May 7, 1953
The Histadrut, created in 1920 as a neutral, independent trade union representing all Jewish workers in the Land of Israel, opens its membership to Arabs for the first time.
The labor federation at the time has 503,000 members, representing approximately 75% of the country’s workers. Meanwhile, 185,000 Arabs are citizens of the State of Israel, and the Histadrut stops excluding them as members even though they remain under a special military administration that lasts until 1966.
One of the central reasons the Histadrut was created was to promote kibbush avodah, conquest through labor. According to David Ben-Gurion, kibbush avodah was “the single most important element in preparing the way for a Jewish State.” Rather than hire Arab or other workers, kibbush avodah meant that the Jewish immigrants themselves handled all aspects of developing and cultivating the land and creating an economy.
After the establishment of the state in 1948, the Histadrut expanded rapidly as the country absorbed many immigrants. The Histadrut played a key role in integrating newcomers into the economic life of the state. One of the Histadrut’s original functions was to protect Jewish labor from competition with cheaper Arab labor.
After the policy is changed, an editorial in The Jerusalem Post on May 12, 1953, hails the decision as “an important step along the road towards the integration of the Arabs into the life of the nation … for it immediately joins the great bulk of the Arab population with the overwhelming mass of the Jewish population in the struggle for a better way of life and higher standards of living.”
