Top Mapai leaders are suggesting that outgoing Foreign Minister Abba Eban be elected as Secretary General of the Labor Party. They believe that a strong man in this position would change the image of the party and strengthen it.
Sources said that at the moment Eban tends to refuse the position, but according to some sources if the post would officially be offered to him, he might change his mind.
Meanwhile, it is yet not clear how Eban is going to vote in the Knesset when Rabin presents his government. In interviews over the weekend Eban was interpreted to have said that he would abstain or vote against Rabin’s government. He hinted he might challenge Rabin for Labor Party leadership. Eban in the interviews said Rabin did not have the qualities needed for a Premier and that he (Eban) would now work actively within labor “to prepare for the people a better tiding of leadership.” Eban said he felt at the beginning of a stage in his political career — by no means at the end of that career. He was conscious of the demand of a very large segment of the people upon him for leadership.
Rabin, he said, lacked parliamentary experience, ministerial experience and vital qualities of character — all of which were required in a prime minister. For these reasons — and not because of any personal antipathy — Eban had voted for Shimon Peres against Rabin. Eban admitted to have made a great mistake in not putting forward his own candidacy — a mistake caused by an incorrect assessment of Pinhas Sapir’s real determination not to seek the premiership.
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.
