March 17, 2006 Israel's 17th Knesset and its 31 Electoral PartiesDownloadable version of TIP's 2006 Election Guide: (Word 900K) (PDF 400K). (Parties Listed Alphabetically) Brit Olam
Source: Walla Party Platform: Brit Olam (eternal covenant) was established in 2006 and advocates the creation of a Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel and a separation of religion and state. It advocates social justice and dialogue between Israeli Arabs and Jews. The party established a college and a string of kindergartens in the Galilee, where Arab and Jewish children learn and play together. The party wants to bridge the gaps in Israeli society between Arabs and Jews, religious and secular, rich and poor and between immigrants and veteran Israelis. Brit Olam advocates raising the minimum wage, a complete separation of religion and state and improving the education system. [1]
Da'am
Source: Galai Zahal Party Platform: Da'am (ODA - Organization for Democratic Action) is an Israeli-Arab party that lobbies for Arab rights especially in the work force and describes itself as part of the anti-globalization movement. Da'am voters previously supported Israel's Communist Party but distanced themselves from its Marxist ideology after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Da'am opposes construction of the security fence, stating that "it transforms the occupied territories into one large prison and keeps the conflict permanent." [2] The party favors an end to the occupation and a return to the Green Line - Israel's pre-1967 borders. It supports negotiations with the Palestinian people to achieve a just and permanent peace. Da'am encourages the State of Israel to open its borders to Palestinian workers in order to allow them to find work in Israel. List of Candidates (Ten out of 55):
Web site: http://www.odaction.org/ Gil
Source: Galai Zahal Party Platform: Gil (literally, "age") is the senior citizens rights party led by veteran 1948 Palmach war hero and ex-Mossad officer Eitan Raphael, who commanded the "Eichman" operation.) Raphael lobbies for pensioners rights including expanding medical insurance to include subsidizing vital medicines, better health care, increasing pensions and having national insurance fund old age homes.
Green Leaf
Source:Galai Zahal Party Platform: Led by Boaz Wachtel, Green Leaf advocates legalizing marijuana especially in the form of medication. The party's platform also includes environmental preservation.
Web site: http://ale-yarok.org.il/home Hadash
Source: www.Knesset.gov.il Party Platform: Hadash (Hebrew acronym for The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality; literally, "new") is an Arab party with roots in Israel's anti-Zionist Communist Party. The party had 3 representatives in the 16th Knesset. List of Candidates (Ten out of 119):
Web site: http://www.hadash.org.il HaYerukim (The Greens)
Party Platform: The Green Party's goal is to protect the environment, preserve nature and make Israel's industry ecologically friendly. Among other proposals, the party advocates building an efficient train system to connect cities instead of building new roads that cut through nature and cause pollution. List of Candidates (Ten out of 26):
Web site: http://www.green-party.org.il/green%2Dparty/ Hazit (National Jewish Front)
Party Platform: Hazit is led by far right activist Baruch Marzel, former head of the now outlawed Kach party. It advocates giving Arabs living in Israel monetary awards for voluntarily immigrating to a different country. Marzel sharply opposes a Palestinian state, is against relinquishing land and is a firm believer in the concept of a "Greater Israel."
