Israeli Coalition Still in Jeopardy After Peres Survives Five No-Confidence Votes

JERUSALEM — Declaring that he has “nothing to hide,” Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Monday that he is prepared to answer questions before a judicial commission about Israel’s continuing security scandal.

He indirectly challenged Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir to make the same commitment.

Peres was responding in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, to five motions of no confidence related to the government’s handling of the 1984 beating deaths of two Arabs taken prisoner after a bus hijacking and a subsequent cover-up of how they died. The incident has already led to the resignation of the head of the Shin Bet, the internal security service that is the Israeli equivalent of the FBI.

All five motions were defeated by a comfortable 51-14 margin, but the so-called national unity coalition government remained in jeopardy over the affair as the High Court of Justice, in a separate proceeding, opened deliberations in the same case.

Peres’ centrist Labor Alignment and Shamir’s rightist Likud Bloc, partners in the shaky coalition, differ over whether to appoint a commission to determine political responsibility for the Shin Bet affair. Shamir was prime minister at the time of the incident, but the cover-up, allegedly intended to divert blame from the secret police, continued long after Peres took over as prime minister later that year.

Evidence of Cover-up

Press reports and at least two government ministers have said there is evidence that Shamir approved the cover-up. The Likud leader, who is scheduled to become prime minister again next October under terms of the coalition agreement, has consistently opposed a broad inquiry, even though he insists that he has nothing to fear.

Shamir apparently has a majority in the Cabinet opposed to a commission of inquiry on grounds that it would only compromise the country’s primary anti-terrorism agency. That leaves Peres facing a frustrated majority within his own camp who want him to abandon the coalition and force elections on an issue that he fears would benefit the Likud Bloc.

Peres appeared Monday to be seeking a compromise under which Shamir might agree to some limited inquiry into the Shin Bet affair.

“I am not accusing anyone in the political echelon; it is not my duty,” Peres told a packed session of the Knesset. “I only say that the accusations should be clarified in a way that will remove doubt.”

He emphasized that the Cabinet has so far made no decision on whether to order a broader investigation and that he could only speak for himself.

However, in what was seen as an oblique challenge to Shamir, he said he would appear before any type of board of inquiry that might be decided on.

“I have no intention or desire to cover up anything,” he said, “and I don’t want to go around with a bunch of question marks trailing behind me.”

Shamir Resignation Urged

Some of Peres’ fellow ministers in the Labor Alignment have said Shamir should not resume the top post in October unless questions regarding his role in the Shin Bet affair are answered first. Health Minister Mordechai Gur has called publicly for Shamir’s resignation.

Shamir reiterated his opposition to a judicial inquiry in an interview Monday on Israel radio. But when asked if he would go along with a more limited investigation in order to save the government, he answered, “Maybe.” He refused to elaborate.

Communications Minister Amnon Rubenstein, a Peres ally from the Shinui (Change) Party, has said he would resign from the Cabinet if no inquiry commission is appointed. Shinui’s central committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday to endorse the move.

Two other ministers also have threatened to quit over the affair.

Perhaps the most serious threat comes from the High Court of Justice, which opened deliberations Monday on five petitions related to the resignation last Wednesday of Avraham Shalom as Shin Bet director. In return for the resignation, Shalom and three other agency officials were granted presidential immunity from prosecution in the case.

After more than four hours of deliberations Monday, the court scheduled another session on the case for today. If the court overturns the pardon-for-resignation deal, it would provide strong ammunition to those seeking a full judicial inquiry.