Premier Levi Eshkol today opened the Mapai party’s campaign for the November 2 Parliamentary and municipal elections with a radio address contending that only his party’s alignment with Achdut Avodah could provide a stable and effective government for Isael.
Speaking on Kol Israel radio, the Premier elaborated his program for the coming years, including a continued strengthening of Israel’s defense forces, deepening Israel’s ties with world Jewry and the world, extending development projects, slum clearance, improving Israel’s educational system, more attention to science and cultivation of the proper economic climate.
He said he wanted to promote further democracy, based on majority decisions and he referred to the split in his party signalized by former Premier David Ben-Gurion’s formation of a dissident Israel Workers list (Rafi) for the November 2 elections. “I deeply regret the split in Mapai which I do not understand, at a time when the path to unity was open,” he said. The Premier’s leadership in creating a joint Mapai-Achdut alignment for the elections was one of the factors cited by Mr. Ben-Gurion in launching a political fight against the Premier.
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