Knesset Member Chaim Oron, one of the founders of the 'Peace Now' movement, was elected as the new chairman of the Meretz party Tuesday. He replaces MK Yossi Beilin, who has headed Meretz since 2004. Oron received 54.5 percent of the vote. The runner-up, MK Ran Cohen, garnered about 27%, and MK Zehava Galon received 18% in the near-final tally.
Meretz is the Knesset's left-most faction, among the factions which call themselves Zionist.
Born in 1940, Oron was known since childhood by the nickname 'Joomas,' the Arab name for the fruit of the sycamore tree. A native of Ramat Gan, he joined the Kibbutz (collective community) of Lahav after his army service. Lahav is situated near the presumed site of the biblical Tziklag in the northern Negev.
At the age of 24 he became the Secretary of the youth movement HaShomer HaTzair, which is affiliated with the far left. Oron was a farmer and teacher, and managed the Dolev plastic factory jointly owned by Lahav and a neighboring kibbutz, Dvir. He was among the founders of Peace Now, an organization which regularly demonstrates against wars and in favor of Israeli retreats, and which has recently faced charges of fraud.
He was elected to the Knesset in 1988 as a representative of Mapam, the "Unified Workers' Party," which later merged with other parties to form Meretz. When the Knesset approved a law that legalized broadcasting by the Arutz 7 radio station, he filed a petition to the High Court. The petition was accepted and, in 2003, the radio station was closed down. Since then, the right-leaning public in Israel has had no radio station.
In his victory speech Tuesday Oron said: "I want to answer those who say that Meretz is no longer a relevant party: when Shas takes us years backward, who can deal with it? When the Defense Minister, who claims to lead the peace camp, does not remove a single roadblock [in Judea and Samaria – ed.], only Meretz is committed to fighting for peace."
Some of runner-up Cohen's followers said yesterday that the voting was unfair, and that kibbutz members voted massively for Oron. Livna, a Cohen supporter, told Nrg: "20 years ago I left Likud because I thought that only people like Ran Cohen would make the social change. Now I see that Meretz may even be worse than the Likud central assembly. It is like the Arab clans. All the kibbutzim voted for Joomas because he one of theirs."
About one third of Meretz's registered members are from the kibbutz communities.