ISRAEL: The Crisis That Became a Revolution

"Five years are enough. I have come to the end of the road. It is beyond my strength to continue carrying the burden."

With those emotional words—spoken to a meeting in Jerusalem of the leaders of Israel's ruling Labor Party —Premier Golda Meir, 75, abruptly ended almost a half-century career in politics. In bowing out "irrevocably" from the post she has held for five years and through two Middle East wars, Mrs. Meir threw Israel into its worst political crisis in years. Her resignation as the country's fourth Premier since independence* cast...