Since the catastrophic collapse of the euphoric "Oslo Agreements"—which culminated in former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Bill Clinton’s ill-fated meeting with Yasser Arafat at Camp David—the once-dominant Israeli Labor Party has all but vanished.
The party that once commanded the loyalty of much of Israel and many progressive Jews worldwide has been reduced to an afterthought, struggling for relevance and repeatedly reinventing itself under new names and leadership.
Today, under its latest reincarnation—ironically called "The Democrat Party"—Labor has managed to climb back to a modest 16 seats in Israeli polls. However, this latest iteration, an amalgamation of die-hard leftists from various parties and factions, appears to have already reached its peak. The more crucial issue, though, is the party’s gradual decline and the process that led to its demise.
A hallmark of a fading left-wing movement is the desperate search for a leader capable of defeating its political nemeses—first Ariel Sharon, then Benjamin Netanyahu. Labor cycled through an endless list of so-called "high-profile" figures, each of whom came and went so quickly that they are hardly remembered today. Here’s a list of Labor Party leaders since the turn of the century:
