241:27)  Andrew Bilzin:
 1.  Full roll title and full roll name... Walid Jumblatt-  Displaced 
 Persons Minister and Druze leader of Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).
 2.  Full title of country...Lebanon
 3.  Date of Birth.. August 7, 1949
 4.  Meaningful quotation.. " Let us be satisfied with specific 
operations against members of the ( Israeli-backed) South Lebanon Army 
and the Israelis, but bombarding Kiryat Shmona is not useful politically.S
 5.	I, Walid Jumblatt, was born on August 7, 1949 in Beirut.  The 
 Jumblatt family has been a powerful element in Lebanese political life 
 for centuries, and no member of my family was as powerful as my father, 
 Kamal Jumblatt.  He founded the Progressive Socialist Party in the late 
 1940Us and was very involved in both the wars of 1958 and 1975.  On 
March 
 16, 1977, my father was assassinated, perhaps at the hands of the 
 Syrians. 
 	It was after my father's death that I was truly thrust into an 
 influential position of Lebanese political life.  However, I was quite 
 reluctant to take on such responsibility.  I am an intellectual, a 
 University graduate who never had aspirations of getting caught up in 
the 
 bloody world of Lebanese politics.  I graduated from the American 
 University of Beirut with a B.A. in Political Science, and I speak three 
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 languages; English, French, and Arabic.  Yet, the elders of the Druze 
 community persuaded me to take my fatherUs place as head of the PSP and 
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Mar12/96 00:11
241:28)  Andrew Bilzin:
 the Druze community.  They convinced me that I would not only be helping 
 the Druze community, but all of Lebanon.
 	In addition to being president of the PSP since 1977, I have held 
 numerous positions in the Lebanese government.  I have in the past 
served 
 as Minister of Tourism, Transport, and Public Works, and Minister of 
 State.  Now, of course, I am Minister of Displaced Persons, and a member 
 of the Lebanese Parliament.  
 	I lead and make decisions upon the same goals and principles that 
 my father did.  I, like him, want to create a Socialist Lebanon living 
in 
 Peace and harmony.  However, my father lived and made decisions under 
 different circumstances from those today.  In years past, the only way 
to 
 accomplish ones objectives in the Middle East was through the use of 
 force.  There was no choice.  In fact, my father told me once how much 
he" disliked violence."   Yet, on that same occasion, he also told me that, 
 " One is often forced to use armed violence to save men, to save a 
 country, and because one has no other choice."  However, times have 
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 changed, and as one witty reporter once remarked, " Walid Jumblatt has 
 traded in his pistol for a portfolio in the Lebanese Cabinet and 
 civilized luncheons of filet and red wine in BeirutUs upscale Hamra 
 district, where rival militias once battled."  This is, of course, a 
 slight exaggeration, but the principle does hold; I have decided that in 
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Mar12/96 00:11
241:29)  Andrew Bilzin:
 the 1990's and probably beyond, diplomacy will be much more of a 
 successful tool for achieving objectives than brute force.  
 	My view of the Arab-Israeli conflict is quite simple.  The 
 Palestinians must have an independent state of their own.  Once they 
have 
 achieved this state, I see no reason why the Arabs and the Israelis 
 cannot bring peace to the Middle East.  My own involvement with 
 Arab-Israel conflict is somewhat limited.  My major contribution has 
been 
 my effort to find temporary homes for 4000 Palestinians displaced during 
 the civil war of 1975-1976.  Many of the homes that once belonged to 
 these Palestinians were destroyed by my own people, the Druze Community, 
 and we are trying to make amends.  However, I have incited great anger 
 among my long time enemies, the Christian Phalangists, who believe that 
 resettling these Muslims would tip the balance of power in the region.  
I 
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 am not trying to resettle the Palestinians.  I am merely trying to 
 provide safe homes for them until a Palestinian state emerges.
 	The Progressive Socialist Party is in great need of strong, 
 constant allies.  The former Soviet Union was such an ally, but with its 
 collapse went our relationship.  One of the major reasons why I have 
been 
 condemning Druze violence is that I am trying to gain credibility for 
our 
 community by wiping away our violent image.