Mapai

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Mapai, short for Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael, was Israel’s main Labor Zionist and democratic socialist party from 1930 to 1968. It was founded on January 5, 1930, by merging Hapoel Hatzair and Ahdut HaAvoda. The party led Israel for decades and helped build the Histadrut labor union, as well as Hashomer and Haganah, the first Jewish security groups. David Ben-Gurion was the long-time leader (1930–54 and 1955–63), with Moshe Sharett leading briefly (1954–55) and Levi Eshkol taking over in 1963 until Mapai merged in 1968.

In elections, Mapai won large shares of the vote: 36% in 1949, 37% in 1951, and 38% in 1959, gaining the most seats and forming governments with various coalition partners. The party pushed major social reforms, including compulsory schooling for ages 5–14 (1949), the National Insurance Act (1953), and the Social Welfare Service Law (1958). It operated as a Jewish-only party for many years and had satellite Arab lists until the late 1960s.

In 1965 Mapai joined with Ahdut HaAvoda to form the Labor Alignment to strengthen its position against rivals. On January 23, 1968, Mapai merged with Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi to create the Israeli Labor Party, ending Mapai as a separate party. Leadership decisions were handled by the party, and after 1965 the Central Committee elected the prime minister candidate.