Peres Resigns in His Job Shift With Shamir

Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres submitted his resignation Friday, paving the way for a scheduled exchange of posts with his political rival, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir.

The unprecedented switch, which is expected to be completed early next week, is part of a novel power-sharing agreement binding Peres’ centrist Labor Alignment and Shamir’s rightist Likud Bloc in an uneasy national unity government.

Under the agreement, which was signed in September, 1984, and includes eight smaller parties as junior partners in the government, Peres and Shamir each were granted 25 months as prime minister. Peres’ term will be up next Tuesday, and Shamir is to take over until the coalition agreement expires in November, 1988.

Proud of Accomplishments

“I’m very proud right now,” Peres told reporters after handing his letter of resignation to President Chaim Herzog Friday morning. “In general, a democratic regime is founded on trust--on one’s oral word and one’s written word.”

Peres added that he hopes that by keeping his word, he has helped “strengthen the democratic regime in the country.”

On a dozen different occasions during Peres’ 25 months as prime minister, the national unity government appeared to be on the edge of collapse. But each time a perception that the voters would punish the party seen as undermining the popular coalition drew the two principal partners back from the brink.

Peres, who before taking office suffered from what some here called a “tricky Shimon” image, was particularly determined to keep his end of the bargain, according to sources in both parties.

Herzog, accepting Peres’ resignation, thanked him “for the great achievements he brought the country in this difficult period.”

Inflation Reduced

In the last two years, the government has unilaterally withdrawn most of its troops from a ruinous war in Lebanon, revived relations with Egypt, the only Arab nation with which Israel has a peace treaty, and, perhaps most important, reduced inflation from a peak of nearly 1% a day to a little more than 1% a month.

In accordance with Israeli law, President Herzog began immediately to consult with leaders of the political parties on the selection of the next man to form a government. This was a formality, because Labor and Likud, with their commanding parliamentary majority, have already agreed that Shamir should take over.

Herzog is expected to nominate Shamir on Tuesday, after the Yom Kippur holy day. Shamir is then expected to present his Cabinet for a vote of confidence in Parliament, probably on Tuesday or Wednesday. Peres will head a caretaker government until the vote.

There was some uncertainty Friday about the final timing of the changeover, because of continuing disagreement over details of the new government.

Modai’s Role at Issue

The main issue was Likud’s demand that Yitzhak Modai, a former minister of finance and justice, return to the Cabinet under Shamir. Peres forced Modai to resign last July after the Likud official had repeatedly criticized the prime minister in public.

Labor’s Mordechai Gur, the minister of health, has already said he will refuse to serve under Shamir, and Peres has proposed that the new government be limited to 23 ministers instead of the 25 in Peres’ Cabinet.