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
Shamir's involvement in the Lehi put him at odds with Israel's more moderate political establishment; he was finally allowed to join the Mossad spy agency in 1956, and he spent nine years based in Paris. In some respects, Shamir has yet to emerge from the underground. He spends much of the night in his study reading raw intelligence and diplomatic cables. He detests big meetings and maintains tight control over U.S.-Israeli and peace issues, shutting out his more dovish foreign minister, David Levy. He works with a handful of trusted aides, keeps information strictly compartmentalized and summons his advisers to his office separately or phones them at home late at night. He hardly ever appears in the Knesset, let alone answers parliamentary questions. He seldom convenes press conferences and makes sure that his office keeps tight control of the state-run Israel Television and Radio.
But Shamir's passion for control does not extend to domestic issues. A much needed plan to liberalize Israel's economy died a sudden death because Shamir was unwilling to antagonize some Likud cabinet ministers. Although unemployment is 11 percent and rising and the education budget is so tight that children attend school for half days in overcrowded classrooms, Shamir began to immerse himself in economic issues only after sustained prodding from American Jewish fund-raisers. "If you wake up my father in the middle of the night, he won't ask about the exchange rate," says Yair Shamir.
But with Israel now sitting at the peace table with all its Arab neighbors and the country itself changing almost as fast as the world around it, Israelis next week will have to decide whether Shamir is capable of leading Israel into the future by looking ahead and not just over his shoulder.
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