ISRAEL LABOUR PARTY

Hebrew Mifleget Ha-'avoda Ha-yisra'elit, Israeli 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 independence (1948) until 1977, when the rival Likud coalition first came to power. Thereafter, Labour and Likud alternated in essentially a two-party system, which relied, however, on coalitions with minor parties. The major partner in the labour alliance and (by its antecedents) the oldest party in Palestine-Israel is Mapai (an acronym for Mifleget Po'ale Eretz Yisra'el [Party of the Workers of the Land of Israel]). It was formed in 1930 in a merger of two older labour parties, Ahdut ha-'Avoda (Unity of Workers), founded in 1919, and ha-Po'el ha-Tza'ir (Young Worker), founded in 1905, the latter being the first party of David Ben-Gurion. Mapai quickly became the dominant party in the Jewish community in Palestine in the 1930s; and, after the independence of Israel (1948), it controlled the government for 29 years (from 1968 as part of the Israel Labour Party). Mapai was the party of Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol, Abba Eban, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres. The second partner in the Israel Labour Party is Ahdut ha-'AvodaPo'ale Tziyyon (Unity of LabourWorkers of Zion), which was founded in 1944 by a group of Mapai members who broke away in protest against Mapai's alleged reformist tendencies. Its constituency lies largely in the kibbutzim. 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 Po'ale Yisra'el [Israel Workers List]), formed in 1965 when Ben-Gurion, after a political fight and personal feud with Levi Eshkol, withdrew with his supporters to form a new party. When most Rafi members joined the new Israel Labour Party in 1968, Ben-Gurion and a few followers stayed out to form their own tiny party, the State List. Since its founding, the Israel Labour Party has usually formed a Labour Alignment (Ma'arach) with Mapam, a left-wing Zionist and socialist party. The Ma'arach has also included two Arab lists, Progress and Development and the Arab Bedouin List.