Peres Fails to Form Israeli Government

Shimon Peres, leader of Israel’s left-of-center Labor Party, acknowledged Wednesday night that he is unable to form a new government, making it likely that Israel’s president will ask caretaker Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of the rightist Likud Party to try to do so.

Today is the deadline that President Chaim Herzog gave Peres to name a Cabinet.

The deadline caps nearly six weeks of negotiations by Peres with religion-aligned political parties and maverick members of the Likud to find the single vote he needs to break a 60-60 deadlock in the 120-seat Knesset (Parliament).

What appeared to be his last chance disappeared Wednesday when Yitzhak Modai, the Likud-allied former economics minister, announced that he will not defect from his party. He accused the Labor negotiating team of spoiling an earlier agreement made with Peres.

Thus, Peres remained stuck at 60 votes, with no other plausible partners to try to win to his side.

Peres told reporters he will admit defeat when he talks today with Herzog. Herzog, who has been pleading for the major parties to reform Israel’s complicated electoral system, can then designate another member of Parliament to try to form a government. He is expected to choose Shamir.

Shamir has remained in office as head of a caretaker administration since the national unity Labor-Likud government that he led was brought down March 15.

The 15-month-old government collapsed when Shamir lost a vote of confidence over his refusal to accept a Mideast peace plan sponsored by the United States. Peres supports the plan.

Shamir is by no means assured of having more success than Peres at finding a 61st vote. It appears he can count on only lukewarm support from the ultra-Orthodox religious party Shas, whose backing is regarded as essential. Shas played a crucial role in causing the fall of Shamir’s government.

Peres announced two weeks ago that he had a government in hand, but it collapsed when two members of another ultra-Orthodox party, Agudat Israel, backed out. Herzog gave him a 15-day extension, expiring today, to try again.

National elections would be likely if Shamir fails to form a government. Peres has said he would press immediately for elections to try to prevent Shamir from forming a new coalition.

Peres’ apparent defeat further dims prospects for the U.S. peace plan.

Since the coalition government collapsed, Shamir has shown less and less enthusiasm for the U.S. proposal and has taken actions that appear designed to make it impossible to carry out.

He has moved to establish new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and his government helped pay for Jewish settlers to move into the traditional Christian Quarter of Jerusalem. The latter action has sparked a storm of criticism from Christian leaders and Muslims alike.

Within Labor, the fruitless weeks of coalition talks are likely to undermine Peres’ position.

Given Israel’s electoral system, it is virtually impossible to know how long Shamir will need to form a new government, who his partners will be or if he will succeed.