MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Israel
Index
In the May 1977 elections, the Labor Party's dominance of
Israeli politics ended. The Likud Bloc--an alliance of Begin's
Herut Party, the Liberal Party, and other smaller parties formed in
the aftermath of the October 1973 War--formed a ruling coalition
government for the first time in Israel's history. Likud gained
forty-three seats, Labor dropped to thirty-two seats, down by
nineteen from the 1973 figure. Likud's supporters consisted of
disaffected middle-class elements alienated by the series of
scandals, many new immigrants from the Soviet Union, and large
numbers of defecting Oriental Jews. Begin appealed to many because
he was viewed as incorruptible and untarnished by scandal. He was
a strong leader who did not equivocate about his plans for a strong
Israel (which he believed included the occupied territories), or
about his willingness to stand up to the Arabs or even the
superpowers if Israel's needs demanded. Begin also attracted some
veteran Labor Zionists for whom his focus on Jewish settlement and
self-reliance was reminiscent of an earlier unadulterated Labor
Zionism.
Begin's vision of Israel and its role in the region was deeply
rooted in the Revisionist platform with which he had been
associated since the days of Jabotinsky. He strongly advocated
Israeli sovereignty over all of Eretz Yisrael, which in his view
included Jerusalem and the West Bank, but not Sinai.
Data as of December 1988
|
|