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16 - -Fran, December 24; 1976 - THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
abin's Labor Alignment Government Resigns in Israel
mergers and the newly
formed groups seek to es-
deon Hausner, tendered . tablish their identities
their resignations rather with the electorate.
than participate in a
LABOR PARTY: While
caretaker government Premier Rabin's ouster of
from which ministers are the National Religious
not permitted to resign Party from his Cabinet
under law. Their resigna- enhanced his stature in
tions did not become ef- his own party, it by no
fective for 48 hours and means ended the chal-
they are expected to re- lenge to his leadership
main in the Cabinet as from within.
non-participating mem-
Peres has been feuding
bers.
constantly with Rabin in
The two ministers dis- recent months. He felt
agree with that interpre- slighted when the Premier
tation of the law, and the failed to consult with him
Israel Supreme Court is ov--r the ouster of the
expected to rule on the is- NRP. He and several other
sue.
senior ministers learned
of the decision only after
Rabin had discussed it
with former Premier
Golda Meir, who holds no
. office and with Chaim
Zadok and Israel Galili,
who are junior to Peres in
point of cabinet rank.
MAPAM: While the
leadership issue is the
most serious one con-
fronting the Labor Party,
its platform may make it
difficult to preserve the
Alignment with Mapam.
GIDEON HAUSNER
The latter has made it
The Independent Lib- clear that it will not ap-
eral Party, with four pear on a Labor Align-
Knesset seats, has long ment list unless major-
been a coalition partner changes are made in the
with the Labor Alignment. platform. These include
But serious differences language indicating the
developed between the Alignment's willingness
two factions in recent to make territorial con-
months. The ILP has de- cessions in the Judaea
manded a reorganization and Samaria districts
of government ministries, (West Bank) as part of an
compulsory arbitration in overall peace settlement
labor disputes and a na- with the Arabs.
There is a strong fac-
tional health insurance
plan that would not make tion within Mapam that
membership in the His- has been lobbying for
tadrut sick fund, Hupat months to break away
Holim, mandatory. Some from the Alignment and
of these measures are vig- present a separate list to
orously opposed within the the voters. A group
Labor Alignment, espe- headed by MK Aharon
Efrath is already prepar-
cially by Mapam.
elections ing a separate election
With
scheduled for late next campaign.
LIKUD: The opposition
year, the ILP, according
to political observers, faction seems to be ready,
sought to strengthen it- in general, for early elec-
self by pressing the Labor tions which its leaders
Alignment on these is- have been demanding for
sues. The party decided in some time. It is a well-
principle last month to established political body
leave the Rabin coalition with a staff and machin-
if it did not receive satis- ery that can be mobilized
factory replies. The swiftly for an election
Alignment promised to campaign. But Likud also
answer the ILP - by mid- faces internal leadership
January and -the ILP ag- difficulties.
There is a group within
reed to wait.
But the government Likud opposed to having
crisis precipated by Ra- veteran Herut leader
bin's ouster of the Na- Menachem Beigin au-
tional Religious Party tomatically at the head of
from his cabinet Monday, its election list. Opposi-
forced the ILP's hand. It tion to Beigin was one of
demanded immediate re- the -reasons Gen. (Res.)
plies from the Alignment Ariel Sharon gave last
in order to avoid being month when he quit
trapped in a care-taker Likud, a party he had
regime. Rabin was not helped to found. -
INDEPENDENT LIB-
prepared to accede to
their demand and when ERALS: The ILP is also a
he announced that he in- well-established party
tended to resign, Kol and with an experienced staff.
Hausner submitted their But it is a small faction
own resignations on the and the failure of its re-
cent attempt to extract
spot.
The prospect of early concessions from the
elections finds most of Is- Labor Alignment may
rael's political parties have tarnished its image.
The ILP is one of those
woefully unprepared to
factions that seeks
go to the polls.
