Word: shamir
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Last week those hopes lay in rubble. Rather than risk losing power, Shamir chose to scuttle his peace diplomacy. He sidestepped a challenge to his leadership by embracing four conditions laid down by hard-line Industry and Trade Minister Ariel Sharon and his allies and plainly designed to be unacceptable to the Palestinians. Most indigestible was a restriction barring the 140,000 Arab residents of East Jerusalem from participating in the proposed elections. Shamir also agreed that Israel would not return any of the occupied territories to "foreign sovereignty," that the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank...
...Shamir's move jeopardized his fragile coalition with the rival Labor Party and threatened to strain relations with a Bush Administration eager to get peace talks under way. Charging that Likud had "put heavy handcuffs on the peace process," Finance Minister Shimon Peres fumed, "Shamir can agree to Sharon's dictates, but the Labor Party will not." Party politicians pressed their leaders to bolt the coalition and force new elections. But Labor's popular appeal is dwindling, so the party leadership is expected to give the wounded peace plan one more chance...
Bush Administration officials felt betrayed by Shamir's action. "These are the kinds of ((conditions)) that fall under the heading of deal breakers," said a senior staff member. But U.S. officials feared that any outspoken criticism of Israel would only boomerang and said they intended to continue working with the plan...
That won't be easy. Arab officials all but pronounced the plan dead in its tracks. In Tunis, P.L.O spokesman Ahmed Abdul-Rahman said Shamir's conditions represent a "complete rejection of American and Palestinian efforts to bring about peace." P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat did not comment publicly, but he was known to be concerned that Shamir's intransigence might trigger a fresh wave of violence in the occupied territories and cede the upper hand to radical elements within the P.L.O. who oppose Arafat's attempts to promote more moderate policies...
...clear victor last week was Sharon. By forcing Shamir to adopt the killer amendments, Sharon committed Likud to a position that leaves virtually no room for negotiation, just as he intended. He had denounced Shamir's proposal as "the most dangerous plan ever suggested by a government," warning that it would lead to the formation of a Palestinian state. Sharon's assault on the peace plan also served to boost his own leadership ambitions...