YEAR IN REVIEW 5747 YEAR IN REVIEW
MOSHE ARAD, a career
diplomat, was named Israel's
Ambassador to the United States
in June. The decision came after
a long delay caused by Labor
and Likud inability to agree on a
successor to Meir Rosenne.
Media Images
CHAIM HERZOG IN GERMANY. Israel's President placed a
wreath at the Jewish Memorial at Bergen-Belsen during his April
visit to West Germany. Herzog took part in the liberation of the
camp while serving as an officer in the British Army.Religious News Service
are difficult for Americans to appreciate
because the Lavi had come to symbolize to
many Israelis a philosophy of Zionism and of
life: that nothing is impossible, or, in Herzl's
words, "if you will it, it is no dream."
In a cabinet vote that was almost exactly
along party lines, the pragmatists of Labor,
who seem more willing to make compromises
with reality, won out over the visionary na-
tionalists of Likud, who believe the aspirations
of the nation must never be constrained —
whether that means building Jewish set-
tlements or invading Lebanon or producing the
Lavi.
These sharp ideological differences between
Israel's two major parties have never been more
clear, and the Lavi decision is certain to be a
key issue in the next elections, now scheduled
for November 1988.
A year ago, few would have believed that
there would be no early election and that
Israel's coalition government would still be in
place. Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir trad-
ed jobs as agreed, last October, 25 months after
the formation of the unity government. But
with Shamir now prime minister and Peres
foreign minister, the government is virtually
deadlocked on every major issue and there has
been no semblance of unity.
Shamir, 71, has proven more politically sav-
vy and resilient than his critics — chiefly Peres
— had thought. Some say that Shamir has
turned political immobility into an art. Critics
say his most significant achievement as head
of the government has been his ability to block
Peres's initiatives, primarily the foreign
minister's efforts to convene an international
peace conference and several attempts to break
up the government.
The Peres-Shamir split over a peace con-
ference made the Joan Collins-Peter Holm
divorce look private. Here was Peres flying
around Europe, drumming up support for his
proposed international peace conference,
meeting in secret with Jordan's King Hussein,
only to be publicly humiliated when Shamir an-
nounced that the foreign minister represented
only himself, not the Israeli government.
lb pre-empt Peres's call for new elections,
Shamir made a deal with Shas, an ultra-
Orthodox splinter group in the Knesset. In
return for denying Peres the two or three votes
he needed to call for new elections, Shamir pro-
mised to increase funds for Orthodox institu-
tions and promote new legislation on Jewish
converts which would invalidate Conservative
and Reform conversions.
,
LEON DULZIN, chairman of
the Jewish Agency executive and
the World Zionist Organization
executive, agreed not to seek
another term after being indirect-
ly linked to a banking scandal.
Diaspora leaders considered the
Dulzin move a positive step in
the reformation of the Jewish
Agency. A successor will be
chosen in the coming months.
WZPS
A RARE MOMENT of tranquility between Shimon Peres (left)
and Yitzhak Shamir came about when, as agreed upon, the two
men rotated positions last October. Shamir took over as prime
minister and Peres as foreign minister 25 months into their unity
government, which was marked by disunity and public
Wide World Photo
disagreements all year.
The Peres-Shamir split over a
peace conference made the
Joan Collins - Peter Holm
divorce look private.
ARAB-JEWISH TENSION, particularly on the West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem, was
often high this year. There were several riots by Jews in reaction to murders committed by Arabs.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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