Web site: http://www.hazit.co.il/ Herut
Party Platform: Herut (literally, freedom) was originally established in 1948 by former Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The movement eventually merged with what became known as the Likud party. In response to Benjamin Netanyahu's signing of the Hebron Agreement with Yassir Arafat in 1999, Herut remerged onto the Israeli political scene. The party maintains 13 Principles of Faith, [3] including a vision of a "Greater Israeland the right of the Jewish People to Israel; the return of Gush Katif and Northern Samaria to Israel; fortifying Israel's Jewish majority; and making a national effort to encourage emigration of Arabs to Arab countries to resolve Israel's long-term demographic issues. List of Candidates (Ten out of 19):
Web site: http://www.herut.org.il/hebrew_new/ Hetz
Party Platform: Hetz (literally, arrow) is a secular party formed in January by former Shinui Party Interior Minister Member of Knesset Avraham Poraz after he lost an internal power struggle with current Shinui leader Ron Levintal. The Hetz platform advocates cutting benefits to Yeshiva (religious seminary) students, civil marriage, separation of religion and state, opening malls on the Sabbath and drafting yeshiva students to the army. List of Candidates (Ten out of 61):
Web site: http://www.hetz.org.il/index.php Kadima
Source:Kadima Party Platform: Kadima, Israel's newest centrist party, burst onto the political scene in Nov. 2005 when former Prime Minster Ariel Sharon resigned from the Likud party due to continuing internal opposition over his Gaza disengagement policy. Sharon recruited senior members of Likud and Labor (including Shimon Peres) into Kadima, and then called for early elections to take place on March 28, 2006. Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (also Industry and Trade Minister and Finance Minister at the time) took over as acting Prime Minister of the State of Israel and chairman of the Kadima Party after Sharon suffered a massive stroke on Jan. 5, 2006 and has remained incapacitated. The Kadima platform calls for a return to the Road Map in order to generate a two-state solution to the end of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but Olmert has said further unilateral disengagements will take place in the territories if the Road Map fails. While some Jewish settlements will be relinquished, others will be retained in "settlement blocs." The party wishes to maintain the status quo between religion and state and encourage employment through domestic and international investment opportunities.[4] List of Candidates (Ten out of 120 candidates running on the ballot): [5]
Web site: http://www.kadimasharon.co.il Labor
Party Platform: The Labor party traces its origins to Israel's main labor-Zionist movement, Mapai, which enjoyed a monopoly on state power until 1977. The election of party chairman Amir Pertez, former head of the giant Histadrut union, marks a return of the party to its socialist-democratic roots. Social accountability is the new theme of Labor, which is focusing more on economic rights in additional to social issues. One of its top slogans includes a pledge to raise the minimum wage in three stages. Other key issues of importance to the Labor platform include returning to the negotiating table with the Palestinians, focusing on education, improving the status of women and Arab minorities and reducing crime and corruption. List of Candidates (Ten out of 120):
Web site: http://www.avoda2006.org.il Lechem
Party Platform: Lechem (bread) is an acronym for United Fighters of Society. The party is led by Yisrael Tvito, a former Likud activist who left that party when he was forced into poverty and became homeless. Lechem wants solutions for the country's poor and homeless, an end to government corruption and a reduction in the number of high salaries paid to members of Knesset.
Leeder
Source: Galai Zahal Party Platform: The Leeder party competed in the 2003 elections but did not secure enough votes to pass the 1.5 percent qualifying threshold. The party is mainly supported by Russian immigrants who retain their businesses overseas. Leeder made headlines in the last election campaign when it flew in Vladimir Zhirinovsky, head of an ultra-nationalist Russian party, known for his anti-Semitic comments and his personal friendship with Saddam Hussein, to give a press conference about his support for the party.
Lev Olim
Source: Ynet Party Platform: Lev Olim (immigrants for Israel) represents immigrants from central Asia and other small ethnic groups. This movement was founded before the 15th Knesset in order to try to help those communities, but did not manage to win enough votes to pass the qualifying 1.5 percent threshold. The party supported Yisrael Beitenu in the 16th Knesset elections. Lev Olim's platform emphasizes the need to maintain good relations with foreign countries. The party believes that Israel should not relinquish any territory without a final peace agreement and stipulates that the government provide solutions for social problems faced by immigrants from central Asia and other minority groups in the areas of employment, housing and education. List of Candidates (Seven out of seven):
Likud
Party Platform: The Likud party grew out of the pre-state Revisionist movement and the merger of Menachem Begin's Herut party with smaller factions in 1973 and won its first national election in 1977. The Likud party opposes further unilateral withdrawals from the territories, any negotiations with terrorist organizations, and a renewal of Palestinian negotiations only after the Palestinian Authority fully recognize Israel's right to exist, ceases incitement and confiscates all illegal weapons. It calls for Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and the completion of the anti-terrorist security fence. [6] In addition to security, the Likud advocates reducing taxes and encourages a greater role for women in the workforce. List of Candidates (Ten out of 119):
Web site: http://www.likud.org.il Meretz
Source: Meretz Party Platform: Although Meretz is a relatively young party, it has an intricate history. Meretz emerged in 1992 as a coalition party that included Shinui, the left-wing Citizens' Rights Movement, and the Mapam faction representing the left-wing of the Kibbutz movement. However in 1997, Shinui split from Meretz, and the party split up again in 2003 and became known as Yachad. By 2005, Yachad had evolved into Meretz-Yachad. The party was chaired by Yossi Sarid until his recent retirement, and was replaced by Yossi Beilin, a key architect of the Oslo Accords who had defected from the Labor party. The movement promotes Arab equality and civil rights for homosexuals. It favors the creation of a Palestinian state through negotiation and demands that Israel dismantle all Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory, in addition to a complete withdrawal to the Green Line. Meretz also calls for an economic policy based on social justice and backs a full separation between religion and Israeli society. [7] List of Candidates (Ten out of 120):
Web site: http://www.meretz.org.il National Arab Party
Source: Galai Zahal Party Platform: The National Arab party supports equality for all Israel citizens, including the non-Jewish minority. It focuses on improvements in infrastructure, education and employment. The party plans to increase its efforts to highlight the economic and social problems facing Arabs in Israel. It supports an unconditional return to the negotiation table with the Palestinians and a commitment to previously signed agreements. Additionally, the National Arab Party insists on a minimum wage increase and free tuition for all students.
