Peres Says Will Pick Rabin for Defense Minister if He Wins Election; Debate with Begin Rated Unexcit

Shimon Peres, the Labor party leader seeking to replace Menachem Begin as Prime Minister in the elections Tuesday, declared late today that if he won, he would name former Premier Yitzhak Rabin as his Defense Minister, rather than retired General Haim Barlev, as might have been expected.

The announcement, made on national television about a half hour before a televised debate between Begin and Peres, was considered to have reduced any significant reaction from the debate, since that became the new main issue in the campaign.

Looking fit and healthy, Begin traded barbs with Peres on the televised debate, which, by general agreement, produced few surprises and almost no news.

The only new angle in the debate was an announcement by Peres that he was ready, as Prime Minister, to launch immediate negotiations with Egypt over implementation of the autonomy components of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.

Most of the debate was concentrated on domestic issues. Peres opened the attack on that issue by saying “Mr. Begin, what have you done to this country?” He also appeared to be trying to return personal insults, declaring that Begin was responsible for the character assassination of the Labor party leader during the campaign.

Begin, at first restrained himself but toward the end of the debate, he waved at Peres in a gesture of dismissal and said “Mr. Peres, sit quietly and teach yourself to be precise. Don’t preach to me.”

Such information as was obtainable after the debate ended indicated that neither of the debaters succeeded in convincing adherents of his opponents. Observers said it was hard to tell, at this time, whether either Begin or Peres scored with their primary target, the estimated 25 to 30 percent of the electorate known to be undecided.