Meretz-Yachad

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Meretz-Yachad
מרצ-יחד
Image:Meretz.png
Founded 1992
Leader Yossi Beilin
Number of MPs at height of power 12 (1992 elections)
Political ideology Social democracy
European affiliation Party of European Socialists (Observer)
Headquarters Tel Aviv
Colour(s) Green, Yellow
Website www.Meretz.org.il
See also the Politics of Israel series
Israel

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Meretz-Yachad (Hebrew: מרצ-יחד, Vitality - Together), previously known as Meretz and then Yachad, is a left-wing social democratic party in Israel. It is not connected with the defunct Yachad party from the 1980s.

Contents

[edit] History

Meretz was formed in 1992 prior to the elections by an alliance of three left-wing parties; Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, and was initially led by Ratz's chairwoman and long-time Knesset member Shulamit Aloni. Its first electoral test was a success, with the party winning twelve seats, making it the third largest in the Knesset. Meretz became the major coalition partner of Yitzhak Rabin's Labour Party, helping pave the way for the Oslo Accords. The party also picked up several ministerial portfolios; Aloni was made Minister of Education, though disputes over the role of religion in education meant she was moved out of the education ministry to become Minister Without Portfolio in May 1993. In June she became Minister of Communications and Minister of Science and Technology, a role that was later renamed Minister of Science and the Arts. Amnon Rubinstein became Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and Minister of Science and Technology and later Minister of Education, Culture, and Sport, whilst Yossi Sarid was named Minister of the Environment and Yair Tsaban Minister of Immigrant Absorption.

After the 1996 elections, in which Meretz lost a quarter of its seats, Aloni lost internal leadership elections to Yossi Sarid and retired. In 1997 the three parties officially merged into a single entity, though part of Shinui (under the leadership of Avraham Poraz) broke away to form a separate movement. Later in the Knesset session David Zucker also left the party to sit as an independent MK.

The 1999 elections saw the party regain some of its former strength, picking up 10 seats, including the first ever female Israeli Arab MK, Hussniya Jabara. Meretz were invited into Ehud Barak's coalition, with Sarid becoming Education Minister, Ran Cohen Minister of Industry and Trade, and Haim Oron Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. However, after Ariel Sharon beat Barak in a special election for Prime Minister in 2001, Meretz left the government.

For the 2003 elections, Meretz were joined by Roman Bronfman's Democratic Choice and . However, the party shrank again, this time to just six seats. Sarid immediately took responsibility and resigned from leadership, though he did not retire from the Knesset and continued serving as an MK, before stepping down prior to the 2006 elections.

In December 2003, Meretz was disbanded in order to merge with Yossi Beilin's non-parliamentary Shakhar (Hebrew: שח"ר) movement. The original name suggested for the new party was Ya'ad (Hebrew: יעד, Goal), but was not used because it sounded like the Russian word for poison ("yad"), and it was feared that it might alienate Israel's one million Russian-speaking voters (although there had been two parties previously in Israel using the name - Ya'ad and Ya'ad – Civil Rights Movement, the latter ironically a forerunner of Meretz, they both existed before large-scale immigration from the Soviet Union). Instead, the name Yachad (Hebrew: יח"ד) was chosen. As well as meaning "Together", it is also a Hebrew acronym for Social-Democratic Israel (Hebrew: ישראל חברתית דמוקרטית, Yisrael Hevratit Demokratit).

The new party was established in order to unite and resuscitate the Israeli Zionist peace camp, which had been 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 Labor Party. However, the efforts were largely unsuccessful as, except for the original Meretz, Shakhar and Democratic Choice, no other movement joined the new party. It has suffered from declining popular interest in left-wing peace movements, as a result of continued Palestinian terrorism, and only 20,000 people are now registered members of the party, half the number who were prior to the 1999 party primaries.

In March 2004, Yossi Beilin was elected party leader, beating Ran Cohen, and started 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 name Yachad was not recognisable to the Israeli public, and that they preferred the old name Meretz. The chairman Beilin opposed the motion to revert the name to Meretz and a compromise between the old and new names, Meretz-Yachad, was agreed upon.

However, in the 2006 election campaign the party dropped the Yachad part, running as just Meretz, under the slogan "Meretz on the left, the Human in the centre". Nevertheless, it failed to stop the party's decline, as they won just five seats, the lowest total in the party's history. If they had picked up another seat, Tsvia Greenfeld, sixth on the party list, would have become the first ever female Ultra-orthodox Knesset member.

[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, in the Knesset - as well as municipal councils and other local political bodies.

[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] Meretz supporters abroad

Meretz supporters around the world belong to the World Union of Meretz which includes affiliates in various countries such as Meretz USA in the U.S. and the London-based Meretz UK, France's Cercle Bernard Lazare ....

Meretz USA has joined with other progressive Zionists in the 'States and Canada to form the Union of Progressive Zionists, a college student network, as well as the Jewish Academic Network for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.

Hashomer Hatzair, a progressive Zionist youth movement with branches in many countries, is informally associated with Meretz through its historic connection with Mapam.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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