Cooperation and Brotherhood ( he, שיתוף ואחווה, ''Shituf VeAhva''; ar, مشاركة وأخوة) was an Arab satellite list in

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 ...

History

Cooperation and Brotherhood was an Israeli Arab organisation formed to participate in the 1959 elections. Like other Israeli Arab parties at the time, it was associated with

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the nam ...

Mapai Mapai ( he, מַפָּא"י, an acronym for , ''Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael'', lit. "Workers' Party of the Land of Israel") was a democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger in ...

party, as Ben-Gurion was keen to include Israeli Arabs in the functioning of the state in order to prove

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

could co-exist peacefully and productively. Its support base was Muslims and Druze in the Mount Carmel area. In the elections, the party won 1.1% of the votes and two seats, which were taken by

Labib Hussein Abu Rokan Labib Hussein Abu Rokan ( ar, لبيب حسين أبو ركن, he, לביב חוסיין אבו-רוכן; born 1911, died 20 November 1989) was a Druze Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Cooperation and Brotherhood betwe ...

and

Yussef Diab Yussef Abdallah Diab ( ar, يوسف عبدالله دياب, he, יוסף דיאב, 1917 – 18 February 1984) was an Israeli Arab politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Cooperation and Brotherhood between 1959 and 1961. Bio ...

. Because of its association with Mapai, the party joined the governing coalition. In the 1961 elections the party increased its share of the vote to 1.9%, overtaking Progress and Development to become the most popular Israeli Arab party in the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

. Despite its increased vote, the party still won only two seats, though it was again part of all three coalition governments during the fifth Knesset. Both Abu Rochan and Diab were replaced, their places taken by Jabr Muadi (formerly an MK for the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs) and Diyab Obeid. The 1965 elections saw a drop in support to just 1.3% of the vote, though the party retained its two seats and was again included in the coalition government. On 5 July 1966 the party merged with Progress and Development to form

Cooperation and Development Cooperation and Development ( he, שיתוף ופיתוח, ''Shituf VePituah''; ar, إشراك وتطوير) was a short-lived Arab satellite list in Israel. History Cooperation and Development was established on 5 July 1966 during the sixth K ...

, though the union split on 1 January 1967. On 11 April 1967, Muadi broke away from the party to form the Druze Party, though he was elected to the next Knesset as a member of Progress and Development. In the 1969 elections the party retained its two seats with a small increase in its share of the vote to 1.4%. Elias Nakhleh (who had broken away from Progress and Development to form the Jewish-Arab Brotherhood after Cooperation and Development had broken up, effectively swapping parties with Muadi) took the second seat, and the party joined the governing coalition. Winning only 0.6% of the vote, the party failed 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 ...

in the 1973 elections and subsequently disappeared.

References

External links

Cooperation and Brotherhood
Knesset website {{Israeli political parties Arab political parties in Israel Defunct political parties in Israel