Arab satellite lists

Last updated
Election poster of Mapai, urging Arabs to vote for its allied lists. The main slogan reads "Towards a guaranteed future with the Arab lists, allied with Mapai." Mapai-arabic.png
Election poster of Mapai, urging Arabs to vote for its allied lists. The main slogan reads "Towards a guaranteed future with the Arab lists, allied with Mapai."

The Arab satellite lists or Arab lists were Israeli Arab satellite parties formed for the purposes of electoral support of Mapai (and later the Labor Party), and other Zionist parties between 1948 and the mid-1970s. [1] [2] [3] [4] Between the 1949 elections and the 1969 elections, most of the Israeli Arab vote was divided between the communist parties Maki and Rakah [a] and the Arab satellite lists. [2] The time span under military rule  [ he ] (1948–1966) was described as the "golden age" of satellite parties. [5] According to Israeli scholar Rebecca Kook, Maki and Rakah were considered the only parties to truly represent Arab interests until the Progressive List for Peace won two seats in the 1984 elections. [2]

Contents

The existence of the Arab lists was partially because Arabs were barred from membership of Mapai until 1973. [6] Unlike normal political parties, they were not active between elections. [7] Most of the lists survived more than one term, and all were subservient to the policies of their patron Mapai. [3] The lists were put together based on local influence, clans and religion. [8]

According to Ilana Kaufman, the Arab lists; "were not proper parties but ad hoc electoral arrangements for the election of Arabs to the Knesset." [9] Majid Al Haj writes that the object of the lists "was not the political mobilization of the Arab populations but rather the capture of Arab votes." [10]

The Labor Party withdrew its support from its last satellite list, the United Arab List, prior to the 1981 elections. The Alignment, an alliance of the Labor Party and Mapam, saw its share of the Arab vote triple in the elections, [11] whilst the UAL failed to cross the electoral threshold. Alongside two other lists, the Christian-led Arab Brotherhood List and the more radical Bedouin-led Arab Citizens' List, [12] the election was seen of the end of personalist Arab lists based on traditional leadership. [13] [14] The Arab Democratic Party, established in 1988 as a breakaway from the Labor Party, effectively took their place in the political sphere. [15]

List of Arab satellite lists

PartyMother partyAimed demographicElections, Time span
Agriculture and Development Mapai [8] Little Triangle [8] 1951, 1955, 1959
Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers Labor Negev Bedouin 1973
Arab List – The Centre General Zionists [8] – 1955
Arab Reform Movement Ratz – 1977
Cooperation and Brotherhood Mapai, Labor Mount Carmel Muslims and Druze [16] 1959, 1961, 1965, 1969, 1973
Cooperation and Development Mapai –1966–1967
Democratic List for Israeli Arabs Mapai [8] Galilee [8] 1951, 1955
Democratic List of Nazareth Mapai [8] Nazareth 1949
Independent Faction for Israeli Arabs Mapai Druze and Greek Catholic [8] 1959
Israeli Arab Labour Party Ahdut HaAvoda – 1959
Israeli Arab List Likud [17] – 1973
Israeli Druze Faction Mapai, Labor Druze 1967–1969
Jewish–Arab Brotherhood Labor Christians 1968–1969
Popular Arab Bloc Mapam [8] – 1949
Progress and Development Mapai, Labor Galilee [16] 1959, 1961, 1965, 1969, 1973
Progress and Work Mapai [8] Druze and West Galilee [8] 1951, 1955, 1959, 1961
Peace List Rafi – 1965
United Arab List Labor – 1977, 1981
Workers Bloc Mapai [8] Acre, Haifa, Jaffa 1949

Elections

election results of satellite lists and other Arab-led parties

The table below shows the votes of Arab-Israelis for Arab-led political parties, Jewish-led political parties and the satellite lists: [18]

YearArab parties/Maki Arab satellite listsJewish parties
1949 22%52%26%
1951 16%55%29%
1955 16%58%27%
1959 11%59%30%
1961 23%46%32%
1965 24%44%33%
1969 30%41%29%
1973 37%36%27%
1977 52%21%27%
1981 39%12%49%
1984 50%50%
1988 58%42%
1992 48%52%
1996 62%38%
1999 69%31%
2003 69%31%
2006 72%28%
2009 82%18%
2013 77%23%
2015 83%17%
April 201972%28%
September 201982%18%
2020 88%12%
2021 80%20%
2022 [19] 86%14%

