Chama cha Kikomunisti cha Israeli kilianza mwaka 1923 kama chama cha Wayahudi wa Ashkenazi pekee nchini Palestina. Kwa kuwa Kiyidi ndiyo lugha ya kihistoria na kihalisi ya "lugha ya mama" (mame-loshn) ya Wayahudi wa Ashkenazi, na ni lugha inayozungumzwa na Wayahudi wengi wa Ulaya Mashariki, chama hicho kiliitwa kwa Kiyidi: Palestinishe Komunistishe Partei. Lugha mpya ya Kiebrania ilipopata nguvu, chama hicho hatimaye kilijulikana nchini Israeli kwa jina lake la Kiebrania: Ha-Miflaga Ha-Komunistit Ha-Yisraelit. Hata hivyo, katika Palestina chini ya Mamlaka ya Uingereza, jina lake la Kiarabu lilikuwa Chama cha Kikomunisti cha Palestina (al-Hizb al-Shuyu'i al-Filastini). Mwaka 1923, Chama cha Kikomunisti cha Palestina (PCP) kilizaliwa kama muungano wa walowezi wa Kizayuni wenye mrengo wa kushoto na wakomunisti wasio Wazayuni miongoni mwa wahamiaji Wayahudi wa Ulaya Mashariki waliokuja Palestina.

The Israeli Communist Party began as an exclusively Jewish Ashkenazi party in Palestine in 1923. With Yiddish being the historical and literally the ‘mother language’ (mame-loshn) of the Ashkenazi Jews and being a language spoken by many East European Jews, the Communist Party was called in Yiddish: Palestinishe Komunistishe Partei. With the ‘new Hebrew’ being in ascendancy, the party became eventually known in Israel by its Hebrew name: Ha-Miflaga Ha-Komunistit Ha-Yisraelit. In Mandatory Palestine, however, its Arabic name was the Palestine Communist Party (al-Hizb al-Shuyu’i al-Filastini). In 1923, the PCP was born as a coalition of left-wing Zionist settlers and non-Zionist communists among the East European Jewish immigrants to Palestine.

Katika msingi wake na miaka yake ya mwanzo, chama kilikuwa hasa cha Wayahudi, na kilibaki kidogo lakini kikiwa hasa kimeundwa na Wayahudi wa Ulaya Mashariki wakati mwingi wa Mamlaka ya Palestina ya Uingereza (Younis 2000: 117).

At its foundation and in its early years the party was predominantly Jewish and it remained small but overwhelmingly composed of East European Jews during much of Mandatory Palestine (Younis 2000: 117).

Ikitawaliwa na Wastalinist kwa muda mwingi wa kipindi cha Mamlaka ya Uingereza, mwishoni mwa mwaka 1947, kufuatia uungwaji mkono wa Umoja wa Kisovieti kwa Azimio la Ugawaji la Umoja wa Mataifa, chama kilikubali jina la Kizayuni kwa nchi hiyo, ‘Eretz Yisrael’ (badala ya Palestina), na kilikuwa na mchango mkubwa katika kupata msaada wa kijeshi kutoka Czechoslovakia kwa Dola ya Israeli wakati wa hatua ngumu zaidi za vita vya mwaka 1948.31 Pia mwaka 1948, kiongozi wa chama, Meir Vilner, alikuwa miongoni mwa waliotia saini ‘Hati ya Uhuru’ ya Kizayuni ya Israeli (Megilat ha-ʿAtzmaut), ambayo mara kwa mara iliieleza nchi hiyo kama Nchi ya Israeli (kwa Kiebrania: Eretz Yisrael). Katika kipindi cha baada ya Nakba, chama kilikuza kumbukumbu ya pamoja iliyochangia katika kuifanya Israeli raia Wapalestina wa Israeli, wanaoitwa ‘Waarabu wa Israeli’.

Dominated by Stalinists throughout much of the Mandatory period, in late 1947, following the Soviet Union’s support for the UN Partition Resolution, the party embraced a Zionist designation for the country, ‘Eretz Yisrael’ (instead of Palestine) and were instrumental in securing military assistance from Czechoslovakia for the State of Israel during the toughest stages of the 1948 war.31 Also in 1948 the leader of the party, Meir Vilner, was a signatory to the Israeli Zionist ‘Independence Charter’ (Megilat ha-ʿAtzmaut), which repeatedly described the country as the Land of Israel (Hebrew: Eretz Yisrael). In the post-Nakba period the party promoted a collective memory which contributed to the Israelification of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, the so-called ‘Israeli Arabs’.

