Beirut - Lebanon's powerful Shiite House Speaker Nabih Berri called on Wednesday on the country's major factions to start next week what he described as 'consultative talks' to solve domestic divisions he fears may destabilize the country.

'I call on the factions who participated in the national dialogue a few months ago to return to the roundtable but this time for consultative talks regarding the formation of a national unity government and the discussing of a new election law,' Berri told reporters in a press conference.

The house speaker said the first meeting, if all parties agree, will start October 30.

'The consultations will last fifteen days,' Berri said, adding that if more time is needed the time will be extended.

He added that chief of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, will be allowed to be represented in the talks by someone he chooses 'due to certain security reasons.'

Israel has threatened to kill Nasrallah wherever he is located.

Berri expressed fear that if his efforts do not succeed in securing a meeting between the ruling anti-Syrian majority which is led by Saad Hariri, son of the late Premier Rafik Hariri, and the pro-Syrian Hezbollah, 'the tension and political escalations in the country will lead to street confrontations' between the rival factions.

After Israel ended its 33-day war on Lebanon on August 14, Hezbollah and its Christian ally former General Michel Aoun started calling for a national unity government to include all Lebanese factions.

In the current cabinet, which is led by the majority headed by premier Fouad Seniora, Hezbollah is represented by two ministers but Aoun has no representation because he refused to join the previous cabinet unless he has three key ministerial positions for his small parliamentary bloc.

Lebanon has been in political turmoil since the February 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri in a massive bomb. Hariri's killing led to street demonstrations denouncing the Syrian presence in the country, which they accused of being behind the assassination.

Local and international pressure led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops after 29 years on Lebanese soil.

Fourteen Lebanese Christian and Moslem leaders accepted on March 2 a call by Berri for a roundtable national dialogue. Around five rounds of talks had taken place before the recent war between Hezbollah and Israel. These were the first such meetings without Syrian supervision since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

A key political issue which was under discussion in the previous round of talks was the term of pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud which had been extended by three years under Syrian pressure in late 2004.

During the earlier rounds of talks Lebanese Leaders have agreed to dismantle Palestinian military bases in Lebanon, to work to normalize relations with the former powerbroker Syria and to define borders between the two countries.

The last key point discussed was the disarming of Hezbollah, but talks were halted as a result of the wide-scale offensive Israel launched within Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas snatched two Israeli soldiers at the Lebanese border with Israel.