Da'am Workers Party

Da'am's political identity centers on cooperation between Jewish and Arab workers rather than separate communal representation.[1] In 2013, Agbarieh-Zahalka described its intended constituency as workers, unemployed people, women, and young people from both communities, and advocated social and class-based dialogue in place of nationalist or isolationist discourse.[1] The party combined this approach with socialist economic policies, including opposition to privatization and support for public investment.[3]

The name Da'am is an Arabic acronym for the Organization for Democratic Action, also known in English as ODA; the organization has also been identified as the Democratic Action Organization.[4][5] Its electoral participation dates to 1996, but by February 2015 it had never passed the parliamentary threshold.[5] Its subsequent September 2019 and 2020 election campaigns likewise failed to secure parliamentary representation.[6][7]

Da'am emerged in the mid-1990s, and Agbarieh-Zahalka joined it in 1995 after working as a language editor for its newspaper.[1] She joined at age 22 and later explained that the difficulties faced by workers, farmers, and unemployed people had persuaded her that social problems required action beyond editing articles.[8] By 2013, she was leading the party alongside Jewish members.[1][8]

The party received 2,151 votes in 1999 and 1,925 in 2003.[9] Its March 2006 candidate-list entry appeared as “Da-am - Workers' Party,” with its leader's name rendered as “Agvaria Asama.”[10] At the time of the 2006 campaign, it had not elected a Knesset representative.[4] In 2009, it received 2,645 votes.[1]

In the January 2013 election, Da'am won 3,546 votes, or 0.09% of valid votes, falling below the 2% threshold required for representation.[9][11] Its reported vote shares in selected geographic groupings were 0.2% in the Galilee and North, 0.1% in the Triangle, 0.3% in the Negev, and 0.2% in Druze localities.[5]

Da'am decided not to contest the 2015 election.[12] Agbarieh-Zahalka explained that the party had wanted to enter a coalition or alliance rather than run alone, but had been unable to find partners for an equally Jewish-Arab electoral alliance appealing to both communities.[12] She attributed that failure to national polarization and said the desired alliance would have framed politics in civic rather than divisive nationalist terms.[12]

During the 2019 campaign cycle, Da'am appeared under the names “Solidarity Without Borders” and “Green Economy – One State.”[13][2] A later 2019 account recorded 556 votes, or 0.01% of valid votes, for its preceding election campaign under the latter name.[2] In September 2019, it received 592 votes, again 0.01%, and failed to cross the 3.25% electoral threshold.[6]

Da'am received 612 votes, or 0.01%, in 2020, when the threshold remained 3.25% and parties needed at least 149,004 votes to obtain parliamentary representation.[7] It campaigned again ahead of the March 2021 election, continuing to promote a cooperative green economy and a single democratic state shared by Israelis and Palestinians.[14]

Employment was central to Da'am's 2006 platform, which party spokeswoman and founder Roni Ben Efrat described as addressing both social and political issues.[4] The party sought to represent low-skilled workers who believed their rights were being violated by the government's Wisconsin welfare-to-work program.[4] The Workers Advice Center, a nonprofit association established by ODA, formed part of its worker-organizing activity; Agbarieh-Zahalka said in 2006 that it had found jobs for more than 2,000 people since the previous election.[4]

Party members and their trade union participated in campaigns involving factory workers, truck drivers, and agricultural workers, while Agbarieh-Zahalka also organized joint activities for Arab and Jewish youth.[8] She described streets, factories, campuses, and agriculture as arenas for party activity alongside electoral politics.[8] This work accompanied the party's declared aim of uniting workers across sectors rather than treating parliamentary representation as its only purpose.[8]

By 2013, Da'am advocated ending privatization and nationalizing natural resources and key industries.[3] It opposed contract work, which Agbarieh-Zahalka compared to slavery, and called for affirmative action in public investment benefiting Israeli Arabs and residents of the periphery.[3] Its program also sought employment solutions and gender equality, while opposing budget cuts that Agbarieh-Zahalka believed would harm poorer groups.[8] She promised that, if elected, she would retain only an average wage and donate most of her Knesset salary to social activity, arguing that public money should return to the public.[8]

The party's 2006 diplomatic platform opposed unilateral Israeli withdrawal in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and supported negotiations taking Palestinian needs into account.[4] Ben Efrat called for Israel to recognize Palestinian representatives and for Hamas to recognize Israel, followed by a political process ending in withdrawal from territories Israel conquered in 1967.[4] In 2013, Da'am's stated policies included ending the occupation, dismantling settlements, pursuing peace with the Palestinians, and reducing the defense budget to fund public welfare.[3]

By 2019, the party was advocating an equal Israeli-Palestinian partnership in one democratic state alongside a green economy.[2] Chairman Yoav Gal Tamir presented its platform as an Israeli-Palestinian “Green New Deal” addressing both the conflict and the climate crisis.[2] He argued that a green economy could help reduce inequalities between Israelis and Palestinians, and between Arabs and Jews, while creating opportunities for cooperation.[2] The party's leading candidates included Gal Tamir, Wafa Akl Tiyara, Hanan Manadra Zoubi, Erez Wagner, and Samia Nasser.[2]

In its 2020 campaign, Da'am called for a “new green order”: a cooperative green economy drawing on the foundations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.[15] Its proposed shared democratic state would have equality, one economy, one constitution, and a shared future for Israelis and Palestinians.[15] The list presented itself as Jewish and Arab social activists supporting global solidarity and cooperation to protect the planet, themes it retained in its 2021 campaign.[15][14]

Three of Da'am's top five candidates in 2013 were women, and the party challenged patriarchal norms in Arab society.[3] Agbarieh-Zahalka, an Arab woman leading Da'am alongside Jewish members, advocated class-based cooperation rather than sectoral politics.[1] She also participated in a conference session titled “The Arabs and the Jews in Israel: How Can a Joint Path be Created?” as a representative of the Da'am Workers Party.[16]

During the 2011 cost-of-living protests, Da'am loyalists established protest tents and promoted the party's manifesto, while Agbarieh-Zahalka's speeches circulated on social networks.[17] She addressed a largely young Jewish audience in Hebrew, criticizing patriarchal societies, Hamas, and racism in Jewish-Israeli society.[17]

The party also attracted support from artists during the 2013 campaign.[18] Actor Ishi Golan appeared in a non-electable position on its candidate list, while actress Noli Omer and director and choreographer Gabi Aldor expressed support.[18] Golan described artists as having a social responsibility to reflect reality and viewed Da'am as a political expression of the social protest movement.[18] Despite that public activity, the party's electoral results remained below the threshold for parliamentary representation.[5][7]

Da'am's positions on national representation and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict included explicit criticisms of rival political approaches.[12][13] In 2015, Agbarieh-Zahalka criticized the Joint List as an Arab rather than a genuinely Jewish-Arab list, arguing that its constituent parties shared a national line she considered separatist.[12] In 2019, Gal Tamir declared the two-state idea “buried,” demanded full equality of rights for Jews and Palestinians, and called for an end to what he characterized as apartheid in Israel.[13] These were the party representatives' political assessments and characterizations, rather than independently established findings.[12][13]