The anticipated Labor-Likud crisis which many believe would spell the end of the unity coalition government remained on hold Thursday as Israel awaited the outcome of Vice Premier and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres’ meetings with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.
Peres announced in Cairo late Thursday that he will have another round of talks with Mubarak on Friday, which was unscheduled. The two men met Thursday to discuss matters still outstanding with respect to an international peace conference for the Middle East, including Soviet and Palestinian participation and procedural arrangements.
Peres said “new ideas” were raised at their meeting Thursday, but would not say what they were. This aroused the ire of Premier Yitzhak Shamir, who told a caucus of Likud Ministers Thursday that Peres had “not bothered” to report to him and he had no knowledge of what new ideas were raised.
OPPOSES SOVIET PARTICIPATION
Shamir is adamantly opposed to an international conference including the Soviet Union on grounds that Israel would be isolated and pressured to return to its pre-1967 borders. Peres went to Cairo Wednesday while Shamir was still enroute home from a 10-day visit to the U.S., a fact that further irritated the Likud leader and his colleagues.
On landing in Israel Wednesday night, Shamir told reporters that the Peres-Mubarak meeting could well determine the fate of the unity government. Peres met with Mubarak in Alexandria last September, when he was Premier. They agreed in principle to an international conference. Shamir, then Foreign Minister, was sharply critical.
But nothing emerged from the Likud caucus Thursday to further aggravate the tense situation between the coalition partners. The Likud Ministers said they would react after they learned the outcome of Peres’ meeting with Mubarak Friday. Shamir warned, however, that Peres had no right or mandate to agree to anything on Israel’s behalf with respect to an international forum.
The Premier said earlier that any agreement Peres brought back from Cairo would have to be submitted to the full Cabinet for approval.
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