Rightist Regime Formed in Israel : Coalition: Shamir’s new government is committed to expanding settlements and quelling the Palestinian uprising. U.S. peace efforts appear doomed.

Just hours before a sundown Friday deadline, caretaker Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir cobbled together a new government committed to expanding Israeli settlements in the rebellious West Bank and Gaza Strip and squashing the Palestinian uprising.

The combination of Shamir’s Likud Party, far-right and religious groups appears to doom already flagging efforts by the Bush Administration to broker peace talks between Israel and Palestinians.

The coalition marks the first time since 1984 and the turmoil of the Lebanon invasion that Israel will be ruled by a fully right-wing government. A six-year era of national unity governments linking Likud with the center-left Labor Party fell apart over how to resolve Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians.

Shamir indirectly referred to the possible discord that might break out in a government that some describe as the most right-wing in Israel’s history.

“I pray that national unity will exist in this government that we are forming today and that all of us will act together for the Israeli people and the land of Israel,” he said.

Shamir will present his new Cabinet for approval in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, on Monday. He is expected to win the support of at least 62 members in the 120-seat body. The narrow majority may widen if the Agudat Israel, a hold-out religious party, joins in.

President Bush, flying from Des Moines to Omaha on a political fund-raising trip, said he is willing to work with the new Israeli government. But he emphasized that U.S. policy will continue to urge peace talks between Israel and its foes in the Middle East.

Palestinian leaders reacted negatively to the new government. Faisal Husseini, a top political leader of the 30-month-old Palestinian uprising in Israeli-occupied areas, said: “We believe peace efforts will be set back. This is a government that will put obstacles in the way of talks.”

The occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip on Friday appeared to be quiet, however. Many Palestinians were preparing to watch the opening match of the World Cup on television and seemed uninterested in Israel’s politics of the moment.

Shamir’s announcement ended three months of political drift that began when Labor Cabinet ministers quit a partnership government with Likud because he refused to accept the terms of an invitation from U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III to hold peace talks with Palestinians.

The new government’s guidelines commit Shamir “to strengthen, expand and develop the settlements” in Gaza and the West Bank. The pledge puts Israel on a renewed collision course with Washington, which opposes settlements in the occupied territories as an obstacle to peace.

The Shamir government also affirmed the right of newly arrived Soviet immigrants to settle in the occupied lands, another point of difference with the Bush Administration.

(In a Moscow news conference, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev repeated his threat to act if Israel continues to allow that kind of settlement. But notably, he did not repeat his threat to halt Jewish emigration.)

Shamir appears poised to take tougher measures to put down the Palestinian revolt. Israeli soldiers and civilians have killed more than 650 Palestinians during the uprising, about 150 of them children; 44 Israelis have died at the hands of Palestinians and about 220 Palestinians have been killed by other Palestinians on suspicion of collaborating with Israel.

Shamir’s government is pledged “to uproot the phenomenon of violence and disturbances and create tranquility in all parts of Israel.”

In an apparent effort to rally wide national support, Shamir said the new government’s main goal is to ensure the smooth welcome for new Soviet immigrants. About 150,000 are expected to arrive this year alone.

“The major effort of the government will be made on the most important issue we are facing today, the absorption of the mass immigration,” he said. “Together with that, we’ll deal with all the other issues--advancing the peace process, solving economic and social problems.”

After six weeks of hard bargaining, Shamir ensured that his hold on the prime minister’s post, dating to 1986, continues uninterrupted. His Cabinet lineup gives key posts to ministers in favor of keeping all the West Bank and Gaza, and all have spoken against Baker’s peace plan.

Among key members of the new Cabinet are Moshe Arens, the former foreign minister, who will become defense minister; David Levy, the outgoing housing minister and now foreign minister; Ariel Sharon, former defense minister, now housing minister, and Yitzhak Modai, former economics minister now in charge of finance.

In the past government, Levy, Sharon and Modai were known as the “constraints ministers,” or by critics, the “Gang of Three” because they campaigned vigorously against Baker’s peace approach.

Asked in a radio interview if he would encourage the newcomers to settle in the disputed land, Sharon replied, “Israel is a democratic country. Everyone can settle where he wants.”

Israeli commentators noted that Levy, a native of Morocco, will be the first Israeli foreign minister not to speak English. On Friday, he pointed out that he speaks good French.

Rafael Eitan, from the small Crossroads Party, is a newcomer to the Cabinet and will head the Agriculture Ministry. Another newcomer, nuclear expert Yuval Neeman, will be science minister.

The commitments made by the new government reaffirm support for Shamir’s peace proposal, which included holding elections for a Palestinian negotiating team. But top aides to Shamir have hinted that he will try to take the spotlight off the vote proposal and steer debate to other points in his plan. These include talks with hostile Arab countries and foreign funding to help Palestinian refugees establish themselves in neighboring countries.

“We want the plan to return to its original spirit,” said Yosef Ben-Aharon, a senior adviser. Ben-Aharon and other Shamir supporters have accused the United States of distorting Shamir’s effort by only emphasizing elections.

Not all of the Cabinet portfolios have been handed out yet. Religious parties are still vying for control of marriage, immigration and social matters as well as funding for education and housing.

One religious group, Shas, reportedly gained control of the Communications Ministry and Israel’s broadcasting system.

During the six weeks of coalition talks, Shamir’s continued hold on power sometimes seemed to depend as much on his taste in seafood as on as his attitude toward peace talks. One religious leader lambasted him for enjoying shellfish in disregard for Jewish dietary laws.

Technically, Shamir had until midnight to forge a coalition, but the Jewish Sabbath began at sundown and any labor done after dark could have lost him the entire support of the religious parties. He met the deadline by informing President Chaim Herzog by phone of his success.

As part of the coalition agreement, the government has pledged to ban sales of pork, a non-kosher commodity that is treated as a delicacy by some secular Jews in Israel.

The Labor Party, meanwhile, prepared to go into the opposition. Its head, Shimon Peres, the former finance minister and a former prime minister, will probably have to fight off a leadership challenge from rival Yitzhak Rabin, who was minister of defense in the joint government under Shamir.

KEY ISRAELI CABINET MEMBERS

Here are six of the people in Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s new rightist government. Several slots have not been announced yet. Moshe Arens, Defense Minister Protege of Shamir who served as foreign minister in the past government. Like Shamir, favors perpetual Israeli control of occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. David Levy, Foreign Minister Served as housing minister in the last government. Engineered government financial backing for the controversial purchase of a lease on a Greek Orthodox Church building in Jerusalem’s Old City on behalf of a militant Jewish nationalist group. Ariel Sharon, Housing Minister As defense minister in 1982, led Israel into Lebanon invasion. Campaigned for Defense Ministry job again. Will have special authority to manage fast-paced arrival of Soviet immigrants and can also possibly channel funds to West Bank and Gaza development. Finance, Agriculture, Science. Three other members are Yitzhak Modai, finance minister; Rafael Eitan, agriculture minister and Yuval Neeman, science minister. Modai, former economics minister, once suggested sending Palestinian stone throwers into exile. In past government, Levy, Sharon and Modai were known as “constraints ministers” because they campaigned against U.S.-brokered peace plan. Eitan is from small Crossroads Party and a newcomer to Cabinet. Chief of staff during Lebanon invasion, he once referred to Palestinians as “cockroaches in a bottle.” Neeman is nuclear expert whose Tehiya Party advocates annexing the West Bank and Gaza.