14 Friday, November 28, 1980

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Peres, Rabin Battle for Labor Party Leadership

By MOSHE RON

The Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent

TEL AVIV — The strug-
gle between Shimon Peres
and Yitzhak Rabin has in-
creased during recent
weeks. All efforts have
failed to bring about a set-
tlement between the two
Labor Party leaders, in
order to avoid a contest in
the forthcoming party con-
gress.
Some Mapai veterans are
very much concerned about
the situation in the party.
The former minister for
labor, Moshe Baram, and
the former general secre-
tary of the Histadrut, Aha-
ron Becker, met the leaders
of the Kibutz Meuchad in
order to ensure that there
would not be a split in the
party. The Kibutz Meuchad
is supporting the candidacy
of Rabin to be the next
Prime Minister.
Rabin's supporters say
the group around Peres has
been trying to win over
party members. The major-
ity of the party decided on a
system of choosing dele-

,

gates that was favorable to
Peres. Up till now each
voter could only vote for 60
percent of the candidates in
his constituency. now this
quota was raised to 75 per-
cent in order to give the
Peres camp a chance to ob-
tain 75 percent of the dele-
gates to the Congress.
Rabin and his parti-
sans protested the deci-
sion. Rabin proposed a
TV debate between him-
self and Peres. Peres re-
jected the idea, stating
that he Would debate
Rabin within the party
and against Prime Minis-
ter Menahem Begin on
TV.
The Histadrut newspaper
Davar publishes letters to
the editor attacking both
candidates for splitting the
party. The Likud, of course,
is happy with this situation,
hoping a Labor split will
save the Likud in ,the next
Knesset elections.
Labor Party elections
, were held this week and the
party congress will be held
next month. It looks certain,
that Shimon Peres will be

Cabinet posts are Gad
Jaacobi (Minister for
Trade and Industry or for
Communication), Miha
Harish (Energy), Eliyahu
Speiser, Nava Arad, Uzi
Baram and others.
The partisans of Peres say
that under the present cir-
cumstances Rabin has no
chance to be a member of
Cabinet headed by Peres.
The Rabin group will be re-
presented in the party con-
gress by approximately 30
percent of the delegates and
will get three portfolios in

SHIMON PERES

the candidate of the Labor
Party with the Rabin camp
in the minority.
If Peres forms the new
government, Chaim Zadok
may be nominated as vice
prime minister or minister •
for justice. Abba Eban
would be foreign minister,
Haim Bar-Lev (defense
minister), Jacob Levinson
(finance minister), Haim
Herzog (minister for infor-
mation) and Ahron Uzan or
Moshe Harif (minister for
agriculture).

Other candidates for

e :•1

•:•>:

YITZHAK RABIN

the next government: Dani
Rozolio, Israel Galili
(minister withoutportfolio)
and Jacob Zur. Shlomo
Hillel is expected to be the

chairman of the Knesset
and there will be a portfolio
for a woman (Shoshana
Arbeli-Almoslino or Nava
Arad) and Mapam will get
two portfolios — Victor
Shemtov, Dov Peleg or
Natan Peled.
The leaders of the Labor
Party are aware that they
will have to form a coalition
government after the Knes-
set elections. Candidates for
such a coalition are again
the Labor Alignment,
Shinui (the Knesset group
headed by Prof. Amnon
Rubinstein) and small lib-
eral and leftist fractions.
In political circles in Is-
rael there are speculations
that the Likud bloc might
split up after the elections.
Parts of it might seek a coal-
ition with a Labor govern-
ment.

The wise man should not
walk with a haughty ex-
pression; nor should he
walk with a slow gait, like a
woman; or run about like a
madman; or stoop like a
hunchback; he should gaze
downward as though in
prayer, and walk like a man
pre-occupied.
— Maimonides

Habad Founder
Remembered

NEW YORK — Tens of
thousands of Jews around
the world celebrated the
"19th of Kislev" Thursday
— the 182nd anniversary of
the release of Rabbi
Schneur Zalman of Liadi
from czarist prison.
Festivities of the day
were highlighted at
Lubavitch World Head-
quarters in New York, with
a special public address by
the Lubavitcher Rebbe,
Rabbi Menahem. M.
Schneerson.

To Hadad-LubavAll
hasidim the 19th of Kislev
is, significant because the
liberation of Rabbi Schneur
Zalman in 1798 provided
him with a new lease on his
activities in spreading
Hasidism and Judaism in
general among the Jewish
masses, and new vitality for
the flourishing Habad
ideology and movement.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman
(1745-1812), or "Der Alter
Rebbe," as he is called,
founded the Habad-
Lubavitch -movement, and
promulgated Hasidic teach-
ings among Jews in Russia,
Poland and Lithuania.

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I

ometimes things turn out so much less
bad than one had feared they might,
that the less than ideal result is almost
viewed as good.
That is my reaction to the Policy State-
ment on the Middle East recently adopted
by the Governing Board of the National
Council of Churches.
Two years ago, the representatives of the
Antiochan Orthodox Church presented a
resolution to the National ,Council of
Churches that was absolutely atrocious. It
was blatantly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.
Leaders of the federated church organiza-
tion were aghast at its contents and tone,
but were bound by their bylaws to permit it
to he duly presented for consideration. I am
proud to be included as one of many, both
inside and outside the Council, who actively
lobbied to have this abomination set aside.
That task was accomplished when the tiny
group of supporters saw they could not pos-
sibly win, and withdrew it from the table.
Also two years ago, the Council began a
long, laborious and comprehensive study of
the Middle East, which ultimately resulted
in the policy statement adopted earlier this
month. A policy statement of the National
Council is essentially a set of guidelines for
discuSsion by the denominations allied with
the ecumenical body. It is a study document.
That, and no more than that.
The full text of the statement is 34 pages iri
length and contains much that is meritori-
ous and worthy of commendation. Unfortu-
nately, two or three items picked out of con-
text is all that has made the news.
The media, for example, have said that
the National Council of Churches has en=

dorsed the Palestine Liberation Organiza-
tion and demanded that Israel accept the
P.L.O. as a partner in the peace negotia-
tions.
It is not quite as simple as that. The policy
statement does say that the P.L.O. "ap-
pears" to he the only organized Palestinian
voice "at this time." But it also says that be-
f6re Israel could be asked to negotiate with
them it would be necessary for the P.L.O. to
repudiate its 1968 charter, renounce vio-
lence and agree unambiguously to Israel's
right of existence as a Jewish state with
secure borders.
Personally, I would have wished them to
spell out with more specificity the terrorist
history of the P.L.O., which makes Jewish
acceptance of any future negotiations ex-
tremely difficult, if not impossible, to accept.
I would have wished, also, that some of the
other alternatives to dealing with the Pales-
tinian people would have been spelled out,
such as free elections to permit them to
make their own choices, or even the possi-
bility of Jordan's entering the negotiations
in their behalf.
The statement could have been a lot bet-
ter. But it also could have been a lot worse.
Now that it is a fait accompli, I hope we can
take the lemon that has been handed us and
make a pitcher of lemonade. If this state-
ment can result in increased dialogue it can
be a plus despite its flaws. If it becomes an
additional source of alienation between Jews
and Christians, that will be a tragedy.
(Don McEvoy is Senior Vice President of the
National Conference of Christians and Jews.
The opinions expressed are his own.)

ito

