Word: rabin
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Disappointing Leader. Although there were a few grumbles from Labor's dovish coalition ally, the leftist Mapam group, the virtually unanimous vote for Peres seemed to unite the splintered Labor Party. Voters accepted Rabin's abdication with mixed feelings. He had been an uncertain and disappointing leader. But he was also the first sabra (native-born Israeli) to become Premier; the abrupt downfall of one of the "sons of the founders" had tragic communal overtones...
...last week's events, is most likely to be Israel's big bird after next month's general election. The adroit, self-confident Peres (see box) easily won the Labor Party's nomination for Premier at a special caucus of the central committee. Yitzhak Rabin, forced to step down after disclosures that his wife had illegally maintained bank accounts in the U.S. (TIME, April 18), was among those who lifted hands in assent amid shouts of "Mazel tov [good luck], Shimon...
Outside Israel, there was speculation on what the change in leadership might mean in terms of Middle East peace negotiations. Although Peres has a reputation for being rather hawkish, some Arab observers concluded that the Defense Minister was potentially a stronger leader than Rabin-a plus from their viewpoint. But they also wondered whether Peres-if indeed he manages to form a government-will have a mandate to accept the kind of territorial concessions that may be necessary for peace...
...outlook. But the Defense Minister also prides himself on his American connections made as a student at Harvard and the New School for Social Research, and as an arms negotiator for Israel during the Kennedy Administration. U.S. diplomats will probably find that Peres is a more imaginative negotiator than Rabin but equally unbending in his defense of Israel's need for security...
Flash polls last week indicated that Peres' selection had improved Labor's previously sagging election chances; expectations were that the party might take 43 of the 120 Knesset seats, instead of 39. But the Defense Minister still has two large obstacles to face. One is Rabin's continuing presence on the Labor slate as a candidate for a Knesset seat. Voters will be reminded that the party has not totally repudiated a man whose administration was plagued with scandal and who seemed incapable of handling Israel's endemic inflation. Peres' other problem is the strength...