t2 Friday, April 18, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
NEWS
Compromise Ends
Coalition Crisis
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Auraham Shapira shakes hands with Yitzhak Modai after the
compromise was reached. Shapira, of Agudat Yisrael, mediated the
dispute.
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Jerusalem (JTA) — The f or preserving the coalition.
Cabinet approved an exchange Even so, he did not agree before
of portfolios last Sunday night consulting his wife, Ruth.
that preserves the Labor-Likud Modal., too, was reluctant to
unity coalition government and give up the treasury where he
the prestige of Prime Minister achieved considerable success.
Shimon Peres. The climatic ses- His economic austerity program
is credited with reducing the
sion lasted two minutes.
The week-long crisis which rate of inflation to single digits
threatened to bring down the 19 for the first time in years.
But Peres wanted him out .
month-old government was
resolved by having Finance because of remarks published in
Minister Yitzhak Modai switch newspapers interviews which
jobs with Justice Minister the prime minister construed as
Moshe Nissim, effective upon deliberate attacks on govern-
ment policy by Modai.
approval by the Knesset.
Modai and Nissim are both
Likud Liberals and each admits
freely that he has neither ex-
perience nor expertise in the
other's job. But the unlikely
Cabinet shuffle was the only
way to satisfy Peres who an-
nounced that he intended to fire Resolutions
Modal. Had he done so, in viola- Against Saudi
tion of the coalition agreement, Aid Introduced
Likud would have had no choice
Washington, D.C. (JTA) —
but to leave the government.
Peres, for his part, would not Resolutions were introduced in
and could not back away from the House and Senate last week
his insistence that Modal leave to disapprove of President
Reagan's proposed sale of $354
the Treasury.
Sunday was the deadline. The million in sophisticated missiles
Cabinet, which usually convenes to Saudi Arabia.
Sen. Alan Cranston (D. Calif.)
in the morning, postponed its
session until late evening to and Rep. Mel Levine (D. Calif.),
allow the Likud leadership to who introduced the resolutions
hammer out a facesaving com- in their respective chambers,
promise. An earlier formula said at a press conference in the
which woud have had Modai capitol that the resolutions were
switch portfolios with Foreign signed by 61 Senators and 153
Minister Yitzhak Shamir was re- Representatives. Both said that
jected by Peres because Modai they expected to get a two-third
would have returned to the majority of their respective
treasury when Shamir becomes bodies to vote in favor of the
Prime Minister after the rota- resolutions, which would be
tion of power next October 13. needed to over-ride a Presi-
The rotation of power, only dential veto.
Both Houses of Congress
six months away, spurred Likud
to pressure Modai and Nissim to must adopt the resolutions to re-
accept the exchange which ject the sale by May 8 or it
neither of them likes. Nissim, by automatically goes through.
Cranston rejected the sugges-
his own testimony, "never in his
wildest dreams" expected to tion that the decision by the
take over responsibility. for Goverment of Israel and the
American Israel Public Affairs
Israel's shaky economy.
He was prevailed upon to ac- Committee (AIPAC) not to fight
cept it by two young Likud actively against the.sale, despite
MKs, Ehud Olmert and Dan their opposition to it, would hurt
Meridor, who argued the case the effort to defeat it.