One Israel

(Israel Ahat)

   An electoral coalition comprised of the Israel Labor Party, Gesher, and Meimad that took 20.2 percent of the popular vote in the 1999 election, translating to 26 seats in the 15th Knesset. Its leader, Ehud Barak, defeated Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu in the simultaneous, direct election for prime minister. Its policies were essentially those of Labor, though Labor's traditional base of electoral support was expanded through the incorporation under the One Israel banner of the Sephardi (see ORIENTAL JEWS)-dominated Gesher and the moderate Orthodox Meimad. Its representatives dominated the governing coalition presented by Barak to the Knesset on 6 July 1999. In the election to the 16th Knesset in 2003, One Israel was reduced to Labor and Meimad, with the return of David Levy and Gesher to Likud. It ran as Labor-Meimad and suffered a major defeat in the 2003 election, falling to only 19 seats (down from 26 in 1999) under the leadership of former Haifa mayor and Israel Defense Forces general Amram Mitzna.

   See also Political parties.