Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion went to bed early. Turning on the radio next morning at his desert cottage at Sde Boker, he heard the news at breakfast that he had won another election. Then his campaign manager helicoptered in from Tel Aviv to tell him he had won the biggest triumph of his political career.
In Israel's first general election since 1955, Ben-Gurion's Mapai (Labor) Party had not only defended its No. 1 position against 20 rival parties, but boosted its strength in the 120-member Knesset from 40 to at least 47 seats, a gain the campaign manager himself had ruled...
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