Shamir Given Task of Forming Government

President Chaim Herzog asked Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to form Israel’s 23rd government today, kicking off a 21-day period of negotiations during which Shamir must piece together a governing coalition.

Herzog chose Shamir, leader of the right-wing Likud Party, after two ultra-Orthodox religious parties formally endorsed the prime minister Sunday night. The decision gave Shamir the support of 63 members of Israel’s 120-member parliament, the Knesset.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, leader of the center-left Labor Party and Shamir’s rival in the current governing coalition, could muster only 55 Knesset members to support a Labor-led government.

Consultations With President

Herzog asked Shamir to form the next government today during consultations at the presidential residence, and the two men later announced the decision at an official ceremony.

“Without any doubt . . . the majority in Knesset support giving the responsibility of forming the new government to prime minister, member of Knesset, Yitzhak Shamir,” Herzog said in a statement he read.

Shamir stood beside Herzog with his hands clasped in front of him and nodded occasionally as the president spoke. When Herzog finished, Shamir smiled and thanked the president “for having given me this important function to establish Israel’s government.”

Speaking to reporters as he left the president’s home, Shamir vowed to put down the 11-month-old Palestinian uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

He also restated his position that Israel will not negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization, even if the Palestinian parliament-in-exile formally recognizes Israel’s right to exist during its meeting under way in Algiers.

Shamir sought to reassure Jews outside Israel that they would not be adversely affected by the impressive parliamentary showing of the ultra-Orthodox religious parties. The demands of the fundamentalist parties could affect millions of American Jews who belong to the Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism.