It is hard to believe that there is anyone in Lebanon or beyond who takes this man seriously anymore. To be sure, he can still be used by this state or that regime, or by that prince or that Sheikh, but he has no credibility left. This is a man who does not even make claims of moral consistency. This is a man who admitted on Lebanese national TV that he embezzled money from the state Immigration Fund, which was set up to fund the return of Christians to the Chouf, having been displaced by Jumblatt’s militia. Jumblatt, however, remains useful to whichever regime that hires him. He is a feudal landlord for hire, but for a hefty price. This story was even told by Walid Jumblatt himself in the late 1990s. Rafik Hariri was quoted as saying that Walid Jumblatt can be “taken care of” by payments of cash. Jumblatt was hurt when the story reached him, until Hariri was able to satisfy him – “intellectually speaking”.
Walid Jumblatt makes a show every year on the anniversary of his father’s death. He ignored the occasions for much of the years of Hafez Assad’s rule. It was only during Bashar Assad’s rule when Jumblatt found the courage (that had eluded him) to criticize aspects of Syrian rule in Lebanon. Jumblatt began to voice criticisms of Syria just as a rift occurred in the relationship between himself and Hariri. The latter was a mere servant of the Saudi royal policies in the Arab region and beyond. So Jumblatt followed suit and aligned himself with Saudi Arabia. But Jumblatt later claimed that he was wrong and that his natural place is on the side of the Syrian regime and Hezbollah.
After the beating of 7 May 2008 when Hezbollah and its allies overtook the March 14 militias in a one-day sweep in Beirut and the mountains, Jumblatt claimed that he was reborn, and that he went through a phrase of “abandonment” (a religious concept in Druzism) and that he was fully on the side of the Syrian regime.
The Syrian regime and Hezbollah opened their arms to Jumblatt. People wonder why the leader of 80 percent of the 5 percent of the Lebanese population receives so much attention. The answer lies in the nature of Lebanese politics. Lebanese political leaders are notoriously uncharismatic and boring, while Jumblatt captures attention when he appears in public or in the media. He also is a crafty propagandist and his slogans and phrases often become standard phrases in Lebanese political rhetoric. His media interviews guarantee high viewership – not because he has something original or interesting to say, but because he is amusing as a guest, unlike say the monotonous political leaders of Lebanon.
Hezbollah mediated between the Syrian regime and Jumblatt, despite WikiLeaks documents that reveal Jumblatt’s strong support for the Israeli attack on Lebanon in 2006 (in fact, he was critical of the Israeli attack because it was not savage enough and because it did not succeed in deploying land troops on Lebanese territory). But Hezbollah is adept at being cheated and tricked by its allies: it has a long history in that regard.
In 2005, I asked a senior leader of Hezbollah about how the party could trust Jumblatt as an ally in the upcoming parliamentary elections. I was told that: no, it is not a concern. Hassan Nasrallah owns Jumblatt (I was also told how Jumblatt talks about Christians in private. I was told how he always gestures to his shoes and says that the Christians can only be handled by being smashed under one’s shoes).
But Jumblatt was welcomed back by Assad and Abu Wa’il (one of the many security chiefs in Damascus), who became the assigned point man in handling Jumblatt. But Jumblatt’s abandonment of the “abandonment” came at a price. His support for Najib Mikati over Saad Hariri led to an official Saudi boycott of him. Despite pleas, begging, and numerous envoys, the Saudi government refused to receive Jumblatt back into the Kingdom.
So Jumblatt had to shift yet again. He has been raising his voice against the Syrian regime and recently even talked against Hafez Assad (he never explained his decades of loyalty to Assad, even during the Hama massacre).
That was Jumblatt’s way of signaling to Saudi Arabia. Sure enough, for the first time since 2010, the Saudi foreign minister contacted Jumblatt. A trip may follow but this is only a sideshow in Lebanese politics.
Uprooted Palestinian 
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