Last update - 00:00 11/12/2007
Labor's Barak, Cabel meet to resolve dispute over adviser's dismissal
By Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondent
Labor Chairman Ehud Barak and secretary-general of the party, MK Eitan Cabel, held a conciliatory meeting late Monday night following Barak's stormy weekend dismissal of his prominent close adviser, Eldad Yaniv. The meeting took place in Barak's Tel Aviv bureau and was mediated by Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog.
Barak's associates told Haaretz that Yaniv, an attorney who had become a central figure in the party since Barak's election in May, had tried to strip Labor's secretariat - the party's operative body - of its power, contrary to Barak's position. They said Yaniv had attempted to do so by changing the party's constitution so as to concentrate power in the hands of Cabel, his close friend.
Earlier on Monday, Cabel - who supported Barak in his bid for chairmanship of the party - was quoted as saying that Barak was "acting in a paranoid way." Cabel added: "Everyone is trying to hug [Barak] but he is rejecting the embrace. I'm ashamed of him."
In their meeting, Cabel is said to have apologized for his harsh words. Associates described the meeting as "complicated," but claimed the two have cleared the air and reached a mutual understanding.
Meanwhile, theories regarding Yaniv's unexpected sacking proliferate.
According to a latest version of events, Yaniv came to a routine work meeting with Barak last Thursday night at the defense minister's bureau.
During the meeting, Barak asked him to explain a change in the party constitution regarding the role of the executive committee's secretariat. Barak, who had authorized Yaniv and Cabel to change the constitution, noticed a clause that strips the secretariat of its executive powers, contrary to the instructions he had given.
In addition, Barak dropped clauses authorizing the secretariat to manage the party's financial affairs and dismiss workers. This would have allowed Cabel and Yaniv to concentrate all the operative powers in their hands, Barak's associate said.
Yaniv reportedly told Barak that the changes were not a new addition and had already appeared in the constitution's previous version. Barak asked to see this version and a comparison found that the changes were indeed new.
"His confidant tried to carry out an underhand move under his very nose," the associate said. "Barak decided to put an end to it then and there."
Barak told Yaniv he was dismissed from all his duties in the party and Yaniv stormed out of the room.
Cabel, meanwhile, discovered this week that he had not been invited to a meeting about the constitution, held at Labor's constitution committee chair Moshe Shahal's home. Barak and ministers Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Shalom Simhon attended the meeting.
Barak's associates said Monday that Cabel had not been invited because it was feared he was working with Yaniv to alter the constitution contrary to Barak's position.
Senior Labor figures said that Cabel was acting as Yaniv's lackey and had been sent to harm Barak.
"We won't let him destroy the party. Anyone who doesn't have the fortitude to fight should get out of the way," a Barak associate said Monday in reaction to Cabel's attack on Barak.
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