POLITICAL PARTIES:
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The Right

In the first Knesset the Right was represented by two parties: the Herut Movement, most of whose members emerged from the Irgun pre-state underground, and the tiny Fighters List, which represented its associate LEHI underground (the Stern Gang), but whose leader, Natan Yellin-Mor, moved to the extreme left.

The Herut Movement, led by Menachem Begin, advocated the idea of a Greater Land of Israel on both sides of the Jordan River, opposed any compromise with the Arabs, and was a vehement opponent of socialism. At the same time, it supported the abolition of military government over Israeli Arabs minority. As long as David Ben-Gurion was prime minister, the Herut Movement was politically ostracized. However, after Levi Eshkol became premier in 1964, he accorderd the party recognition. In 1965 Herut formed the Gahal bloc with the Liberal Party, and on the eve of the Six Day War, Gahal joined Eshkol's government. Gahal left the government in 1970, against the background of the US Rogers Plan, and in 1973 formed the Likud with several additional small center and right-wing parties and groups.

Besides the National Religious Party, which started to move to the right after the Yom Kippur War (see section on religious parties), more extreme right-wing parties began to appear after the Likud formed its first government in 1977 and consequently became more pragmatic. Tehiya, founded by Geula Cohen, appeared in 1981 against the background of opposition to the return of the Sinai to Egypt. Tsomet, founded by Raphael Eitan in 1983, was the first right-wing party that also advocated drafting haredi youth for military service. It eventually merged with the centrist Shinui. Kach, founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, advocated a racist anti-Arab policy calling for their expulsion and failed to pass the qualifying threshold in three elections, before Kahane finally entered the 11th Knesset (1984). Moledet, founded by the late Rehavam Ze'evi, advocated a "transfer" of the Arab population and won seats in the 12th Knesset (1988). Today Moledet is part of a larger extreme rightist bloc.

After the first Begin government brought peace with Egypt and the second brought war in Lebanon, the Likud cooperated with the Labor Party in national unity governments in the years 1984-90. Purely right-wing--religious coalitions were then formed by Yitzhak Shamir in 1990 and Binyamin Netanyahu in 1996. Both governments did not last their full terms, because of opposition by the more extreme right-wing elements to the peace process, which led to early elections.

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