The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 was preceded by more than a half century of efforts by Zionist leaders to establish a sovereign nation as a homeland for Jews. Attachment to the land of Israel is a recurrent theme in Jewish scripture and writing. The desire of Jews to return to what is to them their rightful homeland was first expressed during the Babylonian exile and became a universal Jewish theme after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70 and the dispersal that followed.
It was not until the founding of the Zionist movement by Theodore Herzl at the end of the 19th century that practical steps were taken toward securing international sanction for large scale Jewish settlement in Palestine--then a part of the Ottoman Empire. The Balfour Declaration in 1917 asserted the British Government's support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This declaration was supported by a number of other countries, including the United States, and became more important following World War I, when the United Kingdom was assigned the Palestine Mandate by the League of Nations.
Jewish immigration grew slowly in the 1920's; it increased substantially in the 1930s due to political turmoil in Europe and Nazi persecution, until restrictions were imposed. After the end of WWII and the revelation of the near extermination of European Jewry by the Nazis, international support for Jews seeking to settle in Palestine overcame British efforts to restrict immigration.
International support for establishing a Jewish state led to the adoption in November 1947 of the UN Partition Plan, which called for the dividing the Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state and for establishing Jerusalem separately as an international city under UN administration. Violence between the Arab and Jewish communities erupted almost immediately. Toward the end of the British mandate, the Jews planned to declare a separate state, a development the Arabs were determined to prevent.
On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was proclaimed. The following day, armies from neighboring Arab nations entered the former mandate of Palestine and fought Israeli defense forces. Under UN auspices, in 1949, four armistice agreements were negotiated and signed at Rhodes, Greece, between Israel and its neighbors, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. After the 1948-49 war, the Jewish state encompassed almost 50% more territory than the total allotted to it under the UN Partition Plan, and included within its boundaries the western sector of Jerusalem.
No general peace settlement was achieved at Rhodes, however, and for many years violence along the borders continued. In October 1956, Israel invaded the Gaza strip and the Sinai Peninsula at the same time that operations by French and British forces against Egypt were taking place in the Suez Canal area. Israeli forces withdrew in March 1957 after the United Nations established the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Gaza Strip and Sinai.
In 1966-67, terrorist incidents and retaliatory acts across the armistice demarcation lines increased. In May 1967, after tension had developed between Syria and Israel, Egyptian President Nasser moved armaments and about 80,000 troops into the Sinai and ordered a withdrawal of UNEF troops from the armistice line and Sharm El-Sheikh. Nasser then closed the strait of Tiran to Israeli ships, blockading the Israeli port of Eilat at the Northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba. On May 30, Jordan and Egypt signed a mutual defense treaty.
In response to these events, Israeli forces attacked Egypt, Jordan, and Syria on June 5. After 6 days of fighting, when all parties had accepted the cease fire called for by UN Security Council Resolutions 235 and 236, Israel controlled the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Kuneitra (Golan) sector of Syria, and the formerly Jordanian controlled West Bank of the Jordan River, including East Jerusalem. On November 22, 1967, the Security Council adopted Resolution 242, the "land for peace" formula, which called for the establishment of a just and lasting peace that should be based on Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967 in exchange for the end of all states of belligerency, respect for the sovereignty of all states in the area, and the right to live in peace within secure, recognized boundaries.
In early 1969, fighting broke out between Egypt and Israel along the Suez Canal. The United States helped to end these hostilities in August 1970, but subsequent US efforts to negotiate an interim agreement to open the Suez Canal and achieve disengagement of forces were unsuccessful.
On October 6, 1973, Yom Kippur (the Jewish Day of Atonement), Syrian and Egyptian forces attacked Israeli positions in Golan and along the Suez Canal. Initially, Syria and Egypt made significant advances against Israeli forces. However, Israel recovered on both fronts, pushed the Syrians back beyond the 1967 cease fire lines, and recrossed the canal to take a salient on its west bank.
The October war was followed by renewed and intensive efforts toward peace. The United States and the Soviet Union took the lead in helping to bring about a cease fire. In the Security Council, the United States supported Resolution 338, which reaffirmed Resolution 242 as the framework for peace and called, for the first time, for negotiations between the parties to achieve this.
The cease fire did not end the sporadic clashes along the cease fire lines or dissipate military tensions. The United States tried to help the parties reach agreement on cease fire stabilization and military disengagement. On March 5, 1974, Israeli forces withdrew from the canal, and Egypt assumed control. Syria and Israel signed a disengagement agreement on May 31, 1974, and the UN Disengagement and Observer Force (UNDOF) was established as a peacekeeping force in the Golan. Further US efforts resulted in an interim agreement between Egypt and Israel in September 1975, which provided for another Israeli withdrawal in Sinai, a limitation of forces, and three observation stations staffed by US civilians in a UN maintained buffer zone between Egyptian and Israeli forces.
In November 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat broke the 30 year cycle of hostilities with Israel by visiting Jerusalem at the invitation of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. During a 2 day visit, which included a speech before the Knesset, the Egyptian leader created a new psychological climate in the Middle East where peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors seemed a realistic possibility. By this act, Sadat recognized Israel's right to exist and established the basis for direct negotiations between Egypt and Israel.
In September 1978, US President Jimmy Carter invited President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin to meet with him at Camp David, where they agreed on a framework for peace between Israel and Egypt and for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. It set out broad principles to guide negotiations between Israel and the Arab states. It also established guidelines for a West Bank- Gaza transitional regime of full autonomy and for a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The treaty was signed on March 26, 1979, by Begin and Sadat, with President Carter signing as witness. They agreed that negotiations on a transitional regime of autonomy for the West Bank and Gaza would begin 1 month after ratification. Under the peace treaty, Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt in April 1982. In 1989, the Governments of Israel and Egypt concluded an agreement that resolved the status of Taba, a resort area in the Gulf of Aqaba.
In the years following the 1948 war, Israel's border with Lebanon was quiet, compared to its borders with other neighbors. After the expulsion of the Palestinian fedayeen from Jordan in 1970 and their influx into southern Lebanon, however, hostilities by Palestinian fedayeen against Israel's northern border increased. In March 1978, after a series of clashes between the Palestinians in Lebanon and Israel, Israeli forces crossed into Lebanon. After the passage of Security Council Resolution 425, calling for Israeli withdrawal, and the creation of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon peacekeeping force (UNIFIL), Israel withdrew its troops. In July 1981, after additional fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in Lebanon, President Reagan's special envoy, Philip C. Habib, helped secure a cease fire between the parties.
In June 1982, after an assassination attempt on the Israeli Ambassador to Britain, Israel invaded Lebanon to fight the forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In August 1982, the PLO withdrew its forces from Lebanon. With US assistance in May 1983, Israel and Lebanon reached an accord that set the stage to withdraw Israeli forces from Lebanon. However, the instruments of ratification were never exchanged, and in March 1984, Lebanon, under pressure from Syria, cancelled the agreement. In June 1985, Israel withdrew most of its troops from Lebanon. A small residual Israeli force and an Israeli supported militia remain in southern Lebanon in a "security zone," regarded by Israel as a necessary buffer against attacks on its northern territory.
Political Conditions
From the founding of Israel in 1948 until the election of May 1977, Israel was ruled by a coalition government led by the Labor Alignment or its constituent parties. From 1967-70, the coalition government included all of Israel's parties, except the communist party.
After the 1977 election, the Likud bloc, then composed of Herut, the Liberals, and the smaller La'am Party, came to power, forming a coalition with the National Religious Party, Agudat Israel, and others. As head of the Likud, Menachem Begin became Prime Minister. The Likud retained power in the succeeding election in June 1981, and Begin remained Prime Minister. In late summer of 1983, Begin resigned and was succeeded by his Foreign Minister, Yitzhak Shamir.
After losing a Knesset vote of confidence early in 1984, Shamir was forced to call for new elections, held in July of that year. The vote was split among numerous parties and provided no clear winner, leaving both Labor and Likud considerably short of a Knesset majority. Neither Labor nor Likud was able to attract enough small party support to form a narrow coalition, and after several weeks of difficult negotiations, they agreed on a broadly based government of national unity. The agreement provided for the rotation of the office of prime minister and the combined office of vice prime minister and foreign minister midway through the government's 50 month term. During the first 25 months of unity government rule, Labor's Shimon Peres served as prime minister, while Likud's Shamir held the posts of vice prime minister and foreign minister. Peres and Shamir switched position in October 1986.
The November 1988 elections resulted in a similar coalition government. Likud edged Labor out by one seat but was unable to form a coalition with the religious and right-wing parties. Likud and Labor formed another National Unity Government (NUG) in January 1989 without providing for rotation. Yitzhak Shamir became prime minister and Shimon Peres became vice prime minister and finance minister.
The National Unity Government fell on March 15, 1990, in a no confidence vote precipitated by disagreement over the government's response to US Secretary of State Baker's initiative in the peace process. Labor Party leader Peres was unable to attract sufficient support among the religious parties to form a government. Yitzhak Shamir then formed a Likud led coalition government including members from religious and right-wing parties. This government took office in June 1990.
Three Major Voting Blocs
Labor Alignment. The Labor Alignment's support traditionally has been based on the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor), the kibbutzim, and the middle and upper middle classes of European or Sabra (Israeli born) origin. Its socialist ethic dominated Israeli policy until Likud's 1977 victory. Recently, Labor's economic orientation is becoming more pragmatic.
Likud. The Likud draws much of its support from the Sephardic and Eastern Jews and traditionally has represented the center/right wing element of the Israeli spectrum. Likud advocates a greater role for the free market in the Israeli economy.
Religious Parties. National Religious Party (NRP), Agudat Israel, and the Sephardic Torah Guardians Association (SHAS) represent the interests of the Orthodox public. They often provide the crucial balance in coalition politics.
Chaim Herzog, a member of the Labor Party and a former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, was reelected president by the Knesset in 1988.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, June 1988.