The World - News from May 22, 1989

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir threatened to resign if his Likud Party throws out his proposals for Arab elections in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. “I cannot continue in my job if I don’t feel the movement I represent in the government supports me and stands beside me,” Shamir told Israel Radio. Three Likud ministers voted against his plan in the Cabinet meeting last week, and almost half of his party stayed away from a parliamentary vote endorsing it. Shamir’s plan, which has won cautious support from the United States but has been dismissed by the Palestine Liberation Organization, would let the 1.7 million Arabs of the territories elect negotiators to talks with Israel.