Labor Party chairman Shimon Peres today rejected Premier Menachem Begin’s latest offer to form a national unity government. He told the party’s Central Committee that he had responded negatively to a letter from Begin because he believed that before there could be any talk of a national unity government there had to be a debate on a joint policy.
Peres said he would not disclose the contents of his reply to Begin until the Premier received it and had a chance to study it. Begin’s invitation to Peres was made public on Israel Radio yesterday.
The “Dear Shimon” letter said that inasmuch as Labor supports the autonomy plan, there is a clear basis for cooperation between Labor and Likud in a national unity government, at least for the five year period during which autonomy would be in effect on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. While Labor supports autonomy in principle, it does not subscribe to Begin’s version of it. Peres noted today that “at the moment there is only a Likud autonomy plan which is merely on paper. You cannot build a national policy on the basis of a paper plan,” he said.
LABOR REJECTED EARLIER PROPOSAL
Begin’s latest call for a unity government was prompted by Labor’s rejection of another proposal he made recently — that it join Likud in sending a parliamentary delegation to Washington to explain to the Reagan Administration why Israel regards the possible U.S. sale of sophisticated weaponry to Jordan to be an intolerable threat to its security.
Peres demurred on grounds that it would imply Labor support for Begin government policies. Today he repeated a suggestion of his own–turned down by Begin — that members of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee which includes coalition and opposition MKs, go to Washington to explain Israel’s position.
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