Shamir Picked to Form Government : Gets Nod From Herzog, Invites Labor to Join Coalition

Israeli President Chaim Herzog on Monday chose Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to form a new government, and Shamir began his effort by inviting the archrival Labor Party to join his coalition.

Shamir also pledged that Middle East peace will be a top priority for him and insisted that any influence wielded by religious parties in the new government need not cause fear among Jews outside Israel.

In designating Shamir, Herzog was acknowledging that the prime minister’s rightist Likud Party has emerged from the Nov. 1 elections, and the bargaining that followed, in the strongest position to put together a workable coalition to govern Israel.

Shamir’s invitation to center-left Labor, which finished a close second in the elections, was conditioned on its willingness to be a junior partner in a government led by Likud.

“I believe such a government today can answer the problems of the nation,” Shamir said, adding that he would invite Labor members to meet with him soon.

Labor’s leader, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, seemed little heartened by Shamir’s comments. In a show of resignation upon hearing that Shamir was chosen to head the government, Peres told Israel Radio: “We did what we could. These are the results.”

Want 50-50 Split

Many of Peres’ followers in Labor say they are unwilling to take second place to Likud. Labor and Likud shared equally in government after inconclusive elections in 1984, with Peres and Shamir alternating in the prime minister’s post.

“It must be 50-50,” said one party official of a possible new Labor-Likud coalition.

Shamir, 73, appeared to try to answer concerns over Likud’s hard-line stand on relations with Palestinians. “I will make a tremendous effort to advance the peace process and to reach discussion and agreement with our neighbors,” Shamir promised.

In almost the same breath, he rejected talking peace with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Israel has long labeled a terrorist organization. In a meeting in Algiers that stretched into the early hours today, the PLO’s highest decision-making body voted to grant implicit recognition to Israel and proclaimed an independent Palestinian homeland next door to Israel, in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Shamir played down fears expressed abroad that a move to make Orthodox religious conversions the standard for immigrants to Israel is meant to denigrate Jews who belong to other congregations. Shamir has promised religious parties that support him that the measure will become law in the next session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament.

“All of us want to see unity among our people and unity between the state of Israel, the people of Israel and the Jewish people all over the world,” the prime minister said Monday. “We will do everything possible to breach the gaps and to bring the parties to an understanding.”

‘Every Jew Is Welcome’

In a statement read later to foreign correspondents, Shamir said that “every Jew is welcome” to live in Israel and that there would be no attempt to exclude any sector of the Jewish people.

The proposed measure, called the “Who Is a Jew” law here, has offended Jewish groups in the United States, where most Jews belong to Reform and Conservative Jewish congregations. Such congregations, the American Jews believe, would be relegated to second-class status if the proposed law goes into effect.

Shamir’s chance to form the new government was sealed Sunday when two ultra-Orthodox religious parties gave their support to him. At noon Monday, President Herzog, the country’s ceremonial leader, called Shamir to his office in Jerusalem to authorize him to build a coalition and lead the 23rd government in Israel’s 40-year history.

Herzog encouraged Shamir to join forces with Labor, in response to growing public apprehension over religious influence in government. Herzog’s office has received thousands of telegrams and phone calls pleading that Likud and Labor join forces.

In the two weeks since the elections, Shamir has translated his party’s 40 seats into a potential 63, a working majority of 3 seats in the 120-member Knesset. He did it by harvesting the support of three far-right parties that control 7 Knesset seats and three religious parties that hold 16.

Thus, for the first time in four years, Likud has the chance to rule Israel at the head of an array of parties with similar views on main issues, especially on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Labor won 39 seats in the vote but could not attract enough allies in the Knesset to build a majority.

The potential right-religious link is risky for Likud, some analysts say. In recent days, many Israelis have spoken with resentment of the prominence of ultra-Orthodox religious parties in coalition talks. Some Israelis are merely put off by their medieval black clothing; others dislike their constant preaching against secular ways.

The likely participants in a Likud government make a varied and, some think, volatile mix:

-- Tehiya (three seats): Tehiya’s electoral performance was a disappointment, but it is a natural coalition partner for Likud. Tehiya favors annexation of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

-- Tzomet (two seats): The party is headed by a hard-line retired general, Rafael Eitan, whose solution to the conflict in the occupied lands is to deport rebellious Arabs.

-- Moledet (two seats): Moledet is a new party that promotes “transfer,” a notion that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza can be persuaded to leave for nearby Arab nations. To help them make up their minds, party leaders advocate doing nothing to develop the occupied lands and closing all forms of higher education.

-- National Religious Party (five seats): The NRP, an Orthodox Jewish party, has moved rightward with the Israeli electorate in recent years. Like Likud, it is hawkish on relations with Arabs. Otherwise, it is mainly interested in equal educational funding for religious schools.

Shas (six seats): Shas, an acronym for Sephardic Torah Guardians, is an ultra-Orthodox party and defines not only religious affiliation but Israeli nationality along strict biblical lines. It supports the “Who Is a Jew” law. Shas is also interested in money for housing and education in strictly religious communities. The party is split on the question of peace talks. Its leader, Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz, is expected to be named deputy prime minister. Shas’ support for Likud on Sunday helped ensure Shamir’s chance to form a government.

-- Agudat Israel (five seats): Also ultra-Orthodox, it pressured both Likud and Labor for passage of the “Who Is a Jew” law. It is hawkish on the occupied West Bank, which it considers part of biblical Israel.