NNA - Head of the Democratic Gathering and Progressive Socialist Party, MP Taymour Jumblatt, participated today in the "Renewal for the Nation" conference, where he delivered a speech highlighting the critical juncture at which we stand, "a stage in which developments require us to rise to the challenge and define the path towards a future worthy of the aspirations of the Lebanese people and all the crises they have experienced."

"Today, we are not engaging in a fleeting political debate, but rather we are setting the headlines for the serious and required work to consolidate the identity, sovereignty, and unifying entity of the state, and for the dignity and natural rights of the citizen," he said.

Jumblatt reiterated that the peace and war decision lies solely in the hands of the Lebanese state and its legitimate institutions, at the forefront of which is the Lebanese Army, "to which we renew our full support as a guarantor of stability and protector of unity and sovereignty throughout Lebanon," he underscored.

"It must be remembered that the Israeli occupation of parts of the country remains at the core of our work, which must remain focused on the government level in order not to neglect the necessity of implementing international resolutions, including Resolution 1701, imposing an Israeli withdrawal from the south, and halting all forms of aggression against Lebanon," Jumblatt asserted.

Referring to administrative decentralization, Jumblatt stressed that it is an "urgent national necessity" and "one of the fundamental means of achieving balanced development that ends regional discrimination."

He added, "The administrative decentralization we advocate strengthens unity because it bridges the gap between the center and the peripheries and involves everyone in national decision-making."

"Let us all unite—political forces, civil society, unions, and citizens—behind a genuine rescue plan that begins with fundamental reform in state administration and ends with the building of the Lebanon of our dreams: strong in its unity, prosperous in its justice, and cohesive with its people," Jumblatt concluded.

==========R.Sh.