Meretz-Yachad

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This is an article about the current Israeli political party. For the Jewish homosexuals association in Germany see: YACHAD (Germany).
Meretz-Yachad Social Democratic Israel מרצ-יחד ישראל חברתית דמוקרטית
Image:Meretz.png
Founded 1992
Leader Yossi Beilin
Number of MPs at height of power 12 (1992 elections)
Political ideology Social democracy
International Affiliation Socialist International
European affiliation Party of European Socialists(Observer)
Headquarters Tel Aviv
Colour(s) Green, Red, Yellow
Website www.Meretz.org.il
See also the Politics of Israel series
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Meretz-Yachad is a left wing social democratic party in Israel. (In Hebrew: yachad יחד; means "together", and meretz מרצ means "vitality", "energy".) Yachad is also an acronym of "Social Democratic Israel" in Hebrew.

(Note: Yachad was also the name of the Yachad (centrist party) formed by Ezer Weizmann prior to the 1984 Israeli elections. The party elected three members to the Knesset and subsequently dissolved and joined the Israeli Labour Party. The two "Yachads" are unconnected.)

Contents

[edit] History

Meretz was formed in 1992 by the merger of three other parties, Ratz (רצ, Movement for Civil Rights and Peace), Mapam (מפ"ם, Israeli Workers Party) and Shinui (שינוי, Change), and was led by Ratz's chairman Shulamit Aloni. In 1996, following Meretz's decline from 12 MKs to 9, Shulamit Aloni lost the party's leadership to Yossi Sarid. During that same year, the thee parties officially registered as a single party, but in 1997 part of Shinui (under the leadership of Avraham Poraz) left to form a separate movement.

In the 2003 elections Meretz shrunk significantly from 10 MKs to only 6. The party's leader Yossi Sarid immediately took responsibility and resigned from leadership, he did not, however, retire from the Knesset and continued serving as an active MK in Meretz.

In December 2003, Meretz was disbanded in order to merge with Yossi Beilin's Shahar (שח"ר) movement. The new party was called Yachad (יח"ד).

The new party was established in order to unite and resuscitate the Israeli Zionist peace camp, which was soundly defeated in the 2003 elections (dropping from 56 Knesset members in 1992 to 24 in 2003) following the al-Aqsa Intifada. The party's purpose was to unite a variety of dovish Zionist movements with the dovish wing of the Israeli Labor Party.

These efforts have been unsuccessful as, except for the original Meretz, Shahar and MK Roman Bronfman, no other movement has joined the new party. Yachad suffers from declining popular interest in left-wing peace movements, as a result of continued Palestinian terrorism. Only 20,000 people have registered as members of the new party (half the number of people who were listed as Meretz members in the 1999 party primaries).

The original name suggested was "Ya'ad" ("goal" in Hebrew), but was replaced because it sounds like the Russian word for poison ("yad"), and was feared to alienate Israel's one million Russian-speaking voters.

In March 2004, Yossi Beilin was elected over Ran Cohen to a two year term as the first chairman of Yachad.

In July 2005 the party decided to change its name to Meretz-Yachad, because opinion polls revealed that the Israeli public didn't recognize the name Yachad and preferred the old name Meretz. The chairman Beilin opposed the motion to revert the name to Meretz and as a compromise it was decided to merge the old and new name as Meretz-Yachad.

In December 2005, Yossi Sarid announced his retirement from the Knesset, and the veteran MK and former Minister did not run in the 2006 Israel Election.

In the 2006 election campaign the party used only the name Meretz, but still officially retains the name Meretz-Yachad.

[edit] Ideology

Meretz-Yachad defines itself as a Zionist Green left wing social democratic party. It has inherited Meretz's membership in the Socialist International.

It sees itself as the political representative of the Israeli Peace movement.

[edit] Principles

It emphasises the following principles (not necessarily in order of importance):

  • Making Israel a Social Democratic Welfare state.
  • Protecting workers' rights and fighting against their exploitation (especially, though not exclusively, in the case of foreign workers and immigrants).

[edit] Issues being debated internally

Issues that are still under debate in Meretz-Yachad:

[edit] Current status and politics

[edit] Reputation and public image

As stated above, Meretz-Yachad has shrunk significantly from the 10 MK Meretz party of 1999 to just 5 in 2006. Its attempt to draw Israeli Labor Party dovish voters and Knesset members has thus far failed. Meretz-Yachad has been the most severe victim of the rightward shift in Israeli politics since the start of Al-Aqsa intifada and failure of the Oslo accords.

[edit] Beilin's leadership

On March 16, 2004, Yossi Beilin was elected to lead Meretz-Yachad. Following Beilin's victory, the party was re-energized. Beilin launched a financial recovery plan for the party, which has begun running important activities.

[edit] Opposing Beilin

However, following Beilin's victory, many Meretz-Yachad activists announced that they are withdrawing their support from the party. Some of their arguments for this are:

  1. Beilin isn't a true socialist. Although he defines himself as social-liberal he is actually a moderate capitalist.
  2. Beilin's sole focuses is on negotiations with the Palestinians, neglecting other issues.
  3. Beilin is hated by a majority of the Israel public, mainly by Mizrahim and residents of the periphery towns. This is partly because of the perception that he holds 'too pro-Palestinian' opinions, partly because of his elitist image and mainly because of the failure of the Oslo process, with which Beilin is closely associated.
  4. Beilin is perceived to be funded by foreign (European) sources, thus being more loyal to the interests of his funders in the European union rather to the interests of Israel.
  5. Beilin's Geneva Accord seemed to be an unfair attempt to place Ran Cohen in his shadow.
  6. The defeat of Ran Cohen by Beilin appears to some to be evidence of the anti-Sephardic racism in Meretz-Yachad. Cohen, who immigrated to Israel from Iraq, is the only non-Ashkenazi to have reached a senior position in Meretz or Meretz-Yachad.

[edit] Supporting Beilin

However, the radical faction of Meretz expressed support in Beilin because:

  1. It was claimed that he could attract voters from Hadash and other small radical left parties.
  2. Beilin's supporters showed polls that claim to prove that Beilin will bring more voters than Cohen.
  3. Beilin is the father of the Oslo peace process and the Geneva Accords.
  4. Beilin would give Meretz-Yachad a clear dovish stand, which will distinguish it from the Israeli Labor Party and Shinui.


[edit] Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Meretz-Yachad's approach toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has grown more radical since its establishment. It abandoned the "securitist" approach of its predecessor Meretz and focused its criticism at the conduct of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Defense Forces and the government of Israel. This criticism has failed to find much support in Israeli public opinion, which continues to be dominated by the desire for security and haunted by Palestinian terror attacks.

Meretz-Yachad was torn in whether to support Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan. It is also criticized in neglecting the social issues which Meretz championed. In November 2004, Meretz-Yachad announced that it would abstain in motions of no confidence in the Likud government in order to prevent the government from falling prior to the implementation of its plan to withdraw from Gaza. With the defection of Shinui from Ariel Sharon's government, Meretz-Yachad's decision helped Sharon to execute his plan.

[edit] Knesset members

Current Knesset members (17th assembly):

  1. Yossi Beilin
  2. Haim Oron
  3. Ran Cohen
  4. Zehava Galon
  5. Avshalom Vilan

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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