ABSTRACT

The dominance of the Labor movement in Israel was established during the crisis of the early stages of nation building in the 1920s through the 1930s. Labor maintained its dominant position for as long as it did because it was relatively successful in meeting the major challenges that Israel faced in its first three decades: defense against hostile neighbors, the "absorption" of mass immigration, and the need for economic growth. The Likud, even more than preceding Labor governments, utilized history and mythology to interpret contemporary political events, to gain ideological legitimacy, and to attempt to establish dominance. A strong element of mystical, messianic, nonrational eschatological politics, which was a legacy of revisionism in the Likud, was reinforced with the co-optation of groups like Gush Emunim into the new National Camp. This led a number of prominent scholars to claim that a new dominance had been established.