Meir Ya'ari

Meir Ya'ari
Meir Ya'ari
	Alignment
Personal details
Born	24 April 1897; Kańczuga, Austria-Hungary
Died	21 February 1987 (aged 89)

Meir Ya'ari (

Kibbutz Artzi, and Mapam, and a member of the Knesset

.

Biography

Meyer Wald (later Ya'ari) was born in

Tzemah and to Tabgha

.

His grandson, Yedidya Ya'ari, is a retired Israel Defense Forces general.

Zionist activism

Ya'ari was one of the founders of Bitania, the first

collective settlement of Hashomer Hatzair.^[1] He was among the founders of the Histadrut workers' syndicate. From 1924 onwards he served as Secretary of the world Hashomer Hatzair.^[2]

In 1927, he founded

Kibbutz Artzi, was elected its secretary and took part in drafting its principles. In 1929, he was among the founders of Kibbutz Merhavia, where he lived until he died.^[2]

In 1948, he co-founded Mapam political party as its leader, and functioned as its general secretary until 1973. He was a Mapam MK in the first through seventh Knessets, from 1949 to 1973. In the first Knesset he was member of the Knesset committee, and in the fifth through seventh Knessets he was member of Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.^[2]

His movement co-leader and almost equal colleague was

Yaakov Hazan. For many years, they led Hashomer Hatzair and Mapam together. Despite holding the top two positions in Mapam's list, they made a joint decision not to become ministers but rather occupy themselves in the movement's ideological and educational activities.^[2]

Views and opinions

As leader and ideologist of Hashomer Hatzair, he sought to turn it from a

scout-like youth movement promoting abstract socialist-humanist ideas to a political settlement movement that integrates Zionism and Marxism

.

He protested

one-state solution.^[2]

During Israel's early years, he objected his party's coalition membership and was an outspoken critic of the government's western orientation, the nationality conception, the

Alignment; in 1984, he would support staying in the Alignment until the formation of the national unity government in 1984.^[2]

Political legacy

To his honor, the Association for Progressive Education in Honor of Meir Ya'ari (YAARI) was founded. Over the past decades YAARI envisioned, designed and implemented many peace-building projects in the region and especially in Cyprus. YAARI has also implemented a large-scale EC supported project known as Act Beyond Borders, which promoted reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians through education.

References

^ [1] Lessons from an exotic Zionist commune, Haaretz
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Yaari Meir The Labour Movement (in Hebrew)

External links

Meir Ya'ari on the Knesset website
The Birth of Hashomer Hatzair Jewish Gen
Meir Ya'ari

[1] [1] Lessons from an exotic Zionist commune, Haaretz

[labor-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Yaari Meir The Labour Movement (in Hebrew)

[1]

[2]

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