Moshe Kol, one of the signatories to Israel’s Declaration of Independence and a veteran of Israeli politics, died here Saturday at the age of 78. Funeral services were held on Sunday.
Kol, born Kolodny, was elected to the first Knesset in 1949, and to many subsequent ones.
He served as minister of tourism in the governments of Prime Ministers Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin.
Kol was a longtime leader of the Progressive Party, which, after a brief merger with the General Zionists in the 1960s, emerged as the Independent Liberal Party.
While not socialist in outlook, it was a close ally of the Labor Zionist movement from the prestate era until the Labor Party’s fall from power in 1977.
Early in his career, Kol served with distinction for many years as the head of youth aliyah.
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