Shamir Declares ‘War’ on Shultz Peace Plan : Defeats Call by Rival for ‘Inner Cabinet’ Vote on U.S. Initiative

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir declared “war” on the latest U.S. Middle East peace plan Wednesday as Palestinian unrest on the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip entered its fourth month with three more Arabs reported killed by army gunfire.

Speaking at a meeting of the parliamentary faction of his rightist Likud Bloc five days after the American initiative was formally presented here by Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Shamir declared: “The Likud should go to war, to the battlefield, over the Shultz plan. Even if we lose, no one should say that we didn’t make an effort.”

The Israeli prime minister described the Shultz proposal as “a surrender to terrorism, violence and pressure.”

Shamir spoke not long after he frustrated an effort by his chief political rival, Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Shimon Peres, to force a vote on the U.S. initiative in the so-called Inner Cabinet of 10 senior ministers.

That body is evenly divided between ministers from Likud and from Peres’ centrist Labor Alignment; its makeup is meant to guarantee that neither major partner in the uneasy “national unity” coalition government can overrule the other on major issues.

Labor endorses the American plan, and Peres is pushing for a clear government decision on it before Shamir goes to Washington on a state visit next week. Shultz, who spent nine days shuttling around the region, asked on his return to the United States last weekend that Israel and its Arab neighbors respond to the proposal by mid-March. Shamir had earlier rejected the deadline.

‘Likud Seized by a Demon’

“The Likud is seized by a demon,” Peres charged Wednesday in a speech in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament. “They’re afraid peace will come.” Peres said it would be “unforgivable” to miss what he has called this historic opportunity to try to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict, and he predicted that a negative decision on the American plan “will come back to haunt the country.”

At the heart of the Israeli political battle over the plan is a basic difference between Labor and Likud over the willingness to trade territory captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War in return for peace with its Arab neighbors. Labor favors the principle--which is the linchpin of the Shultz peace plan--while Likud opposes it.

Shamir also opposes the accelerated timetable proposed by Shultz, under which negotiations on an interim form of self-rule for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip would begin by May 1 and talks on a permanent political settlement would start just seven months later.

The Israeli prime minister still hopes to persuade the Reagan Administration to modify its plan during next week’s visit, his spokesman told newsmen Wednesday. But Shultz has said the proposal is so delicately interlocked that it was presented as a virtual “take-it-or-leave-it” package.

May Try to Reach U.S. Public

Shamir hinted to his Likud colleagues Wednesday evening that he will try to go over the Reagan Administration’s head to the people of America in hopes of winning support for his stand. “We shall present our opinions and our stand, and we shall make a maximum effort to reveal our stand to our many friends in the United States and the whole world,” he said.

It appeared increasingly likely that the political deadlock could bring about early elections. Israelis are currently scheduled to go to the polls Nov. 1, but according to Israel Radio, Shamir told the Inner Cabinet that the coalition partners may discuss an earlier date upon his return from Washington.

Labor favors elections in late May, while Likud wants them in July or August.

Meanwhile, the continuing Palestinian “uprising” in the occupied territories, which inspired the Shultz initiative, continued unabated Wednesday as it passed the three-month mark.

Earlier, the self-styled Unified National Leadership for the Uprising in the Occupied Territories, which supports the Palestine Liberation Organization, called for the date to be marked by a general strike and tributes to the “martyrs” of the unrest.

The strike was a virtual total success, security sources confirmed, with most Arab workers staying home from their jobs in Israel, stores and shops throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip closed, and public transportation in the territories shut down.

There were demonstrations and clashes between the army and Palestinians in a score of locations, and the army used a new, non-lethal riot control device, dubbed “The Graveler,” in at least two West Bank towns. Mounted on trucks or armored personnel carriers, the device fires pebbles at demonstrators at high velocity.

Palestinian and hospital sources reported fatalities in three separate West Bank incidents. Palestinian sources identified the dead as Jamil Hijazi, 19, from Turmus Aiya; Mohammed Fares, 22, from Silwad, and Bassam Badarin, 25, from Sammu. Turmus Aiya and Silwad are a few miles northeast of Ramallah, while Sammu is south of Hebron.

The deaths brought to 89 an unofficial list of Palestinians killed since the unrest flared Dec. 9.