Formal presentation of Premier-designate David Ben Gurion’s four-party coalition Cabinet to Parliament will not take place tomorrow as scheduled, but will be postponed pending the recovery of Mr. Ben Gurion who became ill last Thursday night. This was announced today by President Itzhak Ben Zvi when he was asked by newsmen whether the new Mapai-Mapam-Achdut Avodah-Progressive government would be presented for a vote of confidence when the Knesset resumes its session tomorrow with a debate on foreign policy.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ben Gurion, 69, spent another restful night and continued to show improvement. Last night, for the first time since Mr. Ben Gurion became ill, the physicians attending him explained what had happened. The bulletin, signed by Profs. M. Rachmilevitz and Lipmann Halprin, said that the Premier-designate had been “subjected to an attack of vertigo” and that the origin of the disturbance was localized in the inner ear. The bulletin stressed that Mr. Ben Gurion needs complete rest until he recovers.
An earlier bulletin issued by Prof. Halprin said that the Premier-designate needed rest because he was greatly fatigued. Mr. Ben Gurion’s overwork in recent months is a matter of common knowledge in Israel. Prof. Halprin told the JTA yesterday that “we are satisfied that he will recover, but we will not let him work in the future at the tempo he has in the past.”
Messages of sympathy were received at Mr. Ben Gurion’s home from leading figures in all parts of the world, including one from Secretary of State John Foster Dulles which said that the Secretary was “deeply disturbed” by Mr. Ben Gurion’s illness.
Meanwhile, the caretaker Sharett Cabinet met today to discuss the debate in Parliament tomorrow and to hear reports on the discussions between Mr. Sharett and Finance Minister Levi Eshkol and Eric Johnston, President Eisenhower’s personal envoy, on the Jordan River development proposals before Ambassador Johnston left this week-end for Washington. The Cabinet also heard a report on latest developments in the Egyptian-Czech arms deal.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
