Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday slammed Syrian President Bashar Assad as a “schizophrenic person” and noted that “terrorist groups” infiltrated Syria due to the “collusion and inaction” of the international community.
“Forty years since the October War, which was an important juncture in the course of the Arab-Israeli conflict, one ponders over the unprecedented developments that the Arab world is witnessing and the distressing tragedies that it is going through during this political moment, as the cases of chaos and armed conflicts exacerbate and people alone pay hefty prices only because they have demanded the minimum of their humanitarian and political rights,” Jumblat said in his weekly editorial in the PSP's al-Anbaa.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat denied on Saturday reports saying that he is preventing the cabinet from holding an extraordinary session to discuss two decrees essential to award the oil blocks for the oil companies.
“If the issue requires an extraordinary session to resolve it then I don't mind but the recommendations of the petroleum authority should be taken into consideration,” Jumblat said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat lamented on Monday the poor state of affairs in the northern region of Akkar, saying that officials have neglected the impoverished area, whose suffering was highlighted in light of last week's sinking of an asylum-seekers' boat off the Indonesian coast.
He urged in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anba website officials to “take immediate action that would send positive messages to the residents of Akkar.”
Full StoryPresident Michel Suleiman insisted on Friday on the formation of a cabinet equally divided among the Lebanese foes, saying that he is still waiting Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam's proposal.
“If Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat is capable of establishing a better formula then he should propose it,” diplomatic sources quoted Suleiman as saying in comments published in As Safir newspaper.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Wednesday called for avoiding the formation of a cabinet that “might be deemed unconstitutional,” after President Michel Suleiman said a new government could be formed before October.
“I call for reconsidering the 8-8-8 formula as we need an inclusive cabinet to confront the major problems,” Jumblat told al-Manar television.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said his contribution to form a new government went in vain and stressed that Lebanon needed a “miracle” for the international community to shoulder the costs of the Syrian war's spillover.
“We tried everything we could. We were (condemned to) hard labor and made in vain many proposals to form the government,” Jumblat told As Safir daily in remarks published on Wednesday.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat hailed on Monday the plan to deploy official security forces in Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahieh.
He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “The deployment demonstrates that there can be no substitute to the state, which protects all Lebanese, especially in light of the mounting political, security, economic, and social challenges.”
Full StoryA 24-member cabinet line-up was set to be announced before President Michel Suleiman's trip to New York on Sunday but several obstacles prevented the formation of the new cabinet, As Safir daily reported.
According to the newspaper published Saturday, Premier-designate Tammam Salam proposed to give eight ministers to the March 8 alliance – four Shiites and four Christians.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat MP said Tuesday he agreed with Speaker Nabih Berri on the need for national dialogue to resolve the country's political crisis.
In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) after meeting with a delegation from Berri's parliamentary bloc at his residence in Clemenceau, Jumblat said he agreed with Berri on “the concept of dialogue,” adding he “insisted on it.”
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri slammed on Thursday claims that the March 14 alliance was being charitable to Hizbullah by approving to remove its veto on the party's participation in the new cabinet.
In remarks to several local newspapers, Berri said: “No one gives charity to Hizbullah. On the contrary Hizbullah is being charitable to others.”
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