Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat announced on Monday that the party will not take part in Sunday’s March 14 rally “as we can only remain in a position that would protect the peace and Lebanon’s unity.”

He said during his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “The party has never prevented the citizens from expressing their opinions but it knows that the people are responsible enough to refuse to participate in an occasion where speeches will be aimed at inciting strife, hatred, and sectarianism.”

British Ambassador Frances Guy has said that although the government change was constitutional, it partly came out of fear from the use of Hizbullah’s weapons against its foes.

In an interview with As Safir daily published Friday, Guy confirmed that Britain would deal with the new government and expects it to respect Security Council resolutions on Lebanon mainly 1701 and 1757.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has warned that efforts by some Lebanese parties to resort to Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter would have dangerous consequences on Lebanon.

“This is a destructive calculation,” he said about Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s allegation that some Lebanese were seeking for a U.N. Security Council resolution on Lebanon under Chapter 7.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated on Monday that the possession of arms between various Lebanese parties should be addressed, “but the main weapons to defend Lebanon against any Israeli assault should remain.”

He told France 24: “These arms are Lebanon’s defense and fortification … Lebanon should either side with the western Israeli front or the Arab Islamic one.”

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s sources refused to respond to the positions issued by Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday when he described as “silly” Hariri’s demands in return for abandoning the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

They told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published on Saturday that Hariri “will not forget Jumblat and his supporters’ stand after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday revealed that he has advised Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun against trying to eliminate President Michel Suleiman's role in the Lebanese political life.

"I told General Aoun when he approached me concerning his demand to get the interior portfolio (in the new cabinet) that there is a president who has played a good role and who cannot be eliminated," Jumblat said in an interview on LBC TV network.

MP Marwan Hamadeh revealed on Thursday that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat was not under any threat when he voted for Najib Miqati to assume the position of prime minister-designate.

He told al-Balad French that Miqati is facing several hardships in the process of forming a new government, advising him to establish a technocratic Cabinet.

U.S. Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman stressed on Tuesday that Washington is watching to see whether Lebanon's future government will respect the findings of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Lieberman said after meeting with Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati that the U.S. State Department considers Hizbullah a terrorist organization and any role the party has in the new government will affect how the U.S. deals with it.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat criticized on Monday the West’s “suspicious” silence over the developments in Libya that are similar to the confusion it felt when confronting the anti-regime protests in Egypt.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine that the silence stems from the West’s interest in the oil wealth, “which remains the main drive behind most of western policies that turn a blind eye to human rights and democracy once their interests are jeopardized.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat unveiled on Monday that he held talks with the assistant of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s deputy, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nasif, in Damascus last week.

Jumblat told As Safir newspaper that he discussed with Nasif on Wednesday the situation in Lebanon and the Arab world.