Harel was born in
Berlin in 1934 and his family
emigrated to
Mandatory Palestine the following year. He studied philosophy and history at
Tel Aviv University and was the secretary of the Mahanot Olim youth movement. He joined kibbutz
Menara, becoming its secretary. He also served as secretary of the Committee of Golan Settlements. Harel was one of the founders of kibbutz
Merom Golan. Harel was a
socialist and profoundly influenced by
Karl Marx,
Vladimir Lenin and
Rosa Luxemburg. As manager of the
Yad Tabenkin Institute, he explored ways to save the
Kibbutz Movement from bankruptcy and concluded that capitalism was the only way to achieve this. Harel served as a personal aide to
Yitzhak Rabin. In 1996, he was a founding member of the Third Way party, and was elected to the
Knesset on its list that year. He served as the party's parliamentary group chairman, and was third on the party's list for the
1999 elections. However, the party failed to cross the electoral threshold and Harel lost his seat. ==References==