Rabin Receives Mandate to Continue Talks with the Nrp

Premier Yitzhak Rabin has received a mandate from the Labor Party Bureau and its Knesset faction to continue talks with the National Religious Party with a view to having it join the coalition government. Rabin asked for the mandate since the understanding was that if the NRP did not join the government within 90 days after the government was formed, their portfolios–Interior, Welfare and Religious Affairs–would be distributed among other members of the coalition.

Addressing the first session of the Bureau and its Knesset faction late last week Rabin said the party center decided in the past that efforts should be made to include the NRP in the Cabinet. He said the basis for the NRP’s entry should be the establishment of a ministerial conversion committee which would find a settlement on the basis “of the present coalition agreement guidelines.” As long as that committee continues to function, no conversions would be registered in the official registry, Rabin said, adding this arrangement would concern conversions only from western countries.

This compromise formula would freeze for one year the registration of immigrant converts as Jews in the population registry. Presumably within the year, an acceptable solution would be found in connection with Orthodox demands that the Law of Return be amended to specify that only conversions according to halacha are admissible in Israel. The NRP is under threat of a ban by the Chief Rabbinate if it joins the government without a commitment to amend the law.

The Chief Rabbinate has not disclosed its position on the compromise under discussion and the NRP is sharply divided. Leaders of the “Young Guard” in the NRP’s Knesset faction are absolutely opposed to it and have received support from the veteran former Religious Affairs Minister Zerach Warhaftig. But NRP secretary general Zvi Bernstein claimed that a majority of the party favored the compromise. He said he would convene the NRP’s top policy-making bodies for a final decision if Labor makes a formal approach.

CRP THREATENS TO BOLT COALITION

Meanwhile, the staunchly secular Civil Rights Party headed by Minister-Without-Portfolio Shulamit Aloni has warned that it would bolt the coalition if the NRP joined. Ms. Aloni said that the compromise would create a class of citizens in Israel deprived of the right to be registered as Jews. Several days ago she demanded that Rabin name her as Minister of Interior, a post traditionally held by the NRP. Her demand was based on the fact that the 90-day period has elapsed. The post is important to the NRP because that ministry registers new immigrants and thus decides who should be listed as a Jew.

Mapam and the Independent Liberal Party believe they can live with the compromise as it would not alter the religious status quo and feel that with the NRP in the government pressure would ease for the establishment of a national unity regime embracing Likud. Mapam and the ILP feel that a national government with Likud is a greater danger than the religious status quo because Likud would paralyze foreign policy making. The ILP is also reportedly worried that if CRP defects from the government on grounds of principle it would attract many secular voters away from the liberal faction.