Related Research Articles

Mapai was a Labor Zionist and democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the modern-day Israeli Labor Party in January 1968. During Mapai's time in office, a wide range of progressive reforms were carried out, as characterised by the establishment of a welfare state, providing minimum income, security, and free access to housing subsidies and health and social services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maki (political party)</span> Political party in Israel

The Communist Party of Israel, commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Maki, is a far-left communist political party in Israel that forms part of the political alliance known as Hadash. It was originally known as Rakah (רק"ח), an acronym for Reshima Komunistit Hadasha, after breaking away from the original Maki in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election</span>

Constituent Assembly elections were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset. It is known today as the First Knesset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1951 Israeli legislative election</span> Elections for the second Knesset

Elections for the second Knesset were held in Israel on 30 July 1951. Voter turnout was 75.1%.

Elections for the sixth Knesset were held in Israel on 2 November 1965. Voter turnout was 85.9%.

The United Arab List was an Arab satellite list in Israel during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is not connected to the modern day United Arab List.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rostam Bastuni</span> Israeli politician and journalist

Rostam Bastuni was an Israeli politician and journalist, and the first Israeli Arab to represent a Zionist party in the Knesset.

The Alignment was the name of two political alliances in Israel, both of which ended their existence by merging, in January 1968 and October 1991, into the Israeli Labor Party.

The Left Faction was a short-lived political party in Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meir Vilner</span> Jewish leader of the Communist party in Israel

Meir Vilner was a Lithuanian-born Israeli communist politician and Jewish leader of the Communist Party of Israel (Maki), at one time a powerful force in the country. He was the youngest and last living signatory of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moshe Sneh</span> Israeli politician

Moshe Sneh was a Haganah commander and an Israeli politician. One of the founders of Mapam, he later joined the Israeli Communist Party (Maki).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadash</span> Israeli political party

Hadash (Hebrew: חד״ש, abbreviation for HaHazit HaDemokratit LeShalom VeLeShivion is a left-wing to far-left political coalition in Israel formed by the Israeli Communist Party and other leftist groups.

The Israeli Labor Party, commonly known as HaAvoda, was a social democratic political party in Israel. The party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi. Until 1977, all Israeli prime ministers were affiliated with the Labor movement. The final party leader was Yair Golan, who was elected on 28 May 2024.

The Hebrew Communists were a short-lived political party in Mandatory Palestine and Israel.

Labor Zionism or socialist Zionism is the left-wing, socialist variant of Zionism. For many years, it was the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizations, and was seen as the Zionist faction of the historic Jewish labour movements of Eastern Europe and Central Europe. Labor Zionism eventually developing local movements in most countries with sizable Jewish populations. Unlike the "political Zionist" tendency founded by Theodor Herzl and advocated by Chaim Weizmann, Labor Zionists did not believe that a Jewish state would be created by simply appealing to the international community or to powerful nations such as the United Kingdom, Germany, or the former Ottoman Empire. Rather, they believed that a Jewish state could only be created through the efforts of the Jewish working class making aliyah to the Land of Israel and raising a country through the creation of a Labor Jewish society with rural kibbutzim and moshavim, and an urban Jewish proletariat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mapam</span> Political party in Israel

Mapam was a left-wing political party in Israel. It is one of the antecedents of the Meretz party and its successor, The Democrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahdut HaAvoda</span> Former political party in Israel

Ahdut HaAvoda was the name used by a series of political parties in Israel. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by David Ben-Gurion. It was first established during the period of British Mandate and later became part of the Israeli political establishment. It was one of the forerunners of the modern-day The Democrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meretz</span> Israeli political party

Meretz was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party was formed in 1992 by the merger of Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, and was at its peak between 1992 and 1996 when it had 12 seats. It had no seats in the Knesset following its failure to pass the electoral threshold in the 2022 elections, the only time it failed to win seats in the Knesset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party</span> Political party in Israel

The Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party of Palestine was a Marxist-Zionist political party in the British Mandate of Palestine, connected to the Hashomer Hatzair movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maki (historical political party)</span> Political party in Israel

Maki was a communist political party in Israel.