National Democratic Assembly, Balad
Party Platform: Established in 1996, Balad advocates that Israel should not be a Jewish state, but a non-denominational country for all of its citizens; specifically a democratic secular state. The party favors Israel's withdrawal from all remaining territories and creating a Palestinian state. List of Candidates (Ten out of 120):
Web site: http://www.balad.org National Union/National Religious Party
Party Platform: This joint list was the result of a recent merger by two parties on the Israeli right, the National Religious Party (NRP) and the National Union. The NRP dates back to the pre-state religious-Zionist Mizrachi movement. Originally moderate in its foreign policy outlook, the NRP began leaning more towards the right after the 1967 War and became the main political sponsor of the settlement movement. The National Union was formed in 1999 through a merger of several smaller right-wing parties. Although the NRP's constituents are mostly religiously observant Israelis, the National Union also has secular support. [8] The NRP continues to support such traditional religious issues as increased religious education and public observance of the Sabbath. Most of National Union's social concerns focus on welfare, employment, transportation and environmental reforms. The common thread between the NRP and the National Union is its refusal for any more withdrawals from the territories and its support for Jewish settlement. List of Candidates (Ten out of 120):
Web site: http://www.leumi.org.il New Zionism
List of Candidates (Ten out of 11):
One Future
Party Platform: One Future seeks to ease Ethiopian immigrants' absorption into Israeli society, fight discrimination, promote immigration to Israel, increase the education budget and administer wide reforms to improve the school system. It is against any form of religious coercion.
Web site: http://atidechad.org/ Party for the Struggle with the Banks
Party Platform: Party for the Struggle with the Banks was founded in 1996 by Eliezer Levinger after he won a campaign to cancel NIS 3 billion worth of unwarranted interest that banks were demanding from clients. The party's platform revolves around making amendments to banking laws, changing what it considers illegal billing regulations and fighting what it calls the banks monopoly on Israel's economy. The party claims that the country's leading banks have manipulated the banking system by exploiting clients and gaining a monopoly of more than 75 percent of the Israeli economy. Party for the Struggle with the Banks demands banking reforms and a change in economic policy that members say will reduce the gap between Israel's rich and poor. List of Candidates (Ten out of ten):
Web site: http://hlv.org.il Shas
Party Platform: Shas, the party of ultra-Orthodox Sephardic Jewry (Jews from North African and Arab lands) founded by former Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in the early 1980s, runs on a social and Jewish values ticket with an emphasis on the underprivileged in its sector's communities. Policies include preservation of the ultra-Orthodox school system, financial benefits to large families, army exemption for yeshiva students and amending the Law of Return to reflect Jewish Law. The party opposes dividing Jerusalem as well as Palestinian or third party sovereignty over the Temple Mount. Shas objects to any change to laws regarding the Sabbath, which ban businesses from opening on holy days. Shas maintained a low profile in the last Knesset due to its pledge to stay out of any government that included the anti-religious Shinui party. The movement opposed Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. List of Candidates (Ten out of 118):
Web site: http://www.shasnet.org.il Shinui
Party Platform: Ron Levintal, a Tel Aviv councilman, only recently took up the position of Shinui chairman. His victory in the party's recent primary elections convinced leader Yossi (Tommy) Lapid to resign. Shinui was the third largest party in the last elections and had 15 seats in parliament, but internal strife is likely to cost it most, if not all, its Knesset representation. Shinui is a secular centrist party whose platform mainly revolves around the complete separation of religion and state. The party opposes financial aid to the ultra-Orthodox, wants all yeshiva students drafted into the army and promotes a secular lifestyle, including public transportation on the Sabbath and civil marriage. Shinui favors a free- market economy and privatization of state-run companies. In addition, the movement wants to accelerate construction of the security barrier and advocates a national referendum on any future peace agreement with the Palestinians. List of Candidates (Ten out of 100):
Website: http://www.shinui.org.il Strength to the Poor
Party Platform: Angel is chairman of central caucus with 25 committees in South Tel Aviv and is lobbying for a complete rehabilitation of the nation's poor neighborhoods. Strength to the Poor wants the government to appoint a minister who will deal solely with this issue. The party is pushing for an improved education system in neglected areas and desires the state to expand medical insurance programs to include a wider range of subsidized medicines and treatments and allocating more financial aid to the elderly. List of Candidates (Ten out of 21):
Web site: http://www.oz-la.com/ Tafnit
Party Platform: Tafnit ("Turning the Corner"), a new party founded by former Israel Defense Forces deputy chief of staff Uzi Dayan, calls for a "new order of the day for Israeland advocates a complete separation between Israel and the Palestinians. The movement pledges to fight corruption, calls for education and social reforms and pledges to bridge social and economic gaps between the rich and the poor and secular and religious Jews and Arabs. List of Candidates (Ten out 24):
Web site: http://www.tafnit.org Tzedek Lakol (Ra'ash)
Party Platform: The acronym for Tzedek Lakol (justice for all) translates to "noise.The party advocates for men's rights, as well as equal rights for both sexes, and calls for changing child custody laws that usually favor the mother. The party demands a public inquiry into who killed Yitzhak Rabin.
