Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri praised on Saturday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the United Nations where he demanded that Palestine be admitted as a full member state at the international organization.

He said in a statement: “The speech revealed Israel’s hostile plans and its hidden intentions to reject all efforts to achieve peace.”

Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel has held talks with former Premier Saad Hariri in Saudi Arabia, the party announced on Monday.

MP Sami Gemayel also attended the talks on the latest developments, the statement said.

The head of the Phalange Party Amin Gemayel traveled to Saudi Arabia on Saturday, in a first visit of its kind by a Lebanese official since the failure of the Saudi-Syrian initiative that was aimed at ending Lebanon’s political crisis in 2010, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

Gemayel, who is accompanied by his son MP Sami Gemayel, was invited to the Kingdom by Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri.

The dispute over the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will not lead the government to propose its dissolution, prominent government sources told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published on Sunday.

Furthermore, they added that this issue would not lead to the toppling of the government either seeing as it was able to overcome other contentious matters, such as the electricity file.

National Struggle Front parliamentary bloc leader MP Walid Jumblat is reportedly seeking to normalize ties with the Democratic Gathering bloc to confront the new electoral law that is based on proportional representation.

Al-Liwaa daily said Saturday that Social Affairs Ministers Wael Abou Faour, who is loyal to Jumblat, made a speech on Friday during an event organized by the lawmakers of the Progressive Socialist Party.

During his meeting with Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Friday, Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi told the premier that he had asked French President Nicolas Sarkozy to convince ex-PM Saad Hariri to return to Beirut and reconcile with Miqati, MTV and LBC television networks reported.

“I am ready for any positive step,” MTV quoted Miqati as telling al-Rahi.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri voiced on Thursday his support for the Lebanese people and their ability to defend Lebanon’s democratic system against all attempts to target it.

He said in a statement on the occasion of International Democracy Day: “We are voicing a concern over democracy today because of the threat of arms, which are democracy’s greatest enemy.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat received a verbal message from Syrian President Bashar Assad informing him that Damascus has decided to freeze relations with the MP for the time being, al-Liwaa newspaper reported.

Last week, Assad criticized Jumblat’s statements in which he advised former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to follow his example and refrain from getting involved in developments in Syria, informed sources told the daily.

The drivers’ union suspended its nationwide strike that was scheduled to be held on Thursday after reaching a late-night deal with Prime Minister Najib Miqati for the finance ministry to begin receiving the requests of fuel subsidy payments starting Monday.

The strike was aimed at protesting the government’s failure to deliver on a monthly LL400,000 fuel subsidy promised in May. Public drivers were seeking to hold the strike between 6:00 am and 12:00 pm.

The Mustaqbal movement is seeking to present a draft law on funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to parliament in order to tackle the $32 million Lebanon is obligated to pay for the international court.

Informed sources told As Safir newspaper in remarks published on Saturday that former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and his allies in the March 14 camp are aiming to counter Hizbullah and its allies’ attempts to thwart the funding of the court.