life in Israel-a well-nigh incredible stability. In spite of all the new names, splits and alignments, nothing at all has changed fundamentally in the political life of the Hebrew community in Palestine since the early Thirties. All the new parties are but splinters or continuations of old ones, and every Zionist political group can trace its origin back to the beginning of the century.

* * *

A few years ago, Kadish Luz, the widely respected speaker of the Knesset, made a speech which received much publicity. Reviewing the political scene, he expressed astonishment at the fact that no change at all in the division of power had been effected since the establishment of the state, despite the fact that since then, the population had increased three-fold, with two new immigrants for each citizen who was there in 1948. The new immigrants seem to have easily fallen into the party pattern which was already there, leaving each party with exactly the same percentage of the votes as it had before.

The explanation for this phenomenon lies in the particular character of the Israeli parties, which do not resemble parties in any other country. Ideally, a party is a voluntary association of citizens who unite in order to further a particular outlook or interest. Ideally again, the members support the party with their contributions, elect its leadership and control it. Nothing of this applies to the Zionist parties, which have power structures almost independent of their members, controlled by professional leaders and financed by outside sources.

To paraphrase Mirabeau's famous dictum about the army in Prussia: Elsewhere, the state has parties; in Israel, the parties have a state. The machinery of the great parties is by far more powerful and entrenched than the machinery of the state, and for a reason: the parties existed long before the State of Israel was created. The state is a newcomer on the scene, the parties are not. If we trace

168