Simha Tzabari (; 1913–2004) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the central committee of the illegal

Palestine Communist Party The Palestine Communist Party (, ''Palestinische Komunistische Partei'', abbreviated PKP; ) was a political party in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine formed in 1923 through the merger of the Palestinian Communist Party (192 ...

Early life and education

Tzabari was born in Tel Aviv in 1913, and her parents were

Yemenite Jewish Yemenite Jews, also known as Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ; ), are a Jewish diaspora group who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. After several waves of persecution, the vast majority of Yemenite J ...

workers. She had five siblings, including Rahel. She attended Yehieli Girls School in the

Neve Tzedek Neve Tzedek (, ''lit.'' Abode of Justice) is a Jewish neighborhood in southwestern Tel Aviv, Israel. It was the first Judaism, Jewish neighborhood to be built outside the old city of the ancient port of Jaffa. It was founded by a group of 48 J ...

neighborhood of Tel Aviv. During her studies she became a revolutionary and was trained at the

Communist University of the Toilers of the East The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (, KUTV; also known as the Far East University) was a revolutionary training school for important communist political leaders. The school operated under the umbrella of the Communist Internatio ...

in Moscow in the early 1930s. At age 21 she became a member of the central committee of the Palestinian Communist Party which had been illegally operating.

Career and activities

Tzabari worked at a factory and was a member of the Communist Youth League. She launched the Jewish branch of the Palestine Communist Party to organize activities in the cities of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, and Tel Aviv. However, it was closed in 1939 due to the conflicts between the group and the leadership of the party. In the 1940s she continued to be one of the leading members of the party. Following the establishment of Israel in 1948 she joined the leftist political party

Mapam File:Pre-State_Zionist_Workers'_Parties_chart.png, chart of zionist workers parties, 360px, right rect 167 83 445 250 Hapoel Hatzair rect 450 88 717 265 The non-partisans (pre-state Zionist political movement), Non Partisans rect 721 86 995 243 ...

. She retired from politics in 1954 and attended a high school obtaining a diploma. She worked as a teacher of Arabic at a school in

Ramla Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs. The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph S ...

Personal life and death

Tzabari did not get married and had no children. She had an affair with Radwan Al Hilu, general secretary of the Palestine Communist Party. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2002 and died in October 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tzabari, Simha 20th-century Israeli women politicians 1913 births 2004 deaths Politicians from Tel Aviv Jewish Israeli politicians Jews from Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Yemeni-Jewish descent 20th-century Israeli educators Mapai politicians Palestine Communist Party politicians Communist University of the Toilers of the East alumni