Wakati huo huo, katika kipindi hiki cha mwanzo cha Mamlaka ya Uingereza, Waarabu wa Palestina walianzisha harakati ya wafanyakazi na kuunda Chama cha Wafanyakazi wa Kiarabu wa Palestina (Jam’iyyat al-ʿUmmal al-ʿArabiyyah al-Filastiniyyah), chama kikuu cha wafanyakazi wa Kiarabu wa Palestina, kilichoanzishwa mwaka 1925 kikiwa na makao makuu huko Haifa, na matawi huko Nazareti, Jaffa na Majdal ‘Asqalan. Kuanzia mwaka 1937 hadi 1947, katibu mkuu wake alikuwa Sami Taha (1916–1947), aliyezaliwa ‘Arrabah, mji karibu na Jenin, ambapo familia yake baadaye ilihamia Haifa. Alikuwa kiongozi mkuu wa wafanyakazi wa Kiarabu wa Palestina wakati wa Mamlaka ya Uingereza (Lockman 1996: 259). Aliuawa kwa kupigwa risasi huko Haifa tarehe 12 Septemba 1947.

At the same time, during this early Mandatory period, the Palestinian Arabs created a labour movement and set up the Palestine Arab Workers Society (Jam’iyyat al-ʿUmmal al-ʿArabiyyah al-Filastiniyyah), the main Palestinian Arab labour organisation, established in 1925 with headquarters in Haifa, and branches in Nazareth, Jaffa and Majdal ‘Asqalan. From 1937 to 1947 its general secretary was Sami Taha (1916–1947) – born in ‘Arrabah, a town near Jenin, his family later moved to Haifa – who was the main Palestinian Arab labour leader during the Mandatory period (Lockman 1996: 259). He was assassinated in Haifa on 12 September 1947.

Katika kipindi chote cha miaka ya 1920 na 1930, wakomunisti Wayahudi wa Palestina walidumisha uhusiano wa karibu na Jumuiya ya Wafanyakazi Waarabu wa Palestina.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s the Palestine Jewish communists maintained close relations with the Palestine Arab Workers Society.

Katikati ya Vita vya Pili vya Dunia, mwaka 1943, Chama cha Kikomunisti cha Palestina, kikiwa chini ya shinikizo la kuendana na sera za Mashariki ya Kati za Urusi ya Kistalini, kiligongana na malengo muhimu ya harakati ya kitaifa ya Wapalestina. Chama kiligawanyika na wanachama wa Kiarabu wa Palestina wenye msimamo mkali zaidi wa kupinga Uzayuni, ambao waliunda Ligi ya Ukombozi wa Taifa mwaka 1944. Chama cha PCP, kikiwa chini ya ushawishi wa mrengo wa kushoto wa Kizayuni na kuunga mkono wazo la Kisovieti kwamba Uzayuni ni aina ya utaifa wa kibepari, kilibadilisha jina lake na kuwa MAKEY, Chama cha Kikomunisti cha Eretz Yisrael (‘Chama cha Kikomunisti cha Nchi ya Israeli’) – baada ya kuunga mkono Azimio la Umoja wa Mataifa la Ugawaji la Novemba 1947 – kikikumbatia neno kuu katika fikra za Kizayuni. Hii ilikuwa mara ya kwanza kwa wakomunisti wa Palestina kutumia neno la Kizayuni Eretz Yisrael (‘Nchi ya Israeli’). Zaidi ya hayo, kiongozi wa MAKEY, Meir Vilner-Kovner, alikuwa mmoja wa waliotia saini Azimio la Uhuru la Israeli la Mei 1948, hati ambayo maandishi yake ya Kiebrania hayataji neno Palestina na yanazungumzia Eretz Yisrael pekee. Hati hiyo inaanza kwa kurudia baadhi ya hadithi za msingi za Uzayuni:

