elected to Israel's legislature, the Knesset, in 1949 and became a
forceful conservative opposition leader; he served as minister
without portfolio from 1967 to 1970.
In 1973 the opposition parties formed the Likud (Unity) bloc, of
which Begin was a co-leader, and when the bloc won the 1977
elections, he became prime minister. In 1978 he and the Egyptian
president, Anwar al-Sadat, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize for their leadership in negotiations that?with some U.S.
help?resulted in the signing of a peace treaty the following year.
In 1981 Begin won a new term in office, and in 1982 he authorized
an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon. In failing health,
despondent over his wife's death in late 1982, and beset by
controversy stemming from the continued Israeli occupation of
Lebanon, Begin stepped down in September 1983. He spent the rest
of his life in virtual seclusion, appearing in public only rarely.
Потеря поста главы правительства привела к полному крушению сионизма в идеологии Рабочей партии, Сионизм остался только в е° лозунгах. От национализма партия перешла к интернационализму. Рабочая партия перешла не просто в оппозицию правительству Менахема Бегина. Она, как это свойственно левым партиям, перешла в антинародную и антигосударственную оппозицию. Теперь она отражала интересы США и стран Запада больше чем интересы Израиля. Любой нажим со стороны этих стран на правительство Израиля осуществлялся через левую оппозицию. Вс° это ярко проявилось во время войны в Ливане в 1982 году. Все военные достижения израильской армии по борьбе с терроризмом со стороны Ливана были блокированы и подорваны политической оппозицией. Ливан как база террористов как был, так и остался. Иностранный нажим стал более эффективным после того как Менахема Бегина на посту лидера ?Ликуд? сменил бесцветный Ицхак Шамир. Вот и его биография заимствованная из того же источника:
Shamir, Yitzhak (1914- ), Israeli political leader. Born in the
village of Ruzinoy, in eastern Poland, Shamir (originally
Jazernicki) settled in Palestine in 1935. As a member of two
militant Jewish groups, Irgun Zvai Leumi and Lohamei Herut Yisrael
(also known as the Stern Gang), he took part in counterterrorist
operations against Palestinian Arabs and led a campaign of
sabotage against the British. Twice arrested by the British, he
escaped each time.
After a brief exile, Shamir returned to a newly independent Israel
in May 1948. He spent at least 10 of the next 20 years as a senior
intelligence official. In 1970 he joined the Herut party, headed
by Menachem Begin. He was speaker of the Knesset from 1977 to
1980, when he became foreign minister. Following Begin's
resignation as head of government and leader of the Likud bloc,
Shamir assumed both posts in October 1983, remaining foreign
minister. Likud lost to the Labor party in the July 1984
elections, and Shamir was forced to accept a power-sharing
arrangement. Shimon Peres, leader of the Labor party, served as
prime minister, with Shamir as his foreign minister, until October
1986, when they switched posts. Shamir took a hard line against
the Palestinian uprisings that began on the West Bank and in Gaza
in late 1987. He remained prime minister, as head of a Likud-Labor
coalition, following the elections of November 1988.
After the government lost a vote of confidence in March 1990,
Shamir put together a coalition of Likud and several right-wing
and religious parties. He agreed to participate in the
comprehensive Middle East peace talks that began in 1991, but his
ardent support for new Jewish settlements on the West Bank
hampered negotiations with the Palestinians and strained relations
with the United States. When Likud lost the parliamentary
elections of June 1992, Yitzhak Rabin succeeded Shamir as prime
minister. In March 1993 Benjamin Netanyahu succeeded him as head
of Likud.