Word: knesset
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Orthodox rabbis already have wide civil powers. They approve all marriages, divorces and adoptions. Their political clout, moreover, grew during the Begin years. In order to win the support of Agudat Yisrael, the religious party that had four sometimes crucial seats in the Knesset, Begin made several concessions. He forbade El Al flights on the Sabbath, losing an estimated $30 million a year, and pushed through a law limiting autopsies, which violate Orthodox beliefs. Begin also agreed to push the highly controversial "Who is a Jew?" legislation, which would amend Israeli law to ensure that the only converts granted citizenship...
...faces problems never imagined by Yaacov Zvieli and other founders. "We now disagree among ourselves on everything," says Major General Israel Tal, the father of his country's tank industry. "It is not the environment that has changed or the political realities. It is we who have changed." Says Knesset Speaker Menachem Savidor, a member of the Liberal Party: "It appears as if we have returned to the tribal period, to the days of Joshua and the Judges, when each tribe stressed the dividing line...
...Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, a candidate for the Knesset on the Likud ticket. As the most charismatic of his party's politicians, Sharon still draws cries of "Arik! Arik!" when he campaigns. He remains immensely popular with the more hawkish elements of his party, many of whom feel that he did not have a completely free hand during the invasion and thus should not be blamed if it did not succeed...
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, 68, who came to his position after Menachem Begin abruptly resigned ten months ago, found his fragile Likud coalition crumbling in March, forcing the Knesset to call the July 23 elections. Shamir faces Shimon Peres, 60, the Labor Party leader who lost twice to Begin (in 1977 and 1981). The two men share a quiet, unruffled style, but their views diverge sharply (see interviews). Neither candidate leaves any doubt as to what is at stake. "It is not that the ship of Israel fell apart, but that it is sailing in the wrong direction," says Peres...
Polls last week found Labor leading with 44% to Likud's 28%. That voting pattern would give Peres as many as 52 seats in the 120-member Knesset, vs. 33 for Likud. However, one-fourth of the electorate is undecided, and Likud may have an edge with that group. Israelis remember that Likud at first trailed badly in the polls in 1981, only to emerge victorious. But there are important differences. In 1981, Likud began to close the gap ten weeks before the election, and Begin helped his chances by cutting taxes on luxury goods and staging a lightning attack...