An appeal to members of the Mapai, the Palestine Jewish Labor Party, to avert a possible split within the ranks of the party was issued here today on the eve of the opening of the national conference of the Mapai.
Predicting that the outcome of the present conference will decide the fate of the party, which is the strongest organized Jewish body in Palestine, the appeal, signed by 28 party leaders, urges that the present crisis in the Mapai ranks be solved by adoption of the following compromise,
1. Party discipline is to be maintained despite the different views held by divergent groups within the party.
2. These groups are to be permitted to organize themselves into separate sections according to their ideological beliefs, but not to establish themselves as permanent organizations.
3. Elections to the institutions affiliated with the Jewish Labor Party should be carried out on a basis which will enable each group to secure proper representation.
The Hashomer Hazair, left wing of the party, issued a statement today charging the group led by David Ben-Gurion with desiring to suppress the opposition by excluding them, or by placing them in a position where they would be “snowed under” in the elections.
Spokesmen for the present administration of the Labor Party today stated that they are determined to maintain rigorous discipline and will insist on the abolition of all groups.
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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.
