Shamir Claims He Will Be Able to Form Government : 4 Religious Parties Key to Election

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and leaders of his right-wing Likud Party expressed confidence today that they can form a government and began coalition talks with four ultra-Orthodox religious parties that won a total of 18 parliament seats.

Likud and its allies won 46 of the 120 seats in Tuesday’s election. Labor and sympathetic left-wing parties won 49, so either major party could form a government with support from the religious factions.

Two parties on the extreme left won the other seven seats.

Shamir said early today that the outcome “commanded” Likud to form a government and expressed willingness to negotiate on any demands of the religious parties. Likud and Labor have been in a fragile coalition since the indecisive election of July, 1984.

Although Likud generally is more sympathetic to the Orthodox view, one of the main religious parties said a coalition remained possible with Labor, headed by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

Demands by the religious parties include strict rules on observing the Sabbath and changes in the policy that extends automatic citizenship to all Jews, including converts.

‘Natural Sympathy’

Likud won 39 seats on its own in the Knesset, as Israel calls its parliament, and Labor got 38, according to the nearly final count of Tuesday’s vote.

Yossi Ahimeir, a spokesman for Shamir, said religious leaders told the prime minister that “Likud has natural sympathy to religious demands and all would prefer a coalition with Likud over Labor.”

After meeting with Peres, however, spokesman Moshe Peretz of the Torah Guardians Party said: “We feel that all options are open. We don’t rule out talks with any party. The conditions are that they come to terms with our requirements.”

His party, known by its Hebrew initials SHAS, won six Knesset seats.

Most religious legislators are closer to Shamir’s viewpoint on the Palestinian issue. He vows to keep all the occupied territories, which some Orthodox Jews consider part of biblical Israel, while Peres has expressed willingness to exchange some territory for peace.

Other demands by the Orthodox faction, whose political clout is greater than its numbers, make both major parties uneasy.

‘Who-Is-a-Jew’ Question

Most controversial is a change in the law under which converts would be considered Jewish in Israel, and eligible for automatic citizenship, only if they were converted by Orthodox rabbis.

“Without a real promise on this ‘Who-is-a-Jew’ question we will not go into any coalition,” said Avraham Verdiger of the Agudat Israel faction, which won five seats.

Such an amendment could alienate American Jews, most of whom belong to the Conservative and Reform movements of Judaism. Labor has opposed such changes in the law.

Other demands mentioned by leaders of the religious parties include prohibiting soccer games and closing theaters and restaurants on the Sabbath and increasing military exemptions for seminary students.

Yitzhak Peretz, leader of the Torah Guardian Party, said Likud seemed more likely to meet at least some religious demands, then added: “I wouldn’t say only the Likud can do it, but that Likud appears the more reasonable prospect.”

Spokesmen for both Likud and Labor said they will have no comment on the demands because negotiations are in the early stages.

The high political price set by religious parties could force Likud to consider inviting Labor into another coalition, this time as junior partner rather than an equal. Ahimeir quoted Shamir as saying he would consider it, and Labor Party officials reported behind-the-scenes contacts with the Likud.