Israel Labour Party

Israel Labour Party, Israeli social-democratic political party founded in January 1968 in the union of three socialist-labour parties. It and its major component, Mapai, dominated Israel’s government from the country’s independence in 1948 until 1977, when the rival Likud coalition first came to power. For decades thereafter, Labour and Likud alternated in government, though the country’s fragmented party system and unique security needs sometimes resulted in so-called “unity governments” of both Labour and Likud.

Predecessors and ideological orientation

The major partner in the labour alliance and (by its antecedents) the oldest party in Palestine-Israel was Mapai (an acronym for Mifleget Poʿale Eretz Yisraʾel [“Party of the Workers of the Land of Israel”]). Mapai was formed in 1930 through the merger of two older labour parties, Aḥdut ha-ʿAvoda (“Unity of Workers”), which was founded in 1919, and ha-Poʿel ha-Tzaʿir (“Young Worker”), which was founded in 1905 and was the first party of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister. Mapai quickly became the dominant party among Jews in Palestine, and, after Israel achieved its independence in 1948, it controlled the government for 29 years (from 1968 as part of the Israel Labour Party). Among the party’s leading figures throughout the second half of the 20th century were Levi Eshkol (prime minister, 1963–69), Abba Eban (foreign minister, 1966–74), Golda Meir (prime minister, 1969–74), Yitzhak Rabin (prime minister, 1974–77 and 1992–95), and Shimon Peres (prime minister, 1984–86 and 1995–96). Rabin and Peres were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1994 for their efforts to establish a lasting peace treaty with the Palestinians.

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Israel: Labour rule after Ben-Gurion

The second partner in the Israel Labour Party was Aḥdut ha-ʿAvoda–Poʿale Tziyyon (“Unity of Labour–Workers of Zion”), founded in 1944 by a group of dissident Mapai members who broke away from the party to protest its alleged reformist tendencies. It attracted significant support from those living in Israel’s kibbutzim, or collective settlements. It rejoined Mapai in a “Labour Alignment” in 1965 and then joined in the founding of the Israel Labour Party three years later.

The third partner was Rafi (an acronym for Reshimat Poʿale Yisraʾel [“Israel Workers List”]), formed in 1965 when Ben-Gurion, after a political and personal feud with Eshkol, withdrew with his supporters to form a new party. Although most Rafi members joined the new Israel Labour Party in 1968, Ben-Gurion and a few followers formed their own tiny party, known as the State List.

From its foundation, the Israel Labour Party usually formed a Labour Alignment (Maʿarach) with Mapam, a left-wing Zionist and socialist party, until the latter became incorporated into Meretz in 1992. The Maʿarach has also included two Arab lists, Progress and Development and the Arab Bedouin List.

For most of its history, the Israel Labour Party supported state economic planning and extensive social benefits, but later, particularly in the 1990s, it moderated its traditional socialist policies in favour of greater economic liberalization and deregulation. The party is particularly strong among secular and Ashkenazi (European) Jews, trade unionists, and those living on the kibbutzim.

Peace process

The Labour Party has generally supported greater concessions to the Palestinians in the peace process than Likud, and it has endorsed the “land-for-peace” principle (though elements of the party have always supported the building of settlements in the territories Israel conquered in the Six-Day War). The Labour Party has also taken a fairly pragmatic approach to both economic and foreign policy, eschewing extremist approaches.

In 1992, after the first intifadah led many Israelis to believe in the need to negotiate a peaceful solution with the Palestinians, Rabin was elected prime minister with a mandate to pursue peace. His government conducted secret negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The result was the conclusion of the Oslo Accords in September 1993, in which Israel and the PLO recognized one another and agreed to a two-state solution. The agreement also enabled Rabin to complete a peace treaty with neighbouring Jordan in 1994. The two-state solution was met with some resistance among some Israelis and Palestinians, and in 1995 Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist. When the election was held for a new prime minister in early 1996, Labour candidate Peres lost to Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu, who sought to renegotiate the Oslo process.

Decline in influence

In 1999, under the leadership of Ehud Barak (who was elected prime minister that year), the party ran under the banner of One Israel with Gesher (which had run on a single list with Likud during the previous election) and Meimad (a moderate religious party). In the election of 2001, Likud’s Ariel Sharon easily defeated Barak, who subsequently resigned as leader of the Labour Party, and the party was reduced to 25 seats in the Knesset (parliament). The party was once again easily defeated by Likud in 2003, and in 2006 it lost to both Likud and Kadima—a centrist party formed by Sharon late the previous year—and its representation in the Knesset fell to 19 seats. In the 2009 general election Labour finished fourth, and its representation in the Knesset was reduced to an unprecedented low of 13 seats. After the loss, Barak agreed to enter Labour into the new Likud-led coalition, composed primarily of right-wing religious and nationalist parties. The decision caused deep divisions within the party; many members objected that alliance would undermine Labour’s position of support for peace negotiations with the Palestinians. In January 2011 Barak and four Labour members of the Knesset split away from Labour, forming a new party that remained in the ruling coalition. The remaining Labour members of the Knesset joined the opposition. In September 2011 Shelly Yachimovich was elected to lead the Labour Party. Under Yachimovich, Labour won 15 seats in elections in January 2013 and refused to join a coalition led by Likud. Later that year, Isaac Herzog defeated Yachimovich for leadership of the party.

Elections were held in March 2015. In the months prior to the elections, Herzog led the Labour Party in forming a centre-left alliance with Tzipi Livni’s nascent Hatnua party. The new alliance, named the Zionist Union, looked poised to perform well in the polls, with analysts predicting an extremely close race between it and the other front-runner, Likud. The results, however, showed that the Zionist Union won only 24 seats, finishing second to Likud, which garnered 30 seats. Still, it was Labour’s strongest performance since 2001.

After Avi Gabbay became the leader of the party in 2017, relations with Livni became strained. In December 2018, shortly after elections were set for April 2019, he announced that he would dissolve the alliance with Livni. When those elections took place, the party saw its worst performance since Israel’s foundation.