Peres Dampens Efforts to Form Israel Coalition

Shimon Peres, Israel’s foreign minister and head of the Labor Party, on Monday dampened efforts to form a coalition with the rightist Likud Party by declaring that he would not join unless the joint government endorsed his proposal to call an international conference to resolve the Middle East conflict.

His comments to reporters at the Foreign Ministry came as representatives of Labor and Likud were still bargaining over the makeup of a possible joint government.

“I won’t join in any government that doesn’t have a peace process. I won’t join in any government that will not (pledge to) permit an international conference in advance, and I won’t join in any government where Labor doesn’t have parity,” Peres said.

Parity is a reference to Labor demands that Likud grant it two of the three top government ministries--defense, foreign and finance. Likud is reported to be hesitant, in part because Peres wants the post of foreign minister he now holds in the carry-over coalition government, in which Labor and Likud shared equal power.

Opposed by Shamir

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who heads Likud, has vigorously opposed an international conference. He contends that in such a forum Israel would be compelled to give up land in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in return for peace with its Arab neighbors.

Peres favors a land-for-peace formula.

Likud won a plurality in recent parliamentary elections and is trying to build a ruling coalition. Shamir is eager to entice Labor to join the government as a junior partner; such an arrangement would let him avoid dealing with far-right and religious parties that are willing to join his government but have numerous and sometimes competing demands on ministerial posts.

Shamir still has more than a month to forge a majority in the 120-member Knesset, Israel’s Parliament.

Peres has been less enthusiastic than some of his Labor colleagues about joining Likud. Labor’s No. 2 official, Yitzhak Rabin, the defense minister, has openly campaigned for a broad-based government. The question now focuses on whether Rabin will try to knock Peres from his top party position and lead Labor into a Likud government himself, Labor insiders say.

This post-election turbulence comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity on the Middle East question. Last week, the Palestine Liberation Organization declared an independent state of Palestine, to eventually take shape alongside Israel. PLO leaders want acceptance of a Palestinian state to be the basis of a negotiated settlement with Israel.

Peres met Monday with Egypt’s ambassador to Israel and complained about Cairo’s recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

Since the declaration in Algiers by the Palestine National Council, the PLO’s so-called parliament in exile, about 35 countries, including the Soviet Union, China and Egypt, have recognized the new state.

Israel responded by dismissing the independence declaration and describing hints of PLO moderation as “double talk.” It launched a diplomatic and public relations campaign to discourage international acceptance of the PLO stand.

Blow to Campaign

Egypt’s recognition, announced Sunday, was a blow to the Israeli campaign. Egypt is the only Arab country to recognize Israel, and, in Israeli thinking, Cairo still figures prominently in any peace talks with other Arab countries.

Peres expressed “sorrow and disappointment” to Egypt’s ambassador, Mohammed Bassiouni, over the recognition of the Palestinian state, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alon Liel said.

Rabin was less diplomatic about Egypt’s move. He said that the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state was a breach of the 1978 Camp David accords that form the basis for peace between Israel and Egypt.

Far-right politicians are pressuring the government to retaliate against Egypt. They have suggested that Israel delay a pullout from Taba, a disputed piece of land at the southern tip of Israel that a recent arbitration decision said belongs to Egypt.