Peres' Final Bow
The Labor Party votes no on a ceremonial post
for the man near or at the top for 40 years.
INA FRIEDMAN ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT
F
our years after former Is-
rael Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir graciously
passed Likud's political
torch from the generation of the
founders to leaders in their 40s
and 50s, the Labor Party has fi-
nally done so — yet far more
painfully.
As a result, after the recent La-
bor Central Committee Conven-
tion, outgoing party chairman
Shimon Peres was virtually giv-
en the ax by the group of which
he has been a leading member for
more than 40 years.
In a sense, Mr. Peres, at 74, fol-
lowed a dubious tradition insti-
tuted by David Ben-Gurion in the
early 1960s and re-enacted by
Teddy Kollek over a generation
later: not knowing when to let go.
r
As in the first two cases, the dra-
ma ended in humiliation.
Last September, a few months
after a bitterly fought defeat to
become prime minister, Peres an-
nounced that he would not run
again for the party chairmanship
this spring. But he then became
entangled in a complex deal with
Ehud Barak, long considered a
shoe-in to succeed Mr. Peres.
The deal would have made Mr.
Peres Labor's lead minister in a
national-unity government were
one formed before this coming
September. But as the prospect
of such a government grew dim-
mer, so did Mr. Peres' future.
However, one of Mr. Barak's
strongest supporters, former
Tourism Minister Uzi Baram,
put forth the idea of making Mr.
Peres the president of the Labor
Party. It seemed viable — until
the members of the two camps
began seriously looking into it.
Mr. Barak was prepared to
have Mr. Peres become the par-
ty's "honorary president," which
implied no actual powers. Mr.
Peres' supporters insisted that
their man be responsible for
grooming the party's younger
generation and presiding over
contacts with the international
community.
Mr. Barak regarded that as
backpedaling on Mr. Peres' part
and maybe even a competing fo-
cus of power. Urged on by his
support, Mr. Peres believed he
would win a head-on confronta-
tion with Mr. Barak in the Cen-
tral Committee. But when the
delegates were asked to vote, the
result was a humiliating distaste
for Mr. Peres.
Prior to the vote, Mr. Peres
took sharp issue with the tag of
"loser" that has stuck to him af-
ter leading the party to defeat in
five national elections since 1977.
Harking back to the impossible
situation he inherited from "In September I don't exist," he
Yitzhak Rabin in 1977 (after the cried, leaving the party with p‘—/
latter resigned as prime minis- choice of now or never. It chose
ter for maintaining an illegal never, bringing his career in the
bank account weeks before the party to a close.
Meeting with
election), Mr. Peres
journalists after the
cried out, "I lost
defeat, Mr. Peres
[that election]?"
worked hard to put
And the crowd
a happy face on it,
cried back at him:
noting that he did
"Yes!"
not require a title to
It was a horrible
keep working for the
moment signaling
causes he supported.\—\
ignorance, ingrati-
The vote, he said,
tude and above all,
"freed" him to carry
impatience with a
his message of peace
leader who refused
to schools and other
to go gently into
audiences in Israel
the political twi-
as well as chancel-
light. When the
leries and public
ballots were count-
gatherings "from
ed, that 62 percent
Ethiopia to India."
of the delegates Shimon Peres did not know
But the focus c-,77:\
were against even when to let go.
public attention
discussing the idea
of making Mr. Peres party pres- quickly turned to the next gen-
eration of Labor leaders. Three
ident.
Mr. Barak suggested that the days later, Israel television's
issue be deliberated at the next Channel 2 broadcast a formal de-
Central Committee meeting in bate between four contenders for
September. Mr. Peres was firm. the party chairmanship
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