Reactions to the three-hour meeting late-night Thursday in the southern suburbs of Beirut were unanimous that it was another example of the climate of openness prevailing in the country and an indicator of reconciliation talks involving other sides.
In remarks to al-Akhbar, Jumblat said: "I can only say that the meeting was good. We spoke frankly and conducted a good review of issues. Matters are delicate and I absolutely do not want to comment (any further)."
An Nahar daily quoted senior sources in the Progressive Socialist Party as saying the goal behind the meeting was to "follow up on attempts to ease tensions" in regions with mixed populations. Emotions ran high between the Shiite and Druze communities in the aftermath of clashes on May 7, 2008.
Under an agreement, the Nasrallah-Jumblat meeting "does not represent a change in the political direction of either side. Each team has its political status and alliances that will be preserved," the sources said.
"This however does not mean the rift will be renewed," they added.
The sources said the meeting will "ease the formation of a government and allow establishments to resume operations under cabinet rules."
They said the Lebanese political arena "will witness more open meetings based on the Jumblatt-Nasrallah encounter."
For its part, al-Manar said Thursday's reconciliation was "the most significant step on the path to appeasement and to counter the repercussions of political events that hit Lebanon over the past four years."
It said the talks paved the way for more reconciliation meetings "most significantly between Jumblatt and MP Michel Aoun."
The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat pointed that the two leaders did not hold in-depth discussions on a new government since preparations were underway for a meeting between Nasrallah and MP Saad Hariri after the latter's return from Riyadh.
According to sources, Nasrallah and Jumblatt shared a common view on "confronting the Israeli threat, the need to remove the question of Hizbullah's weapons arsenal from debate and to limit it to national dialogue discussions," the paper added.
Tags: Hezbollah, Jumblatt, Nasrallah, source: Naharnet
