Word: shamir
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...Labor Party were both preparing to name leaders to run for Prime Minister in national elections on June 23. For Likud, Sunday's assault on Musawi was a well-timed reminder to voters that it is implacably committed to the country's physical security. As expected, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir got the nod from his bloc. In Israel's first primary ever, Labor members elected Yitzhak Rabin to replace Shimon Peres...
...Shamir faces a far stiffer battle in June. He could have depicted Peres as a left-winger who would negotiate away too much. But Rabin is a hero of the 1967 Six-Day War who, as Defense Minister from 1984 to '90, reinforced his tough image by employing harsh tactics to quell the Palestinian intifadeh. While he advocates trading parts of the occupied territories for peace and opposes the expansion of Jewish settlements in those areas, no Israeli mistakes him for a dove. Rabin will try to convince voters that he alone can achieve peace, and he is expected...
...interim, Shamir will need to keep the peace process percolating so Labor cannot blame him for its failure. At the same time, he will not want the bargaining to proceed to any yea-or-nay decision that might antagonize Likud's far-right-wing voters. After last week's show of force in Lebanon, he can probably afford the appearance of a little give-and-take. As disheartening as the renewed hostilities are, perhaps they will underscore for negotiators how acute the need is to achieve a lasting peace...
...Shamir can ill afford to do without the loan guarantees. About 400,000 Soviet Jewish immigrants have arrived since 1989, and an additional million are expected in the next five years, swelling the population by more than 20% and costing the government an estimated $26.5 billion. Israel's Finance Ministry predicts that U.S. failure to deliver on the guarantees would drive up unemployment from 11% to 16.2%. Ideologue though Shamir may be, he is a pragmatist who knows when he must deal. Says his spokesman Ehud Gol: "We are asking, after all, and they are giving...
...more than 170 Jewish settlements already in place in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Quite a few of those have been erected or expanded since the Bush Administration launched its peace initiative last March. According to Peace Now, Israel's leading movement for reconciliation with the Arabs, the Shamir government pumped $1.1 billion into settlement expansion in 1991, adding 13,650 new housing units. Two opposition members of the Knesset recently presented documents showing that over the past 18 months, the Housing Ministry, intent on sealing Israel's claim to the territories forever, added more than...