Yitzhak Ben-Abaron, Minister of Transport, whose resignation from the Cabinet was announced to the Government leaders at the regular Cabinet meeting by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, has rejected the Premier’s efforts to dissuade him from quitting. The Cabinet had deferred acceptance of the resignation until Mr. Ben-Gurion had, had an opportunity to try to get Mr. Ben-Aharon to withdraw the resignation. They met last night. Today, Mr. Ben-Aharon told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that his decision to quit the Cabinet was “final.”
Mr. Ben-Aharon said his reason for leaving the Cabinet is “personal.” However, there have been reports that, on the one hand, he is disappointed with the manner in which the Government plans to implement its new economic policy; while, on the other hand, his own party, the leftist Ahdut Avoda, has voiced criticism against Mr. Ben-Aharon’s stand on the issue inside the Cabinet.
The Ahdut Avoda leadership, reconciled today to Mr. Ben-Aharon’s irreversible decision to leave the Cabinet, considered the possibility of proposing former Minister of the Interior Israel Bar-Yehuda as the successor for the portfolio of Minister of Transport. Ahdut Avoda has two portfolios in the Cabinet, the other being held by Minister of Labor Yigal Alon.
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