The Israel Cabinet again discussed today the crisis within the coalition over the decision of the majority to adhere to the Eisenhower Doctrine and the threat of its left-wing parties to vote against the policy in the Parliamentary debate scheduled for tomorrow.
The debate will get under way with a half-hour statement by Premier David Ben Gurion on the government’s position. A vote is expected by the end of the day.
While the Mapam Party is still bound officially to vote against identification with the Eisenhower Doctrine, there is a feeling here that a last-minute meeting of the Mapam leadership tomorrow morning may yet lead to a solution which would stave off the fall of the government. The Cabinet affirmed today that it would permit abstentions, but no votes against its policy by deputies of its member groups.
Earlier in the weekend, the Mapam was served with an ultimatum by the Premier who, backed by a unanimous vote of his own Mapai Party, told the Mapam leader that if Syria, “helped by Russian flyers, attacks us, I am sure that not a single Mapam member would oppose any help we could get” from the United States “rather than die from Russian attacks.” Asserting that the Syrian threat was “not wholly a theoretical example,” the Premier expressed the hope that the mere knowledge that the United States would take counter-action against Soviet warplanes would act as a deterrent to any Syrian plans for an attack on Israel.
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