The draft of a 1,335,000,000-pound regular and development budget for the 1959-1960 Israel fiscal year was approved last night by the Cabinet in an extraordinary session.
It was reported that the budget figure included an added 50,000,000 pounds for development expenditures to meet criticisms of two left-wing parties, Mapam and Achdut Avodah. Mapam objections included a charge that cuts in the development budget were aimed specifically at Minister of Development Mordecai Bentov, a member of Mapam.
Meanwhile, Premier David Ben Gurion has reportedly called on Development Minister Mordecai Bentov, Mapam leader, to retract publicly the allegation that the Premier had indicated to him that if he was unhappy in his dispute with Minister of Finance Levi Eshkol over economic matters he could resign. A release of letters between Mr. Bentov and Mr. Eshkol last week revealed an exchange of unusually personal language.
It was reported today that Mr. Ben Gurion and Foreign Minister Golda Meir supported Mr. Eshkol’s objections to the Bentov trip to Japan for other than economic reasons. According to the report, Mr. Bentov — without consultations with the Foreign Ministry–asked the American Jewish Congress to arrange for a meeting between him and India’s Premier Nehru during his intended visit to Asia.
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