1990). Political leaders of the contemporary Middle East and North Africa: a biographical dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 528. ISBN 978-0-313-26213-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=3D5FulN2WqQC&pg=PA528. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ↑ "Kamal Jumblatt". NNDB. http://www.nndb.com/people/605/000101302/. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ↑ "Lebanon’s new miracle" (in fr). 1st Jordan. http://www.1stjordan.net/actuuk/archivesuk/resultat.php?id=852&debut=0. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ↑ "Jumblatts family history captured in a painting". 30 November 2002. http://www.lebanonwire.com/0211/02113026DS.asp. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Glass, Charles (1 March 2007). "The lord of no man's land: A guided tour through Lebanon's ceaseless war". http://www.charlesglass.net/archives/2007/03/the_lord_of_no.html. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
- ↑ "Who's who in Lebanon". 14 March 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4348129.stm. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ↑ "Qanso: Jumblatt abandoned his father’s principles". 6 February 2012. http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=361567. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
- ↑ "Anti-Gemayel 'front' formed in Lebanon". 23 July 1983. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CW4aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8ykEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5397,1565585&dq=gemayel+family+in+lebanon&hl=en. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
- ↑ Owen, Roger (October 1984). "The Lebanese Crisis: Fragmentation or Reconciliation?". pp. 934–949. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3991803. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Gambill, Gary C.; Elie Abou Aoun (August 2000). "Special Report: How Syria Orchestrates Lebanon's Elections". http://www.meforum.org/meib/articles/0008_l1.htm. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
- ↑ Chicago Tibune interview 11 August 2006.
- ↑ "New parliament composition". Lebanese Information Center. http://www.licus.org/liclib/LICRD/elections09/New%20parliament.pdf. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- ↑ "Nasrallah, Jumblatt talk Lebanon future". 22 January 2011. http://www.presstv.com/detail/161331.html. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ↑ "PSP to Rally in Support of Syrian People, Expulsion of Syrian Ambassador". http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/51729-psp-to-rally-in-support-of-syrian-people-expulsion-of-syrian-ambassador. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
- ↑ "PSP Demo Urges Syria Envoy Expulsion, Arrest of Syrians in Samaha Case". http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/51973-psp-demo-urges-syria-envoy-expulsion-arrest-of-syrians-in-samaha-case. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
- ↑ "Political poster of Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Druze community and Pt of the Socialist Progressive Party". Magnum Photos. http://magnum.orangetest.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=SearchDetailPopupPage&VBID=24KL0XDK6SB&PN=27&IID=2TYRYDM1DFYI. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
- ↑ Andrew Pulver (9 March 2011). "Photographer Ziad Antar's best shot". http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/mar/09/photographer-ziad-antar-best-shot. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
External links[]
Wikiquote has media related to: Walid Jumblatt |
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Walid Jumblatt at the Internet Movie Database
- W collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
- Walid Jumblatt collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
- W at the Notable Names Database (NNDB)
- 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, February 23, 2005
The original article can be found at Walid Jumblatt and the edit history here.