Alignment (Israel)

Alignment המערך‎
Historical leaders	Levi Eshkol (1969) Golda Meir (1969–74) Yitzhak Rabin (1974–77) Shimon Peres (1977–91)
Founded	1965 (first alignment) 1968 (second alignment)
Dissolved	1968 (first alignment) 1991 (second alignment)
Merged into	Labor Party
Ideology	Social democracy[1][2] Labor Zionism[2] Factions: Socialism Liberalism
Political position	Centre-left
International affiliation	Socialist International
Member parties	Labor Party (1968–91) Mapam Ahdut HaAvoda (1965–68) Mapai (1965–68) Progress and Development (1974–76) Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers (1974–77) Ratz (1981–84) Yahad (1984—86) Independent Liberals (1984–91)
Most MKs	63 (1969)
Fewest MKs	31 (1977–1980)
Election symbol
Politics of Israel Political parties Elections

The Alignment (

The first Alignment was a 1965 alliance of Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda. The two parties continued to exist independently, but submitted joint electoral lists. Often called the Labor Alignment, the alliance lasted three years until a merger with Rafi in 1968 created the unitary Israeli Labor Party.

The following year the Labor Party formed an alliance with Mapam, readopting the Alignment name. The two constituent parties remained separate, but with combined electoral campaigns and candidate lists. The second version of the Alignment lasted for more than two decades.

At its formation in 1969, the second Alignment had 63 of 120 Knesset seats, the only time a parliamentary group in Israel has ever held a parliamentary majority. Although its majority was lost in the 1969 election, the 56 seats won by the Alignment remains the highest seat total won in an Israeli election.

First Alignment

Labor Alignment המערך לאחדות פועלי ארץ ישראל‎
Historical leaders	Levi Eshkol
Founded	1965
Dissolved	1968
Merged into	Labor Party
Ideology	Social democracy[1] Labor Zionism
Political position	Centre-left
International affiliation	Socialist International
Member parties	Mapai Ahdut HaAvoda
Election symbol
Politics of Israel Political parties Elections

The first incarnation of the Alignment, fully named the HaMa'arakh LeAhdut Poalei Eretz Yisrael (

On 23 January 1968, Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda merged with Rafi to form the Israeli Labor Party, with the Alignment ceasing to exist. Rafi leader David Ben-Gurion refused to join the Labor Party, and left Rafi before the merger. He formed a new party, the National List.

Second Alignment

The Labor Party entered into an alliance with Mapam on 28 January 1969. The Alignment name was still well-known, and was re-used for the new alliance. At the time, the Labor Party held 55 seats, and Mapam eight, giving the new Alignment a majority of 63 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

When Levi Eshkol died on 26 February 1969, he was succeeded by Golda Meir, Israel's first, and so far only, female Prime Minister, making Israel one of the first countries in the world to have a woman heading the government.

The country's success in the Six-Day War helped the party's popularity, and led to its comprehensive victory in the 1969 elections. Although it lost its majority, the 46.2% of the vote and 56 seats was (and remains) the best electoral performance in Israeli political history. Meir continued with a national unity government including Gahal, the National Religious Party (Mafdal), the Independent Liberals, Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood until 1970 when Gahal resigned after the government had decided in principle to adopt the Rogers Plan, though ultimately they decided against it.

During the Knesset session, the party gained one seat as Meir Avizohar defected from the National List.

1970s

The seventh Knesset also covered the event that played a major part in the party's downfall. On 6 October 1973, as Israelis were observing Yom Kippur, a surprise attack was launched by Egypt and Syria, resulting in the Yom Kippur War. Although Israel later recovered the ground initially lost, the war was generally considered to be a failure, and the government faced significant criticism. The Agranat Commission was set up to examine the circumstances that led to the war.

Before the Commission could publish its results, an election was held. Anger at the government was not significantly noticeable, as the Alignment still won 39.6% of the vote and 51 seats. More significantly, the new major right-wing party,

In 1976 the Alignment government was hit by the Yadlin affair regarding illegitimate financial transactions by senior members of the party, notably Asher Yadlin and Avraham Ofer. The following year Rabin fell victim to a double scandal, when it was revealed his wife, Leah had a foreign currency bank account, illegal in Israel at the time; the episode becoming known as the Dollar Account affair. He also took responsibility for an apparent breach of the Sabbath on an Israeli Air Force base. Rabin resigned over the former incident, and Peres took over as Prime Minister just a short time before the next elections.

Shortly before the election, the Alignment party suffered another major blow when Rabin announced that US President Jimmy Carter supported the Israeli idea of defensive borders.

However, the Alignment still had an important role to play, as it helped pass the Camp David Accords and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in the Knesset. This was necessary as many Likud MKs had broken away to form opposition parties (One Israel, Rafi – National List, Tehiya and Yosef Tamir as an independent) and several others (including Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Shamir) abstained from voting on it.

Despite losing Dayan, the party picked up two more seats as former Dash MKs Meir Amit and David Golomb defected from Shinui.

1980s

The party recovered well in the 1981 elections as it gained 36.6% of the vote, an improvement of 12%, and 47 seats. However, Likud took 48, allowing Begin to form the government with the help of small right-wing and religious parties. Ratz briefly merged into the Alignment, but broke away again. Nevertheless, by the end of the Knesset session the party had more seats than its rival as two Likud MKs had defected to join it. The Alignment was also boosted when the Independent Liberals joined the alliance in 1984, though they held no seats of their own at the time.

With Peres still at the head of the party, the

The result of the 1988 elections was also ambiguous, with Likud winning 40 seats and the Alignment 39. Another power-sharing arrangement was made, and the coalition again had 97 members, consisting of Likud, the Alignment, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Israel and Degel HaTorah.

However, in 1990 Peres made a bid for sole power through the creation of a narrow 61-seat coalition with the

On 7 October 1991 the Independent Liberals formally merged into the Israeli Labor Party. As the Independent Liberals were the sole remaining Alignment members, the alliance ceased to exist.

List of chairpersons

• 1965–1968 – Levi Eshkol
• 1969–1974 – Golda Meir
• 1974–1977 – Yitzhak Rabin
• 1977–1991 – Shimon Peres

Composition

Election results

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Leader	Status
1965	443,379 (#1)	36.7	45 / 120	New	Levi Eshkol	Government
1969	632,135 (#1)	46.2	56 / 120	11	Golda Meir	Government
1973	621,183 (#1)	39.6	51 / 120	5	Golda Meir	Government
1977	430,023 (#2)	24.6	32 / 120	19	Shimon Peres	Opposition
1981	708,536 (#2)	36.6	47 / 120	15	Shimon Peres	Opposition
1984	724,074 (#1)	34.9	44 / 120	3	Shimon Peres	Government
1988	685,363 (#2)	30.0	39 / 120	5	Shimon Peres	Government (1988–1990)
						Opposition (1990–1991)

References