BRIGADIER GENERAL YIGAL ALLON, 50-YEAR-OLD DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL, WAS TODAY (WEDNESDAY) UNANIMOUSLY CHOSEN BY THE ISRAEL CABINET AS ACTING PRIME MINISTER TO HEAD THE CARETAKER GOVERNMENT, FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF PREMIER LEVI ESHKOL.

GENERAL ALLON, TIPPED AS ONE OF THE STRONGEST CONTENDERS FOR THE PREMIERSHIP, SAID TODAY THAT THE DEATH OF MR. ESHKOL CAME AS A HEAVY TO THE NATION. HE SAID THAT ONLY YESTERDAY MR. ESHKOL APPEARED TO HAVE RECOVERED FROM HIS RECENT ILLNESS AND HAS PRESIDED OVER A MEETING OF MINISTERS WITH "TYPICAL HUMOUR AND GOOD SPIRITS".

MR. ESHKOL DIED AT THIS HOME AT 8.30 THIS MORNING OF A HEART ATTACK. HE WAS 74. HE HAD SUFFERED BOUTS OF PNEUMONIA FOR SEVERAL MONTHS, AND COLLAPSED WITH HIS FIRST HEART ATTACK 23 DAYS AGO AFTER A CRISIS CABINET MEETING.

YIGAL ALLON, WHO TODAY TOOK UP THE REINS OF GOVERNMENT IN ISRAEL, IS A SOLDIER AND AGRICULTURALIST AS WELL AS A POLITICIAN. HE WAS BORN IN 1918 AND EDUCATED AT THE KADURI AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AND TOOK UNIVERSITY COURSES IN JERUSALEM AND OXFORD, U.K.

IN 1931 DURING THE PERIOD OF THE BRITISH MANDATE IN PALESTINE, YIGAL ALLON JOINED THE HAGANA, A ZIONIST ORGANISATION WHICH WENT INTO ACTION AGAINST THE ARAB PALESTINIANS.

DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR HE COMMANDED A PALMACH (COMMANDO) COMPANY UNDER THE ALLIES IN SYRIA AND THE LEBANON, RISING TO DEPUTY COMMANDER OF THE PALMACH IN 1943, AND ITS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF IN THE IMMEDIATE POST-WAR YEARS.

HE WAS PLACED IN CHARGE OF HAGANA OPERATIONS IN PALESTINE IN 1945 AND SAW IN SEVERAL PARTS OF THE COUNTRY DURING THE CIVIL WAR OF 1947-48. WHICH LEAD UP TO THE PROCLAMATION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL.

AS AN AGRICULTURALIST HE IS A MEMBER AND CO-FOUNDER IN 1937 OF THE KIBBUTZ GENOSSAR, WHERE HE STILL LIVERS.

GENERAL ALLON IS A MEMBER AND A FORMER SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE ACHDUTH HA-AVODAH SOCIALIST PARTY, WHICH WITH MR. ESHKOL'S MAPAI PARTY FORMED THE PRESENT MAJORITY GROUP IN THE KNESSET (ISRAELI PARLIAMENT), THE ALIGNMENT FOR THE UNITY OF ISRAEL'S WORKERS, AFTER THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1965.

GENERAL ALLON WAS APPOINTED MINISTER OF LABOUR IN 1961, A POST WHICH HE STILL HOLDS.