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, Ernst Simon 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, agronomist (1868–1947), and Judge

Joseph Moshe Valero Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

.Bi-Nationalism
from Encyclopaedia Judaica, (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
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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