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The Jumblatt family (جنبلاط in Arabic, originally Kurdish Janboulad, also transliterated as Joumblatt, Junblat and Junblatt) is an influential Druze family who settled in the Lebanon mountains (coming from Syria) around the 15-16th century, fleeing persecution from the Ottoman governor.
Walid Jumblatt mentioned that his family is related to the Kurdish Janboulad family. Tradition holds the Jumblatt family to be the leaders of the Kaysi Arabs who fought a bitter war with the Yemeni Druze in the Battle of Ain Darra 1711.
Today, Walid Jumblatt is one of three principal leaders of the Druzes (an influential religious community found in the Middle East, known for its internal solidarity, the highly spiritual and philosophical orientation, and its influential position in Lebanese politics). His son, Taymoor, is being prepared to follow his father's footsteps in the political scene in the future. After the assassination of the Lebanese prime-minister Rafik Al Hariri, Walid Jumblatt preventively protected his children by sending them to France.
Walid's father, Kamal Jumblatt, a major political, cultural, and philosophical figure of the Middle-East, is purported to have been assassinated in 1977 at the hand of Syrian agents in the Lebanese mountains.[citation needed] Kamal's own father, Fouad Jumblatt, was himself assassinated on August 6, 1921.
Kamal Jumblatt was a highly respected political leader. Allegedly, on his bedroom wall he held the pictures of Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi. He was a rebellious figure and despite his descent from an aristocratic family, he supposedly lived a simple life neglecting the wealthy lifestyle that other political figures boasted at the time. Kamal Junblat was well-educated and quite attracted by the arcanes of Far-East philosophy; he wrote many books, touching on very diverse subjects from philosophy, spirituality, microbiotics etc. It is claimed that he embraced meditation and practiced it often.
There are also many Jumblatt characters that played a very significant role in Lebanese history. Mrs. Nazira Jumblatt (mother of Kamal), a smart and capable lady, played an important role in keeping the dynasty alive, in a time when it was hard for women to play a political role. Before that, Sheikh Bashir Jumblatt was assassinated, during times of confrontation with the prince Bashir II. In addition, Khaled Jumblatt, a distant cousin of Walid Jumblatt, held the position of minister of economy and was a prominent politician in Lebanon for many years until his death in 1993.
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