Ben-gurion Assails Eshkol Again; but Rafi-mapai Merger Seems Assured

As more than 1,000 Raffi party members will cast secret ballots tonight on the proposed merger of their party with Mapai, the merger seemed assured. Former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, Rafi’s founder, told the party meeting here that he would not stand in the way of a merger, although he personally could never join a party headed by Prime Minister Levi Eshkol.

Mr. Ben-Gurion’s statement was coupled with a bitter personal attack on Mr. Eshkol who, he charged, was guilty of gross oversights in security matters, had contributed to a “moral collapse” of leadership prior to the Six-Day War, and had used the portfolio of Defense Minister, which he held up to last June, for partisan political purposes.

Mr. Ben-Gurion also charged that the Jewish Agency was not capable of carrying out its task of immigration and absorption which, he urged, should be transferred to the Government. He called for legislation to reform present measures for the absorption of immigrants from Western countries, and stressed the need to increase the Jewish birth rate in Israel.

The former Premier’s announcement that he would abstain in tonight’s voting was seen as a green light to Rafi leaders Shimon Peres, Moshe Dayan and former Minister of Housing Y. Almogi, who favor the merger but do not want to break with Ben-Gurion. Mr. Peres, secretary-general of Rafi, declared that Rafi, together with like-minded members of Mapai, could exert more influence in a merged party with 55 seats in the Knesset (Parliament) than it could alone with only 10 seats out of 120.

Rafi was formed when Mr. Ben-Gurion and his followers broke with the Mapai leadership. It joined the expanded coalition Government formed prior to the June war, when Gen. Dayan was appointed Minister of Defense.