Shamir Firm as Coalition Teeters : Israel: Hawkish prime minister refuses to budge on his firing of Science Minister Ezer Weizman.

Efforts to find a compromise that would keep Israel’s divided government intact were deadlocked Monday, and officials close to Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said that he is determined to assert his authority over dovish ministers in the teetering coalition.

“The prime minister is standing firm,” said Yosef Ben-Aharon, a top aide to Shamir.

Shamir, who heads the rightist Likud Party, fired Science Minister Ezer Weizman, from the center-left Labor Party, for making direct and indirect contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization and discussing peace proposals with the group. The Sunday dismissal set off the government crisis.

However, there were wire service reports early today that President Chaim Herzog had stepped into the crisis and suggested a compromise that might defuse the issue. They quoted Israel Television as saying that, in a private meeting with Shamir, Herzog said the crisis calls for a “proper legal inquiry” and that Weizeman should be allowed to keep his Cabinet post until the inquiry is completed.

Labor wants Weizman reinstated. Both parties were busily courting minor political groups in order to build a narrow coalition should the coalition shatter. But Labor, the junior partner in the national unity government, is also looking for a compromise. Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Labor said he views “the continuation of the national unity government as the need of the hour.”

However, Israel Television said that Shimon Peres, vice prime minister and Labor Party leader, quickly rejected the Herzog proposal, saying the damage had already been done.

One solution under discussion is to remove Weizman from the policy-making Inner Cabinet, which is made up of six members each from Labor and Likud. Yitzhak Peretz, leader of the small, religious Shas party who is trying to mediate a compromise, reported no headway Monday. “It is hard to say I see a way out,” Peretz said.

Under government rules, the dismissal of Weizman, a flamboyant former fighter pilot and defense minister, is set to become final today. A vote of confidence in the government has been scheduled later in the week--not because of Weizman and the PLO but because religious parties object to government authorization of a protest rally last week on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.

He’s Sending Messages

Likud officials said that, by firing Weizman, the prime minister is sending out a variety of messages, not only to political rivals at home but to Washington.

First, he is trying to re-establish his own authority, which he saw as being eroded by Weizman’s contacts with the PLO, government spokesman Yosef Olmert said. The Labor Party, led by Finance Minister Shimon Peres, has been trying to pull Shamir toward compromise on the issue of giving up the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in return for peace with rebellious Palestinians.

“Shamir is saying, ‘I’m the boss,’ in case anyone forgot,” Olmert declared.

Shamir was also shoring up his hold on the Likud, where he was under attack for being soft on talks with the PLO, Olmert added.

The message for Washington arises from Shamir’s perception that the Bush Administration intends to try to corner him into talks with the PLO. Shamir opposes PLO participation in peace talks because he views the group’s demand for an independent Palestinian state as a means of setting up a hostile base next door to Israel.

“If people in Washington think the prime minister wants a fig leaf to talk with the PLO, I can say that this prime minister does not play with fig leaves,” Olmert said.

Israel is engaged in laborious talks with the Bush Administration over plans to negotiate with a Palestinian peace delegation. The PLO has been responding to the American overtures for talks through Egyptian mediation. Under a plan authored by Secretary of State James A. Baker III, the United States, Egypt and Israel have agreed to meet in the coming weeks to discuss the formation of a Palestinian negotiating team.

Weizman expressed pleasure at being the center of a political storm. On Israel Radio, he stated flatly that he hopes the coalition will fall over his ouster. Weizman is a proponent of Israeli-PLO talks.

Weizman was a key participant in the crafting of the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. The experience converted him from a hawk--he belonged to the Likud at the time--to a dove.

Reports of Weizman’s PLO connection center on an Israeli Arab physician named Ahmed Tibi, whose name had surfaced publicly in efforts to contact the PLO over missing Israeli prisoners in Lebanon.

Weizman told a Labor Party caucus Monday that not long ago he received a phone call from Tibi who was visiting Tunis, the headquarters of the PLO. Tibi asked him if the PLO should accept the Baker plan for peace talks. Weizman put Tibi on hold and phoned an unnamed Israeli official.

He went back to Tibi and advised the PLO to accept U.S. plans to hold talks and if it had reservations, to put them in the form of conditions that could then be negotiated.

The PLO has accepted Baker’s plan in principle but is demanding that it select the Palestinian panel.

Shamir learned of Weizman’s activities from the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence service, officials in the prime minister’s office said. It was not clear whether the agency was spying on Weizman--that would require authorization from Shamir himself.