A History of Modern Israel

But if you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Eleven days later, U. While still a medical student, Jenner noticed that milkmaids who had The Games were actually initially awarded to Chicago, Illinois, but were later given to St. Louis to be staged in connection with the St. Even before the U. On this day in , U. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. On this day in , a lead article in the Times of London proclaims that an insufficiency of munitions is leading to defeat for Britain on the battlefields of World War I.

The article sparked a genuine crisis on the home front, forcing the Liberal government to give way to a Allied military officials announce that South Vietnamese were killed from May 3 to 9. This was the second highest weekly death toll of the war to date for the South Vietnamese forces. These numbers reflected the changing nature of the war as U. In his first full-length report to the American people concerning the Vietnam War, President Nixon responds to the point plan offered by the National Liberation Front at the 16th plenary session of the Paris talks on May 8.

With the win, Johnson broke a record set by Jack Coombs of the Clinton promised an official investigation into the William Fetterman, who will later lead 80 of his soldiers to their deaths at the hands of the Sioux, joins the Union Army. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. The state of Israel came into existence in Colin Shindler's book traces Israel's history across sixty years, from its optimistic beginnings - immigration, settlement, the creation of its towns and institutions - through the wars with its Arab neighbours, and the confrontation with the Palestinians.

Shindler paints a broad canvas which affords unusual insights into th The state of Israel came into existence in Shindler paints a broad canvas which affords unusual insights into this multicultural society, forged from over a hundred different Jewish communities and united by a common history. Despite these commonalities, however, Israel in the twenty-first century is riven by ideological disputes and different interpretations of 'Jewishness' and Judaism. Nowhere are these divisions more revealingly portrayed than in the lives and ideologies of Israel's leaders.

Biographical portraits of Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime-minister, Yitzhak Rabin, whose assassination is still a traumatic memory for many Israelis, and the controversial Ariel Sharon, offer fascinating examinations of those who have led the country to where it is today. Paperback , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about A History of Modern Israel , please sign up. See 1 question about A History of Modern Israel….

Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Jun 07, Gayla Bassham rated it it was ok Shelves: Poorly organized and dry, dry, dry. It's a shame, because with better writing this could have been a great shorter alternative to Sachar's A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time. These borders were not recognized by the Arab states as international boundaries.

The Syrians remained in control of a strip of territory along the Sea of Galilee originally allocated to the Jewish state, the Lebanese occupied a tiny area at Rosh Hanikra , and the Egyptians retained the Gaza strip and still had some forces surrounded inside Israeli territory. Jordanian forces remained in the West Bank , where the British had stationed them before the war.

Jordan annexed the areas it occupied while Egypt kept Gaza as an occupied zone.

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Following the ceasefire declaration, Britain released over 2, Jewish detainees it was still holding in Cyprus and recognized the state of Israel. On 11 May , Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations. According to United Nations figures, , Palestinians had fled or were evicted by the Israelis between and It became the largest single UN agency and is the only UN agency that serves a single people. A seat parliament, the Knesset , met first in Tel Aviv then moved to Jerusalem after the ceasefire.

In January , Israel held its first elections.

The Socialist-Zionist parties Mapai and Mapam won the most seats 46 and 19 respectively. Hebrew and Arabic were made the official languages of the new state. All governments have been coalitions —no party has ever won a majority in the Knesset. From until all governments were led by Mapai and the Alignment , predecessors of the Labour Party. In those years Labour Zionists , initially led by David Ben-Gurion , dominated Israeli politics and the economy was run on primarily socialist lines. Within three years to , immigration doubled the Jewish population of Israel and left an indelible imprint on Israeli society.

The rest of the immigrants were from Europe, including more than , who came from Eastern Europe, [] mainly Romania and Poland over , each. Nearly all the Jewish immigrants could be described as refugees , however only , who immigrated to Israel from Central Europe, had international certification because they belonged to the , Jews registered by the allies as displaced after World War II and living in displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria and Italy.

In the Knesset passed the Law of Return , which granted to all Jews and those of Jewish ancestry, and their spouses, the right to settle in Israel and gain citizenship. Jews also fled from Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. By the late sixties, about , Jews had left Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Between and , the population of Israel rose from , to two million.

During this period, food, clothes and furniture had to be rationed in what became known as the Austerity Period Tkufat haTsena. Immigrants were mostly refugees with no money or possessions and many were housed in temporary camps known as ma'abarot.

By , over , immigrants were living in tents or prefabricated shacks built by the government. Israel received financial aid from private donations from outside the country mainly the United States. During the Knesset debate some 5, demonstrators gathered and riot police had to cordon the building. In , education was made free and compulsory for all citizens until the age of The state now funded the party-affiliated Zionist education system and a new body created by the Haredi Agudat Israel party. A separate body was created to provide education for the remaining Palestinian-Arab population.

The major political parties now competed for immigrants to join their education systems. The government banned the existing educational bodies from the transit camps and tried to mandate a unitary secular socialist education [] under the control of "camp managers" who also had to provide work, food and housing for the immigrants. There were attempts to force orthodox Yemenite children to adopt a secular life style by teachers, including many instances of Yemenite children having their side-curls cut by teachers.

This led to the first Israeli public inquiry the Fromkin Inquiry , [] the collapse of the coalition, and an election in , with little change in the results. In the party-affiliated education system was scrapped and replaced by a secular state education system and a state-run Modern Orthodox system. Agudat Israel were allowed to maintain their existing school system. In its early years Israel sought to maintain a non-aligned position between the super-powers. This, and the failure of Israel to be included in the Bandung Conference of non-aligned states , effectively ended Israel's pursuit of non-alignment.

In a military coup in Egypt brought Abdel Nasser to power. Israel's solution to diplomatic isolation was to establish good relations with newly independent states in Africa [] and with France, which was engaged in the Algerian War. In the January elections Mapai won 40 seats and the Labour Party 10, Moshe Sharett became prime minister of Israel at the head of a left-wing coalition. Between and , there were intermittent clashes along all of Israel's borders as Arab terrorism and breaches of the ceasefire resulted in Israeli counter-raids.

Palestinian fedayeen attacks, often organized and sponsored by the Egyptians, were made from Egyptian occupied Gaza. Fedayeen attacks led to a growing cycle of violence as Israel launched reprisal attacks against Gaza. In the Egyptian government began recruiting former Nazi rocket scientists for a missile program. The entire first batch to be discovered were now owned by Israel and housed in the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum. Sharett's government was brought down by the Lavon Affair , a crude plan to disrupt US—Egyptian relations, involving Israeli agents planting bombs at American sites in Egypt.

Defense Minister Lavon was blamed despite his denial of responsibility. The Lavon affair led to Sharett's resignation and Ben-Gurion returned to the post of prime minister. In , the increasingly pro-Soviet President Nasser of Egypt, announced the nationalization of the French and British owned Suez Canal , which was Egypt's main source of foreign currency. Britain and France had already begun secret preparations for military action.

It has been alleged that the French also agreed to build a nuclear plant for the Israelis and that by this was able to produce nuclear weapons. Britain and France arranged for Israel to give them a pretext for seizing the Suez Canal. Israel was to attack Egypt, and Britain and France would then call on both sides to withdraw.

When, as expected, the Egyptians refused, Anglo-French forces would invade to take control of the Canal. On 30 October Britain and France made their pre-arranged call for both sides to stop fighting and withdraw from the Canal area, and for them to be allowed to take up positions at key points on the Canal. Egypt refused and the allies commenced air strikes on 31 October aimed at neutralizing the Egyptian air force. By 5 November the Israelis had overrun the Sinai. The Anglo-French invasion began that day. A demand for a ceasefire was reluctantly accepted on 7 November.

This was the first ever UN peacekeeping operation. The conflict marked the end of West-European dominance in the Middle East. Nasser emerged as the victor in the conflict, having won the political battle, however the Israeli military learnt that it did not need British or French support in order to conquer Sinai and that it could conquer the Sinai peninsula in a few days. The Israeli political leadership learnt that Israel had a limited time frame within which to operate militarily after which international political pressure would restrict Israel's freedom of action.

In , two modern-orthodox and religious-zionist parties, Mizrachi and Hapoel HaMizrachi , joined to form the National Religious Party. The party was a component of every Israeli coalition until , usually running the Ministry of Education. Mapai was once again victorious in the elections , increasing its number of seats to 47, Labour had 7.

Ben-Gurion remained Prime Minister. In , there were renewed skirmishes along Israel's borders that continued throughout the early s. The Arab League continued to maintain an economic boycott and there was a dispute over water rights in the River Jordan basin. With Soviet backing, the Arab states, particularly Egypt, were continuing to build up their forces.

