Jumblatt, Kamal

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.