Premier-designate Yitzhak Rabin struggled through the day today, against mounting obstacles, to achieve agreement on the membership of the coalition Cabinet he hopes to present to President Ephraim Katzir by tonight’s deadline. He informed Katzir last Friday that an agreement had been approved between his Labor Alignment, the Independent Liberals and the Civil Rights Party for a 61-member coalition in the 120-seat Knesset but that he had been unable to obtain agreement on the Cabinet portfolios.
The most difficult problem remained that of Abba Eban, Foreign Minister in the caretaker government who has repeatedly announced he would not join the Rabin Cabinet if he was not again named Foreign Minister, a post Rabin has promised to Yigal Allon. Efforts were made over the holiday weekend to persuade Eban to accent the Information Ministry and the post of Deputy Premier. However, Rabin, who has promised the Deputy Premier’s post to Allon who holds it in the caretaker government, reportedly does not want to start negotiations all over again with Allon.
Problems for Rabin developing from Pinhas Sapir’s categorical refusal to serve as Finance Minister in the new government deepened when Yaacov Levinson, director of the Histadrut bank, said that even if he accepted the Finance Ministry, he could not begin serving for two or three months “because of previous obligations.” Israel Radio reported today that Levinson would probably be replaced temporarily by Chaim Barlev, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Development.
There were also reports that if Eban and Sapir would not be in the Rabin Cabinet, Avraham Offer, Knesset member and general manager of the Histadrut-owned Shikum Ovdim Construction Co., would become Communications Minister, and Aharon Yariv, currently assigned to be a Minister-Without-Portfolio, would become Information Minister.
Police Minister Shlomo Hillel told Rabin he, too, would not join the next Cabinet, contending that, as a representative in the Cabinet of the Sephardic community, he deserved a more important Ministry. Later, however, Hillel was induced to accept the Police Ministry again. But Hillel demanded extended powers for the Police Ministry and that he be named head of a Ministerial Committee on social problems.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
