Parties represented in the 15th Knesset running for election in January 2003

Following are the stated goals of the incumbent parties expected to present candidates in the forthcoming Knesset elections (listed alphabetically), as officially recorded in the Party Registry (based on information in Hebrew on the Knesset website - http://www.knesset.gov.il). Some parties may choose to form joint lists.

These are not party platforms, which are currently unavailable for the forthcoming January 2003 elections.

Am Ehad

The party's goals are:

1. Struggle for employment and livelihood with dignity.
2. Struggle to reduce social gaps.
3. Uncompromising struggle against unemployment.
4. Struggle to ensure a pension for every citizen.
5. Struggle against the trampling of workers' rights by the manpower companies.
6. Struggle for the right of working women to salary equality.
7. Struggle to anchor the right of unionization and the right to strike in a Basic Law.
8. Struggle for free education from nursery school to university.
9. Struggle for equal rights in the health system.
10. Struggle for decent, unencumbered housing for each citizen.

The party's goals are:

1. To legislate a constitution that will ensure democracy, political pluralism, social justice, equality, human and civil rights, freedom of religion and faith without coercion, and the elimination of every type of discrimination.
2. That the State of Israel be a state for all its citizens.
3. Recognition of Arab citizens as a national minority entitled to self-administration in cultural matters that differentiate it from other citizens.
4. The economic and social advancement and development of the national Arab minority.
5. Advancement of the status of women and ensuring the equality of men and women.
6. Cooperation with Jewish elements that champion similar goals.
7. Solving the Palestinian question on the basis of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the territories conquered in 1967, whose capital is eastern Jerusalem.
8. Establishing a democratic regional order on the basis of equality and agreement among the states and peoples of the region, and a world order based on these same principles.

The party's goals are:

1. To work for a just, comprehensive, and stable Israeli-Arab peace, at the center of which is Israeli-Palestinian peace based on two states for two peoples;
2. To act on behalf of the working class, the collective of workers and common classes in Israel, to raise the standard of living and further the development of the country for the benefit of all its Jewish and Arab citizens;
3. To work to ensure the political and economic independence of Israel;
4. To struggle for the equality of civil and national rights of the Arab population in Israel, to struggle against every manifestation of racism and nationalism, to defend human rights, and to defend democratic freedoms and the equality of ethnic rights;
5. To struggle for equal rights for women and to ensure freedom of conscience and the annulment of any form of religious coercion;
6. To act to establish a socialist society in Israel.

The party's goals are:

1. Achieving true and lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors;
2. Ensuring the security, sovereignty, peace, and integrity of the State of Israel;
3. The flourishing of the national economy and the increasing of individual welfare;
4. Increasing the population and development of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel;
5. Preserving Israeli democracy;
6. Providing special assistance to development regions;
7. Absorbing immigration and fostering a "gravitational pull" for immigration from every country;
8. Integrating minority citizens in the life of the State of Israel.

The Likud is a national-liberal movement that stands for the ingathering of the Jewish people, the physical integrity of the homeland, human freedom and social justice, and strives to achieve the following goals:

1. The concentration of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, the ingathering of Diaspora communities and their integration in the homeland, the preservation of the Jewish people's right to the Land of Israel as an eternal, inalienable right and the maintaining of the state's sovereignty and security in true peace with its neighbors;
2. Implanting the eternal values of Jewish tradition and conducting a national-democratic regime in the country;
3. Integrating the minority populations in the country's systems and in the movement;
4. Strengthening the country's economy, cultivating and promoting the development towns and distressed neighborhoods;
5. Taking national responsibility for a reasonable level of individual security, education, health, employment, and environmental quality.

The party's goals are:

1. To represent, to cultivate, to strengthen, and to disseminate the values of religious Zionism in Israel and abroad;
2. To serve as and to cultivate a bridge of understanding, tolerance, and esteem between the religious and secular publics in Israel and to work for the unity of the Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora;
3. To implement and strengthen the security and upbuilding of the State of Israel and to influence its social, economic, political, and spiritual life on the basis of the Torah, the love of the Jewish people, the values of democracy, and the existence of the nation and the state.

