Word: shas
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Labor officials noted that Rabbi Yitzhak Peretzof the Shas, a religious party oriented toSephardic Jews of Middle East origin, left thedoor open to a possible alliance with Labor. Shaswas projected to get as many as seven seats...
...could win as many as three seats in the 120-member Knesset. Voters disillusioned by the two major parties also have 25 other alternatives, ranging from Communists to colonists. Some want to annex the West Bank; others propose an independent Palestinian state. The leader of a religious party called SHAS promises God's blessing in return for a vote, while another candidate is a former convict jailed for tossing a hand grenade into the Knesset in 1957 and wounding David Ben-Gurion. The Yemenites' Union and the Politeness Party reflect rather specialized interests...
...question shot to the forefront of national political debate this summer, when Shimon Peres, the Foreign Minister and Labor Party leader, sought early elections over the unrelated issue of an international peace conference on the Middle East. The ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, which has only four Knesset seats, seized the occasion to seek a major concession. In return for supporting Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's opposition to new elections, Shas demanded that Shamir's Likud bloc back the Orthodox definition of who is a Jew. Shamir tried to ram through a vote to that effect in July, but a handful...
...party meeting to approve the list of Likud ministers, Sharon warned against yielding to Labor on certain issues, including the pace of Jewish settlements on the occupied West Bank. Then a squabble developed over whether the National Religious Party (N.R.P.) with four seats or the Sephardi Torah Guardians (SHAS) also with four, would get the Ministry of Religious Affairs. SHAS, egged on by Sharon, insisted that Shamir deliver the Cabinet post. The N.R.P. demanded the position just as loudly. A predawn meeting on Wednesday between Peres and Shamir failed to break the stalemate...
Dispirited Labor strategists once again tried to patch together a narrow coalition excluding Likud, but Peres was swamped by fresh demands from the smaller parties. Only after much politicking did Labor and Likud leaders finally reach a compromise: neither SHAS nor the N.R.P. would receive the religion post, at least for now. Instead, Peres will hold the position for the next few weeks while a solution is worked out. How did the bleary-eyed Peres feel about forming a government only three days before the deadline? "I have had no time to dream dreams," he said...