The Left Camp of Israel ( he, מחנה שמאל לישראל, ''Maḥaneh Smol LeYisrael'') was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. It was also known as Sheli ( he, של"י), an acronym for "Peace for Israel" ( he, שלום לישראל, ''Shalom LeYisrael'').

Background

The party was formed prior to the 1977 elections by the merger of Meri,

Moked Moked ( he, מוקד, lit. "Focus") was a left-wing political party in Israel. Background Moked came into existence during the seventh Knesset, when Maki (which had one seat, held by Shmuel Mikunis) merged with the Blue-Red Movement, which was ...

, the

Independent Socialist Faction The Independent Socialist Faction ( he, סיעה סוציאליסטית עצמאית, ''Sia'a Sotzialistit Atzma'it'') was a political party in Israel in the 1970s. Background The party was established on 27 January 1976, during the eighth Kne ...

and some members of the

Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. New ...

. It won two seats in the elections, which were held on a rotation basis by five party members;

Uri Avnery Uri Avnery ( he, אורי אבנרי, also transliterated Uri Avneri; 10 September 1923 – 20 August 2018) was an Israeli writer, politician, and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement. A member of the Irgun as a teenager, Avnery sat for two ...

(previously an MK for Meri),

Aryeh Eliav Aryeh "Lova" Eliav ( he, אריה "לובה" אליאב, 21 November 1921 – 30 May 2010), was an Israeli politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for several factions in three spells between 1965 and 1992. Biography Lev Lipschitz (la ...

(an MK for the Independent Socialist Faction in the previous Knesset),

Meir Pa'il Meir Pa'il ( he, מאיר פעיל‎; 19 June 1926 – 15 September 2015) was a colonel in the Israel Defense Forces, an Israeli politician, and military historian. Biography Meir Pilevsky (later Pa'il) was born in Jerusalem during the Ma ...

(an ex-Moked MK),

Saadia Marciano Saadia Marciano ( he, סעדיה מרציאנו; 1 May 1950 – 21 December 2007) was an Israeli social activist and politician, and founder of the Israeli Black Panthers. Biography Born in Oujda, Morocco in 1950, Marciano's family immigrated to ...

and

Walid Haj Yahia Walid Haj Yahia ( ar, وليد حاج يحيى; he, וליד חאג'-יחיא, also known as Walid Sadik, 1936 – 21 March 2015) was an Israeli Arab former politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Left Camp of Israel and Meretz. ...

. Other prominent members of Sheli were the former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli army

Matti Peled Mattityahu "Matti" Peled ( he, מתתיהו "מתי" פלד, born Mattityahu Ifland on 20 July 1923, died 10 March 1995) was a well-known Israeli public figure who was at various periods of his life a professional military man who reached the ran ...

and

Ran Cohen Ran Cohen ( he, רן כהן, born 20 June 1937) is an Israeli politician and former Knesset member for Meretz. Background Born Said Cohen in Baghdad, Iraq, Cohen was 13 years old when he immigrated to Israel through Iran. He hebraized his first ...

, who later served as an MK for Ratz and Meretz and a government minister. The party, formed by a merger of leftist non-communist groups, was founded by Eliav, who was formerly secretary general of the Labor Party. Sheli called for negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization based on mutual recognition and for the establishment of an Arab Palestinian state. On 11 November 1980, Marciano broke away from the party to form a single-member faction, later renamed Equality in Israel – Panthers. On 19 May 1981 he was joined by former

Dash The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

MK,

Mordechai Elgrably Mordechai Elgrably (, born 14 July 1944) is an Israeli former politician who served as a member of the Knesset for several parties between 1977 and 1981. Biography Born in Meknes in Morocco, Elgrably received a religious education and was a memb ...

. The new party was later renamed as the Unity Party.Mergers and Splits Among Parliamentary Groups
Knesset website The party failed to cross the

election 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 ...

in the 1981 election and subsequently disappeared, though many former party members joined the

Progressive List for Peace The Progressive List for Peace ( he, הרשימה המתקדמת לשלום, ''HaReshima HaMitkademet LeShalom'', ar, القائمة التقدمية للسلام) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party was formed from an alliance ...

and Ratz.

References

External links

Left Camp of Israel (Sheli)
Knesset website Defunct political parties in Israel Socialist parties in Israel Far-left politics in Israel Far-left political parties {{Israel-party-stub