The General Zionist Party and the Progressive Party here officially merged last night at the founding convention of the newly formed Liberal Party which comprises the two groups who, together, hold 14 of the 120 seats in the Israel Parliament for which new elections are scheduled to be held in August.
More than 3,000 persons attended the opening of the Liberal Party convention at the- Mann Auditorium here. Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, addressing the opening session, said he was speaking as “a friend of the liberal, and maybe in not too long a time a member of this party.”
Dr. Goldmann emphasized that the division existing until now between the Progressives and General Zionists was “psychological and unnecessary.” He expressed the hope that the merger might lead, further, to a fusion of the two Confederations of General Zionists now existing outside Israel. As “a friend and potential member,” Dr. Goldmann stated, there was a need for “balancing the political forces in Israel.” The new Liberal Party, he affirmed, “could become, sooner or later, the equal partner of the Mapai Party in leading the country.”
Sharper anti-Mapai attitudes were expressed by Moshe Kol, chairman of the Progressive Party for the last 10 years, and by Justice Minister Pinhas Rosen, who represents the Progressives in the caretaker coalition government headed by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.
Mr. Rosen called for “a balanced foreign policy and a responsible internal policy.” Such policies, he maintained, “will do away with adventurism and cheap national demagoguery.” He hit directly at the dominant Mapai Party by asserting that it “should pay in the elections the price of its weakness and internal failures.”
Mr. Kol attacked the Mapai Party’s “lasting monopolistic reign that entails exaggerated self-confidence by those at the wheel,” accusing Mapai of having “undermined democratic principles.” The Liberal Party, he said, will “inject new blood into Israel’s political life.” Mr. Kol also told the new party’s inaugural rally: “We must expel from our midst the cold war between the blocs if we are to lessen the burden of armaments and invest in development and education.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
