Labor Party

Labor Party is a democratic socialist party which was established in 1968 with the union of the three Labor Parties: Mebay, Ahdut Hafuda - Bualy Tesion and Rafi. Now Shimon Peres is leader of the party. Peres following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the former leader of Labor Party (and prime minister) in late 1995 replaced him in the party leadership and became Prime Minister of Israel.
Labor Party since its formation in 1968 to 1992 took part in Knesset elections by the name of MeRakah (assembly of workers). MeRakah was created in 1969 with the union of Labor and Mapam pear ties and it was dissolved in 1984. Labor party can be considered as a continuation of the experienced and famous Mebay party. The main body of the Ahdut Hefuda - Bualy Tesion party (one of the founder parties of Labor Party) was formed by a group that split from Mebay party in 1944. The Rafi Party (the other founder party of Labor Party) was originally a group that under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion left the Mebay party in 1965. The most prominent founders of the Labor Party are: Leevi School, Golda Meyer & Benhous Sabir (from Mebay Party), Israel Glili, Yegal Allon and Yitzhak Ben Aaron (from Hefuda Ahdut) and Moshe Dayan and Shimon Peres (from the Rafi party) and Yitzhak Rabin, who joined the labor party in 1968, after the end of the period of military service.
Labor Party (called MeRakah) in the seventh and eighth Knesset elections (in 1969 and 1973) could preserve top position of Mebay party among all parties. Mebay party had superiority so it was always at the head of coalition governments which were formed by its idea, and the original posts in the Cabinet, the government, the Knesset and the Jewish Agency was in its possession, but in the ninth Knesset elections (in 1977) the Labor Party suffered a heavy defeat, and it was forced to leave the power and join the opposition parties and Righties controlled Israel's affairs for the first time in history of Israel.
In the Knesset elections in 1984 and 1988, the position of the arty got relatively better and it was in almost an identical situation with Likud Party in terms of the possibility of formation of the Cabinet and that is why the two parties had to form national unity cabinet after the election . In 1990 and by exit of the Labor Party from the coalition cabinet, there was nothing as a cabinet of national unity, but Likud Party continued activities by coalition with religious parties and the extreme righties' parties at the head of cabinet. Although the Labor Party in the elections of 1992 had the highest number of Knesset seats and was able to be at top of the cabinet (and consequently the transfer of the Likud Party to front of opponents), but the vast majority of the party in the current Knesset cannot be a great source of confidence for it.
Labor Party like other parties, faced with serious problems since installations and internal disputes over political, social or organizational issues or competing for the leadership had rocked the party several times. As a result of the shakings, a number of remarkable leaders of the party, including Moshe Dayan, Luffa Eliaf, Shulamith Aloni and Yossi Serid have left the party from time to time. These people after leaving the Labor Party were still considered remarkable political leaders and most of them formed new parties that all were dissolved except for the Rats party created by Shulamith Eloni. The last time the Labor Party faced with an acute problem was in April 1994. At the time, some of the members and activists of the party (including third members of the Knesset), led by Chaim Ramon disobeyed leadership of the party as a result of differences on matters relating to Histadrut, and in the elections of May 1994 Histadrut competed the Labor party while providing the separate electoral list led by Ramon. In this election, Ramon and his supporters won and were thus able to end almost 70 years of Labor Party dominance over Hestdrot. Following representing independent list of Ramon, Labor Party's leadership tried to evict the group of dissidents from the party, but kept three unsatisfied members of the Knesset with the party's parliamentary group, but withdrew decision to expel the group a few months later. After the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin (Prime Minister in 1995) Ramon returned to the party (along with other unsatisfied group's members) and was responsible for the country's ministries in the Cabinet that Perez formed after Rabin's assassination.
