ABSTRACT
The Israeli political system has been characterized throughout its brief history by a process of fission and fusion—a splitting apart and remerging of its political parties. I shall analyze this process by focusing on the major labor parties that have dominated the political system since its earliest gestation period before Israeli independence in 1948. I shall explore the historical origins of the factional system in the pre-state Jewish Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine prior to Independence), and relate the process of fission and fusion to the dynamic socio-economic and political changes that characterized the development of Israeli society. Major characteristics of the political culture and institutional framework are related to their influence on the factional system. The focus of my analysis is on the structural and functional characteristics of the factions in the Israel Labor Party and their impact on the political process, especially the competitive process.
