Jumblatt Unlucky Even in Breathing Sigh of Relief

Source: Al-Manar TV, 2-2-2008
The head of the Democratic Gathering MP Walid Jumblatt (February 14 bloc) breathed a sigh of relief when "Israeli" Judge Eliyahu Winograd announced the existence of a classified part of the war report which was not revealed so as not to "endanger "Israel's" security and foreign relations." Jubilant Jumblatt considered that the Winograd report has acquitted him along with some of his allies in the February 14 bloc from accusations of contacting the "Israelis" during the 2006 war urging them not to stop before crushing Hizbullah. "For obvious reasons, the unclassified Report does not include the many facts that cannot be revealed for reasons of protecting the state's security and foreign affairs," the Winograd report said.
"Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made an extraordinary effort to ban the publication of his full statement to the Winograd Committee, because of the "sensitive information" it contains pertaining to the war. However the Haaretz daily was more explicit when it attributed Olmert's fear to his statement which included contacts with "foreign sides" involved in "Israel's" decision to go to war against Lebanon, and the Prime Minister's pledge to keep this classified. "I believe that the release of sensitive testimonies of officers and senior government officials will have negative impact on "Israel", politically and security-wise.," Olmert said.
For his part, "Israel's" Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman was even clearer about these contacts. He said: "I was at the United Nations Headquarters during the war and you cannot imagine how many Arab foreign ministers and ambassadors came to me and told me to complete the mission and eliminate Hizbullah."
Gillerman's words were echoed in the recently published book "Spider Webs, The Story of the Second Lebanon War" by Avi Issacharoff. "For the first time, we reveal in this book that moderate Arab states and people close to the Lebanese government have conveyed messages to the "Israeli" government via different sides demanding "Israel" continues the war until Hizbullah was completely crushed," said Avi Issacharoff in his book.
Meanwhile, "Israeli" President Shimon Peres revealed that he had met with Lebanese officials, without naming them, adding that "Israel" was concerned that no coup takes place in Lebanon.