The Immovable Object
His country is changing, but Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir refuses to soften a lifelong commitment to his vision of the land of Israel
His grandfatherly demeanor, modest lifestyle and heartfelt beliefs appeal to many Israelis. But Shamir is unlikely to trim his sails in order to boost his popularity, either at home or in Washington. He thinks recent events--the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Madrid Mideast peace conference--have vindicated his belief in hanging tough. He thinks his policy of continuing to build Jewish settlements in the occupied territories has helped encourage the Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza to begin negotiating with Israel for a measure of control over local affairs. He has showed he can be a pragmatist on tactical issues, allowing the Palestine Liberation Organization to play a backstage role in the peace process, something he had long vowed he would never do. Still, he believes the current softening of Arab attitudes toward Israel is merely tactical and that any territorial compromise with the Palestinians would eventually be filled by an irredentist Palestinian state that would become a launching pad for another Arab attempt to destroy Israel.
His steely determination sometimes has served Israel well. During the gulf war, he sat tight as Israel endured 39 Scud missile attacks--and his refusal to retaliate prevented the anti-Iraq alliance from unraveling. Shamir's biggest fear now seems to be that a successor will not be tough enough to fend off pressure from the United States to compromise with the Arabs. There are reports that he does not believe his protege, Defense Minister Moshe Arens, possesses the necessary mettle. "It's not that others in the Likud are not as devoted to the land of Israel as Shamir, it's that they don't have the guts to fight for it," says an aide to the prime minister. Without mentioning any names, Yossi Achimeir, Shamir's top personal aide, recalls the premier's saying, "Did you hear how this cabinet minister reacted to such and such an event? Just not tough enough." Shamir has told interviewers that if he stood back and sympathized with the plight of the Palestinians, it would weaken his resolve on behalf of his own people.
Shamir's single-minded devotion to his vision of the land of Israel is one of the main reasons that his relations with President Bush and Secretary of State James Baker have deteriorated sharply. One Shamir adviser says, "You could not be talking about two more different people than Bush and Shamir. While Bush was growing up in an aristocratic family and the U.S. was on its way to becoming the pre-eminent world power, Shamir was being stalked by Nazis and his people were stateless."
Bush and Baker may be hard bargainers and crafty negotiators, but Shamir is a master at the bazaar art of refusing to budge until the last possible moment and of not budging at all if he thinks the deal is bad. Read his lips: He will either make a deal that assures Israel strategic control of the West Bank and the Golan Heights and closes the door on any possibility of a Palestinian state's taking shape in Judea and Samaria, or he will not make a deal. He abstained from the 1978 Knesset vote on the Camp David Accords, and his definition of Palestinian autonomy forecloses the possibility of any Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. "I think the relationship is hard for Shamir because he has a core of set beliefs, while I think Bush wants to deal," says Michael Dekel, the premier's adviser on settlements in the occupied West Bank and one of his few personal friends.
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