In the middle of the Second World War, in 1943, the Palestine Communist Party, under pressure to accommodate the Middle Eastern policies of Stalinist Russia, came into conflict with the key aims of the Palestinian national movement. The party split with the more radical anti-Zionist Palestinian Arab members, who formed the National Liberation League in 1944. Coming under Zionist left-wing influences, and endorsing the Soviet notion that Zionism was a form of bourgeois nationalism, the PCP changed its name to MAKEY, the Communist Party of Eretz Yisrael (‘the Communist Party of the Land of Israel’) – after endorsing the UN Partition Resolution of November 1947 – embracing a term central to Zionist thinking. This was the first time the Palestine communists had used the Zionist term Eretz Yisrael (‘Land of Israel’). Furthermore, the leader of MAKEY, Meir Vilner-Kovner, was one of the signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence of May 1948, a document whose Hebrew text does not mention the term Palestine and talks only about Eretz Yisrael. The document begins with rehashing some of the founding myths of Zionism:

Ardhi ya Israeli ndiyo ilikuwa mahali pa kuzaliwa kwa taifa la Kiyahudi.

[The Land of Israel] was the birthplace of the Jewish people.

Hapa ndipo utambulisho wao wa kiroho, kidini na kisiasa ulipoundwa.

Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped.

Hapa ndipo walipopata kwanza hadhi ya kuwa taifa, wakaunda thamani za kitamaduni zenye umuhimu wa kitaifa na wa kimataifa, na wakauzawadia ulimwengu Kitabu cha vitabu vyote, kitabu cha milele.32

Here they first attained statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.32

Zaidi ya hayo, na muhimu sana, chama hicho kilihusika katika usafirishaji wa silaha kutoka Czechoslovakia kwenda kwa mashirika ya kijeshi ya Kizayuni mwaka 1948‒1949. Shehena hizo zilibadilisha kwa kiasi kikubwa mizani ya kijeshi uwanjani Palestina mwaka 1948, na zilikuwa na umuhimu mkubwa katika kuanzishwa kwa dola ya Israeli. Tangu mwaka 1948, wanachama Wayahudi wa chama hicho pia wamekuwa wakitumikia jeshi la Israeli.

Also, crucially, the party was involved in arms shipments from Czechoslovakia to the Zionist military organisations in 1948‒1949 – deliveries which radically altered the military balance on the ground in Palestine in 1948 and proved significant for the establishment of the Israeli state. Since 1948 the Jewish members of the party have also served in the Israeli army.

Baada ya mwaka 1948, chama kilijikuta kikikabiliwa na misimamo inayokinzana, kikashiriki katika siasa za bunge la Israel na kikajulikana kama MAKEY. Baada ya mgawanyiko mwingine wa ndani mwaka 1965, kundi kuu la bunge likajulikana kama Rakah, kifupisho cha New Communist List (Kiebrania: Reshima Komunistit Hadasha). Kufikia wakati huo, chama kilikuwa chama chenye wanachama wengi Waarabu wa Kipalestina ndani ya Green Line, na kilikuwa na wawakilishi katika Knesset ya Israel (bunge). Kihistoria, na hasa tangu mwaka 1948, msimamo wa kisiasa wa chama ulilenga zaidi usawa na haki za kiraia za Wapalestina ndani ya Israel. Leo chama kinajulikana kama Hadash, kifupisho cha Kiebrania cha Ha-Hazit Ha-Demokratit Le-Shalom (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality; kwa Kiarabu: al-Jabhah ad-Dimuqratiyyah lis-Salam wal-Musawah), chenye msimamo wa kisiasa unaoshikilia suluhisho la mataifa mawili.

Bedevilled by contradictory tendencies, after 1948 the party took part in Israeli parliamentary politics and became known as MAKEY. After another internal split in 1965, the main parliamentary faction became known as Rakah, an acronym for the New Communist List (Hebrew: Reshima Komunistit Hadasha). By this stage the party was a predominantly Palestinian Arab party within the Green Line with representation in the Israeli Knesset (parliament). Historically, and in particular since 1948, the party’s political platform largely focused on equality and civil rights for the Palestinians within Israel. Today the party is known as Hadash, a Hebrew acronym for Ha-Hazit Ha-Demokratit Le-Shalom (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality; Arabic: al-Jabhah ad-Dimuqratiyyah lis-Salam wal-Musawah), with a political platform committed to the two-state solution.