Political Transformation

1. Political Transformation Fear and Temptation In the wake of victory

2. Defining Israel • The “Land of Israel” • Biblical claims, united people, ideological goals • The “state of Israel” • Pragmatic historical claims, diverse people, “economic” goals

4. Labor roots of settlement • 1967-73 : Nahal settlements in Sinai and West Bank • 1972: Knesset reaffirms “historic right” of the Jewish people over the Land of Israel • Moshe Dayan insists on private landownership in the W Bank • A generation of leaders committed to settlement in the 1930s

5. Shifting Israeli politics • 1973 war undermined the claims the Labour could keep Israel safe • The Labour party was still in the grip of its early, Askenazi leaders • The Israeli electorate now included mizrahim excluded from Labour • The Likud, under Menahem Begin, sought to be a voice for mizrahim

6. Menahem Begin in Soviet secret police archives

7. Begin and Sadat in Jerusalem

8. Economic crisis • Massive growth in defense costs • Inflation rates of 30-40% in early 1970s • Budget deficit of $3 billion • Revelations that Yitzhak Rabin had kept a “secret” bank account in dollars in the US • And one political issue: Rabin-Peres rivalry

9. Victory for the Likud • Rabin forced 1977 elections hoping to rid himself of religious partners • Massive Mizrahi shift to right-wing parties • With 43 seats to Labour 32, Likud and Begin emerged as the new Knesset core • Joined by NRP, Agudath Israel and independent • And by Movement for Democratic Change which gave up demand for constituencies

10. Parliamentary power • Begin was in a position to exclude his old nemesis, the Labour party. • In the Israeli Knesset there is no necessary advantage to a Grand Coalition • The search for a majority gives significant power to small parties • A general consensus exists not to rely on Arab votes or Arab parties

11. Defeat for Labour • Losing seats to Likud • Israeli Arabs turn to Rakah (Communists) • Intense conflict within Labour • Sharon and Dayan defect • Peres and Rabin at odds

12. Rabin in Palmach

14. Dayan as Foreign Minister • Weighing Sharm al-Shaykh vs. peace • Supported withdrawal from Suez after 1967 • Proposed to Begin Israeli withdrawal from 2/3 of Sinai for Egyptian non-belligerence • Begin did not see Sinai as part of the Land of Israel

15. Romanian and Moroccan connections • Romania’s dictator, Ceausescu arranged for Begin to meet Sayyid Marei in August 1977 • Israeli draft treaty with Egypt sent to Egypt by US • Morocco arranges for Dayan to meet Egyptian Deputy PM in September 1977

16. November 9 1977 • Sadat offers to go to Jerusalem • Speaking to the National Assembly • Yasser Arafat is in the audience

17. November 19, 1977 • Sadat arrives in Jerusalem • Addresses the Knesset • Prays at the Aqsa Mosque • Reassures Israelis • Returns to tumultuous reception in Cairo

18. Basic outlines of the deal • Return of all of Sinai to Egypt • Includes Yamit • Restoration of full sovereignty (i.e. troops can be stationed there) • Egyptian state of non-belligerency or peace • Egypt ends privileged strategic connection to Arab states • Tacitly agrees to allow Israel to pursue its own policies in remains of Mandatory Palestine

19. Not conservatives • Begin fails • No privatization, few tax cuts, no wage freeze • Begin succeeds • Guarantees for housing, extends tuition-free education to high school, “Project Renewal” • Begin continues