A Palestinian political movement within Israel.
Al-Ard (Arabic, "the Land") was a pan-Arab nationalist movement supportive of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser that emerged in 1959 among Palestinian citizens in Israel. It not only challenged the legitimacy of Israel; it also opposed the traditional leadership of the Palestinian community in Israel, which it accused of cooperating with the Israelis. Al-Ard also presented an alternative to the communists, who had dominated Arab politics in Israel. Leading figures included Sabri Jiryis, Habib Qahwaji, Salih Baransi, Mansur Qardawsh (also Kardosh), and Muhammad Miʿari.
Israeli authorities banned al-Ard in 1964. The following year, al-Ard tried to field a list of candidates for the Knesset elections of 1965 using the new name the Arab Socialist List, but the Israeli authorities banned it once again. Some of the leaders, like Miʿari, went on to form the Progressive List for Peace in the early 1980s.
Bibliography
Fischbach, Michael R. "The Palestinians." In Political Parties of the Middle East and North Africa, edited by Frank Tachau. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.
Jiryis, Sabri. The Arabs in Israel, 1948 - 1966, translated by Inea Bushnaq. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1976.
Lustick, Ian. Arabs in the Jewish State: Israel's Control of a National Minority. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980.
— BRYAN DAVES UPDATED BY MICHAEL R. FISCHBACH
