Peace Talks Would End in ‘National Suicide’: Shamir

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, in a vitriolic attack on Foreign Minister Shimon Peres’ peacemaking strategy, said in remarks published today that an international conference on the Middle East would result in “national suicide.”

Peres, leader of the left-leaning Labor Party that shares power with the premier’s right-wing Likud Bloc, said Shamir’s criticisms could break up the 2 1/2-year-old coalition government.

“I think that what was said (by Shamir) are indeed remarks leading to breakup,” Peres said during a tour of a book fair in Jerusalem today.

Shamir said the conference idea, supported by the Soviet Union and Arab states, was a trap designed to force Israel to relinquish territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war, including Jerusalem.

“It is an insane and monstrous idea, tantamount to fighting for our national suicide,” Shamir said in a speech to a party youth group Thursday night. A transcript of the speech was distributed today.

Shamir accused Peres of “deceitful tactics” in trying to convince the nation that an international conference would just be an umbrella for direct negotiations with Jordan and other Arab states. He argued it would be a forum for pressuring Israel into making concessions.

“How can a nation’s fate be played with?” Shamir asked. “How can we revert to the pre-1967 period, when bullets flew in the streets of Jerusalem? They want to return to the period in which there was not a day of security and rest in this country. Why did we fight wars?”

Shamir said if Peres was committed to “a peace of surrender” then he should go to the voters and test his ideas in new national elections, which are not scheduled until 1988.

After stalemated elections in 1984, the leaders of Israel’s two largest political blocs agreed to share power in a national unity government. Peres, after serving as prime minister for two years, handed over the post to Shamir last October.

Despite the sharp exchange, the latest in a series of public spats, Peres indicated he would not seek an immediate showdown in the 25-member coalition Cabinet.

“I will handle this calmly and patiently. It’s not a burning issue for today or tomorrow,” he said.