Wrong host, uninvited guest

In October 1988, at the height of the general election campaign for the Knesset, the leaders of Natzerat Illit Labour branch were landed with an awkward mission. Yitzhak Navon, a veteran Labour politician who had served as Israel's fifth president, a fluent speaker in Arabic, was coming for a day trip to the Nazareth area to campaign on behalf of the party. Palestinian Labour activists in Nazareth were putting together a schedule for his visit, including meetings with outstanding Palestinians and a public rally. The Labour branch of Natzerat Illit was to organize a separate programme for Navon in the Israeli town. The Labour party has always enjoyed impressive electoral returns amongst Israeli as well as Palestinian voters in Natzerat Illit, and the local organizers were determined to stage at least one event in which the ex-president would address Palestinians in Natzerat Illit, in which he would use Arabic as his medium.

The obvious choice was to set up a ḥūg bayit. Literally meaning ‘home circle’, ḥūg bayit is an election rally organized by a party in a private home, in which national figures rally in front of a hand-picked audience. The relatively small congregation and the homely atmosphere often breed an intimacy which people can hardly hope for on other, more formal public occasions. Principal decisions as to which towns or regions have enough potential voters to justify the effort associated with setting up a ḥūg bayit are normally taken at the respective party headquarters in Tel-Aviv.