References

  1. ↑ Uzi Rebhun & Chaim Isaac Waxman (2004) Jews in Israel: Contemporary Social and Cultural Patterns, University Press of New England, p356
    "gradual decline in the electoral power of the Satellite lists, (i.e., smaller parties that align with a large party to form a bloc) until their final demise in the elections of 1984. The votes that had previously been given to those parties went either to Zionist parties or to the Communist Party and the newly formed Arab national parties."
  2. 1 2 3 Rebecca Kook: "For the first seven rounds of elections. most of the Arab votes were distributed amongst the Israeli Communist party (Maki later to become Rakach. later to become Hadash) and various Mapai and Mapam satellite lists. These were lists formed by the two main labor movement parties headed by Arab candidates. They were for all intents and purposes, however, extensions of the leading parties in terms of positions and coalition alignment. They are commonly described as satellite lists because of the patronage relationship between them and Mapai. The Israel Communist party, however, was long considered the only party to truly represent Arab interests until the appearance of the Progressive List for Peace (PLP) in 1984."; in Israel in Comparative Perspective: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom, edited by Michael N. Barnett, p.214
  3. 1 2 As'ad Ghanem: "Most of the lists were established by Mapai under Ben-Gurion... Most of them served more than one term and all were subservient to the leaders of Mapai".The Palestinian-Arab Minority in Israel, 1948-2000: A Political Study, As'ad Ghanem, p.41
  4. ↑ Israel at the Crossroads, edited by Efraim Karsh, Gregory S. Mahler, p.157
  5. ↑ "Arab Satellite Parties – Another Means of Control". Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research . March 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  6. ↑ Palestinian Citizens in an Ethnic Jewish State: Identities in Conflict, Nadim N. Rouhana, p.96
  7. ↑ Rael Jean Isaac, "The Mapai-affiliated lists were not active between elections but were ad hoc organizations formed on the eve of elections to assure the election of specific leaders."; in Party and Politics in Israel: Three Visions of a Jewish State, p.173, Addison-Wesley Longman Limited, 1981
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Jacob M. Landau (1969). The Arabs in Israel: A Political Study. Routledge. ISBN   9781317397649.
  9. ↑ Ilana Kaufman: "The Arab lists, as their name indicates, were not proper parties but ad hoc electoral arrangements for the election of Arabs to the Knesset."; in Arab National Communism in the Jewish State, p.82
  10. ↑ Majid Al Haj: "Until the late 1960s, Arab-alliliated Knesset lists were one of the most efficient instruments for channeling Arab votes. These satellite lists were initiated and backed by Zionist parties, mainly Mapai-Labour, which was the principal political force until 1977. The object of these lists was not the political mobilization of the Arab populations but rather the capture of Arab votes."; in Immigration and Ethnic Formation in a Deeply Divided Society, p.64
  11. ↑ Bernard Reich & David H Goldberg (2008) Historical Dictionary of Israel, p. 45
  12. ↑ ""אני פסימי ומיואש'". Maariv (in Hebrew). 16 January 1981. p. 16. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  13. ↑ Ori Stendel. "מגמות ההצבעה לכנסת העשירית בקרב ערביי ישראל" [Trends in the Arab Vote in the Elections to the Tenth Kneset]. The New East/המזרח החדש: Vol. 30/כרך ל׳ (in Hebrew). p. 144.
  14. ↑ Ra'anan Cohen (2006). זרים בביתם : ערבים, יהודים, מדינה (in Hebrew). p. 56. ISBN   965-306-255-7.
  15. ↑ Ghanem, p. 42
  16. 1 2 Ervin Birnbaum (1970). The Politics of Compromise: State and Religion in Israel. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p.  59. ISBN   978-0838675670.
  17. ↑ "21 הרשימות". Al HaMishmar (in Hebrew). 31 December 1973. p. 1. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  18. ↑ "Statistical Report on Arab Society in Israel :2021". The Israel Democracy Institute. 2022-03-17. Retrieved 2023-02-05. Arab votes by political party, 1949–2021 (% of total Arab votes)
  19. ↑ Dr. Arik Rudnitzky (9 November 2022). "Arab Votes in the 2022 Election". The Israel Democracy Institute. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  1. ↑ Rakah was an Arab-dominated breakaway from Maki in 1965 and was then recognised by the Soviet Union as the official communist party
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.