Yitzhak Rabin’s Cabinet-building efforts ran into an 11th hour snag last night when Deputy Premier Yigal Allon and Minister-Without-Portfolio Israel Galili announced that they did not intend to serve in the new government. Rabin summoned Allon to a meeting which began after midnight and the two met again this morning. The Labor Party’s Achdut Avoda faction to which both ministers belong, was trying to persuade them to change their minds today.
Rabin hopes to complete his Cabinet and present it to President Ephraim Katzir tomorrow If he fails, he will have to ask the President for additional time. The difficulty appears to be over the successor to Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. the Achdut Avoda faction has demanded the appointment of either Allon or Minister of Commerce and Industry Haim Barlev to the post. Rabin appears to have agreed to assign it to Information Minister Shimon Peres, a Rafl man. According to some sources, Rabin will try to mollify Allon by naming him Foreign Minister and assigning the Deputy Premiership to incumbent Foreign Minister Abba Eban.
The Rafl faction will meet tonight to choose a second in command to Peres who has emerged as the faction’s leader after his strong showing against Rabin in the Labor Party’s leadership elections two months ago. The candidates are Yitzhak Navon and Gad Ya’acobi.
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