Historical Dictionary of Zionism by Rafael Medoff & Chaim I. Waxman

Author:Rafael Medoff & Chaim I. Waxman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780810866836
Publisher: Scarecrow Press

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LABOR ZIONISM. The first Labor Zionist organization, known as Poalei Zion and based on the principles of Socialist Zionism, appeared in Minsk, Russia, in 1900. Additional Poalei Zion groups arose elsewhere in Europe and they formed a single international organization at a convention in the Hague in 1907. Internal conflicts in the world socialist movement, especially concerning the movement’s relationship with the Soviet Union, led to a division within Poalei Zion. Two rival factions arose at the world Labor Zionist conference in Vienna in 1920. The more conservative Right Poalei Zion faction merged with Hapoel Hatzair to form Ahdut Ha’avoda. The Left Poalei Zion was explicitly Marxist, viewing Ber Borochov as its ideologist. It remained apart from organized Zionism, including the Zionist Congresses, and was hardly involved in the activities of Practical Zionism. It concentrated on the socioeconomic, economic, and cultural life of the Jewish communities in the Diaspora and on broader societal issues of social justice.

In 1930 Ahdut Ha’avoda and Hapoel Hatzair merged to become Mapai, an acronym for Mifleget Poalei Eretz Israel (Israel Workers’ Party). A split emerged in 1944, and an opposition Faction B (Si’ah Bet) seceded from Mapai and took the name Ahdut Ha’avoda. A year later, in 1945, it merged with the Left Poalei Zion, and in 1948 it merged with Hashomer Hatzair as Mapam. Subsequently, in 1954, ideological differences again led it to secede, whereupon it again took the name Ahdut Ha’avoda. In 1965 Ahdut Ha’avoda again joined Mapai to form the Israel Labor Party, and after the Six-Day War, in 1968, they were joined by Rafi, the splinter party created in 1965 by David Ben-Gurion and a small group of Knesset members after the Lavon affair. Since 1969, there has been a Labor Alignment (Ma’arach), which affiliates the Israel Labor Party and Mapam. However, each retains its organizational and party distinctness. See also ARLOSOROFF AFFAIR; GORDONIA; HABONIM; HACHSCHARA; HAGANAH; HALUTZ; HEBREW LABOR; HISTADRUT; HEHALUTZ; KIBBUTZ; NA’AMAT; PALMACH.

LAW OF RETURN. The Law of Return was passed by Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, in 1950. Its rationale was that Israel is a Jewish state and the state of the Jews. The law, therefore, proclaimed the right of every Jew to come to Israel as an oleh, an immigrant with immediate and complete rights of Israeli citizenship. The law was amended in 1954, for clarification purposes but without significant change. In 1965 it was further amended to exclude those for whom there are public documents indicating that they are not Jewish. In 1970 an amendment extended citizenship rights under the law to spouses and children of Jews, even if they are not Jewish. There have been calls for repeal of the law by some non-Zionists and others who view it as discriminatory. From their perspective, Israel should be a state like any other modern state and should not have laws that discriminate on the basis of religion or ethnicity. Some Orthodox leaders have called for an amendment to the law that would precisely define a Jew as one born of a Jewish mother or one who converted according to Orthodox tradition.

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