President Itzhak Ben Zvi virtually completed today his consultations with party leaders looking toward the formation of a new Cabinet and is expected to call in David Ben Gurion tomorrow morning and invite him to try to form a coalition government.
Circles close to Mr. Ben Gurion confidently predicted today that he would be able to form a government consisting of the Mapai, Achdut Avodah, Mapam and Progressives next week. These circles also stated that the participation of the religious parties in the coalition would depend on whether they were ready to support Golda Myerson, Mapai leader, as Mayor of Tel Aviv. Mapai leaders will gather at Mr. Ben Gurion’s home tonight to work out further details of a coalition.
A “political incident” occurred today when the rightwing Herut Party leaders refused to accept the President’s invitation to discuss their ideas about the next government. The Herut leaders were offended because of the sequence of consultation visits. The President had first called in the representatives of the parties in the present coalition, then all others. The Herut believes that the invitations should have been extended in an order based on the relative strength of the parties in the new Parliament, which would have had it consulted immediately after the Mapai.
At a press conference today, Herut leader Menahem Beigun charged that the Herut had been “slighted” by the President and had been “ill advised” in the order of consultations. He revealed that in reply to Herut’s written representations to the President on this matter, the President’s Office had replied that: the invitations were extended at the President’s exclusive discretion; the President viewed the consultations not merely as formalities but as matters of practical significance–the consultations are designed to lead to the earliest formation of a stable government, and the President meant no offense to anybody.
Revealing that despite this letter from the President the Herut would not accept his invitation to consultations. Mr. Beigun said: “Naturally it is the President’s right to invite anybody he wishes, but the present invitation is a deviation from established custom.”
The General Zionists told the President that as a result of past experiences they were not ready to enter any coalition and that first they would want to discuss the practical tasks facing the next Cabinet. The Poale Agudah and Agudah insisted that they would join a coalition only if it pledged strict observance of the Sabbath, prohibited the raising of hogs.
The leftist Achdut Avodah favored a broad coalition which would exclude the General Zionists, Herut and the Communists. It demanded that the coalition government increase immigration, particularly from North Africa, intensify colonization and entrust the World Zionist Organization with political tasks. The Mapam also favored a broad coalition.
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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.
