Israeli Parties Look for New Alliances

JERUSALEM — Rival Israeli politicians began to probe, bargain and cajole among themselves Tuesday in search of alliances to form the basis of a new government or grounds to revive the old one, which is in danger of collapsing after eight months.

Labor Party leader Shimon Peres began meeting with the heads of minor religious parties to discuss conditions for creating a center-left coalition he would head--if his party decides to leave the government. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who leads the rightist Likud Party, followed suit, saying all the while it would be a mistake for Labor to pull out.

The maneuvering was set off when Shamir’s rightist Likud Party drew attention to an open secret: that Likud and Labor, uneasy partners in government, differ radically on their views for ending the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Last week, a meeting of Likud’s central committee passed a resolution that would preclude steps in a government peace plan that, among other things, might lead to giving up the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The center-left Labor wants such an option left open.

Labor’s advisory party bureau responded Monday by proposing to leave the coalition. But it set no date for a meeting of the party’s central committee, which would make the final decision. Some Labor members, as well as many partisans of Likud, want to keep the government in one piece. The question comes down to whether differences over the peace plan can be reconciled, or at least bottled up.

Likud leaders complained Tuesday that the country is being left adrift while Labor makes up its mind. “For three or four weeks, we won’t know what is going on,” said Avi Pazner, Shamir’s spokesman.

Foreign Minister Moshe Arens, a member of Likud, insisted that Labor lacks valid reasons to pull out. Arens, as well as Shamir, is said to prefer maintaining the partnership with Labor rather than deal with demands of Likud’s right wing, not to mention ultra-nationalist parties outside Likud.

Arens said that nothing had changed in the peace initiative, which is centered on Arab elections in the West Bank and Gaza. Likud’s central committee won a pledge from Shamir that no land would be given up to Arabs and that Arab residents of annexed East Jerusalem would be banned from participating in the vote.

The conditions were put forward by members of Likud’s right wing who have long opposed the plan for Arab elections. One of them, Housing Minister David Levy, visited Shamir on Tuesday to insist that Likud maintain its position.

Labor officials continued to argue that the Likud conditions effectively killed the proposal. They also viewed with alarm the apparent ascendancy of Ariel Sharon, the hawkish Likud Cabinet minister who backed the conditions, to a position of policy-making influence.

Deep Mistrust

Leftists in the Labor Party expressed a deep mistrust of Likud assurances that nothing has changed. “Shamir will say anything to keep Labor in. The problem is that Sharon dominates Likud. We will not be part of a Sharon government,” said Labor member of Parliament Uzi Baram.

In any case, the delay in Labor’s final decision left some room. “The time lapse can give Shamir and his allies breathing space to erase the results of Likud’s meeting,” predicted political analyst Akiva Eldar in the Haaretz newspaper.

Newspapers were generally skeptical that the government would actually fall. One headline blared: “It’s Not Over Yet.”

The current wave of politicking brought to mind the rounds of coalition talks that followed elections last November, when neither Labor nor Likud was able to build a working majority in the 120-member Parliament. After much wrangling, the two major parties joined in a fractured partnership, leaving most marginal parties on the outside.

The same obstacles that confronted each party then still hold true: Religious parties control the balance of power, and to make a deal, either Shamir or Peres would have to give ground on divisive issues of religious authority.