Berri rejects any modification of Resolution 1701

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that Lebanon “has been and is still committed to Resolution 1701 and its implementation.”

But “Israel has violated this resolution thousands of times,” Berri lamented, in remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper published Thursday.

Rejecting any modification of the resolution, Berri added: “No one can impose conditions, amendments or new arrangements on Lebanon, and any step in this direction would be rejected and confronted by us.”

“What’s only needed is for them to implement the resolution and nothing other than that,” the Speaker went on to say.

“Whenever someone raises this issue with us, our answer would be clear and unequivocal: the international border is known and clear. There are 13 (border) points of which some have been settled and some other points remain to be settled, all the way to the Shebaa Farms, the Kfarshouba Hills, the northern part of the town of al-Mari and the B1 point,” Berri added.

As for the army chief file, the Speaker said that his “active intervention” in this file “will begin as of December 1.”

“I will call for a legislative session before December 15,” he added.

Berri also called for electing a new president as soon as possible, reiterating that “inter-Maronite disagreement” is behind the protracted delay, in reference to the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces.