Ra'anan Cohen

Ra'anan Cohen
Date of birth	28 February 1941
Place of birth	Baghdad, Iraq
Year of aliyah	1951
Knessets	12, 13, 14, 15
Faction represented in Knesset
1988–1991	Alignment
1991–1999	Labor Party
1999–2001	One Israel
2001–2002	Labor Party
Ministerial roles
2000–2001	Minister of Labor & Social Welfare
2001–2002	Minister without Portfolio

Dr Ra'anan Cohen (Hebrew: רענן כהן‎, born 28 February 1941) is a former Israeli politician who served as a government minister during the early 2000s.

Biography

Born in Baghdad in Iraq, Cohen made aliyah in 1951. During his youth he was a counsellor in the HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed youth movement, and was secretary of the Labor Party youth guard in Bnei Brak until 1970. He took Middle Eastern studies at Tel Aviv University, gaining a BA, MA and PhD in the subject. He served as chairman of Labor Party's Arab and Druze branch between 1975 and 1986. Between 1986 and 1992 he chaired the party's elections branch.

In 1988 he was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment's list. He was re-elected in 1992 (by which time the Alignment had merged into the Labor Party), and 1996. In December 1997 he was elected secretary-general of the party, winning 76% of the vote.^[1] He retained his seat in the 1999 elections (on the One Israel list), and in August 2000 was appointed Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in Ehud Barak's government following Shas' departure from the coalition government.

When Ariel Sharon formed a national unity government following the special election for Prime Minister in 2001, Cohen became a Minister without Portfolio. He left the cabinet on 18 August 2002 and resigned from the Knesset three days later, retiring from politics.

Cohen has written several books, including Strangers in their Homeland: A Critical Study of Israel's Arab Citizens.

References

1. Ra'anan Cohen is new Labor secretary The Jerusalem Post, 29 December 1997

External links

• Ra'anan Cohen on the Knesset website