The Premier-designate of Israel, Mrs. Golda Meir, will present her cabinet to the Knesset (Parliament) for a vote of confidence on next Monday. The way was cleared for an early vote on the new government when a special cabinet committee ironed out differences between the Labor Party and its next largest coalition partner, Gahal (the Herut-Liberal alignment).
The committee agreed to Gahal’s demand that the cabinet’s basic platform be re-drafted to include Israel’s official position that there will be no withdrawal from the present cease-fire lines except in the context of a peace agreement. Labor Party leaders had preferred leaving the document intact while having the new Premier state the government’s position orally to the Knesset. That stand was intended to accommodate Mapam, the left-wing labor party which has joined the Labor Party in a political alignment. Mapam’s objections to re-drafting the platform were over-ridden by the cabinet committee.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Meir and Labor Party secretary-general Pinhas Sapir were planning to meet with Defense Minister Moshe Dayan to improve intra-party relations. Gen. Dayan caused some anxiety among the party leadership when he said publicly recently that he didn’t “feel at home” in its ranks because he was relegated to its “fringes.” Some Labor veterans have demanded that Gen. Dayan dissociate himself from public petitions now in circulation demanding that he be appointed Premier. Gen. Dayan said he had nothing to do with them.
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