Israel’s fragmented non-Communist left–or at least part of it–is about to coagulate into a new party that has selected the name Ya’ad, meaning target or destination. The full name–“Ya’ad for a Democratic Society, for Political Change and for Civil Rights”–not only states the group’s aims but summarizes the philosophy of its two principal instigators, Shulamit Aloni, head of the Civil Rights Party, and Aryeh Eliav, one-time Secretary General of the Labor Party.
Aloni, Eliav and most of the others comprising Ya’ad are Labor Party defectors who oppose the policies of Premier Yitzhak Rabin’s government. They demand greater Israeli concessions in the interest of peace with its Arab neighbors and major changes on the domestic scene to close Israel’s social and economic gap.
Ya’ad intends to hold its first elective conference next fall. In the interim it will be governed by a temporary general council, secretariate and executive secretariate. The council plans its first meeting within two weeks.
Meir Zarmi, Secretary General of the Labor Party, said a few days ago that he could not foresee what the future holds for Ya’ad but predicted that the “honeymoon” between Aloni and Eliav will be a short one. “I know them both,” Zarmi said, “In a pluralistic party like the Labor Party they could live together in peace. But when they are on their own-let’s wait and see,” he said.
CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF YA’AD
Aloni quit the Labor Party several years ago during the Premiership of Golda Meir for whom she had both personal and political antipathies which were reciprocated. Her splinter Civil Rights Party was the big surprise of the December 31, 1973 elections when it won three Knesset seats and elevated Aloni to the Rabin Cabinet as Minister Without-Portfolio. But the vigorously secular Aloni quit the government when the National Religious Party joined the Rabin coalition earlier this year and has since been seeking to broaden her political base.
Eliav, an outspoken “dove,” resigned from the Labor Party in March with a blast against its present and immediate past leadership. He retained his Knesset seat as a one-man independent faction, Eliav, plus the CRP will give Ya’ad four seats in Israel’s parliament.
Other constituents of Ya’ad come from the dissident Shinooy movement; headed by Prof. Amnon Rubinstein which consists of academicians and intellectuals opposed to the present government’s policies; and from the Libun circle within the Labor Party, a group of Laborites–Eliav among them–which has been meeting regularly to study economic, political and social problems outside the official party forums.
SPLITS HAVE ALREADY OCCURRED
The creation of Ya’ad, however, has led to a split within the CRP, the Shinooy and Libun groups, The CRP voted 32-18 with four abstentions in favor of merging with Ya’ad. Those objecting, led by Ram Ron, Aloni’s brother-in-law, announced immediately that they were not going along with the new faction. Ron, in fact, denounced the new movement, declaring that it was a betrayal of the 35,000 voters who gave the CRP its three Knesset seats. He said the CRP was established to safeguard the peoples’ rights, note to form another left of center party.
The CRP objectors are reportedly trying to form a coalition with the independent Liberal Party, a member of the Rabin coalition and with the Shinooy people who refused to join Ya’ad Ron said he would seek a court order permitting the group to continue to retain the CRP name.
Libun voted 41-6 with five abstentions last week to affiliate with Ya’ad. But the vote was probably misleading because many members who decided to remain within the Labor Party did not show up for the meeting. They have expressed the opinion that Libun’s defection will only drive Labor to the right of center and that they can promote their social ideology most effectively from within Labor’s ranks.
The Shinooy movement is also divided between those who have joined Ya’ad and those who reject the idea of a socialist, leftist movement. Nevertheless, they remain opposed to the Rabin policies and have demanded that the present government resign before the Geneva peace conference. They claim that the government is paralyzed by differences within its ranks and especially by the presence of the militant NRP which is bitterly opposed to territorial concessions on the West Bank for historical and religious reasons.
According to the Shinooy people, the present situation requires a new mandate from the electorate before any government can go to Geneva. Those who refuse to join Ya’ad have declared themselves to be a centrist-liberal movement, not a leftist one.
NOT TOO DISTURBED BY DEFECTIONS
Zarmi, addressing a meeting in Ramat Gan last Monday, did not seem particularly disturbed by the defections from the Labor Party. He admitted, however, that there was a crisis of confidence in the party as a result of the Yom Kippur War and the recent exposure of widespread corruption in government ministries and agencies. However, he noted, the opposition Likud has similar problems and the leftist break-a ways are seriously divided.
Some political observers have expressed doubts over the future of Ya’ad. They see it as almost identical in its political and social views to Mapam which is a member of the Labor Alignment; Voters who share these views are more likely to cast their ballots for Mapam than for the new faction, the observers said.
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.