Tzomet
Source: Tzomet Party Platform: Tzomet (junction) was established by former Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan in 1983. Tzomet merged with the Likud during the 1996 elections and did not pass the 1.5 percent qualifying threshold in the 2003 elections. Rafael Eitan died in a drowning accident in 2004 and the party is now led by Chairman Moshe Green. Tzomet is a right-wing secular party that opposes further unilateral transfer of land to the Palestinian Authority and believes that a final agreement should be reached on the basis of what it calls a 'peace for peace' agreement. The party advocates reforms in the Israel Lands Authority that would lower real estate prices; it also calls for amending laws to provide for fairer distribution of agricultural land to farmers. Other proposals include raising the status of teachers and improving the education system, drafting yeshiva students into the army and building up the Negev and Galilee. List of Candidates (Ten out of ten):
Web site: http://www.zomet.net United Arab List-Arab Renewal (Ra'am)
Ra'am believes that Israel should permit Islamic religious courts to perform judicial duties, especially among the Israeli-Arab Shii'te communities. In addition, the movement calls for an increase in the budget subsidizing all holy places belonging to the Muslims, Christians and the Druze.
Yehudit HaTorah (United Torah Judaism)
Party Platform: United Torah Judaism (UTJ) won five seats in the last Knesset The party is a representative alliance of several Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox factions, which aim to represent their communities in government and promote traditional Jewish values. UTJ's platform is formed by its spiritual leaders and UTJ parliamentarians look to them for guidance on all policies including security, the economy and social issues. The movement is strongly opposed to the separation of religion and state, drafting Yeshiva students into the military and any change in the nation's Sabbath laws that prohibit businesses from opening on holy days. The party favors financial aid to the Ultra-Orthodox community, including economic benefits for large families. List of Candidates (Ten out of 120):
Yisrael Beitenu
Party Platform: Yisrael Beitenu (Israel is our Home) was founded in 1999 by Avigdor Liberman, a former aide to Binyamin Netanyahu. Most of its electorate and Knesset list are Russian-Israelis. Yisrael Beitenu promises to crack down on crime, maintain a Jewish majority by transferring some areas populated by Israeli Arabs to the Palestinian Authority while maintaining some Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank inside Israel's borders. It also calls for heavier investment in education. Although the party espouses a nationalistic outlook, Liberman has said he will support territorial concessions under certain conditions. List of Candidates (Ten out of 23):
Web site: http://www.beytenu.org.il Notes [1] Ynet, http://go.ynet.co.il/miflaga/ [3] Herut 13 principles in English, http://www.herut.org.il/english/about.html [4] "Political party: Kadima," Knesset Update, http://www.knessetupdate.com/party.asp?pid=63 [6] "A summary of Likud policies," Likud Anglos, http://www.likud.org.il/anglos.asp [7] "Meretz Yachad: Main points of ideological platform," [8] "The National Union-HaIchud HaLeumi," http://www.leumi.org.il/english/
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Chairman: Felix Angel
Chairman: Uzi Dayan
Chairman: Yaakov Shlusser
Chairman: Moshe Green
Chairman: Ibrahim Tzartzur
Chairman: Yakov Litzman
Chairman: Avigdor Liberman
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