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{{Infobox_Israeli_Political_Party | party_name = Israeli Labor Party<br/>מפלגת העבודה הישראלית | colorcode = #C61318 | party_logo = | leader = [[Ehud Barak]] | foundation = 1968 | ideology = [[Social Democracy]],<br/>[[Third Way (centrism)|Third Way]],<br/>[[Labor Zionism]] | MPheight = 63 (as the [[Alignment (political party)|Alignment]] in 1968) | MPcurrent = 19 (2006) | headquarters = [[Hatikva Quarter]], [[Tel Aviv]] | international = [[Socialist International]] | european = [[Party of European Socialists]] (observer) | colors = [[Red]] | website = [http://www.havoda.org.il/ www.havoda.org.il] | }} The '''Israeli Labor Party''' ({{lang-he|מפלגת העבודה הישראלית}}, ''Mifleget HaAvoda HaYisraelit''), generally known in Israel as '''Avoda''' ({{lang-he|עבודה}}), is a [[center-left]] [[political party]] in [[Israel]]. It is a [[social democracy|social democratic]] and [[Labor Zionism|Zionist]] party, a member of the [[Socialist International]] and an observer member of the [[Party of European Socialists]]. From 1999, the party has been allied to the small left-wing, [[Religious Zionism|religious Zionist]] party [[Meimad]], in an electoral agreement whereby Meimad gets the tenth seat on Labor's list. Some of the most prominent leaders in the history of modern Israel were from the Labor Party, including [[Golda Meir]], [[Yitzhak Rabin]], and [[Shimon Peres]]. Meir was one of the original signatories of the [[Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel]] in 1948. She also served as the fourth [[Prime Minister]]. Meir was noted for her policy of retribution for the slaughter by Palestinian terrorists of Israeli athletes at the [[Munich massacre|Munich Olympics]]. Rabin was the fifth Prime Minister, who together with Peres and [[Yasser Arafat]] won the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for his work constructing the [[Oslo Accords]]. The success of the Accords were limited and Rabin was assassinated for his role in the Oslo process. Peres has since left the Labor Party to join the unity party, Kadima. He was elected President of Israel in 2007. ==History== The foundations for the formation of the Israeli Labor Party were laid shortly before the [[Israeli legislative election, 1965|1965 Knesset elections]] when [[Mapai]], the largest left-wing party in the country formed an alliance with [[Ahdut HaAvoda]]. The alliance was an attempt by Mapai to shore up the party's share of the vote following a break-away of eight MKs (around a fifth of Mapai's Knesset faction) led by [[David Ben-Gurion]] to form a new party, [[Rafi (political party)|Rafi]]. The move was a protest against Mapai's failure to approve a change to the country's proportional representation voting system. The alliance, called the [[Alignment (political party)|Labor Alignment]], won 45 seats in the elections, and was able to form the government in coalition with the [[National Religious Party]], [[Mapam]], the [[Independent Liberals (Israel)|Independent Liberals]], [[Agudat Israel Workers]], [[Progress and Development]] and [[Cooperation and Brotherhood]]. After the [[Six-Day War]] broke out, Rafi and [[Gahal]] joined the coalition. On January 23, 1968, Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi (with the exception of Ben-Gurion, who formed the [[National List]] in protest) merged into one body; the ''Israeli Labor Party''. On January 28, 1969, the party allied itself with Mapam, the alliance becoming known as the [[Alignment (political party)|Alignment]]. As the largest faction within the Alignment, Labor came to dominate it. Mapam left during the [[Israeli legislative election, 1973|eighth Knesset]], but rejoined shortly afterward. They broke away again during the [[Israeli legislative election, 1984|eleventh Knesset]], angry at [[Shimon Peres]]'s decision to form a national unity government with [[Likud]]. Although the Independent Liberals merged into the Alignment in the 1980s, they had no Knesset representation at the time. On October 7, 1991, the Alignment ceased to exist, with all factions formally merged into the Labor Party. Led by [[Yitzhak Rabin]], the party won the [[Israeli legislative election, 1992|1992 elections]] and formed the government. Rabin's decision to advance peace talks with the Palestinians to the point of signing the [[Oslo Accords]] led to his [[Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin|his assassination]] in 1995. Peres decided to call early elections in 1996, to give him a mandate for advancing the peace process. However, his ploy failed; although Labor won the most seats in the [[Israeli legislative election, 