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Shamir Gets Right-Wing Government : Israel: The Cabinet will be dominated by opponents of peace talks with the Palestinians.

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From Reuters

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir formed the most right-wing government in Israeli history today and said its top priority would be Jewish immigration from the Soviet Union.

After protracted last-minute wrangling, seven extreme right-wing and religious parties and three independent parliamentarians signed a coalition agreement.

It came 12 weeks after the dovish Labor Party brought down a national unity government over Shamir’s refusal to accept U.S. proposals for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

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The new government, backed by 62 members of the 120-seat Parliament, will seek a vote of confidence Monday.

An exhausted-looking Shamir, 74, toasted his new coalition as “a national government that will conduct affairs of state during a tough period with many dangers.”

“The government’s main effort will be on the most important matter in our lives today--the mass immigration flowing into the country and the absorption” of immigrants, he declared.

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Israel expects up to 250,000 Soviet Jews to arrive this year and Jewish agency officials disclosed this week that about 1.1 million Soviet Jews had received immigration visas.

The Cabinet will be dominated by opponents of peace talks with the Palestinians and advocates of increased Jewish settlement in the occupied territories.

Political commentators said it could set Israel on a collision course with the United States, its guardian ally.

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“Barring a miracle, Shamir will find himself in direct conflict with the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, the Palestinians and the Arab world,” diplomatic commentator Akiva Eldar wrote in the Haaretz newspaper.

The coalition’s policy guidelines said the new government would work to “strengthen, expand and develop” Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, the biggest source of friction between Israel and Washington.

“Settlement in all parts of the land of Israel is the right of the Jewish people and an inseparable part of national security,” the document said.

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