David Hacohen, a founder and leader of Israel’s Labor movement, including the Labor Party and the Histadrut, died at his home in Haifa yesterday. He was 85. In his long and active life, Hacohen had been a leading figure in the pre-State Haganah organization and had headed the Histadrut’s Sole I Boneh giant construction company.
He served several times in the Knesset and had been chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. He was Ambassador to Burma and had been instrumental in creating and building up Israel’s relations with Far Eastern countries, before they broke off relations with Israel.
While in Burma, Hacohen paid a visit to the People’s Republic of China, where he held talks with Chou En Lai, who had invited him to head a goodwill mission to Peking.
Born in Homel, in the Ukraine, Hacohen had been brought by his parents to Palestine as a young boy. His father had been among the small group of Jews who moved out of Jaffa to found Tel Aviv, and he had been among the first 60 students at the Herzlia Gymnasium.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
