36
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, November 8, 1985
dteezicd TRADE IN YOUR OLD FUR COAT 4-1 ►
C
FURS STUDIO INC.
and receive from
"The Furrier of Dearborn"
$200 to $1,000 or more
on any new Fur Coat or Jacket
23400 Michigan Ave.
at Outer Drive in the
Village Plaza, Dearborn, Mich.
Offer is for limited time only
563-1200
111E CLASSIFIEDS
Call The Jewish News
Today
354-6060
13740
W. 9 Mile
Next to
Oak Park
Post Office
Medicare and most insurance plans
accepted as payment in full.
Free initial consultation with this ad.
• Vertical Blinds
• Levolor Blinds
• Pleated Shades
-4 C
• Woot.
Free Professional ..
No Obligation
Free in Home Design Consufth.,
THE BLIND SPOT
The Congress Building
30555 Southfield Rd. Suite 255
Southfield, Michigan 48076
Showroom by Appointment
Will The Coalition Hold
For One More Year?
BY JUDY SIEGEL AND CHARLEY LEVINE
Special to The Jewish News
Mon. thru Sat. 10-7 • Sunday 12-5 • Visa • Master Card • Financing available
BE A WINNER, PLAY
ANALYSIS
Jerusalem — The countdown
is on in terms of the rotation of
Israel's Prime Ministership is
stipulated in the Labor-Likud
agreement that established the
present National Unity Gov-
ernment. If all goes according to
plan, Shimon Peres will cheer-
fully step down in November
1986, turning over the reins of
statescraft to a blushingly eager
Yitzhak Shamir.
Will this come to pass? Will a
transfer of power from one
major party to its erstwhile
rival occur without hitch? Will
Israel have a new Prime Minis-
ter without a new election?
The answer lies in the nature
of the existing government. The
previous election in the summer
of 1984 was such a cliff-hanger
that intense negotiations were
called for to forge the only sen-
sible solution, novel though it
was: power-sharing whereby the
party with the slight edge,
Labor, would hold the top spot
for the first period, turning it
over to Likud at the appointed
time.
From the first week of this
plan's implementation, obser-
vers were already speculating
over the impending demise of
the whole deal. That was no less
than 16 months ago, and in that
time, two of the nation's most
serious challenges have been
tackled and put on the road to
amelioration: The first was the
popularly demanded withdrawal
from Lebanon,
and the second
,
was a major battle plan to start
rolling back the economic woes.
The third constellation of
problems, related to the peace
process and Jewish settlements
in Judea and Samaria, terrorism
Arab and Jewish, is percolating
with any potential boil-up still
explosive enough to wrench the
coalition accord. Political insid-
ers are talking about these
scenarios for the coming
months:
Labor Instigates Confronta-
tion, Holds New Elections: In a
relatively short time, the Peres
"whiz kids" have planted their
roots in the corridors of power
and show every sign of wanting
to stay. In light of both their
considerable influence on the
Prime Minister (this coterie of
youthful advisers), and his sur-
prisingly improved popularity,
one notion is that a specific
issue weighted to make Likud
seem obstinate or unreasonable
will be set into motion. A ban
on further Jewish settlement in
Hebron, or a sharp concession
on Taba could do the trick, for
example. Likud will then have
to eat crow and live with a posi-
tion that flies in the face of
their ideals, or pick up the
gauntlet and dissolve the gov-
ernment, paving the way for
new elections which the Peres
camp would be willing to
change.
The No-Election Variation:
Much as above, but with the
added dimension that Peres
could at long last woo enough
support from the religious par-
ties and others to constitute a
narrow, Labor-led majority in
the Knesset without Likud,
Tehiya and part of the religious
fold. This option, too, has been
bandied about since day one but
does not appear overly likely to
materialize.
The Agreement Holds and
Shamir Gives His Best Shot:
The "honorable" route would see
the accord proceeding as writ-
ten, and indeed Peres has been
publicly bullish along these
lines recently. The Peres crew
would hand over the govern-
ment having achieved key vic-
tories, maintain a high profile
in the newly-acquired position of
Foreign Minister they would re-
ceive in trade-off, and watch for
Shamir to make enough mis-
takes to keep his popularity low.
Then in two years, the
regularly-scheduled elections.
(
-/
The "honorable"
route would see the
accord proceeding as
written, and indeed
Peres has been
publicly bullish
along these lines.
Certain facts are apparent.
Among them is that Peres, the
perpetual non-winner, has
shown himself to be a competent
administrator if not a charisma-
tic leader. Shamir's public
standing has sunk, even while
Labor's image as a prudent
problem-solver has risen. Hav-
ing said all this, nationalist-
religious sentiment in Israel is
still growing, according to cur-
rent wisdom, and one of the new
arenas of combat will be Likud's
vying to hold off its own right
flank, Tehiya and the meteoric
Kach of Rabbi Kahane.
Ironically, Likud's Ariel Sha-
ron and David Levy have cause
to hope the transfer does not
take place since that would per-
petuate their intra-party rival
Shamir as the undisputed Likud
strongman, a post they feel
easier to challenge if their party
does not hold power.
Politics, one knows, makes for
strange bedfellows, but seldom
have mutual interests brought
together the likes of Shimon
Peres and Arik Shimon, or Yit-
zhak Shamir and Shulamit
Aloni.
Arab Suppliers
Tel Aviv (ZINS) — Kibbutz
Gwat has been producing ag-
ricultural machinery for Arab
countries. Estimated exports for
1980 and 1981 totalled $15 mil-
lion.
S