ISRAEL VALE ATQUE AVE IN JERUSALEM, HALO-HAIRED PREMIER DAVID BEN-GURION, 76, HANDED 
IN HIS RESIGNATION FOR THE EIGHTH TIME IN HIS 15 YEARS 
IN OFFICE . ISRAEL WAS NOT UNDULY DISTURBED, SINCE BEN-GURION IS 
AS FAMED FOR RESIGNATIONS AS FOR SUCH OTHER IDIOSYNCRASIES AS STANDING 
ON HIS HEAD AND ADVOCATING FRIENDLY RELATIONS WITH GERMANS . BUT 
WHAT STARTLED PEOPLE AND POLITICIANS THIS TIME WAS THE FACT THAT 
BEN-GURION ALSO GAVE UP HIS PARLIAMENTARY SEAT IN THE KNESSET, AN 
ACT THAT WOULD LEAVE HIM INELIGIBLE FOR FUTURE CABINET OFFICE . 
ASKED WHY, BENGURION FIRMLY REPLIED, " PERSONAL NEEDS . I PROPOSE 
TO KEEP THEM TO MYSELF . " WEARY CHIEF . IN 
FACT, BEN-GURION WAS WEARY OF POLITICS AND DISTURBED BY A RISING 
GENERATION THAT QUESTIONS HIS LEADERSHIP . HIS MAPAI PARTY WAS IRREVOCABLY 
SPLIT BY THE 1960-61 LAVON AFFAIR, WHICH ALSO TANGLED THE ARMY 
IN POLITICS. BEN-GURION HAS CONTINUALLY HAD TO ARBITRATE DISPUTES AND PACIFY 
ANTAGONISTS . FINALLY, HE HAS NEARLY DESPAIRED OF REDUCING THE MULTIPLICITY 
OF PARTIES (15 IN ALL), DESPITE HIS ARGUMENT THAT " IF 
THE U.S . WITH HUGE POPULATION CAN GET ALONG WITH TWO 
PARTIES, WHY CAN'T WE WITH ONLY 2,000,000 PEOPLE ? " B-G 
" WAS NOT TOO WEARY OF POLITICS TO HAND-PICK HIS SUCCESSOR 
: UKRAINIANBORN FINANCE MINISTER LEV ESHKOL, 67, WHO HAS BROUGHT ISRAEL 
FROM A HAND-TOMOUTH ECONOMY TO THE POINT WHERE ITS GROSS NATIONAL 
PRODUCT HAS RISEN AN AVERAGE OF 11 PER CENT ANNUALLY OVER 
THE PAST FIVE YEARS, AND ITS DOLLAR SURPLUS IS ALMOST AN 
EMBARRASSMENT . TWICE MARRIED BUT NOW A WIDOWER, ESHKOL HAS FOUR 
DAUGHTERS, ONE OF WHOM TEACHES DANCING IN JERUSALEM, WHILE ANOTHER IS 
A SERGEANT IN THE ISRAELI ARMY . HIS NEW CABINET STRONGLY 
RESEMBLES BEN-GURION'S OLD ONE, AND IT IS UNLIKELY THERE WILL BE 
ANY RADICAL CHANGES IN FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC POLICY . A FAR 
MORE ADAPTABLE MAN THAN BEN-GURION, ESHKOL WILL PROBABLY GOVERN MORE THROUGH 
COMPROMISE THAN BY FIAT . PET PROJECT . THE GOVERNMENTAL TRANSITION 
MIGHT HAVE BEEN UNEVENTFUL EXCEPT THAT, SURE ENOUGH, BEN-GURION SUDDENLY WITHDREW 
HIS RESIGNATION FROM THE KNESSET, ON CONDITION THAT HE WOULD ONLY 
ATTEND PARLIAMENTARY SESSIONS IF HE FELT LIKE IT . NEITHER ESHKOL 
NOR THE OPPOSITION POLITICIANS WERE TOO HAPPY ABOUT BEN-GURION'S KEEPING HIS 
FOOT IN THE DOOR . NOW, SHOULD ESHKOL FALTER OR A 
CRISIS THREATEN, BEN-GURION MIGHT CHARGE BACK INTO OFFICE TO SAVE THE 
COUNTRY FROM ALLEGED DISASTER . MEANWHILE, BEN-GURION PLANS TO LIVE AT 
THE SDE BOKER KIBBUTZ IN THE BLEAK NEGEV DESERT AND TURN 
OUT BOOKS ON EVERYTHING FROM JEWISH HISTORY TO HIS OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
. HE HOPES ALSO TO FURTHER HIS PET PROJECT : THE 
" CULTURAL ABSORPTION " OF JEWISH IMMIGRANTS FROM ASIA AND NORTH 
AFRICA INTO ISRAEL'S PREDOMINANTLY WESTERN SOCIETY . BEN-GURION ARGUES THAT UNLESS 
THE ORIENTAL JEWS ARE EDUCATED FASTER, ISRAEL MAY TURN INTO A 
TYPICALLY " INDOLENT " LEVANTINE STATE WITHIN TEN YEARS . ISRAELI 
DEFENSE MINISTER PINHAS LAVON WAS FORCED FROM OFFICE IN 1955 ON 
ALLEGATIONS THAT HE DISASTROUSLY BUNGLED AN ISRAELI ESPIONAGE ABROAD, PRESUMABLY IN 
EGYPT . LAVON PLEADED THAT HE HAD BEEN FRAMED BY HIGHLY 
PLACED POLITICAL ENEMIES . HE WAS FINALLY CLEARED TWO YEARS AGO 
BY THE ISRAELI CABINET, OVER BEN-GURION'S VIOLENT OBJECTIONS . 