Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Foreign Minister David Levy apparently have not succeeded in patching up their differences.
Levy declined even to put a cosmetic gloss over the matter when he emerged from a meeting Monday with the prime minister.
According to reports, they had met specifically to ease their personal relations. But when Levy was questioned by reporters afterward, he replied, “We held a working meeting– period.”
Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the Foreign Ministry were more forthcoming. Sources at both described the meeting as routine, saying “current political matters were discussed.”
Tension surfaced between Levy and Shamir on Feb, 12, when the foreign minister suddenly postponed a Feb. 15 meeting in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State James Baker.
Levy made clear he was furious over Defense Minister Moshe Arens’ surprise junket to Washington the day before. Levy considered Arens to be encroaching on his foreign policy domain.
But the episode and Shamir’s tepid effort to mollify Levy were seen here as an attempt to isolate the foreign minister, who may have become too independent for Shamir’s taste.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
