Israel: Starting Over

Only time will tell whether Israel, in renewing the coalition government of Likud and Labor, has bought paralysis or the potential for new decisiveness.

The reunion of the two parties, each with such different ideas for the future of the Jewish state, was a response to the opening last week of direct negotiations between the United States and the Palestine Liberation Organization. But the terms of the agreement between the two parties raised serious questions about its ability to respond flexibly to any peace initiatives that may emerge. Particularly disappointing was Labor’s agreement to set aside its commitment to an international peace meeting and a policy in which occupied lands would be returned to the Arabs in exchange for peace arrangements. Furthermore, Labor embraced Likud’s provocative plans for additional Jewish settlements on lands taken from the Arabs in the Six-Day War, although in reduced numbers. And Likud made no concessions from its traditional opposition to returning any of the occupied lands.

There is one obvious benefit. The coalition agreement apparently buries at least for the time being the dangerous and mischievous proposal that Yitzhak Shamir, leader of the Likud, had contrived to redefine who is a Jew. He risked alienating most of world Jewry in making thatdeal with ultra-religious Orthodox party leaders whose support he would have required if he had organized a government without the support of the Labor Party.

Given the presence of 15 parties in the Knesset, and the persistence of Israeli voters in supporting this fractured parliament through the distortions of a complex system of proportional representation, there may have been no better alternative than a restoration of the coalition of the two leading parties. It will have more continuity than the last coalition that ruled as a government of national unity by rotating the premiership and the position of minister of foreign affairs between the party leaders. The key positions this time will be fixed, with Likud dominating as Shamir continues as prime minister and Moshe Arens becomes foreign minister. Shimon Peres, Labor’s leader, moves from foreign affairs to finance, and Yitzhak Rabin, the other most senior Labor Party member, stays on at defense. The coalition can be broken only by a return to national elections.

That will give each party, in effect, a veto over the other. The hope, clearly, must be that there will at least be the appearance of unity as the government faces whatever initiatives may be inspired by the talks between the United States and the PLO. That fragile unity may be used to resist change, to consolidate traditional positions, to divert the inevitable pressure for Israel-PLO negotiations. And rigidity could prove to be a tragic error. But that unity could also be used, if Shamir has the vision, to test the Palestinians’ intentions, to engage the peace process as it develops, to break the impasse that threatensthe well-being of everyone in Israel as it imperils everyone in the occupied territories.

Extraordinary opportunities are likely in the months ahead. The new Israeli coalition will be validated not by its resistance but by its ability to respond constructively to those opportunities.