Word: shamir
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres and outgoing Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir emerged from a private meeting last Wednesday morning, reporters asked them the crucial question: After almost five weeks of negotiation, had Labor and the ruling Likud bloc agreed to form a government of national unity? Replied Shamir: "Almost...
...months after the final votes were counted in the national elections, Israelis learned who their next Prime Minister would be. Or did they? In three days of tough bargaining last week, Labor Party Leader Shimon Peres agreed to alternate as Prime Minister with the Likud bloc's Yitzhak Shamir in a national unity government. For nearly four weeks, Peres had been trying to build a coalition with Shamir, but the Likud chieftain refused to accept Peres as the country's leader. Peres concluded that he could break the stalemate and form a new government only by sharing Israel...
...divided evenly between the two camps, but exactly how remains in dispute. According to Peres' scenario, he would initially head the government, with a deputy prime ministership and the Foreign and Finance ministries going to rival Likud forces; the Defense Ministry would be given to Labor. Shamir, on the other hand, promised that if he is allowed to be Prime Minister first, Labor would have the courtesy of naming both the Foreign and Defense ministers. Shamir insisted, however, that if Peres went first, Likud should get those two key portfolios. Responded a leading Labor politician: "If that...
...simple majority vote. "It was a very sad meeting," said Mapam Leader Victor Shentov, after Peres told him of the plan to share the prime ministership. "We have a historical mission to be a party that presents its views clearly to fight the growing extremism in this country." Shamir feels that Mapam's potential rebellion strengthens his case to be first in the Prime Minister rotation. If Mapam deserts Peres, Labor would be in an especially weak position, with only 38 seats in the Knesset, three fewer than Likud. "Why should we then give Peres the preference?" asked...
...three-week extension of Labor's mandate to build a government. Peres is likely to spend this week trying to patch together a narrow coalition with the religious parties. His Likud rivals are confident that the effort will fail, forcing Peres to bargain more seriously with Shamir over getting together, finally, in a national unity government. That may be rough going, since several of Peres' Labor colleagues oppose an alliance with Likud. As last week's exchanges between Labor and Likud proved, a government of unity would not necessarily be one of harmony...