Word: likud
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...forcing the issue now will do no good and could do harm by giving Shamir an excuse to dig in his heels. Likud has consolidated its strength in recent local elections, so it would be folly to peg American diplomacy to the more pliable policies of the weakened Labor Party...
...strongest consensus in the poll was opposition by 86% to a change in Israeli law "so as to recognize only those conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis." When last fall's election gave neither Likud nor Labor a clear majority, each considered forming a coalition with ultra-Orthodox religious parties. The price would have been high: giving the fanatic religious groups exclusive power over the religious conversion of immigrants to Israel. By implication, the legitimacy of Conservative and Reform Jews would have been undermined. Outraged protests from abroad helped torpedo that idea and forced creation of another inaptly named "unity" government...
...quintet, Menachem Rosensaft, returned from the Stockholm meeting with Arafat, an effort was made to oust him as head of the Labor Zionist Alliance and member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He survived the attempted purge, and remains a vehement critic of Likud policy. "I am particularly troubled," he says, "by the arrogant position that they do not have to come forward with anything constructive...
...shows similar feelings among rank-and-file American Jews. The survey found that 58% of American Jews endorse and 18% oppose Israeli-P.L.O. negotiations, provided Arafat's recognition of Israel and renunciation of terrorism are genuine. The poll found that, by a lesser margin, they favor Labor over Likud...
Neither side is ecstatic about Baker's gradualist approach, and the hard- line Likud government of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir does not want to concede anything of substance. But Baker's hint in testimony to Congress last week that the U.S. may urge Jerusalem to deal directly with the P.L.O. rather than with "moderate" West Bank Palestinians (who can never be found) may eventually force Shamir out of his bunker. Baker "was rather astute," concedes an Israeli diplomat. "The fact that Baker is clearly not eager to play a central role in our crisis may actually cause Shamir...