The Popular Arab Bloc ( he, הגוש העממי הערבי, ''HaGush Ha'Amami HaAravi'') was an
Arab satellite list that contested the
1949 Israeli Constituent Assembly election
Constituent Assembly elections were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset (Hebrew: ...
. The list was launched by
Mapam, just three weeks before the election, in order to mobilize
Israeli Arab
The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...
votes. As Mapam did not allow Arabs to be members of the party, it preferred to set up a separate list for Arabs. The election campaigning was done under the supervision of the Mapam Arab Affairs Department, led by
Aharon Cohen Aharon Cohen ( he, אהרון כהן; 1910-1980) was a senior member of Mapam, a pro- USSR Israeli political party which existed during the first two decades of statehood.
Born in Britchany, Bessarabia in what was the Tsarist empire, now Romania. ...
. The list obtained 2,812 votes, failing to cross the 1%
electoral threshold
The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...
(4,347 votes) required to win a seat.
[Heller, Joseph. ]
The Birth of Israel, 1945-1949: Ben-Gurion and His Critics
'. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003. p. 346
By the time of the
next elections in 1951, Mapam had allowed Arabs to gain membership, with
Rostam Bastuni
Rostam Bastuni ( ar, رستم بستوني, he, רוסתם בסתוני; 15 March 1923 – 26 April 1994) was an Israeli politician and journalist, and the first Israeli Arab to represent a Zionist party in the Knesset.
Biography
Bastuni was bo ...
being elected on the party's list.
References
{{Israeli political parties
Political parties established in 1949
Defunct political parties in Israel
Arab political parties in Israel
1949 establishments in Israel