Speaker Nabih Berri rejected labeling his sacrifice of one of AMAL’s Shiite seats in government for the Sunni figure of Faisal Karami as “charity”, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

He stated: “Karami represented the entire passed Sunni opposition.”

Maan Karami, the brother of former Prime Minister Omar Karami, stated on Thursday that the family does not accept “charity” from any side in Lebanon.

He asked his nephew, Youth and Sports Minister Faisal, if he is content that “AMAL presented a major sacrifice of letting go of a ministerial position.”

The Loyalty to the Resistance bloc praised on Wednesday Speaker Nabih Berri’s “bold national stand” that helped establish a new government.

It said in a statement after a meeting headed by MP Mohammed Raad: “With the formation of a new government, the country has entered a new phase rife with challenges that require different policies that would be able to revitalize all state institutions and fields.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stated during the new government’s first session that it “will work for the whole of Lebanon and all Lebanese without discrimination or spite,” Information Minister Walid al-Daouq quoted him as saying.

He said in a statement after the session: “Lebanon is the victor and we cannot ignore the sacrifices that were made, especially that of Speaker Nabih Berri who asserted Sunni-Shiite unity, preventing strife from coming between them.”

President Michel Suleiman stressed during the new cabinet’s first session that the government was formed with a Lebanese agenda and without foreign meddling, Information Minister Walid al-Daouq quoted him as saying.

Suleiman added: “Syria didn’t interfere and this is what we ask for.”

Premier Najib Miqati’s new cabinet held its first session at Baabda palace on Wednesday in the absence of Talal Arslan who had announced his resignation to protest the state ministry post allotted to him.

President Michel Suleiman chaired the meeting at 10:30 am. Miqati and the remaining 28 members of the cabinet attended. Arslan announced his resignation hours after the government was formed on Monday. He was demanding a cabinet portfolio.

Speaker Nabih Berri stated on Wednesday that violating norms for the sake of national interests is more important than actually respecting these norms.

He said this in reference to granting Sunnis seven ministers in cabinet while Shiites were granted five when in the past each sect was represented by six members.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stated on Tuesday that the new government will not enter into a confrontation with the international community.

He said after the movement’s weekly meeting: “We want the justice of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and we respect United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.”

Speaker Nabih Berri postponed on Tuesday the legislative session that was scheduled for Wednesday, saying that he will set a new date after the new government receives the vote of confidence from parliament.

A dispute ensued between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over the constitutionality of Berri’s call for a legislative session in light of the then governmental vacuum.

Speaker Nabih Berri has unveiled that he decided to give up a Shiite minister from his share in the new cabinet without consulting any of his allies despite media reports contradicting his remarks.

“I got the idea on my way to the presidential palace. Eventually I lost a minister but won Lebanon,” Berri told An Nahar daily on Tuesday.