Nrp Conclave Hammers out Platform

Moderates and hard-liners engaged in heated debates behind the scenes at the National Religious Party convention today in attempts to hammer out a platform that would mollify right-wing Orthodox elements without excluding the NRP from participation in any future coalition government. The main issues concern the future of the administered territories and an amendment to Israel’s Law of Return specifying that conversions to Judaism must be in accordance with halacha.

Deputy Premier Yigal Allon cautioned the NRP that Israel’s future borders are political and security issues, not matters of halacha. The party’s youth circles, headed by Deputy Minister of Education Zevulun Hammer, demanded a clear cut resolution that would prevent the NRP from joining any coalition government that does not adopt a policy of “Greater Israel,” making the Jordan River Israel’s permanent boundary, and does not press for the amendment to the Law of Return.

The youth group won its point on the “Who is a Jew?” issue in a resolution adopted by a majority of the committee on religious and rabbinical problems which defined a Jew as one born of a Jewish mother or converted according to halacha. The religious kibbutz movement and the Lamifneh faction, headed by Interior Minister Yosef Burg, suggested a more moderate resolution though they too demanded amendment of the law of return.

According to an agreement reached last night, the new party center will consist of 15 members of the Lamifneh faction, 12 from Raphael’s group and 10 from the youth circles. The central list headed by Religious Affairs Minister Zerach Warhaftig gets seven seats, the moshavim five and the religious kibbutzim and Sephardi groups one each.

The Bulgarian government gave awards to Robert Nissim Beraha and Salomon Bouco Fachev for their “fight against fascism and building of socialism.”