A hard-line party announced Thursday it was quitting the government, wiping out Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's parliamentary majority and strengthening the likelihood of an early election.
"We decided to leave the government immediately," Rehavam Zeevi, leader of the Moledet party, told Israel Television after a party meeting. Television predicted the election would be moved up from Nov. 3 to May or June.The fall of Shamir's government would probably freeze the U.S.-brokered peace talks while an election campaign is fought. A minority government would be unable to claim a popular mandate to make key decisions on the peace process.
That was the goal of Moledet, as well as the right-wing Tehiya party, which announced its resignation Wednesday night. Both consider the Arab-Israeli peace talks to be a recipe for disaster.
Tehiya has three seats in Parliament and Moledet has two. They must formally tender their resignations at Sunday's Cabinet meeting, and their departure will reduce Shamir's coalition from 64 members to 59 in the 120-member Knesset, or Parliament.
Zeevi, a retired general and a minister without portfolio in Shamir's Cabinet, advocates the mass expulsion of Arabs under Israeli rule.
Before he announced Moledet's decision, Housing Minister Ariel Sharon of Shamir's Likud Party said: "If the government loses its majority in Parliament we have no choice but to hold earlier elections."
Shamir himself kept publicly silent Thursday while holding consultations in his office with Cabinet ministers to discuss a way out of the crisis.
In Washington Thursday, Israeli and Arab negotiators concluded the current round of peace talks with little progress achieved toward an overall settlement but with an agreement to meet again next month.
The talks began four days late on Monday because of an Arab protest over Israel's plan to deport 12 Palestinians for alleged terrorist activities. The separate face-to-face negotiations involved Israel, the Palestinians, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
"The next round will be in February," Israeli peace delegate Elyakim Rubinstein said following a session with Jordanians and Palestinians. The date and place of the negotiations were not announced. Israel hopes to conduct these talks in or near the Middle East. The Arabs prefer Washington.
There were no negotiations Thursday involving the Syrians and the Lebanese, and the Israeli delegation headed back to Israel.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the talks resulted in "significant achievement" because the parties were able to resolve procedural questions.