The DMC and Likud will resume coalition negotiations tomorrow morning one week after they were suspended by the DMC in protest against Likud leader Menachem Begin’s nomination of Moshe Dayan for the post of Foreign Minister. An agreement to continue the talks was reached by committees representing both factions after Likud promised that all issues, including Cabinet appointments, were negotiable.
DMC leader Prof. Yigal Yadin made it plain on a television interview last night that while his party, which will be the third largest in the new Knesset, is seriously interested in participating in a broadly-based Likud-led coalition, certain conditions would have to be met. He indicated that these included agreement on policy toward the occupied territories and the allocation of key Cabinet portfolios. He said that inasmuch as Likud will hold the Premiership and the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry should go to the DMC.
Yadin stated flatly that a Cabinet consisting of Begin as Premier, Ezer Weizman as Defense Minister and Moshe Dayan as Foreign Minister, and also including Gen. Ariel Sharon, would be a difficult one for the DMC to join. He said his party wanted to have an appropriate influence in the affairs of state but with all the key posts occupied by Likud figures, there would be little for it to do.
Yadin said the DMC wanted a discussion of the territorial issue first on the agenda of the coalition talks and that only after that has been resolved by agreement could the negotiations proceed to less vital matters. But Yadin also indicated that if the DMC found itself unable to join a coalition it would not oppose a Likud-led government when a vote of confidence is taken in the new Knesset.
DAYAN SUGGESTED FOR AMBASSADOR TO U.S.
Likud sources reacted to Yadin’s statements today by saying that if the DMC leader is proposed for the post of Foreign Minister it would be regarded as a legitimate suggestion and “we shall discuss it.” Begin has not withdrawn his nomination of Dayan. But the Likud Executive adopted a resolution Sunday leaving Cabinet appointments open “in principle.” Since then suggestions have re-surfaced that Dayan be appointed Ambassador to the United States with ministerial rank. That proposal was said to have originated with Likud’s Liberal Party wing prior to Begin’s selection of Dayan for the Foreign Ministry. Dayan has been non-committal. He said the only offer he knows about is the one made by Begin.
A DMC delegation met with President Ephraim Katzir this morning and suggested that he approach Likud to form the next government. The same suggestion was made to the President yesterday by a Labor Alignment delegation and is considered pro-forma inasmuch as Likud is now the country’s largest party. But Meir Amit, a member of the DMC leadership, remarked to Katzir that a situation could arise where Likud is unable to form a government in which case the task might be given to the DMC and Yadin would be proposed as Premier.
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