Histadrut Elections in Israel Point to New Political Realignments

By Leon T. Hadar

American media coverage of Israel focuses mainly on diplomatic and security aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict, at the expense of long-term political and social processes evolving there.

Therefore, readers who depend upon such U.S. mainstream newspapers as The New York Times and The Washington Post for their Middle East coverage may not have sensed the most dramatic earthquake in Israeli politics in recent years—the collapse of an almost century-long rule of the Labor movement over Israel's labor union, the Histadrut.

The election of Labor party renegade Haim Ramon as secretary-general of the Histadrut could be compared in American terms to Pat Buchanan leaving the Republican party to win the presidency as an independent, only to face a third party led by Jesse Jackson in control of Congress.

The Histadrut membership includes almost 90 percent of the work force in Israel. Histadrut also controls the country's largest health care system, a huge publishing house including a daily newspaper (Davar), and several of the country's largest corporations, including Koor, a giant firm which has subsidiaries in many countries around the world.

"The Kremlin"

Israelis refer to Histadrut headquarters in Tel Aviv as "The Kremlin." It is a political and economic power center that occasionally rivals the government in its influence over the country's public life. Therefore, with control over so many political and economic resources, the Histadrut secretary-general has been regarded as the second most powerful political figure in the country.

For several decades, the Histadrut has been under the control of the Labor movement. In addition to providing the Labor party with millions of dollars in membership dues and other revenues, the Histadrut served as a major source of political patronage for the party's leaders. Indeed, the Labor party could have been totally marginalized after its parliamentary defeat in 1977 if it had not maintained control over the Histadrut. Repeated efforts by the political right and other political forces to oust Labor from "The Kremlin" have failed—until early this year.

Haim Ramon, who led the revolution that opened the gates of "The Kremlin," was one of Labor's youngest leaders. He became a Member of the Knesset in his early 30s, and a cabinet minister at the age of 40. The son of poor immigrants from Poland, Ramon is a lawyer who has been active in Labor party politics since the late 1960s. In 1971 he challenged then-Prime Minister Golda Meir on the Palestine issue, calling for a dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization and backing the idea of an independent Palestinian state. When that position turned him into a party pariah for several years, he considered leaving Labor and joining a more dovish party of the left.

By the mid-1970s, however, Ramon was gaining more popular support, especially among young Labor reformists. He was becoming a leader of the party's peace camp, meeting occasionally with PLO officials in Europe and calling on his party to be more accommodating. After he supported Rabin's candidacy for the office of prime minister, Rabin selected him to be minister of health in 1992.

From that position, Ramon began challenging Rabin and the Labor leadership. Ramon called for a major reform of the Histadrut-controlled health care system, including the possibility of unlinking the two. In addition, he recommended that Histadrut sell some of its companies, including its publishing empire. He also called for democratization of the organization that for years had been controlled by Labor party bosses.

Rabin rejected most of Ramon's proposals. As tensions between the two increased, Ramon resigned from his cabinet post to run as an independent for the Histadrut leadership. Ramon stressed, nevertheless, that he continued to support the Labor government's diplomatic agenda and that he would run for the Histadrut position as a dove, backing negotiations with the PLO (Ramon remains a Member of the Knesset and continues to vote on all the diplomatic and security issues with Labor).

The conventional wisdom among Israel's pundits was that Ramon would eventually fail in his effort to defeat the entrenched Labor leadership in the Histadrut. However, forming an interesting coalition that included public figures from both the political right and left, and running on a reformist and dovish platform, Ramon succeeded in defeating Labor's candidate, the elderly party boss Abraham Abarefled.

Ramon already has taken some major steps to reform the labor union, including the closing of the newspaper, Davar, and he promises to fulfill his promise of decoupling the health care system from the Histadrut. Most observers agree that if he is successful in his new job, he could emerge as a major contender for the prime ministership when Rabin and the other members of Labor's Old Guard leave the scene.

Although Ramon is formally a leader of a new party, called Ram, most Laborites still regard him as a member of their party. He retains a core of support there that would unite around him if and when he decides to run for Israel's top political job. His major rival would be the current Israeli chief of staff, Ehud Barak, who is scheduled to retire from the military soon and join Labor. The Stanford-educated Barak is a favorite of Rabin and the more hawkish elements in Labor.

Some analysts speculate that as the Arab-Israeli conflict enters its final stage, and as the ideological differences between Likud and Labor that centered around foreign policy become moot, Ramon could become the driving force behind a new political movement. That movement, like his Histadrut list, could also include former Likud members. Its agenda would be reformist and liberal on economic and cultural issues, while maintaining moderate positions in foreign policy.

Leon T. Hadar covers Washington and international affairs for American and foreign media.