"Reconciliation with the Syrian regime is impossible," Jumblatt said in an interview with Future TV late Wednesday, adding that March 14 did not get assurances from France regarding assassination threats.
Jumblatt believed that Syria has "tentatively stopped assassinations only to focus on winning the Lebanese elections in order to rule us again at the political, economic and security levels without returning militarily."
"I know the structure of the Syrian regime and I know that they have no mercy for anyone," he argued.
"The Syrian regime believes in physical executions and I believe that (Syrian Interior Minister) Ghazi Kanaan was wiped out and did not commit suicide," Jumblatt said in the interview conducted at his mansion in Beirut's Clemenceau district.
The leader of the Progressive Socialist Party assured that Syrian meddling did not stop. "The method, however, has changed," adding that he is against the joint Syrian-Lebanese Higher Council.
On Middle East peace talks, Jumblatt insisted he does not want to link Lebanon's fate to Syrian-Israeli negotiations. "I don't either want Lebanon to be a bargaining chip."
Regarding the long-awaited reunion with Hezbollah, Jumblatt said: "I saw no benefit from a meeting at the political level. The main topics are to be discussed on the dialogue table."
He said political differences do not necessarily mean that war is likely.
Jumblatt, however, believed that the Resistance lost part of its national consensus following the May events.
"What happened in Beirut and the Mountains stripped the Resistance of its dignity and was not in its best interest," the Druze leader believed.
He wondered why Syria did not point a finger at Israel in the assassination of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh when Hezbollah accused the Jewish state of killing Mughniyeh.
Turning to the 2009 parliamentary elections, Jumblatt said that March 14 Forces' goal is to win the polls. "And the title for success is March 14."
"We want to win the elections to strengthen the independence march," the PSP leader emphasized. "If March 8 Forces win, (Syrian) tutelage will return, Palestinian arms will remain and so will both the Lebanese and the Resistance armies."
Jumblatt said that he differentiates between Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the rest of the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance.
He described as "excellent" his relation with the Lebanese Forces and the rest of the factions that make up the March 14 coalition.
Jumblatt found it strange to hold a dialogue session once every two months.
He said he "disagree" with President Michel Suleiman on the Shebaa Farms issue. "We want Syrian documents that prove the Farms are Lebanese."
On the issue of terrorism, Jumblatt said: "They have a terrorist factory starting with Shaker al Absi all the way to Jawhar and Awad."
"No Palestinian weapons are outside the camps. These weapons are Syrian," he stressed.
Jumblatt labeled the international tribunal "unique," adding that "nothing like it has been seen since World War II."
"They are the ones who are maintaining the security of the airport," he said. "I don't believe terrorists are capable of infiltrating through the sea. In reference to the terrorists that are infiltrating into Lebanon from Syria
"The border with Syria remains the source of terrorism," he insisted.
The Druze leader said that he gave his testimony to previous U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis "and I'm looking forward to go to The Hague to testify."
The Americans, Jumblatt claimed, "do not torture their prisoners, except for Guantanamo prison."
Jumblatt stressed that a person with a "rigid (political) party founded by Kamal Jumblatt like the Progressive Socialist Party does not fear anything."
"I assure Al Akhbar newspaper that I've got good guts," he said.
Tags: Hezbollah, jumblatt, Lebanon, source: Naharnet, Syria, Tribunal
