Mapai Showdown Indicates Ben-gurion Collapse on Lavon Issue

The annual convention of the Mapai Party moved toward a showdown today in the bitter struggle precipitated by former Premier David Ben-Gurion’s determination to reopen the simmering Lavon Affair.

A forecast of the outcome was presaged by a vote in the convention steering committee which adopted, 50 to 22, a resolution on the issue for presentation to the convention. The resolution simply asked convention approval of the Mapai central committee decision that the issue of creation of a judicial committee to reopen the Lavon case be decided solely by Mapai members of the Government “in accordance with their own judgment.”

Concluding the long and bitter debate on the Ben-Gurion demand, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, who has consistently opposed his predecessor on this and other vital issues, told the convention: “I always thought only Ben-Gurion could lead the nation. But after he resigned–once and twice–and I was entrusted with forming a Government, I shall ask your confidence for four more years.” He said it was a “mistake” to bring the Lavon issue to the convention, adding: “However, Ben-Gurion can, if he so wishes, continue his efforts in this respect.”

Mr. Ben-Gurion created a Government crisis last year by demanding the creation of a judicial committee and by castigating the work of a seven-member Ministerial Committee which had cleared Pinhas Lavon of responsibility for a disastrous security mishap in 1954, Mr. Lavon was subsequently forced out as Defense Minister by Mr. Ben-Gurion. The Steering Committee’s draft resolution also called on Mapai to drop the Lavon issue entirely.

Mr. Ben-Gurion’s supporters on the Steering Committee then proposed a resolution which said that the convention “identifies itself with Mr. Ben-Gurion’s attitude but at the same time notes the Central Committee’s decision of freeing Mapai representatives in the Government to act according to their judgment.” When this motion was defeated 50 to 28, the minority members walked out demonstratively from the session.

MRS. BEN-ZVI, SHARETT, GOLDA MEIR, EBAN ATTACK BEN-GURION VIEWS

Bitterness over Mr. Ben-Gurion’s adamant stand for a new inquiry spilled into the open yesterday and last night. Mr. Ben-Gurion again demanded, in a 90-minute speech, that the party repudiate the findings of the Ministerial Committee, of which both Mr. Eshkol and Foreign Minister Golda Meir had been members, insisting on the naming of a judicial commission to probe the 1954 mishap again.

He was challenged by Moshe Sharett, who had been Premier in 1954. Brought to the Mann Auditorium convention site in a wheelchair, the ailing former Premier and Foreign Minister warned Mr. Ben-Gurion that he alone was seeking the renewed inquiry, and that his persistence was imperilling the party. He called on the party “once and for all to throw away this nightmare and start breathing again.”

Before Mr. Ben-Gurion made his address, the 4,000 persons jamming the auditorium heard Mrs. Izhak Ben-Zvi, widow of Israel’s second President, make a dramatic appeal for party unity and productive action. Turning to Mr. Ben-Gurion she asked: “What is it you want from us?”

Deputy Premier Abba Eban and Mrs. Meir bluntly criticized Mr. Ben Gurion. Mr. Eban made an effort to phrase his criticism softly, but Mrs. Meir hit hard at the former Premier. Directly addressing her infuriated former leader, Mrs. Meir asked: “Why did you not resign when the Committee of Seven was established? Why did you later form a Cabinet with members of that committee? Why did you not mention your demand for a judicial committee when Eshkol formed a new Cabinet?” She answered the last question herself by remarking, “If you had, most of the Ministers would not have joined the Cabinet.”

She also said that Mr. Ben-Gurion had given his “blessing” when Mr. Eshkol reported to him in a hospital where he had been recuperating from illness, that the Lavon Affair would be studied by the seven-member Ministerial Committee. Denouncing Mr. Ben-Gurion for acting in the case “both as judge and prosecutor,” she flared up when Mr. Ben-Gurion called out that the findings of the Ministerial Committee were “falsities.” She retorted, “I voted for the findings and they don’t need any kind of whitewashing.”

Former Agriculture Minister Moshe Dayan and Deputy Defense Minister Shimon Peres spoke out in support of Mr. Ben-Gurion, but with reservations. Police Minister Behor Shitreet and party leader David Hacohen both appealed to him to “let the matter rest.”

The old warrior, rejecting both criticism and appeals, said he would keep up his fight even if he was expelled from the party. Angered by Mrs. Meir’s attack, he walked out of the convention. A special delegation which included Housing Minister Yosef Almogi, Mr. Peres and others met this morning with Mr. Ben-Gurion to persuade him to return. He agreed to do so, reiterating he would not give up his fight. Previously, efforts were made by President Shazar to end the deep rift between Mr. Ben-Gurion and Premier Eshkol, but with no result.