The Progressive Socialist Party announced that the 35th assassination anniversary of its founder Kamal Jumblat will not be held during a popular rally.

PSP’s media office said in a statement that the anniversary will be marked by placing a wreath at Jumblat’s grave in Mukhtara on Friday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Tuesday called on the Palestinian people to “hold on to their rights and to continue the struggle,” condemning the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and describing him as “an expert in bloodletting.”

“Netanyahu – who is an expert in bloodletting – is pouring out all his wrath on besieged Gaza after he failed to market his idea about a military strike against Iran,” Jumblat said in a communiqué issued by the PSP.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat urged on Monday Syria’s Druze population to abandon the ruling regime, warning them against “getting their hands covered with the blood of the Syrian people.”

He told France 24 television: “I caution the Druze against getting embroiled in any sectarian strife with the Sunnis because that will spell their end.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has slammed what he called the alleged “myth” that Syrian President Bashar Assad is a reformist, urging the Lebanese authorities not to hand over Syrian activists to the regime of the neighboring country.

Jumblat told An Nahar daily following talks with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe in Paris on Thursday, that the minister is among the rare “westerners who didn’t believe the myth that Bashar Assad is a reformist.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that National Struggle Front leader Walid Jumblat was still part of the March 8 parliamentary majority despite accusations that he had joined the March 14 opposition.

In remarks to several newspapers published Wednesday, Berri said: “The March 14 team should be comforted. Walid Jumblat is still in the majority … and still one of its leaders.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun slammed on Tuesday the National Struggle Front’s boycott of Monday’s parliamentary session, accusing its leader MP Walid Jumblat of only seeking to ensure his own interests.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “It seems that the MP was never part of the parliamentary majority.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated on Monday that his party will not “stoop so low as to respond to some thugs” who have recently criticized his positions on Syria.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “Such slogans only reflect their political bankruptcy and their claims of defiance are really aimed at achieving Israeli goals.”

A boycott by March 14 MPs and lawmakers from MP Walid Jumblat’s National Struggle Front of a crucial parliamentary session on Monday is likely to lead to an open-ended crisis on extra-budgetary spending made in the past six years.

Speaker Nabih Berri’s office announced the adjournment of the session to March 15 over lack of quorum.

Speaker Nabih Berri has snapped back at the March 14 coalition that urged him to find a comprehensive solution to the controversial extra-budgetary spending, saying the opposition should instead approve his proposal to form a joint ministerial-parliamentary committee to resolve the dispute with the March 8 forces.

In remarks published in several newspapers on Saturday, Berri said: “I improved the conditions of the success of my proposal so that it gets implemented.”

The March 14 opposition forces threw the ball of the dispute on the extra-budgetary spending in Speaker Nabih Berri’s court on Friday, saying he should resolve their differences with the March 8 coalition to avert a clash during a parliamentary session scheduled to be held on Monday.

During a press conference he held on Friday, al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora reiterated that an urgent draft-law proposed by MPs Jamal al-Jarrah and Ghazi Youssef is the only solution to resolve the dispute on the extra-budgetary spending made by different governments since 2006.