Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990                   TAG: 9004041019
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: JERUSALEM                                LENGTH: Medium

PERES READY TO FORM GOVERNMENT/ COALITION CLAIMS 1-VOTE MAJORITY

If successful, Peres' initiative would give the Labor Party full control of the Israeli government for the first time since 1977 and end the long reign of the Likud, which under Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir has dominated Israeli politics. A Peres government also would be expected to move quickly toward opening peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Nevertheless, Peres' margin of support for establishing the government appeared to be so narrow and shaky Wednesday night that some of his Labor Party supporters said they were not entirely sure it would win the necessary majority in the Parliament, or Knesset.

Party officials said the coalition currently commands only a one-vote majority in the 120-seat Knesset, though Peres said he hopes to pick up more support before the vote of confidence.

Moreover, party officials said the pivotal vote won over by Peres belonged to a member of the Likud, Avraham Sharir, who apparently agreed to desert his party in exchange for the promise of a ministerial post. Sharir until now has been a supporter of the Likud's hard-line wing, at the opposite end of the political spectrum from Peres.

Peres refused to say publicly whom he had persuaded to break what has been a 60-60 deadlock between Labor and Likud in the Knesset. "I have a majority, it doesn't matter which one," he told Israeli radio. He added: "Whatever we did is with the view in mind that we have to accomplish the formation of a new government as soon as possible."

Peres said he hoped the Knesset, which is currently in recess, could be called into special session as early as Sunday to vote on his government. However, both Labor and Likud sources said the session might be delayed until after the approaching Passover holiday Tuesday.

Likud officials, who were working late Wednesday night to prevent the defection of Sharir and other discontented deputies, maintained that Peres still does not have the necessary votes. "As far as we are concerned, Shamir still has a block of 60 votes that will prevent Labor from forming the government," said an official in the prime minister's office.

Shamir's government fell in a Knesset vote of confidence three weeks ago after the "unity" coalition of Labor and Likud broke up over the question of whether to accept a U.S. proposal for setting up Israeli-Palestinian talks in Cairo. Shamir refused to go along with the plan, while Peres strongly endorsed it.

Since then, Labor, Likud and the 14 other parties and factions in the Knesset have indulged in a volatile free-for-all of bargaining and maneuvering whose unpredictable twists and backroom theatrics have prompted outrage among Israelis and renewed calls for reform of the political system.

The political horse-trading reached a new extreme this week when the leader of the five-member faction in the Likud to which Sharir belongs, cabinet minister Yitzhak Modai, demanded that the Likud put up a bond of $2.5 million to guarantee its promises to him. Modai and his followers threatened to defect to Peres if they were not guaranteed safe places on Likud's ticket in the next elections as well as ministerial posts in a new government.