Shamir Will Try to Form Government After Peres’ Failure
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JERUSALEM — Caretaker Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, leader of the right-wing Likud Party, was chosen Thursday to try to form a government after Labor Party leader Shimon Peres failed to forge what he called a peace coalition.
A Shamir-led government could spell trouble for U.S. efforts to arrange a Palestinian-Israeli dialogue. Shamir has opposed the U.S. plan while Peres backs it.
Peres predicted that Shamir will also fail to form a government but contended that if he succeeds, he will create “an extremist right-wing government the like of which Israel never had.”
Peres called President Chaim Herzog on Thursday and announced, as expected, that he was unable to break a 60-60 standoff in Israel’s 120-seat Knesset (Parliament). Thursday was the deadline on an extension granted by Herzog. Peres, 66, spent nearly six weeks trying to forge an alliance of ultra-Orthodox religious parties and small, left-wing factions.
Herzog’s office said he will give the job to Shamir, head of the caretaker government that took over after Parliament voted to end the Labor-Likud coalition.
If Shamir is unable to form a government, national elections may have to be called.
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