Meretz is a democratic, peace-seeking party in which Jews and Arabs work in complete equality. Meretz is totally committed to human rights, to full equality between all citizens of the country, to social justice, to Israels security, and to the values of humanistic Zionism.

The party's goals are:

1. To attain an historic reconciliation with the Palestinian national movement and coexistence in peace and security between Israel and its neighbors;
2. To realize the recognition of the equality of all people and the fulfillment of human and civil rights everywhere in the world, and in the State of Israel in particular;
3. To prevent discrimination of whatever kind;
4. For equal rights and equality of opportunity for all citizens of the country, and for Jewish-Arab cooperation;
5. To achieve the proper balance between economic prosperity and social justice, out of deep social responsibility;
6. To promote education as the cornerstone of a proper democratic society;
7. To realize freedom of religion, conscience, and culture;
8. To strengthen the ties with the Diaspora, to absorb immigration, to renew the Zionist movement and deepen the dialogue between it and the Palestinian national movement;
9. To preserve the quality of life and the quality of the environment;
10. To link with organizations and parties in Israel and abroad that are dedicated to peace, to equal rights, to equality of the sexes, to social and cultural rights, and that oppose discrimination and racism of any kind.

The party's goals are:

1. To build the State of Israel, to reinforce its existence, and to develop its religious, cultural, security, economic, and social aspects;
2. To foster Jews' love for one another, loyalty to the state, and love for the homeland;
3. To work for original legislation based on the legal system of the Torah and Jewish tradition;
4. To base the country's government on the pillars of justice and equality for every citizen and social class; to establish an economic administration from the comprehensive viewpoint of the needs of the economy of a country concerned with the absorption of immigration, the development of the private sector, and their furtherance for the good of the state and its citizens;
5. To preserve the religious character of the country and to ensure the provision of all religious services to the public and to individuals by means of state, local, and other public institutions.

This faction comprises three parties - Moledet, Tekuma and Yisrael Beiteinu - which merged on February 1, 2000. Their stated goals are:

1. To work for the realization of Zionism in the spirit of the founding fathers, who saw our exclusive right to the Land of Israel;
2. To act to keep the Land of Israel in the hands of the Jewish people and the State of Israel, including the areas of Judea, Samaria, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights;
3. To act on behalf of the unity of the Torah of Israel, the people of Israel, and the Land of Israel.

1. To ingather the Diaspora communities in Israel and integrate them in Israel's economy and society.
2. To enhance Jewish-Zionist education.
3. To reduce the social gaps in Israel and strengthen weak segments of society.

1. The party will act to strengthen the common denominator uniting all citizens of the country, of whatever stream or outlook, toward tolerance, mutual respect, and respect for the rights of the individual.
2. The party will work in the social and economic fields to assist weak population groups and young couples in the field of subsidized housing, and will work to advance rehabilitation projects for development towns on the basis of land reform.
3. The party will work to establish an additional, recognized educational stream - the scientific-technological stream - as a collective framework for non-formal education in the sciences and technology (such as an association of immigrant teachers).
4. The party will act to transfer the authority for dealing with new immigrants from the Ministry of Immigration Absorption to local government.
5. The party will act to adopt the recommendations of the Neeman Committee to ensure the unity of the Jewish people.
6. The party will act to further the openness and flexibility of the Civil Service.
7. The party will act to ensure the right to vote of Israelis living abroad and to change the policy of granting citizenship, entrance visas, and passports.
8. The party will act toward the separation of authorities, in acceptance of the conclusions of the Shamgar Committee.
9. The party will act to further the adoption of a whole constitution on the basis of the existing consensus, which includes the establishment of a constitutional court.
10. The party will act to further the establishment of a presidential system.
11. The party will act to further the acceptance of the principle of separation on the basis of the "Alon plus" plan.
12. The party will act to establish a national security council.

