Shamir Fires Official, Sparks Cabinet Crisis : Israel: The prime minister cites agreement barring talks with the PLO. The coalition may crumble.

In a surprise move that threatens to break up Israel’s ruling coalition, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir on Sunday dismissed Ezer Weizman, a leading Labor Party dove, from the Cabinet for holding talks with officials of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Shamir justified his decision on an agreement between his Likud Party and Labor, its coalition partner, that forbids talks with the PLO.

“There is a consensus that underlies the existence of the government--no negotiations with the PLO. Sitting in the Cabinet is a minister who does not accept the consensus, who works against the policy of government . . . with our greatest enemies,” Shamir said during a dramatic television appearance.

“How long can we suffer this situation?” Shamir said, thumping the butt of his hand on the table.

Shamir accused Weizman of advising the PLO on how to respond to Israeli peace initiatives and “upset our plans.” He did not detail meetings that Weizman allegedly held with the PLO or the nature of any indirect contacts, saying they were secret.

Shamir had announced the dismissal hours earlier during the government’s weekly Cabinet meeting, at which he accused Weizman of passing messages to PLO leader Yasser Arafat.

Under the intricate rules that govern the coalition, dismissal of a Labor minister must be approved by Labor chief Shimon Peres, who is deputy prime minister and minister of finance. If Peres refuses to go along and Shamir holds firm, the government will probably collapse. The dismissal of Weizman, who is minister of science, is to take effect Tuesday.

Although Labor has pulled back from threats to bolt the coalition several times during the 12-month life of the government, initial comments from Peres indicated stiff resolve.

“The prime minister must rescind his decision,” he said. “We have nothing to compromise about.”

The key to the crisis, as well as to much of the debate in Israel over proposed peace talks, is whether the PLO should have a role. Shamir emphatically rejects PLO participation; Labor is coy, talking in veiled terms about not looking too closely at who is at the table, as long as any PLO presence is well hidden.

Agents Consulted

Appearing on television after Shamir spoke, Weizman said that he consulted with agents of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence service, on how to handle indirect contacts with the PLO.

He defended the contacts, saying, “The point is that there are always contacts with the PLO through the United States, through Egypt, through Israelis.”

Weizman said: “If Israel will not open her eyes, once and for all, to what is truth and what is a lie, we will continue to ruin ourselves more than we already have.”

He expressed pleasure at threatening the coalition. “This is a historical opportunity to take into our hands. I am proud that through me, Israel will have to decide where they will go.”

Weizman declined to discuss his activities except to say he had spoken recently with Dr. Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli-Arab physician who has been involved in Israeli-PLO contacts.

Arafat said in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday that neither he nor any of his officials had met with Weizman but said a planned meeting in Moscow two years ago was canceled after Weizman failed to show up.

Weizman, 65, is a maverick politician who has long advocated talks with the PLO. One of Israel’s most renowned fighter pilots and a former defense minister, he was also instrumental in forging the Camp David peace accords with Egypt.

The Cabinet crisis comes at a delicate stage in peace activities. Under a plan put forward by U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Israel had agreed to meet soon with officials from the United States and Egypt to work out details of talks with a delegation of Palestinians.

Should the government fall, the disruption of putting together a new coalition or holding fresh elections would probably sink the peace effort for the foreseeable future.

A retreat by Labor would significantly weaken dovish factions who are willing to give the PLO an indirect role. The United States had been meticulously crafting a fig leaf to mask eventual PLO participation. Egypt was fronting for the PLO in preliminary talks.

“Shamir is showing he will try to stop any attempt to let the PLO be part of any talks. He is saying no to the Americans and to Labor on that point,” said Labor’s Yaacov Tzur, the minister of health.

“Shamir is upset by any trend toward talking to the PLO. He wants an end to it and is making an example of Weizman,” commented Arye Naor, a political observer and former Likud government official.

In recent months, talks with the PLO had become more and more commonplace among Israeli officials and private citizens. Recently, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin announced that families of missing Israeli soldiers in Lebanon had been authorized to petition PLO officials directly for aid in obtaining their releases. Dovish members of Israel’s Parliament have met with an array of PLO representatives in Europe. Residents of leftist kibbutz movements plan to fly to Cairo soon to attend a conference that includes PLO representatives.

Contact with the PLO is illegal under Israel’s anti-terrorist laws. Abie Nathan, a well-known radio personality, is serving six months in jail for meeting with PLO officials abroad.

Immunity Cited

Members of Parliament are immune from prosecution. Last year, Shamir met with at least one Palestinian from the occupied West Bank who is linked with the PLO. That Palestinian, Jamil Tarifi, said that he passed on minutes of the conversation to PLO chief Arafat.

Shamir justified the conversation on the grounds that Tarifi lives within the occupied territory and not abroad. The PLO is based in Tunisia.

With Weizman’s dismissal, Shamir for the moment silenced critics within his own party who suspected he was drifting toward talks with the PLO. His supporters blamed Labor for the crisis. They said that Peres should have asked Weizman to resign in order to avert a confrontation.

“We prefer a government without Labor and without the PLO,” said Likud’s Ronni Milo, the minister of environmental quality.

Labor was clearly caught off guard by the firing of Weizman and now faces a tangle of problems. Backing Weizman would virtually force Labor to come out openly in favor of talks with the PLO. Labor officials have been guarded in recommending such a move, which is considered unpopular among the Israeli public.

There seems little chance that a breakaway Labor Party can form a coalition on its own; a narrow governing alliance would require the unlikely cooperation of religious and far left parties. In the 120-seat Parliament, Likud holds 40 seats and Labor has 39; the rest are spread among an array of minor parties.

Labor officials express no confidence in winning new elections, especially if the issue is defined on talks with the PLO. “This is not a good subject with which to go to the people right now,” said Labor’s Tzur.

“The Labor party is reaching its Rubicon,” political observer Naor remarked. “Either Labor will be forced to accept the dismissal (of Weizman) and lose a lot of their support, morale and dignity or they will have to leave the government and face the uncertainty of a political fight.”

The crisis overshadowed continued controversy about Saturday’s police attacks on peace demonstrators. Police used rubber bullets, tear gas, clubs and water cannons to break up an orderly rally held by Israeli, Palestinian and European peace groups.

Ehud Olmert, the minister of Arab affairs, spoke darkly of a PLO plot. “I have evidence that the events (Saturday), the concept, the efforts were done by the PLO,” he said. Asked for specifics, Olmert declined to answer citing “security reasons.”

Government radio accused Weizman of working out details of the peace march with the PLO.

Police continued to insist that demonstrators threw stones, burned tires and otherwise provoked the police with nationalistic chanting. Eyewitnesses reported no violence on the part of the demonstrators. Nationalistic chants were few.