Word: knesset
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...elections, most Arabs with a sense of grievance vote for the Rakah (Communist) Party, which has four members in the Knesset; two are Jews. Lately there has been talk among the Arabs about trying to focus voting strength to increase their membership in parliament to twelve?a powerful bloc in Israel's fragmented politics. Last December the voters of Nazareth (pop. 40,000), Israel's largest Arab city, elected Tawfiq Zayad, a Communist, as their mayor...
...Arabs died is still disputed. Minister of Police Shlomo Hillel insists that shots were fired in self-defense. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, replying to angry criticism in the Knesset the day after the shootings, argued that force had been necessary "to assure the well-being of the public." He accused the Rakah (Communist) Party and the Communist Youth Union of breaking into schools, beating up teachers and driving away pupils who wanted to study rather than strike. Merchants who wanted to keep their shops open were intimidated; roads were blocked, security forces assaulted. Thundered Rabin: "No state can acquiesce...
They were less interested in Zayad's Marxist politics than his usefulness as a symbol of protest against years of abuse by local leaders. Zayad prudently soft-pedaled his membership in Rakah, the small Moscow-leaning Israeli Communist party that holds four of the Knesset's 120 seats. "I did not run as a representative of Rakah," he insists. "I am a Nazarene...
Traditionalists have rallied to the defense of the lists. Zevulun Hammer, a Knesset member who belongs to the staunchly Orthodox National Religious Party, argues that they are essential "if the rabbinical registrars are to do their work according to halakhic law." That will not satisfy the growing number of Israelis who want laws permitting civil marriage. Until now change has been impossible because, although only one-fifth of the populace consider themselves to be religious, the N.R.P. provides essential votes for the coalition government. But the blacklist scandal could shift the political realities during the Knesset session that opens next...
...Front. Despite such arguments, Rabin will still have a hard tune convincing many Israelis. A poll taken by the newspaper Ha'aretz showed that 47.6% of his countrymen expressed dissatisfaction with his efforts, while only 37% gave approval. Though he could probably push the proposed agreement through the Knesset, he would have opposition from left, right and even the center of his own Labor Party. "This settlement bodes no good for Israel," says Zevulun Hammer, a member of the right-wing National Religious Party. "We get no political compensation for giving up territory. We expose ourselves to a security...