Maki (current political party)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Israel
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Israel

Basic Laws Jerusalem Law Law of Return Acting President Dalia Itzik Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Cabinet State Comptroller Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik Members Elections: 2003, 2006 Parties Knesset Elections Law Judicial system Supreme Court Districts Regional council Local council Foreign affairs Israel and the UN Israel and the EU Ambassadors from Israel Israeli-Palestinian conflict Arab-Israeli conflict International Law Arab League
Other countries · Politics Portal view • talk • edit

Maki (Hebrew: מק"י) is a communist political party in Israel and forms part of the political alliance known as Hadash. It was originally known as Rakah (Hebrew: רק”ח), and is not the same party as the original Maki, which it broke away from in the 1960s.

1 Name
2 History
3 Reference
4 External links

[edit] Name

As is the case with many political parties in Israel, Maki is an acronym, standing for haMiflega haKomunistit haYisraelit (Hebrew: המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית), translated as Israeli Communist Party. The name Rakah was also an acronym, standing for Reshima Komunistit Hadasha (Hebrew: רשימה קומוניסטית חדשה), translated as New Communist List.

[edit] History

Rakah was formed in 1965 due to internal disagreements in Maki, the original Israeli Communist Party, saw a split between a largely Jewish group led by Sneh which recognized Israel's right to existence and were critical of the Soviet Union's increasingly anti-Israel stance, and a largely Israeli Arab group which was increasingly anti-Zionist. As a result, the pro-Palestinian faction (Emile Habibi, Tawfik Toubi and Meir Vilner) left Maki to form a new party, Rakah, which the Soviet Union recognised as the "official" Communist Party. It was reported in the Soviet media that the demerged Mikunis-Sneh group defected to the bourgois-nationalist camp. ^[1]

The 1965 elections saw the new party win three seats, comprehensively beating Maki, who had slumped to just one. Their opposition to Zionism and the Six-Day War meant they were excluded from the national unity governments of the sixth Knesset.

In the 1969 elections Rakah again won three seats. The 1973 elections saw a rise in support, the party picking up four seats.

Before the 1977 elections the party joined up with some other minor left-wing and Israeli Arab parties, including some members of the Israeli Black Panthers to form Hadash (literally "new", a possible reference to Rakah's name).

In the meantime, the original Maki had disappeared after merging into Ratz in 1981. In 1989, members of Rakah decided to change the party's name to Maki to reflect their status as the only officially communist party in Israel. The party remains the leading force in Hadash to this day.