Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 30, 1992 TAG: 9203300018
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HERZLIYA, ISRAEL LENGTH: Medium
The move dealt Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir a potentially major setback three months before national elections.
Levy's resignation - delivered in an angry, strongly worded speech to supporters - does not take effect until 48 hours after he hands it to the Cabinet, and his step may be a tactic to force Shamir into giving his faction more clout in the party.
The Cabinet's next scheduled meeting is a week away, so Shamir still has plenty of time to reach a compromise if he wants one.
Nonetheless, Levy's announcement and his rancorous language dramatized the deep split in the Likud party as it heads into the June 23 election against a Labor party that is pulling ahead in opinion polls.
Shamir made no immediate comment. But Benjamin Begin, a Likud legislator who is not in Levy's camp, told army radio, "I hope he does not go through with it."
Levy, 53, is seen as more flexible on the peace talks than the hard-line Shamir, and the two have frequently been at odds over Levy's efforts to sweep aside procedural roadblocks and get the talks going.
There was speculation that Levy would announce he was quitting the party as well. But he gave no such indication - a further sign he could be leaving his options open in hopes of jolting Shamir into giving his supporters broader party representation.
The Moroccan-born Levy is a symbol to Sephardim - Israelis of Middle Eastern extraction - who make up Likud's main constituency. Without Levy, Likud could lose Sephardic votes to Labor.
by CNB