The political consultations over the government formation have entered a “truce” after Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun’s departure for Dubai on Friday, said a source monitoring the government formation process.

The consultations will resume as soon as Aoun returns from his trip, revealing that the meeting between Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati, Hizbullah official al-Hajj Hussein al-Khalil, Speaker Nabih Berri’s advisor MP Ali Hasan Khalil, and caretaker minister Jebran Bassil on Thursday led to an agreement over methods to end the deadlock over the government formation.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat did not deny on Friday the recent WikiLeaks report that quoted him as saying he hoped Israel would continue its assault on Lebanon during the July 2006 war in order to weaken Hizbullah militarily.

The MP said: “I take full responsibility for these statements that are a dark mark in my political career and I hope my position today would eliminate any harm I may have caused the Resistance, Syria, and the noble resistance fighters.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has urged all Lebanese political parties to use a calmer political rhetoric to prevent any clashes between foes.

He addressed caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri in remarks to As Safir daily on Friday, asking him if he sees any solution to the issue of Hizbullah’s arms except for “calm and rational dialogue.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and MP Marwan Hamadeh both supported an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon during the July 2006 war, said a leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar on Thursday.

The Wikileaks cable spoke of a late night meeting between U.N. special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, Jumblat, and Hamadeh during which the former suggested handing over the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah to the Lebanese state.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat is expected to hold talks with the assistant of the Syrian president’s deputy in Damascus on Thursday, As Safir daily reported.

The newspaper said that Jumblat would meet with Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nassif as part of consultations on the situation in Lebanon and the Arab world.

The optimism about the possibility of forming the government this week began fading after media reports said that Lebanese leaders haven’t yet reached an agreement on the distribution of portfolios.

“The most complex obstacle impeding the formation of the cabinet until now is the interior ministry portfolio which requires further consultations and contacts,” a source following Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s efforts to form the government told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Tuesday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday noted that "forming the new cabinet is the best way to confront social and economic challenges" in the country.

After talks with a high-ranking Hizbullah delegation at his residence in the Beirut neighborhood of Clemenceau, Jumblat added: "I'm surprised that some are speaking of impossibilities as the Shebaa Farms are still occupied (by Israel), as well as the Kfarshouba Hills and the Ghajar village."

Walid Jumblat’s Progressive Socialist Party said that Sunday’s rally at the Martyrs Square “cannot be taken” lightly and should be an occasion to bridge the gap with half of the Lebanese people.

The PSP made the comment on its website.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat criticized the March 14 camp’s conduct, accusing it of increasing the dangerous internal divide in Lebanon that “is targeting an entire sect.”

He said in an interview with al-Akhbar published on Wednesday: “Failure to form a government is an escalatory measure by the March 14 forces ahead of the March 13 rally without it actually having a key to end the crisis.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat accused the March 14 forces of taking the country into a “war of civilizations,” saying that President Michel Suleiman isn’t an ally when it comes to government formation or parliamentary elections.

In remarks to al-Akhbar daily, Jumblat described his relations with the March 8 forces, including Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, as based on an alliance.