The party's goals are:

1. To cultivate the traditional values of religious and haredi Judaism in Israel;
2. To follow the path of the Sephardi sages in accordance with the heritage of Oriental Judaism, and to restore its former glory;
3. To represent the Torah- and mitzvot-observant public, to prevent discrimination against the haredi public, and to foster Jews' love for one another;
4. To educate Israel's children in accordance with our holy Torah by preserving the values of Sephardic Jewry and to disseminate the Torah among the entire public.

The party's goals are:

1. Shinui struggles against religious coercion, against attempts by rabbis to turn Israel into a state governed by Jewish religious law, against extortion by the fundamentalists, and against their evasion of military service. It champions a society in which every citizen enjoys not only religious freedom, but also freedom from religion.
2. Shinui champions a free economy. It struggles for a more just division of the tax burden and maintains that it is possible to significantly reduce the public's tax burden by cutting the budgets flowing to the fundamentalist sector.
3. Shinui supports the peace process, the Oslo Accords, the Wye agreement, and agreements that will ensure peace and secure borders for Israel, with Jerusalem remaining united and serving as the capital of Israel only.
4. Shinui will support an agreement that enables the withdrawal of the IDF from southern Lebanon, while ensuring peace for the communities of the Galilee, and will support a compromise that the prime minister-elect achieves with Syria regarding the future of the Golan Heights. The arrangement with Syria shall be voted upon by a referendum.
5. Shinui supports the legislation of additional Basic Laws, such as the Basic Law: Freedom of Religion, toward the completion of a democratic constitution for Israel.
6. Shinui sees the future of the State of Israel in education, in scientific and technological development, in hi-tech industry, and in the integration of the Israeli economy in the global economy of the West.
7. Shinui believes that the quality of public services - education, health, and welfare - is the result of the strength of the economy and the readiness of society to fairly share its resources. Religious services should be funded mainly from the contributions of believers.
8. Shinui considers the equality of women to be one of the foundations of an enlightened society, and a right that must also apply to fundamentalist women.
9. Shinui believes that every citizen of a free country is free to decide whom to elect, what to eat, how to marry, how to be buried, and when to travel.
10. Shinui considers the slaughter on the roads to be a national tragedy and will do everything in order to reduce the extent of the killing on the roads.
11. Shinui believes in the duty to preserve the quality of the environment and to protect wildlife, while considering the needs of a modern, industrialized society.

The party's goals are:

1. To work for a solution to the economic and social problems which trouble the country's citizens, without regard to gender, religion, or national group;
2. Bridging the gaps of Israeli society and ensuring full equality between all the country's citizens, and deepening Jewish-Arab coexistence in the State of Israel and the world;
3. Achieving a just and durable peace between Israel and its neighbors based on the principle of two states for two peoples, the Israeli and the Palestinian; ending the fighting and ensuring the flourishing and the welfare of all peoples of the region.

This faction comprises two parties - Agudat Yisrael and Degel Hatorah - whose stated goals are:

To answer in the spirit of the Torah and Jewish tradition all the questions raised daily in the lives of all Jews, with the aspiration of uniting the Jewish people in the Land of Israel under the rule of the Torah and to impose the Torah on the spiritual, economic, and political life of the Land of Israel.

1. To represent the Torah-observant public in Israel in the institutions of government - in the government, the Knesset, and the local authorities - in order to protect and fulfill the special needs of this public in all areas of life, and to prevent discrimination against the haredi public;
2. To influence Israeli society to observe a Jewish way of life in accordance with our holy Torah through educational means and democratic activities;
3. To engage in disseminating the Torah, enforcing moral and religious standards, and welcoming any Jew who desires to study Torah and observe the mitzvot;
4. To educate toward fairness, integrity, and honesty between people - between the individual and society and between society and the individual.

The party's goals are:

1. To act in the Knesset, in the government, and in society to further the following goals:
2. To further the ingathering of most of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel in the foreseeable future;
3. To foster the creation of the conditions necessary for the absorption of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel and to fully exploit the intellectual and spiritual strengths which the Jewish people has accumulated for thousands of years for the advancement of the Jewish people;
4. To act in the security, economic, educational, and social fields in order to create good absorption conditions for the Jewish people in the State of Israel.