Kamal Jumblatt

Born in 1917, in Mukhtara, Lebanon. Lebanese statesman, politician, and public figure.

Jumblatt studied at higher educational institutions in Lebanon, Great Britain, and France, after which he worked as a journalist. He was elected a deputy of the Lebanese parliament in 1947 and has since frequently been a member of the government (1946-47, 1960-61, 1961-64, 1970). Jumblatt heads the Socialist Progressive Party of Lebanon, which he founded in 1949, and has supported the development of closer relations with the USSR. He has been a member of the Presidential Council of the Association for Lebanese-Soviet Friendship since 1970 and chairman of the National Committee for Afro-Asian Solidarity since 1958. In 1972, Jumblatt received the International Lenin Peace Prize.