Labor Party Circles Demand Dayan Be Excluded from Next Cabinet

Demands for the exclusion of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan from the next Cabinet were revived today in Labor Party circles. They were voiced during day-long deliberations at the Beth Berl ideological center near Kfar Saba. And while they came from left-leaning “dovish” elements not considered representative of the party’s majority views, they were symptomatic of the growing rancor within Premier Golda Meir’s Labor Alignment as it sought, so far without success, to form a viable coalition government. Dayan’s ouster had been demanded by the same “dovish” groups before the Dec. 31 elections. They were thought to have been mollified by the adoption of a 14-point platform that largely superseded the hard line of Dayan and Minister-Without-Portfolio Israel Galili on such issues as territorial compromise and settlement of the administered, areas, But now the party seems again to be in the throes of an ideological struggle which may determine the” nature of the new government and Israel’s future policies.

Bitter feuding and mutual recriminations among top ranking Labor Ministers and party leaders was disclosed Friday by Shlomo Nakdimon, the Yediot Achronot political reporter acknowledged to be the best informed political writer in the country. He reported that Foreign Minister Abba Eban and former Histadrut Secretary General Yitzhak Ben Aharon both lashed out against Dayan at a closed meeting of the Labor Party leadership in Tel Aviv Thursday night. Deputy Premier Yigal Allon was also reported to be unhappy with the party and his position in it and has hinted to friends and supporters that he may decline to serve in a new government, particularly if it included his old political rival Dayan.

The Beth Berl meeting was attended by Laborite academicians and intellectuals who had made no secret before the elections of the fact that they would vote Labor only because there was no alternative. They were joined by other groups who have been outspoken against the Party’s leadership, including Knesset members Aryeh Eliav and Avraham Offer, two of Labor’s leading “doves.” The out come of the meeting was a series of demands on the party, the first of which was that it should not deviate from the 14-point platform. They also demanded a policy of rotation in filling Cabinet and party posts, especially the Defense Ministry and the dissolution of all groups and factions within the Labor Party.

Ellav assailed the fact that “even today, after the Yom Kippur War, fateful decisions are being adopted by three people (Premier) Golda (Meir), Dayan and Galili.” He claimed that “Things have gone back to their previous status, with all the horror that it entails.” Offer said he did not blame Dayan “but those who follow him blind-folded.” He said he had no doubt that the government wants peace but blamed Mrs. Meir for creating an impression of doubt as to her government’s peaceful intentions. Israel Granit, who headed the party’s organizational department until recently, demanded the replacement not only of Dayan “who has become an institution” but Eban as well because “he is too long in his office and there is too much dust and stoning” in the Foreign Ministry. Other speakers also attacked Mrs. Meir’s so-called “Kitchen Cabinet” and charged that fateful decisions were being made by a tiny inner circle instead of by the full Cabinet or party forum.

At Thursday night’s meeting, Eban assailed the government’s pre-war defense policies, without mentioning Dayan by name. But he was clearly referring to the Defense Minister when he said he recoiled from the charismatic form of power exercised, by some persons in government. Statements “from within our own camp” have weakened Israel’s credibility as a peace-seeker, he said. Allon recalled that he had been sharply critical of Dayan’s policies and political style even when the Defense Minister was at the peak of his popularity in the post-Six-Day War years. He said his opinions of Dayan were well known when others “still thought there was something uniquely special about the man.” Allon may be a candidate for Dayan’s post. He is known to be dissatisfied with the largely titular deputy premiership and to want a more prominent Cabinet position than that of Minister of Education and Culture. Yaacov Hazan, the veteran Mapam leader, said a time might come when he would support Allon for Prime Minister.

The upshot of the Labor leadership meeting was endorsement of the decision of Premier Meir and Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir against a national coalition government that would include Likud. But even on that issue, the party was not of one-mind. Deputy Transport Minister Gad Yaacobi and MK Mordechai Ben Porat said they would support a national coalition if Likud agreed to back Israel’s participation in the Geneva peace conference and the 14 points were adhered to. But they were over ruled. Over the weekend the party majority was strengthened somewhat when three Arabs elected to the Knesset officially joined the Labor Alignment giving it 54 seats in the next parliament.

At the same time, the independent Liberals Joined the Civil Rights Party headed by Mrs. Shulamit Aloni to form a new Knesset bloc of seven seats. The new combination pledged to act jointly for “Peace based on a fair territorial compromise with defensible borders.” This is more or less the Labor Party line and the possibility of a Labor-ILP-Civil Rights coalition gained ground. Labor, nonetheless, is still seeking to restore its pre-election coalition with the National Religious Party. So far, talks between the two factions have stalled over the NRP’s insistence on a national coalition to include Likud. The NRP is also expected to demand stronger religious control of national life. to which the ILP-Civil Rights bloc is unalterably opposed. Negotiations between Labor and its various potential coalition partners will continue this week.