Ihud ( he, איחוד, 'Unity') was a small
binationalist Zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
political party founded by
Judah Leon Magnes
Judah Leon Magnes ( he, יהודה לייב מאגנס; July 5, 1877 – October 27, 1948) was a prominent Reform rabbi in both the United States and Mandatory Palestine. He is best remembered as a leader in the pacifist movement of the World War ...
,
Martin Buber
Martin Buber ( he, מרטין בובר; german: Martin Buber; yi, מארטין בובער; February 8, 1878 –
June 13, 1965) was an Austrian Jewish and Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism c ...
,
Ernst Simon
Ernst Akiba/Akiva Simon ( he, עקיבא ארְנְסְט סימון; March 15, 1900 in Berlin – August 18, 1988 in Jerusalem) was a German-Jewish educator and religious philosopher.
Biography
In the 1920s, Ernst Simon co-founded Brit Shalom a ...
and
Henrietta Szold
Henrietta Szold ( , ; December 21, 1860 – February 13, 1945) was a U.S. Jewish Zionist leader and founder of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. In 1942, she co-founded Ihud, a political party in Mandatory Palestine dedic ...
, former supporters of
Brit Shalom, in 1942
["The History of the original Brit Shalom, founded 1925"]
britshalom.org following the
Biltmore Conference
The Biltmore Conference, also known by its resolution as the Biltmore Program, was a fundamental departure from traditional Zionist policyAmerican Jewish Year Book Vol. 45 (1943-1944Pro-Palestine and Zionist Activities, pp 206-214 by its demand "th ...
. Other prominent members were
Moshe Smilansky
Moshe Smilansky ( he, משה סמילנסקי; February 24, 1874 – October 6, 1953) was a pioneer of the First Aliyah, a Zionist leader who advocated peaceful coexistence with the Arabs in Mandatory Palestine, a farmer, and a prolific author of ...
, agronomist (1868–1947), and Judge
Joseph Moshe Valero.
[Bi-Nationalism](_blank)
from Encyclopaedia Judaica
The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, langua ...
, (c)2008, Gale Group; via Jewish Virtual Library; accessed 5 December 2019.
History
The Ihud party presented its ideas to the
Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry
The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry was a joint British and American committee assembled in Washington, D.C. on 4 January 1946. The committee was tasked to examine political, economic and social conditions in Mandatory Palestine and the well- ...
in 1946 and then to the
United Nations Special Committee on Palestine
The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) was created on 15 May 1947 in response to a United Kingdom government request that the General Assembly "make recommendations under article 10 of the Charter, concerning the future govern ...
in 1947. The Anglo-American Committee voted largely in favour of the proposals of Ihud, recommending an Economic Union in Palestine.
[
Ihud proposed the creation of joint organs of government, and a division of the country into districts based on a communal basis.][
After the foundation of the state of Israel, Ihud replaced its official journal ''Ba'ayot'' with a new periodical, ''Ner''.
According to Sasson Sofer, writing in ''Zionism and the Foundations of Israeli Diplomacy'' (1998):
"Ihud constituted the first instance in the history of Israel's politics of what happens when intellectuals seek to propose a compromise solution in the course of a violent national conflict. It demonstrated their organisational weakness and the fact that their political influence was marginal. Ihud presages the fate which was to befall Israel's intelligentsia whenever it approached the white-hot heart of the Israel-Arab conflict and sought to join in the political fray."Zionism and the Foundations of Israeli Diplomacy, 18 - Magnes, Buber and Ihud (Unity) pp. 337-356]
/ref>
References
{{reflist
Political organizations based in Israel
Middle East peace efforts
Political parties in Mandatory Palestine
Political parties established in 1942
One-state solution
1942 establishments in Mandatory Palestine
Political parties with year of disestablishment missing
Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine