Former Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh has said that the dispute among Lebanon’s politicians lies on southern Lebanon and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

“Some believe that southern Lebanon should remain alive to confront Israel in the name of the Arab group as long as no solution has been yet reached on the Arab-Israeli conflict,” Salameh told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in an interview published Monday.

A dispute between President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun over the distribution of Cabinet posts may delay the formation of a new government.

Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to the Hizbullah-led March 8 camp, on Monday quoted well-informed sources as saying that government formation hit a snag after a "conflict" broke out between Suleiman and Aoun over the interior ministry portfolio.

Phalange party official Sami Gemayel denied that he was being named to fill a cabinet seat and hinted that the March 14 alliance would participate in the government only if it gets veto power.

While criticizing “the huge concessions made by the March 14 forces,” Gemayel said: “These concessions and the results of negotiations on the international tribunal led us to where we stand today.”

An Israeli official has said that a plan to withdraw from the Lebanese side of the occupied border village of Ghajar is now on hold due to recent changes in the region, including Lebanon.

"We don't want to give the Hizbullah government free gifts," the official in Jerusalem told Israel’s Ynet news website, hinting that for the time being the plan to withdraw from the northern part of Ghajar has been frozen.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday "agreed to exert all efforts possible for the stability, security and prosperity of Lebanon," Syria's state-run news agency SANA reported.

Erdogan was in Syria to take part in a landmark ceremony for a joint "Friendship Dam" to be built over the Orontes river at the border between the two countries.

Deputy Head of Hizbullah's Executive Council Sheikh Nabil Qaouq stressed Sunday that "the Resistance has managed to put an end to the episode of falsification and deception that had lasted for more than five years."

"Today, Lebanon is in a better position in the face of the conspiratorial scheme and U.S. hegemony," Qaouq noted.

Speaker Nabih Berri arrived in Qatar Sunday to take part in the 17th Conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union which will be held in Doha on Monday and Tuesday.

The house speaker was accompanied by MPs Nicola Fattoush, Michel Moussa and Hagop Pakradounian.

Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Nawwaf Mousawi stressed on Sunday that Lebanon has chosen the equation of the people, army, and Resistance.

He said during a ceremony commemorating the 32nd anniversary of the Iranian revolution: “With the change that started on the legislative level in Lebanon, we are standing before a new horizon that would fall in the country’s favor.”

MP Bahia al-Hariri stressed on Sunday that former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassination will only be a means for the establishment of a better life and a just state that harbors all its sons.

She said during a speech commemorating the sixth anniversary of her brother’s death: “The martyr’s blood will not be a means to reach power because it belongs to the youth who rose up against crime and oppression against them and their stability, security, and future.”

President Michel Suleiman’s visitors revealed that he will not approve a new government unless it reflects national unity, reported the Saudi al-Watan newspaper on Sunday.

Sources from the Baabda Palace told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper that Suleiman is keen on overcoming this “critical and difficult” phase in Lebanon by maintaining national unity, respecting the constitution, and resorting to the national dialogue.