In terms of overall political perspective, the Labor Party wants peace with the Palestinians and Arab countries. Peace in the Labor Party's view is based on finding a moderate regional solution (for both the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the Golan Heights) based on Resolutions 242 and 338 of the UN Security Council (as the party had interpreted); besides the party disapproves full withdrawal from the occupied territories. In the last parliamentary elections, most brilliant points of election program of Labor Party in terms of the political issues were as follows:
Regarding Palestinian: readiness to negotiate with Palestinians characters and organizations which recognize Israel officially, and are opposed with terrorism and accept Resolutions 242 and 338 of the Security Council ' step-by-step problem solving; participation of Jordan in talks for final resolution with the aim of reaching an agreement on kind of shared political sovereignty between Jordan and Palestine (and not independent Palestinian state on the West Bank of the Jordan River) that is prepared for extensive cooperation with Israel; leaving the city of Jerusalem in rule of Israel; emphasizing that: the Jordan Valley and west north of Dead Sea (under Israeli sovereignty) form security boundaries of Israeli government; Remaining some critical areas in hands of Israel such as the suburbs of Jerusalem and Ghush Atsyun that majority of their population is non-Arabs; stopping settlement making activity except in areas of Jerusalem and the valley of the Jordan River and guaranteeing lack of invasion to settlements located in areas that Israel would withdraw them and to ensure the safety of their residents; solving the Palestinian refugees' problem outside the borders of Israel.
Regarding Syria: finding a solution in the middle of the region; continuing military and civilian presence (Jewish settlements) of Israel in the Golan Heights (for many years Israel has attached this area and runs it according to its law); strengthening existing settlements in the Golan Heights and the construction of new settlements (if political office and the representatives of the party in the Knesset approved); guaranteeing Israel's security through diverse measures such as: disarmament of many areas (large areas), creating a buffer between the parties and reducing the size of the force.
Regarding Lebanon: signing a peace treaty with an independent Lebanon by sovereignty right, free from the military domination of Syria and devoid of any foreign military and terrorist force; security measures such as stopping all terrorist activities and preventing restart of them (till signing the treaty peace); continuing defend of the northern borders of Israel through continue of presence of Israeli forces in the occupied zone in southern Lebanon and some other basic security measures.
In the field of economic and social issues, the Labor Party in the election program called for a mixed competitiveness economy, composed of three Histadrutical private, public and governmental sections that is managed on the principles of economy, trade and away from any discrimination and everyone benefit from it equally . Labor Party vowed in its program that if it was elected, it forms a cabinet, and it has the least involvement in usual and direct economic activities and tries for privatization of financial plans. It also stressed the need for continuity of social services and public health plans of government and public sector for citizens.
The Labor Party has always faced conflict since its formation between the doves and hawks on the policy regarding the occupied territories and peace with the Palestinians and the Arab states. In the Party's Congress in 1991 to become prepare for the Knesset elections in the following year (1992), hawks' political program was approved. This shows that at that time, the balance of power, especially in relation to the issue of the Golan Heights was mostly in favor of the hawks. But later the situation changed and in internal party elections that took place with the aim of selecting candidates for the Knesset elections, leaders of the pigeons' front were ahead of hawks' leaders in terms of the number of candidates and number of obtained votes. The overtaking after the victory of the Labor Party in the parliamentary elections of 1992 was reflected in the cabinet and its stance toward peace negotiations with the Palestinians and the Arab states that some opposed party's election program. In mid-1994, disputes of the two fronts (doves and hawks) were resumed. At that time, the heads of hawks and at top of them Ofiqor Kahlani, started forming a group called "the third path" to prevent the Israeli withdrawal from areas that were obviously named in the election, including the Golan Heights or West Bank. On the contrary, the heads of the doves' front with the formation of an opposition group called for reform of plans on the withdrawal from the Golan and parts of the West Bank and ending the opposition to formation of Palestinian independent state in the future.
In terms of election and party base, the Labor Party was representative of political interests and aspirations of a wide range of classes of Israeli society and it has various broad electoral bases. Although the party still considers itself as a leftist Socialist Party, in the election, middle class mostly voted this party and not the Likud party. The party among working class is less acceptable. This is mainly due to the way they vote in the general election since 1977 (it is known as year because of the Likud coming to power for the first time) onwards. Most Western Jews that in general form high classes of Israeli society tend to vote Labor Party, while the majority of Eastern Jews, who are broadly among lower classes of the society, vote in favor of Likud and right-wing parties. The Labor Party enjoys more support of members of the kibbutz and Moshavs related to Motadkibuts movement which is under the domination of the party.
The organizational structure of the party includes: the Congress, the highest organ of decision making and holds meeting every few years, the Central Committee, the highest organ of the decisions that its members come together several times a year between both sessions of Congress; Secretariat which is responsible for implementing legislation passed by Congress, the central committee and administration of party's affairs and hold meetings if necessity, and finally political office which is the highest party's executive arm.