Cooperation and Brotherhood (, ''Shituf VeAhva''; ) was an Arab satellite list in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

History

Cooperation and Brotherhood was an

Israeli Arab The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...

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 ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary List of national founders, national founder and first Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency ...

Mapai Mapai (, an abbreviation for , ''Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael'', ) was a Labor Zionist and democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in January ...

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

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

could co-exist peacefully and productively. Its support base was Muslims and

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

in the

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

area. In the elections, the party won 1.1% of the votes and two seats, which were taken by Labib Hussein Abu Rokan and Yussef Diab. 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 ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

. 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, 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 votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ...

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 Political parties disestablished in the 1970s