World: The Lion's Last Roll Call

THE summer session of Israel's parliament had hardly come to order for the first time last week when a page delivered a handwritten note to Speaker Reuven Barkatt. "For some time I have not been able to come to Knesset sessions," read the familiar scrawl, "and I do not see any possibility in the future, either, of taking part. I am not entitled to bear the name of Knesset member if I cannot fulfill my obligation to participate, and I hereby submit my resignation." Thus did David Ben-Gurion, seated in the Knesset's first row, announce the end of a half-century political...

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