Historical Dictionary of Israel

COMMUNIST PARTY

Communist Party: translation

The Communist Movement began inPalestinein 1919 during theBritish mandateand has existed continuously since that time, although it has been plagued by internal divisions and splits. Although isolated from the mainstream of political life and prevented from joining the government, Communist parties have been legal in Israel since independence and have been represented in theKnessetcontinuously. On average, the Communists secure four or five seats in the Knesset.
The Israel Communist Party (Miflaga Kommunistit Yisraelit; Maki) was founded in 1948 and split in 1965.The splinter group, the New Communist List (Reshima Komunistit Hadasha; Rakah) was pro-Moscow and strongly anti-Zionistand primarily drew its membership from Israel'sArabpopulation. In 1977, a merger of the Communist Party and theBlack Panthersresulted in the creation of theDemocratic Front for Peace and Equality(Hadash). Drawing on support from disadvantaged classes of Jewish and Arab Israelis, Hadash won four seats in each of the 1981, 1984, and 1988Knesset elections. It took three seats in 1992 and five in 1996.
The party's domestic policy platform has tended to focus on measures to improve the lot of all disadvantaged Israelis and the extension of full rights and opportunities to Israeli Arabs. In security andforeign policy, it was among the firstpolitical partiesto advocate open contacts with thePalestine Liberation Organization, complete Israeli withdrawal from theWest Bankand theGaza Strip, and the establishment there of an independent Palestinian state. Since the first Knesset, the Communist Party was led byMeir Wilner, a signer of theDeclaration of Independence. In 1990, the leadership of the party was taken over by Towfik Ziad, the former mayor of the Arab city ofNazareth, who in turn was succeeded by Hashem Ma-hameed, the former mayor of the Arab village of Umm el Fahm. In November 1997, Mahameed resigned as chairman of Hadash's ruling council, citing his frustration over internal divisions within the party.
As Hadash, the party contested the 17 May 1999 elections under the leadership of Mohammed Barakei, winning three seats in the 15th Knesset. The Hadash-Ta'alcoalition won three mandates in the 2003 election to the 16th Knesset. An electoral coalition involving Hadash and Ta'al took three mandates again in the 2006 election to the 17th Knesset.
See alsoArab Political Parties.

  1. communist party—Communist Party translation See Partito Comunista Italiano PCI....Historical Dictionary of modern Italy
  2. communist party—Communist Party translationSynonyms and related wordsAmerican Party AntiMonopoly Party Bolshevism Bull Moose Party Castroism Communist Information Bureau Conservative Par...Moby Thesaurus
  3. communist party—коммунистическая партия...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
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  7. communist party—пол. коммунистическая партия партия представляющая интересы рабочего класса согласно Манифесту Коммунистической партии средством достижения интересов рабочего класса може...Англо-русский экономический словарь