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Meir Ya'ari | |
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מאיר יערי | |
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| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 1949–1969 | Mapam |
| 1969–1974 | Alignment |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 April 1897 Kańczuga,Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 21 February 1987 (aged 89) Israel |
| Signature |  |
Meir Ya'ari (Hebrew:מאיר יערי; 24 April 1897 – 21 February 1987) was anIsraeli politician, educator, and social activist. He was the leader ofHashomer Hatzair,Kibbutz Artzi, andMapam, and a member of theKnesset.
Meyer Wald (later Ya'ari) was born inKańczuga in theGalicia area ofAustria-Hungary in 1897. His family came from a long lineage of rabbinic scholars. At half a year old, he and his family moved toRzeszów, where he grew up. He would eventually become active in theTze'irei Zion youth movement. At the outbreak ofWorld War I his family moved toVienna. At the age of 17 he volunteered for theAustrian Army and served as an officer until the end of the war. He studied at the Agricultural Academy and at theUniversity of Vienna. In 1919 he co-founded and co-led the Viennese branch ofHashomer Hatzair. In 1920, he madealiyah to Palestine. He worked at theKinneretmoshava, and in theGdud HaAvoda group, paving roads fromTiberias toTzemah and toTabgha.
His grandson,Yedidya Ya'ari, is a retiredIsrael Defense Forces general.
Ya'ari was one of the founders of Bitania, the firstcollective settlement ofHashomer Hatzair.[1] He was among the founders of theHistadrut workers' syndicate. From 1924 onwards he served as Secretary of the world Hashomer Hatzair.[2]
In 1927, he foundedKibbutz Artzi, was elected its secretary and took part in drafting its principles. In 1929, he was among the founders ofKibbutz Merhavia, where he lived until he died.[2]
In 1948, he co-foundedMapam political party as its leader, and functioned as its general secretary until 1973. He was a Mapam MK in the first through seventhKnessets, from 1949 to 1973. In the first Knesset he was member of the Knesset committee, and in the fifth through seventh Knessets he was member ofForeign Affairs and Defense Committee.[2]
His movement co-leader and almost equal colleague wasYaakov Hazan. For many years, they led Hashomer Hatzair and Mapam together. Despite holding the top two positions in Mapam's list, they made a joint decision not to become ministers but rather occupy themselves in the movement's ideological and educational activities.[2]
As leader and ideologist of Hashomer Hatzair, he sought to turn it from ascout-like youth movement promoting abstract socialist-humanist ideas to a political settlement movement that integratesZionism andMarxism.
He protestedDavid Ben-Gurion's activism andMapai's moderate socialism. He regarded highly the achievements ofrevolutionary socialism in theSoviet Union, although he criticized its attitude towards Zionism. In the 1940s he opposed theBiltmore Program and supported theone-state solution.[2]
During Israel's early years, he objected his party's coalition membership and was an outspoken critic of the government's western orientation, the nationality conception, theReparations Agreement and themartial law. At first, he supported the Soviet Union and tried, along withMoshe Sneh, to introduce Hashomer Hatzair's idea in Mapam. The exposure ofStalin's wrongdoings caused a schism in the Marxist orientation, resulting in the expulsion of Moshe Sneh's men from the party in 1953. Gradually, admiration of the Soviet Union lessened and inclination to cooperate with Mapai increased, and in 1955 Mapam indeed joined Mapai in the coalition. After theSix-Day War he expressed a relatively hawkish stand by opposing immediate withdrawal from theoccupied territories. In 1969 he supported Mapam's alliance with Mapai as part of theAlignment; in 1984, he would support staying in the Alignment until the formation of the national unity government in 1984.[2]
To his honor, the Association for Progressive Education in Honor of Meir Ya'ari (YAARI) was founded. Over the past decades YAARI envisioned, designed and implemented many peace-building projects in the region and especially in Cyprus. YAARI has also implemented a large-scale EC supported project known as Act Beyond Borders, which promoted reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians through education.
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