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

DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990                   TAG: 9006080828
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JERUSALEM                                LENGTH: Short

LIKUD BLOC WINS CONTROL OF CABINET

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir today broke a 3-month-old political deadlock and announced the formation of a new government, the first Cabinet to be fully controlled by Shamir's right-wing Likud bloc since 1984.

Shamir's announcement came after he signed an agreement with a string of far-right and religious factions, plus a defector from the rival Labor Party.

Today's agreement would give Shamir 62 votes in the 120-member Knesset, Israel army radio said. A vote was expected Monday.

The new government is likely to take a harsher stance in trying to put down the 30-month-old Palestinian uprising and to push for more settlements of Jews in the occupied lands, moves opposed by Arab countries and the United States.

The far-right members of the new government also will probably lead Shamir into more tensions with the United States, which has been urging Israel to make concessions to Palestinians to revive the stalled peace process.

Shamir's 42-day mandate to form a coalition had been set to expire at sundown today.

by CNB