Left Camp of Israel

Sheli combined a commitment to dialogue with the Palestinians with opposition to religious coercion and discrimination against Israel’s Arab citizens.[1][6] Its territorial program called for full withdrawal from the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and the Gaza Strip.[6] A January 26, 1981 report described it as a left-wing opposition party supporting a Palestinian state in the West Bank.[7]

The party’s name appears in several forms, including Mahaneh Sheli and Left Camp of Israel.[2][3] Sheli is identified as an acronym for “Shalom l’Israel,” translated as “Peace for Israel.”[8] A fuller Hebrew name appears as Ma’aneh ha-Semol ha-Yisraeli.[5]

Ahead of the 1977 election, Moked merged with Meri, some members of the Black Panthers, and other parties to form the Left Camp of Israel.[4] Meir Pa’il, who had chaired Moked, became a founding member of the new party.[4][5] Other founding figures included retired general Matti Peled, Arie “Lova” Eliav, and Yair Tsaban.[1][9][10]

Eliav had left the Labor Party in 1975 after opposing settlement in territories captured in 1967 and concluding that Jewish settlements there should be evacuated.[6] Avnery brought a separate parliamentary background: before serving for the Left Camp of Israel, he had represented HaOlam HaZeh-Koah Hadash, a small radical-left party known as Meri, in the sixth and seventh Knessets.[11] Tsaban’s involvement extended to Sheli’s participation in both Knesset and Histadrut elections; he joined Mapam in 1980.[10]

A 1977 archival film shows Eliav trying to persuade passersby to support him in the approaching election.[12] In the election of May 17, 1977, the Mahaneh Sheli list received 27,281 valid votes, amounting to 1.6 percent of the total, and secured two seats in the Ninth Knesset.[2] Eliav and Pa’il were elected on the party’s list.[9][5]

Sheli failed to pass the electoral threshold in 1981, receiving 8,671 votes.[13] Pa’il remained in the party until its disintegration in 1983, and Sheli had disbanded before the 1984 elections.[5][1] Avnery established a new party, Alternativah, in 1983.[14]

Sheli’s two parliamentary seats were shared through rotation agreements rather than occupied by the same representatives throughout the Ninth Knesset.[3] In 1979, Eliav handed his seat to Avnery, who served from 1979 to 1981.[9][14] Pa’il resigned under a rotation agreement in 1980 and was replaced by Se’adyah Martziano.[5] A 1980 survey summary identified Martziano as Sheli’s leader; a January 26, 1981 report listed the party among the opposition with two Knesset seats.[7]

Peace dialogue with the Palestinians was a central element of Sheli’s platform.[1] The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, in a retrospective commentary, characterizes its program more specifically as calling for mutual recognition with the PLO and immediate negotiations.[15] Its other stated positions included withdrawal from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, opposition to religious coercion, and opposition to discrimination against Arab citizens.[6] Its 1981 campaign used the slogan “Peace for Israel, equality for Israel.”[13]

Sheli brought Eliav, Avnery, and Pa’il together within an independent-left electoral framework, while its rotation agreements allowed five people to pass through its two Knesset seats.[16][3] Its electoral trajectory ran from parliamentary entry in 1977 to failure to cross the threshold in 1981 and organizational disintegration in 1983.[2][13][5]

The party’s disappearance from parliamentary politics coincided with the Labor Alignment drawing much of the political support to the left of Likud in the 1981 election.[16] Its leading participants subsequently followed different organizational paths: Tsaban joined Mapam in 1980, while Avnery founded Alternativah in 1983.[10][14]

The party’s territorial positions placed it in opposition to policies supported by state leaders: Eliav’s conclusion that Jewish settlements in territories captured in 1967 should be evacuated had met resistance from those leaders before Sheli’s formation.[6] Sheli subsequently advocated full withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza and supported a Palestinian state in the West Bank while opposing the Begin government.[6][7]