1996|Knesset election]], he lost to the [[Israeli prime ministerial election, 1996|election for Prime Minister]] to [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] following a wave of [[suicide bombing]]s by [[Hamas]]. Netanyahu and Likud were thus able to form the government. With his coalition falling apart, Netanyahu decided to call early elections in 1999. [[Ehud Barak]] won the internal primaries, and was nominated as the Labor candidate for Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the party entered an electoral alliance with [[Meimad]] and [[Gesher (political party)|Gesher]] called [[One Israel]]. Barak won the [[Israeli prime ministerial election, 1999|Prime Minister election]], while One Israel won the [[Israeli legislative election, 1999|Knesset elections]], albeit with only 26 seats. Barak started by forming a 75-member coalition together with [[Shas]], [[Meretz-Yachad|Meretz]], [[Yisrael BaAliyah]], the [[National Religious Party]] and [[United Torah Judaism]]. The coalition with religious parties (NRP, Shas and UTJ) caused tensions with the [[secularism|secularist]] Meretz, who quit the coalition after a disagreement with Shas over the authority of the Deputy Education Minister. The rest of the parties left before the [[Camp David 2000 summit]]. Following the [[October 2000 riots]] and the violence of the [[al-Aqsa Intifada]], Barak resigned from office. He then lost a [[Israeli prime ministerial election, 2001|special election for Prime Minister]] to [[Likud]]'s [[Ariel Sharon]]. However, Labor remained in Sharon's coalition as he formed a [[National government|national unity government]] with Likud, Labor, Shas, Yisrael BaAliyah, and United Torah Judaism, and were given two of the most important cabinet portfolios; Peres was appointed [[Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] and [[Benjanin Ben-Eliezer]] was made [[List of Defense Ministers of Israel|Defense Minister]]. Labor 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, Labor quit the government in 2003. Prior to the [[Israeli legislative election, 2003|2003 elections]], [[Amram Mitzna]] won the party primaries, and led the party into the election with a platform that included unilateral withdrawal from the [[Gaza Strip]]. The party was routed in the elections, winning only 19 seats (its lowest ever), whilst Sharon's Likud won 38 (40 after [[Yisrael BaAliyah]] merged into the party). Subsequently, due to internal opposition, Mitzna resigned from the party leadership, and soon thereafter was replaced by Shimon Peres. Despite being omitted from the original right-wing coalition, Sharon invited Labor into the coalition to shore up support for the [[Israel's unilateral disengagement plan|disengagement plan]] (effectively Mitzna's policy which he had earlier lambasted) after the [[National Union (Israel)|National Union]] and the [[National Religious Party]] had left the government. On November 8, 2005, Shimon Peres was replaced as the leader of the Labor party by the election of left-wing Histadrut union leader [[Amir Peretz]] in an internal Labor party ballot. Peretz stated his intention to reassert Labor's traditional [[socialist]] policies and took Labor party out of the government, prompting Sharon to resign and call for new [[Israeli legislative election, 2006|elections in March 2006]]. ==Current status== In the [[Israeli legislative election, 2006|elections in March 2006]] the party placed second with 19 seats, a loss of 3 from the previous elections. After the March 2006 election, Labor joined Ehud Olmert's coalition government as the junior partner with Kadima. Labor was awarded a number of ministries including the defense ministry, which went to Labor leader Amir Peretz. The IDF performed poorly in the Second Lebanon War with Hezbollah in June-July 2006. Both Olmert and Peretz suffered the blame for this performance. On May 28, 2007, Labor members went to the polls in party primaries. Amir Peretz finished third in the primaries, trailing both former Prime Minister [[Ehud Barak]] and political newcomer [[Ami Ayalon]]—the former head of [[Shin Bet]], Israel's primary intelligence agency. Neither Ayalon nor Barak achieved the 40 percent necessary for an outright victory, so a second round of voting took place on June 12, 2007. Both Barak and Ayalon stated that they would withdraw from Ehud Olmert's coalition unless the Prime Minister resigns.<ref>BBC, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6699993.stm Israel party votes to oust leader.] Retrieved December 17, 2008.