The rift between Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and former Premier David Ben-Gurion over plans for an alignment of the Mapai and Achdut Avodah labor parties widened last night when a meeting of the Mapai secretariat failed to reach an agreement on the matter.
Mr. Ben-Gurion is opposing Mr. Eshkol’s terms of the alignment. Premier Eshkol, who was supported at the meeting by Foreign Minister Golda Meir, is rumored to have threatened to resign if Ben-Gurion persists in his objections.
At the meeting, Reuven Barkatt, secretary-general of Mapai, read a letter from Mr. Ben-Gurion strongly attacking the plans for alignment, which he said, would accomplish nothing. Another letter, from Mrs. Meir, warmly supported alignment. Education Minister Salman Aranne favored alignment while Agriculture Minister Moshe Dayan opposed it. Another meeting of the secretariat was scheduled for tonight.
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