The Histadrut, the Government, and the Arab Minority in Israel under the Military Administration

Abstract

Soon after the establishment of the State of Israel, the Histadrut became the primary, and in most cases the only institution of a non-military kind operating within the Palestinian population. During this period, Israel’s industrial relations had clear corporatist features. Power relations in this model are based on the balance in which no side can force its will on any other and a dynamic of compromise that recognizes conflicting interests. Most of the research dealing with the relationship between the Palestinian population and the Histadrut during the first two decades of the State views the Histadrut as part of a monolithic Zionist establishment, acting in light of unified goals of oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian population. In this research I propose a more nuanced and multi-faceted analysis of historical relations between the Histadrut and the Government in the establishment of policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians in Israel. The article maintains that these relations were shaped in accordance with the Israeli version of the corporatist model of industrial relations, which comprises both cooperation and conflict. While the goals of Jewish Histadrut officials working among the Palestinian population reinforced Zionist hegemony and the rule of the Mapai Party, in practice they were attentive to Palestinian voices and endeavored to meet their needs and to integrate them in the Histadrut.