Nobody Waved Goodbye

By James Kelly

Begin finally bows, and Shamir struggles to build a coalition

As historic moments go, the occasion turned out to be distinctly undramatic, a subdued finish to a tempestuous career. Early last Thursday afternoon, Cabinet Secretary Dan Meridor drove his white Fiat sedan through the steel gates at the official residence of President Chaim Herzog. Waving to a band of reporters and photographers, Meridor trotted up the stairs to the paneled, book-lined office where Herzog was awaiting him. "The Prime Minister asked me to convey to the President of the state his letter of resignation," said the Secretary, whereupon he handed Herzog a white envelope. The letter inside was brief: "Mr. President, I hereby submit my resignation from the office of Prime Minister. Yours respectfully, and with all good wishes to you and your family for a happy New Year, Menachem Begin." Business done, the two men chatted briefly, then Meridor departed.

So ended the six-year tenure of the man who was perhaps the most controversial and exasperating leader in Israel's 35-year history. The resignation was bound to be anticlimactic: Begin, 70, had announced his intention to quit three weeks earlier. At the urging of colleagues within his ruling Likud coalition, however, the Prime Minister agreed to put off officially notifying Herzog until Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, 67, could be certain of holding together the fractious group and thus bettering his chances of succeeding Begin as head of government.

As the days passed and Shamir wrapped up his back-room bargaining, Begin kept a low profile. He became a virtual shut-in at his home on Balfour Street in Jerusalem, never once venturing forth to his office. He uncharacteristically skipped Rosh Hashana services two weeks ago and missed a regular Sunday Cabinet session. Aides doggedly denied rumors that Begin was no longer eating or was gravely ill, but they hardly helped matters by issuing confusing statements about precisely what did ail the Prime Minister. First they insisted that he simply was not feeling well. Then he was said to be suffering from the flu and a severe cold. He wanted to resign in person, claimed his aides, and he would go to Herzog's office as soon as he felt well enough.

Members of the opposition and unfriendly editorial writers accused Begin of stalling in order to give Shamir more time. But even after Shamir reached an agreement with the seven parties that make up the Likud coalition early last week, Begin stayed on. Attorney General Yitzhak Zamir declared that if Begin did not submit his resignation "within a reasonable time," then his intention to leave would be viewed as "canceled." By Wednesday, rumors buzzed around the Knesset. Begin was keeping his options open. No, he was starving himself to death. No, he had changed his mind and wanted to stay on.

On Thursday, a front-page article in Ha'aretz, an independent Tel Aviv daily, reported that Begin had stopped shaving and was eating only soup. The Prime Minister's office immediately responded by announcing that Begin was suffering from a mild skin disease that prevented him from shaving for the time being. Later that day, obviously realizing he could no longer delay his resignation but still reluctant to appear in public, Begin dispatched Meridor to Herzog's office.

The uncertainty over Begin's intentions cast a shadow over Shamir's chances of forming a new government speedily. After besting Deputy Prime Minister David Levy for the leadership of the Herut Party, Shamir spent a frantic ten days reuniting the welter of factions that had given Begin 64 seats in the 120-member Knesset, a precariously slim majority. Shamir made his biggest concession to the three-member TAMI Party, which had already been on the verge of resigning from the Likud last August in protest against budget cuts in social programs. To lure TAMI back into the fold, Shamir promised to freeze the spending reductions until the new government came into power and could re-examine the budget.

Barely one day after all had agreed to form a new coalition under Shamir, the pact threatened to unravel. Representatives of TAMI, Agudat Yisrael and the National Religious Party, which together account for twelve of the Likud coalition's Knesset seats, met separately with leaders of the opposition Labor Party. Noted a veteran political observer tartly: "One day there was an engagement, and the next, the bride was going out on dates." Just how unfaithful the bride may be remains unclear. The real battle will begin this week, when Herzog formally consults Knesset leaders on a new government. Herzog was to talk first with Shimon Peres, 60, leader of the Labor Party. With 50 seats, Labor remains the single largest group in the Knesset, and Peres clearly hoped that he could score an upset by draining off Shamir's support. As one knowledgeable politician wryly observed: "What members of Shamir's coalition are saying in public is not what they're saying in private."

Shamir's task was made no easier by a public rupture between two fellow Cabinet members: Ariel Sharon, former Defense Minister and now Minister Without Portfolio, and his successor as defense chief, Moshe Arens. During a Cabinet session, Sharon laced into Arens for delaying the Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon, then neglecting to set up a buffer zone between the Christian Phalangists and the Druze in the Chouf Mountains. Replied Arens acidly: "Who created the abnormality in the Chouf? Who put the Phalange forces into the Chouf? We did it. One man is responsible for it."

Later, at a Likud rally, Sharon angrily offered his bitter analysis of the Lebanon crisis. "When I left office, the P.L.O. had been ousted from Beirut, Galilee had been saved, the Syrians and the P.L.O. had been driven from the Chouf. Now, when I am no longer at the center of decision making, the Syrians and the P.L.O. are returning." If, as expected, Shamir does emerge as the next Prime Minister, his first challenge may not be the fighting in Lebanon but the warfare between two formidable rivals. --By James Kelly. Reported by Harry Kelly and Robert Slater/ Jerusalem

With reporting by Harry Kelly, Robert Slater This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.