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Walid Jumblatt Criticizes Qatari Emir | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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London, Asharq Al Awsat- Lebanese MP Walid Jumblatt, the head of the Democratic Gathering bloc, has expressed disappointment in comments made by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al Thani about the Lebanese army.

Jumblatt asserts that Sheikh Hamad gave the Lebanese army characteristics of the occupying Israeli army in the way that it is dealing with the Fatah al Islam organization in the Naher al Bared refugee camp.

The Lebanese MP told Asharq Al Awsat that for this reason, he was forced to use “harsh” words against the Emir of Qatar during a programme called ‘Hasad al Yowm’ aired on the Aljazeera channel as he commented on the bombings that took place in the city of Aley. He added that the Lebanese army issued a detailed statement clarifying that only one Palestinian civilian was killed in the Naher al Bared refugee camp whilst 30 Lebanese soldiers died and 50 were injured in Fatah al Islam’s assault on a convoy on a public road.

Jumblatt questioned how Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa could present himself as a “national hero” who ended the Israeli military siege on Lebanon in last summer’s war whilst he arrived in Beirut from Israel. He was received by the victims [of the war] in south Lebanon as a hero.

Walid Jumblatt stated that the Emir of Qatar, who has close ties with Iran and the Syrian president, had organized a symposium in Doha to be attended by the Vice Premier of Israel, Shimon Peres, whilst at the same time claiming that he was fighting imperialism, with knowledge that Qatar has the biggest American military base in the Middle East.

Jumblatt added, “If Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa, who owns the Aljazeera channel, wants to engage in patriotic games with Lebanon then he should set up a base for Fatah al Islam in his country. Then one day we may have to set up a frontline to free Doha from imperialism. Jumblatt questioned whether Qatar is a state with a channel [Aljazeera] or whether Aljazeera is a channel with a state.

It is noteworthy that Asharq Al Awsat had discovered that the American airplanes that had supplied Israel with smart bombs had departed from Qatar during last summer’s Israel-Lebanon war. This led Amnesty International to send a report to Qatar requesting it to prohibit American planes carrying smart bombs for the Israeli army from taking off from its land as part of the international organization’s efforts to establish a cease-fire in Lebanon and to ensure that weapons would not be sent to Israel or Hezbollah in order to end the fighting.