Meretz - (Hebrew) - An Israeli leftist party formed from MAPAM, the Shinui and Ratz parties. Briefly called Yahad and Ya'ad. Toward the end of the Twelfth Knesset (1992), the MAPAM, Ratz, and Shinui parliamentary groups merged into single parliamentary group. The three united around agreement with the Palestinians on the basis of a territorial compromise, and the establishment of a Palestinian state, civil and human rights, and the separation of religion and state. In February 1997, the three parties merged into a single party, though MK Avraham Poraz preferred to stay outside the new party, and formed the Shinui-Center Party parliamentary group. Meretz was headed by Shulamit Aloni (1991-99) and Yossi Sarid (1999-2003). Meretz ran in the elections for the Sixteenth Knesset in a single list with the Democratic Choice and Shahar. In the course of the Sixteenth Knesset, Yossi Beilin of the Labor party joined Meretz. The party briefly changed its name to "Yahad and the Democratic Choice" or Yaad. Apparently it has now returned to the name Meretz. Prominent MKs of Meretz include or have included Yossi Sarid, Ran Cohen, Haim Oron, Naomi Chazan and Shulamit Aloni. Meretz Party Platform: (recent, but not authoritative) Security/Foreign Affairs: Social and Economic Policy:
Synonyms and alternate spellings: Further Information: Hebrew/Arabic pronunciation and transliteration conventions: 'H - ('het) a guttural sound made deep in the throat. To Western ears it may sound like the "ch" in loch. In Arabic there are several letters that have similar sounds. Examples: 'hanukah, 'hamas, 'haredi. Formerly, this sound was often represented by ch, especially in German transliterations of Hebrew. Thus, 'hanukah is often rendered as Chanuka for example. ch - (chaf) a sound like "ch" in loch or the Russian Kh as in Khruschev or German Ach, made by putting the tongue against the roof of the mouth. In Hebrew, a chaf can never occur at the beginning of a word. At the beginning of a word, it has a dot in it and is pronounced "Kaf." u - usually between oo as in spoon and u as in put. a- sounded like a in arm ah- used to represent an a sound made by the letter hey at the end of a word. It is the same sound as a. Haganah and Hagana are alternative acceptable transliterations. 'a-notation used for Hebrew and Arabic ayin, a guttural ah sound. o - close to the French o as in homme. th - (taf without a dot) - Th was formerly used to transliterate the Hebrew taf sound for taf without a dot. However in modern Hebrew there is no detectable difference in standard pronunciation of taf with or without a dot, and therefore Histadruth and Histadrut, Rehovoth and Rehovot are all acceptable. q- (quf) - In transliteration of Hebrew and Arabic, it is best to consistently use the letter q for the quf, to avoid confusion with similar sounding words that might be spelled with a kaf, which should be transliterated as K. Thus, Hatiqva is preferable to Hatikva for example. Definitions of Zionism General History of Zionism and the Creation of Israel History of Israel and Zionism Historical Source Documents of Israel and Zionism Back to main page: http://www.zionism-israel.com Zionism and Israel Information Center This site is a part of the Zionism and Israel on the Web Project Copyright This work and individual entries are copyright © 2005 by Ami Isseroff and Zionism and Israel Information Center and may not reproduced in any form without permission unless explicitly noted otherwise. Individual entries may be cited with credit to The Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Zionism and Israel
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