</ref> On the night of June 12, 2007, Ehud Barak won back the leadership of the party. ==Ideology== ===Past=== Mapai evolved from the [[socialist]] [[Poale Zion]] movement and adhered to the [[Socialist Zionist]] 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 [[Jew]]s. 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). Labor in the past was even more [[hawkish]] on security and defense issues than it is today. During its years in office, Israel has fought the [[Suez Crisis|1956 Sinai War]], the [[1967 Six Day War]], and the [[1973 Yom Kippur War]]. ===Current=== In recent years (up until 2005), the ILP became a centrist party. It was no longer considered [[Socialism|socialist]] or [[social democracy|social democratic]] (though it retained membership in the [[Socialist International]]) but had a centrist platform, similar to the "third-way" of the [[Labour Party (UK)|British Labour Party]] under prime minister [[Tony Blair]]. Economic policies in Israel being seldom hotly debated even within the major parties, actual policies depended much more on initiative by the civil service than on political ideologies. Therefore, Labor's terms in office during this period did not differ significantly in terms of economic policy from those of its rival. In 2003, the ILP experienced a small split when former members [[Yossi Beilin]] and [[Yael Dayan]] joined [[Meretz-Yachad]] to form a new left-wing party. In November 2005, [[Amir Peretz]], leader of the social democratic [[One Nation (Israel)|One Nation]] which had merged into the ILP, was elected chairman of the party, defeating [[Shimon Peres]]. Under Peretz, and especially in the [[Israeli legislative election, 2006|2006 electoral campaign]], the party took a significant ideological turn, putting social and economic issues on top of its agenda, and advocating a moderate social democratic approach (including increases in minimum wage and social security payments), in sharp contrast to the [[neo-liberal]] policies led by former Finance Minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]]. In 2006, several members of the ILP left to join the new centrist grouping, [[Kadima]]; these included former Labor leader Shimon Peres, [[Haim Ramon]], and [[Dalia Itzik]]. ==Party leaders== *[[Levi Eshkol]] 1968-1969 (also leader of the Alignment) *[[Golda Meir]] 1969-1974 (also leader of the Alignment) *[[Yitzhak Rabin]] 1974-1977 (also leader of the Alignment) *[[Shimon Peres]] 1977-1992 (also leader of the Alignment) *[[Yitzhak Rabin]] 1992-1995 *[[Shimon Peres]] 1995-1997 *[[Ehud Barak]] 1997-2001 *[[Binyamin Ben-Eliezer]] 2001-2002 *[[Amram Mitzna]] 2002-2003 *[[Shimon Peres]] 2003-2005 *[[Amir Peretz]] 2005-2007 *[[Ehud Barak]] 2007- == Other prominent members == Prominent former members include: *[[Yigal Allon]]—Acting Prime-Minister *[[Moshe Dayan]]—Defense Minister *[[Abba Eban]]—Minister of Foreign Affairs *[[Chaim Herzog]]—President of Israel *[[Efraim Katzir]]—President of Israel *[[Yitzhak Navon]]—President of Israel *[[Zalman Shazar]]—President of Israel *[[Ezer Weizman]]—President of Israel ==Current MKs== Number of Seats: 19 #[[Eitan Cabel]] (slot reserved for ILP General Secretary)—Chairman #[[Amir Peretz]] (slot reserved for ILP Chairman) #[[Isaac Herzog]] #[[Ophir Pines-Paz]] #[[Avishay Braverman]] (former president of the [[Ben-Gurion University of the Negev]]) #[[Yuli Tamir]] (slot reserved for women) #[[Ami Ayalon]] (former head of [[Shin Bet]]) #[[Binyamin (Fouad) Ben-Eliezer]] #[[Shelly Yachimovich]] (slot reserved for women) #[[Michael Melchior]] (slot reserved for [[Meimad]]) #[[Matan Vilnai]] #[[Colette Avital]] (slot reserved for women) #<s>[[Efraim Sneh]]</s> #<s>[[Dani Yatom]]</s> #[[Nadia Hilou]] (slot reserved for women) #[[Shalom Simhon]] (slot reserved for ''[[Moshav]]im'') #[[Orit Noked]] (slot reserved for ''[[Kibbutz]]im'') #[[Yoram Marciano]] (slot reserved for poor neighborhoods) #[[Raleb Majadele]] (slot reserved for [[Arab]] sector) #[[Shakhiv Shana'an]] (5/28/2008—replaced Ephraim Sneh) #[[Leon Litinetsky]] (7/2/2008—replaced Dani Yatom) ==Notes== <references/> ==References== *Agres, Elijahu. 1969. ''Golda Meir: Portrait of a Prime Minister.'' New York: Sabra Books. ISBN 087631020X. *Benedikt, Linda. ''Yitzhak Rabin: The Battle for Peace.'' London: Haus Pub, 2006. ISBN 190495006X. *Knesset Website. [http://www.knesset.gov.il/faction/eng/FactionPage_eng.asp?PG=0 Israel Labor Party.] Retrieved December 17, 2008. ==External links== *[http://www.knesset.gov.il/faction/eng/FactionPage_eng.asp?PG=122 Labor-Meimad] Knesset website. Retrieved December 17, 2008. {{Israeli political parties}} [[Category:Politics and social sciences]] [[Category:Politics]] {{credit|248133201}}

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