Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who has proposed a draft law on the transportation allowance, rejected an alleged deal to garner a parliamentary support for his suggestion in return for the legalization of spending made above 2005 levels.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published Thursday, Kanaan said: “I don’t think that any official or lawmaker can tolerate the offense of such a settlement that hits sound governmental effort allowing cabinet spending and targets accountability and transparency.”

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc condemned on Tuesday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s position on the March 14 ceremony last week that marked the seventh anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, saying that he undermined the people of Lebanon.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The negativity that marked his speech only exacerbates the division between the Lebanese.”

Former General Security chief Jamil al-Sayyed slammed on Monday Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s assumption of the premiership, accusing him of only serving his personal interests.

He told MTV television: “His position at the head of the government is the biggest catastrophe for Lebanon.”

March 14 general-secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid has said that Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah didn’t clarify in his speech on Thursday whether his party would heed the demand of the March 14 opposition to integrate its arms in the state.

“We waited for an answer from him on the March 14’s proposal for Hizbullah to abide by the conditions of the state, i.e. the cooperation with the international tribunal to hand over the suspects and the handing over of the arms so that they could be placed under the state’s care,” Soaid said in remarks published Friday.

The major reaction to the March 14 forces’ call on Hizbullah to hand over its arms to the Lebanese army will likely come through the party’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, during a televised speech on Thursday.

During a gathering organized on Tuesday by the March 14 coalition in BIEL on ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 14, 2005 assassination anniversary, the main speakers slammed Hizbullah and its arms.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel stated on Tuesday that the spirit of slain former Premier Rafik Hariri has returned with the wave of Arab revolts and with the release of the indictment in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

He asked: “Is it logical for us to back Arabs revolting against their regimes and accept that the Lebanese remain captive to the illegitimate arms?”

The opposition March 14 coalition will mark on Tuesday the 7th anniversary of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination at a gathering of politicians, diplomats, activists and academicians that will be held in BIEL.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who is recuperating at his house in Paris from fractures in his leg, will make a speech through a giant screen at the event that starts at 4:00 pm.

Former premier Saad Hariri on Monday stressed that he would only accept to return to the national dialogue table if the sole topic was Hizbullah’s arms and announced that he would “definitely” return to Lebanon.

“Those trying to oust me from Lebanon have been paying the price so far and those who tried to erase Rafik Hariri’s project are ousting themselves from Syria,” Hariri said in an interview with Future News television in Paris on the eve of the seventh assassination anniversary of his father, ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri denied on Monday that he took an interest free-loan worth SR 7 billion from Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

A statement issued by Hariri’s press office stressed that the report published in al-Akhbar newspaper included a series of “lies and fabrications against Hariri, the Saudi kingdom and its leadership.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati visited on Saturday ex-PM Saad Hariri to inquire about his health after undergoing surgery recently.

Miqati who headed on Thursday to France on a two-day official visit to meet with top French officials, met with Hariri following treatment from a skiing accident he had in the French Alps in January.