Israel’s ruling. Labor Party, girding for what promises to be a tough Knesset election next month, found itself today in a state of serious internal difficulties. Mordechai Surkiss, the party’s deputy secretary general resigned in anger last night because he was not given what he considers a “realistic” place on the Labor election lists. Yitzhak Ben Aharon, secretary general of Histadrut, is threatening to resign that post and had some scathing words last night for Labor Party colleagues who have refused to guarantee. In advance that they will support him for another term.
The difficulties stem in part from the make-up of Premier Golda Meir’s Labor Party which was created seven years ago by the merger of three Laborite factions–Mapai, Rafi and Achdut Avodah. It also reflects the weakness of Israel’s proportional representation system which often causes Knesset candidates to fight harder for a “safe spot” on their party’s election list than against the opposition.
Surkiss, who belongs to the Rafi group, was given tenth place on the list which, he intimated, was an insult to his position and to Rafi. Rafi has eight “safe” places on the Labor Alignment list. Surkiss’ post as deputy secretary general will remain vacant while efforts are made by party colleagues to persuade him to withdraw his resignation.
BEN AHARON RAPS PARTY
Ben Aharon, a leader of the Achdut Avodah faction, directed his remarks against the Mapai wing which he alleged was trying to crowd him out. He said that after seven years of official merger “we are still living in the narrow framework of separate groups.” He accused the Mapai leadership of having deliberately undermined Labor’s Histadrut election campaign in order to discredit him. Labor dropped 3.76 percentage points below its 1969 showing.
Addressing a meeting of the Achdut Avodah kibbutz movement here last night, Ben Aharon repeated his demand that the party give him unqualified support for another term. “I am not here to have my blood shed,” he declared.
He said he would not stay in his Histadrut office solely for the sake of the election campaign only to be dropped afterwards. Ben Aharon was supported by Achdut Avodah colleagues who declared that “he will be ousted only over our dead bodies.” The meeting resolved that the Hakibbutz Hameuahad movement would exert strong pressure on the Labor Party leadership to assure another term for Ben Aharon.
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