The Dayan Exit

...Politically, labor leaders avow he is finished...

...Instead, Begin and the Cabinet (whose majority never quite trusted Dav an) decided that the negotiations should be conducted by a ministerial committee...

...Yet his days in the hospital bed must have had a deep influence on the way he views his life...

...not as a moral judgment...

...This, of course, is not the way the opposition Labor Party leaders see the future...

...Eliahu Salpeter a regular NI Contributor, is a correspondent for Ha-arets one of israel's leading newspapers...

...Dayan felt that he personally should have been entrusted with negotiating the implementation of the autonomy clauses of the Camp Dav id Agreement...

...This is a direct reflection of the Prime Minister's weakened authority, and Labor does not think reshuffling portfolios will change the situation...

...A reporter asked him about a recurring dream he was said to have had...

...In it he is escaping something, running up a mountain with ever shortening breath, until finally, reaching the top, he is standing above the cemetery at his birthplace, the moshav Na-halal...

...Some people recall that he was responsible for the Arabs catching Israel by surprise in the Yom Kippur War and say he should then have been disqualified from ever holding public office again...

...The man in the street adds with respect, though, that this did not prevent him from giving up his post, as would probably have been the case with a lesser man...

...Yes, Dayan said, he did have such a dream...

...The next big task, "determining the future of our relations with the Palestinians," was taken away from him...

...Then he casually analyzed the dream: "It was an expression of my desire to lessen the load upon me...

...He was right as long as the subject was Egypt...

...But the feelings being expressed about Dayan are by no means uniform...

...Dayan saw exploring the chance-And then conducting the negotiations-for peace with Egypt as his high task...

...Close friends of Dayan believe that what really moved him to quit was his having become completely disillusioned about influencing Begin further on questions of the autonomy...

...This was no accident: The appointment of the Interior Minister to the job neatly symbolized Begin's concept that relations with the West Bank Arabs are, ultimately, an internal Israeli concern...

...The Prime Minister, in at least temporarily assuming the Foreign Minister's portfolio as well, moved Finance Minister Simcha Ehrlich-head of the Liberal Party, Begin's main ally in the ruling Likud association-to the new post of Deputy Prime Minister for Domestic Affairs...

...The reference, as he explained to the press, was to the talks with the Americans and the Egyptians about autonomy for the Palestinians...

...On the parliamentary level, they point out, the government will lose the support of the four members of the ultra-Orthodox Aguda faction if the Cabinet refuses to revoke the present liberal (and Liberal and Democratic Party-inspired) abortion laws...

...When the fate of "the Land of Israel"-i.e., the West Bank-became the issue, Dayan's influence waned...

...When I could not do so wholeheartedly, I felt I ought to step down...

...After all, they noted, last year Begin publicly stated that Israel would insist upon sovereignty over the West Bank at the end of the transition period, so it was hardly news to the Foreign Minister...

...On the contrary, the opposition is convinced that the days of Begin's government are numbered, that it will fall in a matter of weeks or months because of a dispute over new settlements, or the progressive defection of Knesset members, or perhaps the public protest against inflation...

...Nevertheless, Begin's backers insist that Dayan's resignation has strengthened the government by opening the way for the reorganization of what had been a malfunctioning Cabinet...

...That leaves Begin with a 64-56 edge in the Knesset, compared to the 77-43 majority he had after he forming his original coalition...

...Indeed, on the whole most people seem to agree that Israel is better off for having had him as foreign Minister during the past .10 months, l'ven those who speak of the former military hero as "leaving a sinking ship" do so maller of factly...

...That explained the cool cave, but not the dream itself-the uphill race that concludes with his meeting, simultaneously, the symbols of childhood and of death...

...When he joined the Cabinet...

...His associates firmly insist that since his operation several months ago (for intestinal cancer, pronounced fully successful), he feels completely fit and is able to carry on at his "normal" grueling pace...

...His health must also have played some role in Dayan's timing...

...This enabled him to turn over the Ministry of Finance to Former Trade Minister Yigal Horowitz, whose strong-man reputation engenders the hope of cleaning up the mess created by Ehrlich...

...He must have felt this, for he suddenly did one of those things that make Moshe Dayan so different from other politicians, he ended with a quote from his favorite poet, Nathan Alterman: "My daughter dreams in vain/My daughter dreams of truth...

...Dayan has gone back to the potsherds and antiques at his villa in the Zahala suburb of Tel Aviv, where he plans to write a book about the Israeli-Egyptian peace negotiations...

...now his features were drawn and he had the sad look of a man who has accepted fate...

...A foreign minister must express the principles of, and carry out the policy of, the government," he told his farewell press conference...

...Moreover, Begin's own Herut Party, which is at present underrepresented in the Cabinet, is making noises about an additional portfolio...

...A number of observers found this somewhat disingenuous...

...He felt such a policy was a retreat from the open options undertaken at Camp David, he said, and also made it impossible to bring the autonomy negotiations to a successful conclusion...

...There was a uniquely poignant reminder of this toward the end of his press conference...

...Begin formally offered the chairmanship to the Foreign Minister, but when Dayan declined, it was given to Interior Minister Yosef Burg...

...And many still cannot believe Moshe Dayan's political career is over...

...This has been completed...

...Most important of all, Labor does not believe that Yigal Horowitz can repair the ruinous economic situation...

...Before his operation, he went on, "things became so bad that I could barely climb the hill...

...And the National Religious Party is loudly complaining about the overrepresentation of Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Yadin's Democratic Party, whose secularist ideology is anathema to them...

...He joined the Cabinet because he was convinced he would turn the Prime Minister toward compromises and thus counter both his traditional leanings and the influence of his hawkish associates...

...More importantly, Dayan does not agree with the majority of the Cabinet on this central issue...

...Still others observe that in joining the Begin government Dayan betrayed the Labor Party, on whose ticket he was elected to the Knesset...

...This time, it appears, a politician's own words can be taken at face value: "Lately, I was not dealing with matters that interest me, but was busy with things that don't interest me...

...The betting is on May-June 1980 elections...

...I dreamt of finding refuge in a cool cave...

...In fact, this is not a question of a single Cabinet member taking firm hold of the economic reins...

...Why did he quit...

...Then his lace was round, his smile broad, and the spark in his single eye radiated self-assurance...

...Although he voted with the government in a no-confidence motion in the Knesset the day after his resignation, he made it clear that in the future his vote cannot be taken for granted...

...I was physically fatigued, but I had to put in 16 hours a day until at the day's end I could not catch my breath...

...Others cite the crucial role he played in the peace process, in finding last-minute compromise formulas (and "selling" them to Begin) both at Camp David and when the final peace talks almost broke down during President Carter's visit to Jerusalem...

...His sudden resignation lust month as Foreign Minister immediately became more than a political issue: People reacted to the news emotionally as much as rationally, noting first of all the contrast between the photos of Dayan today and when he joined Menachem Begin's government two and a hall years ago - shown in the newspapers and on television...

...The real problem is that each minister is concerned only with the interests (and budget) of his own department and cares very little about overall economic policy...

...Since runaway inflation is the main cause of public disaffection, the Likud argument goes, repairing the economic situation would save the government...

...Although he declined to elaborate, Dayan later indicated he opposed a Cabinet decision that in talks on the final disposition of the West Bank following the five-year transition period, Israel would insist on keeping sovereignty over the territory...