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Sweida Representative Rejects Jumblatt's Attempts to Impose His Guardianship on the Druze Position
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Walid Jumblatt's interventions in Syrian Druze affairs reflect his insistence on playing a role that doesn't align with his political position, raising questions about his true motives
Jamal Darwish, member of the Economic Committee for the Syrian National Dialogue Conference and representative of Sweida city, confirmed that the Druze Unitarian sect in Syria and the Levant does not hold any separatist tendencies, emphasizing that its loyalty was and remains to any national government in Damascus, while rejecting any authority that contradicts these principles.
Speaking about statements made by Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt directed at the people of Sweida, Darwish questioned the justifications for this intervention, saying: "Has Jumblatt noticed any change in Sweida's national position that needs his correction? We don't know why he insists on presenting himself as a guardian of the Druze in the Levant. He is a Lebanese political figure whom we respect, but that doesn't give him the right to interfere with the positions of the sect."
Darwish indicated that Jumblatt has been trying to play this role since 1998, when he called for a conference in Jordan that included Druze from across the Levant, calling on Palestinian Druze not to serve in the Israeli army - a position he agrees with - but the attempt did not achieve its goals. He added that Jumblatt needs to separate his political position from his sectarian affiliation.
Regarding the Druze sect's position on the secularism of the Syrian state, Darwish explained that the secularism Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hajri speaks about means separating religion from the state and maintaining a clear distance between religious authority and political authority, in a way that guarantees the rights of all citizens.
As for the Syrian National Dialogue Conference, Darwish confirmed that the conference witnessed the attendance of multiple groups, except for the Syrian component northeast of the Euphrates, and carried a high ceiling of freedoms, expressing a national project around which Syrians gather, in an attempt to chart a shared future for the country.
