As-Safir Daily: Raad, Jumblatt to meet today

21-01-2009
 
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt and Head of Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammad Raad are said to be scheduled to meet on Wednesday.
Youth and Sports Minister Talal Areslan was reported as the middleman in brokering the meeting between Jumblatt, who has been ruthless in his critique of Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Raad. The meeting is set to take place at Areslan's residence in Khaldeh to complete reconciliation efforts between the PSP and Hizbullah.

The daily As-Safir on Wednesday quoted Jumblatt as saying that his meeting with Raad aimed to create an atmosphere of calm after the May events and to discuss the recent events in areas across Lebanon that joined residents of various sects, which he called "Greater Dahiyeh."
The meeting, Jumblatt added, aimed to "rise above" violence, resolve hanging issues and maintain efforts to fortify political calm and tone down the discourse in the country.

Areslan, in turn, told the daily that he was optimistic about today's meeting. "We are continuing what we started last May, whether through the joint security, students and media committees or through previous Hizbullah-PSP meetings," he said.

Areslan also said political action was necessary to maintain healthy relations between the two parties after the "field work" had been completed. The meeting was an accomplishment in itself which did not aim to build political or electoral alliances, but to reach common grounds and stabilize the situation in Lebanon by drawing on lessons learned from past mistakes, the minister, who himself heads a Druze party, added.