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President Chaim Herzog, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir during the happier days at the
beginning of the coalition in 1985.

Israeli Foreign, Domestic Policies
Are Paralyzed By Political 'System'

VICTOR M. BIENSTOCK

-

Israel and the United States, two na-
tions which have so much in common, cur-
rently find themselves confronted with the
same problem — an executive branch of
government operating in calculated
disregard of its democratic obligations, ex-
ercising authority beyond the limits of the
law, suppressing or withholding from the
electorate information on its actions to
which the citizenry is rightfully entitled
and stonewalling to block full disclosure.
For Israel, a state without a written
constitution like the American or an un-
written but ancient constitutional tradi-
tion like the British, there is no simple,
direct way out of the present stultifying
situation. At various points in American
history, the cry arose: "Turn the rascals
out!" and the voters, having the choice bet-
ween two parties, were able to do just that
although, regrettably, the choice
sometimes meant substituting one set of
rascals for another.
But Israel, with its cumbersome elec-
toral system of proportional representation
inherited from the old World Zionist
Organization which was designed to assure
a place for every political faction and
splinter, doesn't have that choice. It has
never been able to entrust government to
a single party because the electoral system
effectively prevented any one party from
ever obtaining a parliamentary majority.
Even in the earliest days of statehood,
when Labor was at its strongest, it could

never win a parliamentary majority. Ben-
Gurion and his successors were able to rule
only by forming coalitions with the
Religious and General Zionist blocs.
The Labor Party thus ruled for decades
only by virtue of these alliances — purchas-
ed with concessions which virtually made
it a hostage. When it was finally over-
thrown, Menachem Begin and his rightw-
ing cohorts were able to assume power on-
ly by making the same kind of deal with
Labor's former religious allies and they,
too, became hostage.
The pattern changed with the last elec-
tion when neither Labor nor Likud could
clinch a deal with the religious parties and
finally worked out a compromise arrange-
ment for an umbrella coalition of Labor,
Likud and six of the minor parties. This
coalition commanded an overwhelming
majority, eliminating effective opposition to
whatever the party bosses agreed on in
their inner Cabinet dealings. This reduc-
ed the Knesset to little more than a rub-
ber stamp or, at best, a sounding board for
protest.
In a lengthy study of the Israeli posi-
tion at the end of 1986, published in
Foreign Affairs, former U.S. Ambassador
Samuel Lewis expressed the belief that
"the Israeli people have chosen coalition
government. They may be stuck with it
longer than they ever dreamed."
He may be right since both Labor and
Likud have lost so much trust and credibili-
ty that no one believes either party could

Continued on Page 16

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