Thursday, May 20, 1999

JERUSALEM -- Israel's leading immigrant party is prepared to join a coalition led by Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak without any of its former partners in the outgoing Likud-led government, a senior party source said on Wednesday.

The source said Yisrael B'Aliya is prepared to join the Labor Party in a center-left coalition that does not include the Likud.

"We see ourselves as a centrist party," said the senior source, who did not want to be identified. "If we will be approached by Barak we will certainly be interested in being a coalition partner."

Yisrael B'Aliya chairman Natan Sharansky said before the Israeli national elections on Monday that he wants to join a national unity government. But the senior source said Sharansky never made this a condition for joining a coalition.

"We think Barak would much rather have us as a coalition partner than Shas," the senior source said, referring to the Orthodox Sephardic party that won 17 seats in the Knesset.

Yisrael B'Aliya has chosen Yuli Edelstein and Roman Bronfman as their negotiators for coalition talks expected to begin next week. Bronfman is said to be pressing for an agreement with Barak to join his coalition in exchange for obtaining the Interior Ministry, one of the most portfolios in the Cabinet.

The immigrant party, with seven seats in the Knesset, is regarded as the key to Barak's effort to form a coalition majority without right-wing or religious parties. Political sources said Barak seeks to build a coalition based on the Labor Party and its left-wing allies before he turns to the Likud.

Currently, the Labor Party and its left-wing allies, such as Meretz, Shinui, the Center Party and the Workers Party, total 50 seats in the Knesset. Barak could count on limited support from Arab parties, which total 10 seats in the Knesset.

The senior source in Yisrael B'Aliya said his party has held talks with the National Religious Party regarding Barak's options to form a coalition. "This was just an exchange of views," the source said. "This was not any attempt to coordinate positions or form a bloc."

A senior diplomat on Wednesday said Barak regards Yisrael B'Aliya as a priority partner for his coalition. The diplomat, who is well-informed on political developments, said Barak want to form strong ties with Israel's Russian-speaking community.

"Barak is already thinking of constituencies for the next election," the diplomat said. "His priority now is the Russian immigrants." Some Labor Party parliamentarians, including Yossi Beilin, have voiced the possibility of Likud joining the Barak-led coalition. But other Labor Party sources said the rhetoric is meant to encourage smaller centrist and right-wing parties interested in joining the next government.

The sources said Likud's immediate entry into the coalition would occupy senior ministries and raise tension in the Labor Party. "If the Likud is in the coalition it will have to obtain a senior politico-military post, probably the Foreign Ministry to Ariel Sharon," political analyst Hanan Krystal said. "It will also get an economic ministry. If the Likud is not in the coalition then the Labor Party will take all the good positions."