The Labor Party (hebrew: Haavoda) has spent the longest period in office in Israel and is a combination of several small socialist and social-democratic parties. The Labor Party to which important politicians such as Rabin, Ben Gurion, Peres and Barak belong follow a relatively moderate line on the Palestinian question as apposed to the more hard-line Likud. The Likud Block is Israel's largest public party and has survived several splits during its history.

Likud follows a considerably harder line with regard to the Palestinians. This was especially clear during Netanyahu's term in office when things deteriorated with regard to the Palestinian question rather than better. The restrictive clause in elections to the Knesset is very low at 1.5%. This means that parliament, like the public, is very fragmented. Small coalition parties often have the power to "tip the scales". In addition to the religious parties, many parties have been founded since the mid eighties and represent the interests of East Europeans.

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Subjects:  Human Rights  I  Democracy  I  Parties  I  Examples  I  Europe  I  Globalisation  I  United Nations  I  Sustainability

Methods:    Teaching Politics    II    Peace Education    II    Methods