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