Politics in Israel - Parties - Labour
Labour or Labor, (העבודה
HaAvoda) is an Israeli political party. It holds moderate left agenda
and is a Zionist party. It is a member of the Socialist International
and an observer member of the Party of European Socialists.
Other names for the party
The following are the names which the Israeli Labour party has used:
* Zion workers פועלי ציון ("Zion's Workers", "Poalei Zion").
* Mapai - מפא"י : "The Party of the Workers of the Land of Israel".
(1930-1970)
* HaMaarach - המערך: "The Alignment" (of the Mapai and Mapam parties).
* HaAvoda (Avoda) - העבודה, lit "Labour".
* One Israel ישראל אחת - with Gesher and Meimad (1999-2001).
The current name is HaAvoda.
History
Mapai (Mifleget Poalei Eretz Israel — "Land of Israel Worker's Party")
was a Labour Zionist party founded in the 1930s as the right wing (or
more moderate) faction of the Zionist socialist Russian party Poale
Zion. In the early 1920s the Labour Zionist movement founded the
Histadrut ("General Hebrew Workers' Union") which dominated the Hebrew
settlement economy and infrastructure, later making Mapai the dominant
political faction in the Zionist politics. It is also responsible for
the founding of Hashomer and Haganah, the first two armed Jewish group
who secured the people and property of the Hebrew settlements against
bandits and terrorists.
By the early 1930s, the workers' leader David Ben-Gurion rose to power
and led Mapai for almost two decades before he retired to Sde Boker in
order to develop the Negev desert. Under Ben-Gurion's leadership Mapai
became the leading party in the Hebrew parliament and Ben-Gurion led the
Hebrew settlement in its struggle for independence. Ben-Gurion declared
Israel's independence and was elected to be its first prime minister.
In 1965 Mapai joined with Achdut Ha'Avoda-Poale Zion to form the "Labour
Alignment". In 1968 the two parties merged with Rafi, a splinter group
of Ben-Gurion supporters who had left Mapai a few years earlier, to form
the Mifleget Ha-Avodah Ha-Yisraelit (the "Israeli Labour Party"). In
1969 the new party formed an electoral coalition with Mapam which became
the second Labour Alignment and continued to dominate the government.
Until 1977, all the prime ministers were from the Mapai/ILP. The
greatest opposition to the ILP was Menachem Begin's Herut (today Likud)
- the right wing liberal party. In 1977, following Yitzhak Rabin
resignation from office, the ILP lost the elections to Begin.
In 1984, as a result of an electoral stalemate in which neither Labour
nor Likud was able to form a stable coalition, the two parties led by
Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir respectively formed a national unity
government with the prime ministership rotating between the two party
leaders. The left wing Mapam rejected this arrangement and left the
Labour Alignment to join the parliamentary opposition. The national
unity government fell in 1988 following a failing political scam of
Peres and Shas leader Aryeh Deri.
In 1992, the ILP won the election and Yitzhak Rabin was elected as prime
minister. During his term, he signed a peace treaty with Jordan and ran
the Oslo process. The rise of terror following The Oslo process has
eventually led to Rabin's assassination by a right-wing extremist Yigal
Amir. Shimon Peres replaced Rabin until 1996, when he lost the elections
to Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu following a wave of suicide bombings by
Palestinian terror group Hamas.
On 1999, Ehud Barak beat Shimon Peres and became the leader of the party
and its candidate for Prime minister. In these elections Israelis voted
twice - once for the Knesset and once for Prime Minister. Ehud Barak
created "One Israel" (ישראל אחת) - a joint list of the Labour, David
Levy's Gesher and the religious Zionist Meimad. Barak's campaign was
focusing on social and economical issues, and his reputation as a
"not-politician" and "not-passing-screen" helped him to overcome and
replace in office the slick and charismatic Likud's candidate Benjamin
Netanyahu.
However, Ehud Barak tenure was short. He started by forming a 75-member
coalition of Israel-One (26), Shas (17), Meretz (10), Israel-BaAliya
(5), Mafdal (5) and United Torah Judaism (5). The coalition with
religious right wing parties such as Mafdal, Shas and United Torah
Judaism caused tensions with leftist and secularist Meretz. Meretz was
the first to quit the coalition after a fight with Shas over the
authority of the Deputy Education Minister. The rest of the parties left
before the Camp David 2000 summit in the summer. Following the October
2000 riots and the violence of the al-Aqsa Intifada, Barak resigned from
office and was replaced by Ariel Sharon in 2001 (the elections were only
for prime-minister).
