In Episode 7 of the “Witness to the Era” program, Walid Jumblatt opened the notebooks of a pivotal stage in the history of Lebanon and the region, recalling the facts of the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982, the departure of Yasser Arafat from Lebanon, and the assassination of Bashir Gemayel, and stopping at what he described as the convergence of Syrian and Israeli interests to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization and later Arafat.
Jumblatt said, “Syrian and Israeli common interests agreed to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization and later Yasser Arafat,” considering that what happened at that stage was not separate from broader regional calculations.
He pointed out that what was called the “Alliance of Minorities” was also one of the results of the invasion of Iraq, because this invasion ended, in his opinion, a strong barrier facing Iran.
Jumblatt explained that since the period of 1974, there had been an Alawite movement pushing towards the rapprochement of minorities, that is, the Maronites and Syrian Alawites, and this movement was later strengthened. He added that this path explains, in his opinion, the reason for the Syrian regime’s assassination of President Rafik Hariri, as part of a sequence of events aimed at weakening the Sunnis of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq for the benefit of this alliance, which later included some Shiites, adding: “And I do not mean Nabih Berri al-Arabi.”
Regarding Yasser Arafat’s relationship with the Lebanese forces, Jumblatt said that Arafat did not break ties with anyone, even with the Lebanese right, pointing out that the National Movement did not know the secrets of the internal communications that Arafat was conducting, and that before he left Beirut, Amin Gemayel visited Salah Khalaf, “Abu Iyad.”
He considered that Arafat’s mistakes in Beirut were many, because he was restricting the political movement of the National Movement, which made it turn into a group of allies with contradictions.
He revealed that the last visit that Arafat made before leaving Beirut was to Kamal Jumblatt’s house, and Nabih Berri, George Hawi, and Marwan Hamadeh were present alongside him.
Jumblatt said that when he met Hafez al-Assad after Arafat left Beirut, al-Assad was surprised by the reason for Arafat’s departure, adding that he believed that al-Assad wanted to destroy Beirut on Arafat’s head.
He believed that Arafat left Lebanon due to internal and popular pressure, because Beirut resisted as much as it could.
Jumblatt recalled scenes from the Israeli invasion of Beirut, pointing out that “cluster bombs were widespread even inside the garden of the Soviet embassy in Beirut,” and that he met Soviet Ambassador Alexander Soldatov during one of the most violent stages of the bombing of the capital.
He also pointed out that Abu Musa’s defection from Arafat constituted one of the most prominent manifestations of the conflict within the Palestine Liberation Organization, considering that the Fez Summit in 1982 clearly demonstrated the extent of the dispute between Yasser Arafat and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.
Regarding the assassination of Bashir Gemayel, Jumblatt said that whoever killed Gemayel was the same person who killed Kamal Jumblatt, that is, the Syrian regime, as he put it.
He added that he believes that the Syrian regime asked Habib Al-Shartouni to investigate Al-Jamil, considering that the Syrian Social Nationalist Party had the capabilities to carry out the operation.
He pointed out that Habib Shartouni is a Maronite Christian and a Syrian nationalist, and that what he did confirmed, according to Jumblatt, that not all Maronites are on the same side.
He said that he did not expect Bashir Gemayel to be assassinated, considering that, by assassinating him, Syria sent a message to Israel stating: “We are still here and we can assassinate your candidate.”
He explained that Gemayel’s election took place before the occupation of Beirut, and Israeli forces were surrounding West Beirut, and after his assassination, the capital was occupied.
Jumblatt stated that he remained in Damascus until the Jabal events in 1983, noting that Shimon Peres visited him in Mukhtara before the invasion, and told him that the Israeli army would not storm Beirut, but he was in Damascus when Israel occupied the capital.
Jumblatt said that Israel stormed the first Arab capital in 1982 by invading Beirut, adding that it did not stay for long at that time, and that the party that began the resistance at that time was the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.
Jumblatt touched on the Arab and Islamic position, saying that Arafat thought that if Israel occupied Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Arab and Islamic world would rise, asking: “This is Gaza and this West Bank, where is the Arab and Islamic world?”
In the context of his talk about October 7, 2023, Jumblatt said that he was the first to salute the Hamas operation, and that he was criticized after that, noting that the American ambassador visited him and asked him to withdraw his position, but he refused, saying: “They are a Palestinian people.”
He added that he told the American ambassador that the Palestinian people surprised Israel just as the Arabs surprised it in the October War of 1973.
Jumblatt concluded by noting that Hezbollah actually threatens Israel, considering that the current scene is “surreal,” and that the experience of 2006 did not teach Israel.
Jumblatt’s positions come in the context of a historical and political reading of a path that began with the invasion of Beirut in 1982 and extended to the moment of October 7 and beyond. It links the transformations of the PLO, the role of Syria, Israel’s calculations, the rise of Iran, and the changing balance of power in the region, to present a narrative based on the idea that Lebanon was, and still is, an arena of intersection between major projects, and that understanding the present requires returning to those founding moments that changed the face of the region.
