At Last, a Handshake for Unity

By James Kelly

Labor and Likud sign on for five years of togetherness

Agreement had seemed within reach so often, only to slip away, that no one seemed surprised when the ceremony was delayed for five hours on Thursday. After all, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir had been up until 5 a.m. negotiating the last detail. Finally, at 3:45 p.m., the two met again in the Knesset basement. Sitting at a blue cloth-covered table and surrounded by colleagues, Labor Leader Peres and Likud Chief Shamir signed the accord that established a national unity government. Cognac glasses in hand, the new partners toasted the accomplishment with cries of "L 'chayim " (To life).

Seven weeks after Israelis went to the polls, the country finally had a new government. Since the coalition controlled 97 out of 120 Knesset seats, the accord was easily approved by the legislature, and Peres was sworn in as Prime Minister. He will be the country's leader during the next 25 months while Shamir serves as Foreign Minister and acting Prime Minister; for the following 25 months, the two men will switch jobs. Yitzhak Rabin, who was Labor Prime Minister from 1974 to 1977, will be Defense Minister during the entire 50-month term. Yitzhak Modai, until last week the Likud government's Energy Minister, will head the crucial Finance Ministry. Ariel Sharon, the Likud politician who was forced to resign from his job as Defense Minister in 1983, will be Minister of Industry and Trade.

The pact was in doubt right up to the final minute. Peres, who had until Sept. 16 to form a government, faced growing opposition within his own ranks. Seven Knesset allies, including the tiny leftist party, Mapam, refused to link themselves with their longtime ideological foes in Likud and withdrew from the Labor Alignment. Shamir had his share of headaches as well. At a 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. "I don't believe we are going to a vacation spot now."

Among the Cabinet's first order of business will be the comatose economy, and a decision on the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon. But the longevity of the unity government may be the primary preoccupation of Prime Minister Peres and Heir Apparent Shamir. Only their mutual interest in survival may prevent the coalition from falling apart. --By James Kelly. Reported by Robert Slater/Jerusalem

With reporting by Robert Slater