House Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he was deliberately not convening Parliament in an effort to "safeguard" what he termed Lebanon's "last constitutional institution." "I have information that if I convene parliament during this (tense) atmosphere more than 50 deputies will resign," Berri said in an interview with NBN television channel Wednesday evening. "What I'm doing now is safeguarding Lebanon's last constitutional institution," he added.Berri, a close Hezbollah ally and a leading figure in the opposition, also said the government majority was using the international tribunal as a pretext for governing Lebanon. On the parliamentary majority's move in which it handed a petition to the U.N. requesting establishment of the court, Berri said: "It's not about the tribunal. It's about trying to impose their rule on Lebanon."
Legislature Saad Hariri on Tuesday delivered the petition which was signed by 70 lawmakers to the U.N. special coordinator in Lebanon, Geir Pederson, asking the world body to set up the court on the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. Berri charged that the petition was signed and ready to go since Sunday and wondered "why the government wants a parliament session when it has the (U.N.) Security Council by passing what (bills) it wants."
The speaker reiterated that he and Hezbollah, which spearheads the opposition, "want the (establishment of the) tribunal and are concerned about it, but we want to discuss it."
Berri also uncovered that Israel had asked France and the United States to "re-attack Lebanon soon."
"How can we confront such a situation?" Berri asked. "By national unity," he responded.
One local political analyst described Berri’s claim of mass resignations by opposition parliament members as another excuse by the Speaker . “ None of the MP s will resign” the analyst said . “This is just a typical Berri way of defending his position . It is a ridiculous excuse that lacks any kind of logic” he added.