— Rabbi Haim Druckman, the hawkish champion of the Gush Emunim within the National Religious Party, is expected to announce tomorrow that he will quit the NRP to run in the June 30 Knesset elections on a separate ticket. Druckman made his intentions known today after negotiations with the NRP over his position on its slate ended in deadlock.
According to a radio report, Druckman had demanded, as his price for remaining in the party, three Knesset seats among the first dozen on the NRP election list for persons of his ideological persuasion. Observers said the defection of Druckman and other MKs from different factions to run as independents or on new lists would create a proliferation of splinter parties making it difficult for any of the major parties to win a clear majority.
Former Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan said last week that he has just about decided to head a new party list of his own. Dayan, a former Laborite, quit the Likud government in October, 1979. Druckman, if he leaves the NRP, is expected to take with him the rank and file of the Gush Emunim, especially
its most religious elements who regard him as their authentic spokesman.
But political observers believe this will do more damage to the ultra-right wing Tehiya faction than to the NRP. Many Gush Emunim followers and supporters expected to vote for Tehiya may now switch to a new rightist religious list headed by Druckman.
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.