Ariel Sharon formed a unity government with Likud, Labour, Shas,
Israel-BaAliya and United Torah Judaism. Labour got two important
cabinet portfolios: Shimon Peres was appointed as Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Benjanin Ben-Eliezer was appointed as Defence Minister.
Labour supported Operation Defensive Shield, which was conducted in
April 2002 against Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank. After harsh
criticism that Peres and Ben-Elizer were "puppets" of Sharon and not
promoting the peace process, Labour quit the government in 2003.
In 2003, general elections were held. Likud won 40 mandates, while
Labour - lead by former General and Haifa Mayor Amram Mitzna - won only
19. This was considered a blow to the "Old Lady" of Israeli politics.
Mitzna resigned as chairman of Labour and Shimon Peres was appointed
temporary Chairman.
On November 2004, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak announced that he
intented to run again for Prime Minister as Labour chairman, causing
fear and pressure among Labour's senior politicians.
Famous members
Prominent former members include
* Yigal Allon
* Ehud Barak
* David Ben-Gurion
* Berl Katznelson
* Chaim Herzog
* Golda Meir
* Shimon Peres
* Yitzhak Rabin
* Moshe Sharett
* Abba Eban
* Moshe Dayan
Ideology
Past
Mapai evolved from the Socialist "Workers of Zion" party and adhered to
the Zionist Socialist ideology promulgated by Nahum Syrkin and Ber
Borochov. During Ben-Gurion's leadership (1930s-1950s) Mapai focused
mainly on the Zionist agenda, since it was the most urgent issue then -
establishing a national homeland for Jews.
After the founding of the state of Israel, Mapai engaged in nation
building - the establishment of the Israel Defense Forces (while
dismantling every other armed group), the establishment of many
settlements, the settling of more than 1,000,000 Jewish immigrants and
the desire to unite all the inhabitants of Israel under a new Zionist
Jewish Israeli culture (an ideology known as the "Melting pot" כור
היתוך).
Labour in the past was even more hawkish on security and defence issues
than it is today. During its years in office, Israel has fought the 1956
Sinai War, the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Current
The ILP has become a centrist party. It is no longer socialist or social
democratic (though it retains membership in the Socialist International)
but has a social-liberal platform, similar to the third-way of British
Labour under Tony Blair. However, economic policies in Israel are seldom
hotly debated even within the major parties, and thus actual policies
depend much more on initiative by the civil service than on political
ideologies. Therefore, Labour's recent terms in office did not differ
significantly in terms of economic policy from those of its rival.
On the question of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Labour party has two
competing attitudes. Dovish members, such as Amram Mitzna, Avraham Burg,
Yuli Tamir, support peace negotiations with the Palestinians and
dismantling most Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip. Some of them harshly criticise Israel's military tactics used
against Palestinians - mainly the "targeted killing" of alleged terror
leaders. In 2003, the ILP experienced a small split when former members
Yossi Beilin and Yael Dayan joined Yachad to form a new left wing party.
Semi-pragmatic ILP members, such as Shimon Peres, Offir Pines, Haim
Ramon and Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, support negotiations with the
Palestinians conditional on ending terrorism and replacing the current
Palestinian leadership with one committed to non-violence. Some ILP
members (mainly Haim Ramon) support the erection of the Israeli West
Bank barrier to prevent terrorists from entering Israel, as well as
unilateral withdrawal from areas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The pragmatic ILP members - headed by Peres and Ramon - support Israel's
military war against Palestinian terror groups. Unlike Mitzna and Burg,
Peres and Ramon justify Israel's policy of targeting terror leader such
as Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantissi. They are also willing to join a
unity government with Likud on condition that the government promotes
the peace process and the dismantling of settlements.
Current status
It is currently led by Shimon Peres, and has 19 seats in the 16th
Knesset. Recently, the party agreed to merge with Amir Peretz's Am Ehad
workers' party. Am Ehad has only 3 seats, but Peretz is the head of the
Histadrut - the most powerful Workers' Union in Israel, founded by
Mapai. Although Am Ehad has small electoral power, it is an important
party because it has the ability to declare a general strike.
On December 2004 Labor joined Ariel Sharon's Likud to form a unity
government in order to implement Israel's disengagement plan from the
Gaza Strip.
The party used to dominate Israeli politics, but is now in opposition,
alternating with Likud as a coalition leader.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_%28Israel%29
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