Word: shamir
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...opposition. There is also a split over the West Bank. Likud lays claim to the area on principle; Labor does not. Likud wants to settle it as intensively and quickly as possible; Labor wants to limit settlement. The U.S. is particularly sensitive on the issue; no sooner was Shamir installed in his new job, than Washington reiterated its concern...
Secondary changes in the new government also give it a slightly more hawkish tilt. The hard-line Moshe Arens took over responsibility for Arab affairs from the dovish Ezer Weizmann. Labor's first Health Minister refused to serve under Shamir; his replacement is inevitably more hawkish. And Zevulun Hammer was chosen by the National Religious Party to replace the long-tenured Yosef Burg, reflecting the general merger of religious sentiment and extreme nationalism, expressed in its most alarming form by Member of Knesset Meir Kahane...
Will the reshuffling of portfolios add up to a major change in policy? Arguments cut both ways. No, the fundamental balance in the government has not changed. Shamir is as constrained by the coalition agreement as Peres was. Peres has affirmed his intent to continue his conciliatory Arab policy as Foreign Minister...
Perhaps even the hawkish Shamir has more freedom of maneuver than Peres had. Like Nixon's opening to China and Begin's treaty with Egypt, the hawks can deliver what the doves cannot. Perhaps...
There are arguments on the other side. Shamir, as Prime Minister, will be more able to shape the public debate, and his agenda is not the same as Peres'. While Likud was junior partner, Peres had special leverage, since Likud had a keen interest in avoiding the break-up of the government...