Levantine Commune

Levantine Communist Confederation of Jews and Arabs الاتحاد الشيوعي المشرقي لليهود والعرب  (Arabic) הקונפדרציה הקומוניסטית הלבנטינית של יהודים וערבים  (language?)
Flag of the Levantine Commune (1949-present)
Motto: "United under communism!"
Map of the Levantine Commune's federal divisions, red is the Palestinian Commune, blue is the Israeli Commune, yellow is the Jerusalem Special Administrative Zone.
Capital	Jerusalem (national) Tel Aviv (Israeli commune) Ramallah (Palestinian)
Official languages	Arabic, Hebrew
Ethnic groups	Israeli/Jewish, Arab/Palestinian
Religion	45.2% Judaism 44.9% Islam 6.6% No religion 3.3% Other
Demonym(s)	Levantine, Palestinian, Israeli
Government	Federal socialist directorial republic
President
• 1950 - 1960	Hassan Nasser
• 1960 - 1965	Yossi Ben-David Gur
• 1965 - 1976	Barnaby Har-Zahav
Legislature	Congress of the Levant
History
• 1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine	1948 - 1949
• Declaration of Independence	10 June 1949
• 1949 Palestine War	1949
• Treaty of Amman	10 January 1950
• Gazzah rebellion	4 July 1950 - 19 December 1950
• Current constitution	1 January 1953
• Yom Kippur Coup	6 October 1973
• Levantine National Schism	7 June 1975 - 10 October 1975
• Dissolution of the Levantine Commune	4 January 1976
Area
• Total	25,585.3 km2 (9,878.5 sq mi)
Today part of	Israel *Palestine

The Levantine Commune was a country situated in the Middle East in the Levant region. Its territory was comprised of the former lands of the British Mandatory Palestine. As an independent confederation, the Levantine Commune consisted of 2 constituent 'communes' with relative autonomy from the federal government and the Jerusalem Special Administrative Zone, with Jerusalem being directly governed by the federal government as their seat of power. Despite this federal division of power, much of the Levantine Commune was centralised with a planned economy and the federal ability to veto laws passed by the communes. It was the first and last communist state in the Middle East with its capital and largest city being Jerusalem.

The Levantine Commune was founded following the 1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine and subsequent 1949 Palestine War which saw Arab-Israeli communist groups backed by the Soviet Union take power and establish a communist state. The new Levantine Commune was initially a unitary Marxist-Leninist state with Stalinist features but following a rebellion by Arab militias in the Gazzah region and growing hostility from Joseph Stalin towards the end of his reign, the Levantine Commune temporarily broke ties with the Soviet Union, created a new constitution to allow more autonomy, transitioned to a socialist state and created federal communes. Following the ascension of Nikita Khrushchev, the Levantine Commune re-established ties with the Soviet Union and formed an official alliance with Yugoslavia.

The government of the Levantine Commune was a federal directorial confederation with 3 main leaders, the president of the Israeli Commune, president of the Palestinian Commune and the president of the Levantine Commune. The country's legislature was comprised of a single house, the Congress of the Levant, with elected representatives, although only Communist Party members and left-wing independents were allowed to stand for election, however this stipulation was removed for the April 1974 elections. Additionally, each commune had its own houses to pass legislation, Israel had the Knesset and the Palestine had the Kunjris, although their bills needed to be approved by the Congress of the Levant. This stipulation was also removed for the April 1974 elections. Additionally, they had the power to vote for federal laws.

The army of the Levantine Commune was comprised of three main organs, the Revolutionary Army of the Levant (RAL), the Commune Guards and the Militia Corps. The Revolutionary Army of the Levant was the professionally trained, well equipped and largest organ of the army, meant for home defense and expeditionary missions, of which the RAL completed two. The Commune Guards were designed as home armies for local security/law enforcement as well as reserves in the case of invasion by foreign power. The Commune Guards were under the direct control of their communes with each commune having a guard of size 35,000 and the Jerusalem Special Administrative Zone a size of 5,000. The Militia Corps were militias designed solely as reserves. They were included in the army due to their power and size as well as their important role in the 1949 Palestine War. The militias were under the command and control of the RAL but acted independently and were fluidly loyal to the local communes or the federal government.

On the 6th of October, 1973, Israeli nationalist politicians attempted a coup of the Levantine Commune government and of the Israeli Commune government. The coup fell apart after 3 days but the impact of the attempted coup was widespread and destabilising for the country. While the coup perpetrators had been arrested and imprisoned, many of the militias who had defected to join the coup were unaffected and thousands of coup participators were still in active service. Many within both communes began advocating for independence. The federal government attempted reform to quell the instability and called for snap elections in April 1974, but partisanship deadlocked the parliament and so the presidents of the Levantine Commune declared a state of emergency and dissolved legislatures and attempted to take full control of the country, leading to the Levantine National Schism where the Israeli and Palestinian Communes rose up and broke away from the rule of the federal government. The schism lasted for 3 months before it escalated to the 1975 Levant War which took place across the Middle East between the Levantine Commune government, Israel and Palestine. The war was inconclusive and the Levantine Commune failed to take back its lands but did occupy northern Jordan with Iraq. After the wars conclusion, the president Barnaby Har-Zahav declared the Levantine Commune's dissolution.