Sources said that Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt took another step toward rapprochement during a lunch at Mukhtara, the center of the Druze minority, according to the Daily Star.
While sources close to the president emphasized that Saturday’s visit was not more than a simple continuation of traditional ties between the Lahoud and Jumblatt families, the Chouf MP said the meeting was the beginning of “a new stage.”
According to the Beirut-based daily, Jumblatt denied rumors that the lunch which was also attended by Lahoud’s wife Andree and Jumblatt’s mother May and wife Nora, was a step in the direction of an alliance with the head of state, telling reporters before Lahoud’s arrival: “I did not change my politics, only my political style.”
Jumblatt said he was not changing his convictions or alliances, only his political tactics, a change he declared necessary in the wake of the Sept. 11 hijackings in the United States, which he called “a turning point in the history of the world.” – Albawaba.com