The major political par- alignments, mergers or
ties must solve numerous parliamentary blocs with
internal problems and other small factions.
disputes while the many Ideologically, it is closest
splinter factions try to to the Free Center and
improve their strength by the Civil Rights Party but
(Continued from Page 1)
efforts to form a coalition elections. But so far he
with these and other fac- appears to be a lone wolf.
tions in the Knesset have His own name appears on
been unproductive'so far. his party list but he has
NATIONAL RELIGI- yet to hint who his
OUS PARTY: The NRP is partners will be.
Yadin is ideologically a
the largest and, rela-
tively, the most moderate "dove" and his new
of the religious factions. movement may be a
But it too has been natural partner in a lib-
strained in recent months eral center bloc. Yadin is
by disputes between its not seeking a coalition at
militant "young guard" this time but apparently
and its veteran leader- is waiting for other fac-
ship. It is constantly tions to approach him.
In any event, the
being pushed to the right
by the ultra-Orthodox Movement for Change is
Aguda bloc, the so-called still in its early stages
"Torah Front" which ac- and it remains to be seen
cuses the NRP of being if it can gain support and
insufficiently zealous in momentum in time for
pressing for state en- the early elections.
Rabin's move to oust
forcement of religious
the NRP was approved by
-practices.
The NRP and Aguda a majority of the Cabinet
are supported by a hard but it came as a surprise
core of religious even to his Labor Align-
nationalists, represented ment colleagues. At the
by the Gush Emunim who
claim that the entire
West Bank belongs to Is-.
rael by divine right. The
NRP was instrumental in
preventing the govern-_
ment from acting against
the illegal settlers at
Kadum in Samaria. Un-
authorized Jewish set-
tlement in the adminis-
tered territories is ex-
pected to be a majo'r issue
in the next elections.
SPLINTER FAC-
TIONS: The -- 'so-called
splinter factions are just
that. They have been un-
able to coalesce into an ef-
fective Knesset bloc due
to differing philosophies
and leadership rivalry.
Shulamit Aloni's Civil
Rights Party,. Shmuel
Tamir's Free Center and
Dr. Benyamin Halevy, an-
independent MK who de-
fected from Likud, could
comprise a liberal center
bloc along with the ILP.
opening of the weekly
session and without prior
debate, he informed Re-
ligious Affairs Minister
Yitzhak Rafael and Wel-
fare Minister Zevulun
Hammer that they could
no longer serve in his
government.
Both had abstained
when the Orthodox Aguda
bloc presented a motion of
no-confidence in the gov-
ernment on Dec. 14 for al-
leged Sabbath desecra-
tion. The motion was de-
feated by a vote of 55-48
with nine abstentions.
But according to Israeli
law, a member of the gov-
ernment who fails to op-
pose a no-confidence mo-
tion is subject to dismissal
by the Premier.
Rabin did not ask for
the resignation of the
third NRP member of his
Cabinet, Interior Minis-
ter Yosef Burg, who had
voted against the Aguda
nt.haBtutrhgesaoiud,
motion.
e vet
ouster of
his colleagues gave him
no choice but to resign. -
Rabin appeared to have
greatly strengthened his
position with the Labor
Alignment as a result.
Top Alignment leaders
were virtually unanim-
ous in their praise of Ra-
bin.
The man who had been
widely criticized for inde-
cisiveness was hailed as p-
leader who could a t
forcefully when he had t
Moreover, he did not act
unilaterally or in haste
but only after consulta-
tion with such powerful
Labor Party figures as
former Premier Golda
Meir, Justice Minister
(Continued on Page 17)
a subscription to
MOSHE KOL
On the other hand, a
left-socialist bloc could be
created with the new in-
dependent socialist
movement consisting of
Arie Eliav and Marcia
Friedman and Moked,
headed by Meir Payil. The
extreme left is rep-
resented by the new
communist or Maki fac-
tion which often votes
with Moked, and the once
pro-Moscow Rakah corn:
munist faction:
NEW GROUPS: Two
new groups emerged on
the political scene during
the past few months, Gen.
Sharon's Shlomzion fac-
tion and the Movement
for Change, headed by
Hebrew UniVersity ar-
'cheologist Yigal Yadin.
Sharon has been a
strong advocate of early
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