MIDDLE EAST: A Stricken Begin Holds On

His government survives, and autonomy talks resume

The Knesset had convened only a few minutes earlier to debate a measure of some consequence: a motion by the small (sixmember) opposition Shai Party to dissolve parliament and hold early elections. At the horseshoe-shaped Cabinet table, Prime Minister Menachem Begin, 66, complained to colleagues that he suddenly felt warm. He mopped his brow with a handkerchief and loosened his tie. When Deputy Prime Minister Yigael Yadin asked him if he was all right, Begin weakly replied: "Get a doctor."

After leaving the chamber unobtrusively...

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