Sarid, Yossi (1940–)
SARID, YOSSI (1940–)
Israeli politician. Born in Rehovot, in Mandatory Palestine, Yossi Sarid had a brief career as a journalist before becoming active in the Israel Labor Party. He was elected to the Knesset in 1974. In 1984, after the formation of the Peres-Shamir unity government, Sarid resigned from the Labor Party and joined the Movement for Civil Rights and Peace. In 1988 he was one of the founders of Meretz, a leftist party that advocated an active peacemaking process with the Palestinians, and he became party chair in 1996. Sarid was appointed minister of education in 1999, when Meretz was part of the Barak coalition government, and he served briefly until Meretz left the coalition in 2000. In the 2002 elections, the Meretz Party lost four of its ten Knesset seats, and Sarid resigned as party chair. He remained active in the Knesset.