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Immigrants

Continued from preceding page

new-immigrant party, Da, which
failed to make it into the Knes-
set.
In shunning their own party,
the immigrants not only chose
to become "mainstream Israelis"—
as quickly as possible, they also
defied the expectation that as
"green" voters they would sup-
port the party in power.
Since the soldiers' vote hasn't
been reported yet, it's impossi-
ble to judge the impact of the
200,000 first-time voters (18-to
24-year-olds), who have tradi-
tionally gone with parties at the
edges of the political spectrum.-
Clearer is the fact that anoth-
er constituency which has helped
change the electoral balance is
Israel's Arab citizens, who have
contributed as much as 40 per-
cent of their 270,000 votes to La-
bor and Democratic Israel (one_ -=
slot to Labor's left), rather than
to one of the time Arab lists that
vied in the election. Like the im-
migrants, many of these voters
— "outsiders" of a different ilk
— have opted for the main-
stream. -
The Arab parties (only one of
which has definitely made it into
the Knesset, with the fate of an-
other dependent upon the final
tally of the soldiers' vote) will
have garnered a maximum of
five seats between them. Yet
though Mr. Rabin has disquali-
fied them as potential coalition
partners, they have pledged to
support a Labor-led government
from the outside.
Even if their representation --
ultimately slides from five to
three seats, the fact remains that
it is they who have put Mr. Ra-,
bin over the top.
All of which leaves Yitzhak
Rabin sitting pretty and able to
choose between a number of op-
tions in his government. If nee-
e,ssary, he could join forces with
Democratic Israel, draw on the
support of the Arab parties and
form a purely leftist government.
But in his aggressive victory
speech, he made a point of stress-
ing that he was going to strive
for a "centrist" government and
on the following day spoke of
forming- as "broad-based" a coali-
tion as possible.
No one suspects these re-
marks of being an invitation to
the Likud to form a national-uni-
ty government. They were more
of a signal to Mr. Rabin's left
flank, Democratic Israel (with
12 seats), not to get too uppity in
presenting its terms for joining
a coalition.
They were also a signal to the
religious parties (famed for their
usually exorbitant coalition de-
mands) that they, too, could find
a place in his government — but
on his terms, not theirs.
And if his natural coalition
partners get too sassy, Mr. Ra-
bin could always put out feelers
to the bloodied — but-unbowed
Likud. ❑