NEWS
I'
ass i c
BY CARLO PUCCI
Jerusalem (JTA) — Yit-
zhak Shamir's coalition-
building efforts may be
stymied because the re-
ligious parties he needs to
form a Likud-led govern-
ment seem to be holding out
for a broad-based national
unity regime.
The Executive of the Na-
tional Religious Party,
which commands five
Knesset votes, apparently
has decided to join neither
camp, but to press for an-
other unity government.
The NRP's initiative was
reinforced over the weekend
by reports from the ultra-
Orthodox Shas party, which
also holds five Knesset
votes, that its spiritual
leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef,
will back only a unity
government.
Without both Shas and
NRP, Shamir cannot put
together a Likud-led
government.
Nor has he had any success
so far persuading the ultra-
Orthodox Agudat Yisrael
party to abandon the alli-
ance it entered with Labor
last month.
But even with the Agudah,
Labor Party leader Shimon
Peres could not assemble a
majority lacking Shas and
the NRP. He was forced to
relinquish his mandate
April 26. It was handed to
For business,
for special occasions,
you'll appreciate the
distinctive styling of
this classic European-
inspired suit.
Designed by Carlo Pucci
exclusively for Kosins and
Kosins Big & Tall
with an assortment of
colors, single-breasted,
and double-breasted
styles to choose from.
422 units
K
as MS
27881 Southfield Rd. at 11 1/2 Mile,
Lathrup Village • 559-3900
Mon -Fri. 10-9, Sat. 9-6, Sun. 12-5
Kosins .
26300 Southfield Rd. north of 10 1/2 Mile, Lathrup Village
569-6930 • Mon.-Fri. 10-9, Sat. 9-6, Sun. 12-5
FIGHT
THE BIG "F"...
Designs by
Charles Gassam
• Kitchens
Counter Tops
Islands
• Bathroom
Vanities
• Bedrooms
• Dining Rooms
• Wall Units
• Tables
• Store Fixtures
FURNITURE
FADING
COMMERCIAL/RESIDENTIAL
— Custom —
Laminated Furniture
C•C.C. Cabinetry
58
FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1990
941-3050
Shamir the fbllowing day.
NRP leader Zevulun
Hammer said Sunday after a
meeting with Labor Party
leaders in Tel Aviv that
there was an agreement that
if neither of the major par-
ties could win Knesset ap-
proval of a narrow coalition,
they would hold new elec-
tions.
Hammer said the NRP
would join a unity govern-
ment on condition its policy-
making Inner Cabinet is not
divided evenly between
Labor and Likud. That
would mean a permanent
deadlock. The smaller coali-
tion partners would have to
be represented, he said.
Hammer said the peace
issue remained the most
"serious" challenge to a new
unity government, inas-
much it is the issue over
which the last one collapsed.
The decisive factor was a
split over whether to back
U.S. Secretary of State
James Baker's proposal for
an Israeli-Palestinian dia-
logue.
Hammer said Peres and
former Defense Minister
Yitzhak Rabin, Labor's No.
2 leader, made clear to the
NRP they would enter a new
unity government only if it
made a practical commit-
ment to pursue the peace
process.
Bush: Will Not Oppose
Jews In E. Jerusalem
........
"•• ••
"Where Fit Is Foremost"
Religious Party Aim
May Doom Shamir
STOPS
ULTRA VIOLET
up to 99%
Seymour Zate
537.7900
Solar Sales, Inc.
— Since 1969 —
Washington (JTA) —
Mayor Teddy Kollek of
Jerusalem. emerged from a
meeting with President
Bush last week convinced
that Bush has no objections
to Jews living in East
Jerusalem.
"I have no doubt the presi-
dent has no objection to Jews
settling all over Jerusalem
without any exception,"
Kollek told reporters after
the 30-minute White House
meeting.
Israeli Ambassador Moshe
Arad, who accompanied the
mayor, said Bush had not ac-
tually made a statement to
this effect.
But Kollek seemed to base
his confidence on his belief
that Bush had endorsed a
letter Secretary of State
James Baker sent to Rep.
Mel Levine W-Calif.) at the
end of March.
"Clearly, Jews and others
can live where they want,
East or West, and the city
must remain undivided,"
the Baker letter said.
The letter followed the
uproar in Israel over . a
statement by Bush opposing
the settlement of Jews in
East Jerusalem as well as
the West Bank. Some blame
Bush's statement for the col-
lapse of Israel's coalition .
government,
But Kollek said he did not
believe Bush was responsi-
ble.
The mayor said he sought
to assure Bush that "we had
not changed the frontiers of
Jerusalem since '67 by a
single inch "
He told the president that
despite the increase in Jew-
ish arid Arab populations in
Jerusalem, the ratio of
Arabs and Jews would con-
tinue to be the same. There
is room for some 25,000 ad-
ditional hoifaes for Jews and