Israel's main military hardware supplier was France. Rudolph Kastner , a minor political functionary, was accused of collaborating with the Nazis and sued his accuser. Kastner lost the trial and was assassinated two years later. In the Supreme Court exonerated him. In May Adolf Eichmann , one of the chief administrators of the Nazi Holocaust, was located in Argentina by the Mossad , which later kidnapped him to Israel. In he was put on trial, and after several months found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hanged in and is the only person ever sentenced to death by an Israeli court.

Testimonies by Holocaust survivors at the trial and the extensive publicity that surrounded it has led the trial to be considered a turning point in public awareness of the Holocaust. In a Herut no-confidence motion over the Lavon affair led to Ben-Gurion's resignation. Ben-Gurion declared that he would only accept office if Lavon was fired from the position of the head of Histadrut , Israel's labour union organization.

His demands were accepted and Mapai won the election 42 seats keeping Ben-Gurion as PM with a slight reduction in its share of the seats. Menachem Begin's Herut party and the Liberals came next with 17 seats each. In the Mossad began assassinating German rocket scientists working in Egypt after one of them reported the missile program was designed to carry chemical warheads. His attempts to make his party Mapai support him over the issue failed.

Levi Eshkol became leader of Mapai and the new prime minister. In Yigael Yadin began excavating Masada. In , Egypt, Jordan and Syria developed a unified military command. Israel completed work on a national water carrier , a huge engineering project designed to transfer Israel's allocation of the Jordan river 's waters towards the south of the country in realization of Ben-Gurion's dream of mass Jewish settlement of the Negev desert. The Arabs responded by trying to divert the headwaters of the Jordan, leading to growing conflict between Israel and Syria. The 2,strong Jewish community of Cochin had already migrated in Begin's Herut party joined with the Liberals to form Gahal.

Mapai and Labour united for the elections , winning 45 seats and maintaining Levi Eshkol as Prime Minister. Ben-Gurion's Rafi party received 10 seats, Gahal got 26 seats becoming the second largest party. Until , Israel's principal arms supplier was France , however in , following the withdrawal from Algeria , Charles de Gaulle announced France would cease supplying Israel with arms and refused to refund money paid for 50 warplanes. Included in the military hardware would be over M48 tanks. In , Black and white TV broadcasts began.

On 15 May , the first public performance of Naomi Shemer 's classic song " Jerusalem of Gold " took place and over the next few weeks it dominated the Israeli airwaves. Egyptian radio broadcasts talked of a coming genocide. Between and Egyptian troops had tested chemical weapons on Yemenite civilians as part of an Egyptian intervention in support of rebels. Israel responded by calling up its civilian reserves, bringing much of the Israeli economy to a halt. The Israelis set up a national unity coalition, including for the first time Menachem Begin 's party, Herut , in a coalition.

During a national radio broadcast, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol stammered, causing widespread fear in Israel. On the morning before Dayan was sworn in, 5 June , the Israeli air force launched pre-emptive attacks destroying first the Egyptian air force, and then later the same day destroying the air forces of Jordan and Syria.

Israel then defeated almost successively Egypt, Jordan and Syria. By 11 June the Arab forces were routed and all parties had accepted the cease-fire called for by UN Security Council Resolutions and East Jerusalem was arguably [] annexed by Israel. Residents were given permanent residency status and the option of applying for Israeli citizenship. The annexation was not recognized internationally the Jordanian annexation of was also unrecognized.

Other areas occupied remained under military rule Israeli civil law did not apply to them pending a final settlement. The Golan was also annexed in On 22 November , the Security Council adopted Resolution , the "land for peace" formula, which called for the establishment of a just and lasting peace based on Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in in return 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. The resolution was accepted by both sides, though with different interpretations, and has been the basis of all subsequent peace negotiations.

After the US began supplying Israel with aircraft and the Soviet block except Romania broke off relations with Israel.

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Antisemitic purges led to the final migration of the last Polish Jews to Israel. For the first time since the end of the British Mandate, Jews could visit the Old City of Jerusalem and pray at the Western Wall the holiest site in modern Judaism , to which they had been denied access by the Jordanians in contravention of the Armistice agreement. The four-meter-wide public alley beside the Wall was expanded into a massive plaza and worshippers were allowed to sit, or use other furniture, for the first time in centuries.

In Hebron , Jews gained access to the Cave of the Patriarchs the second most holy site in Judaism for the first time since the 14th century previously Jews were only allowed to pray at the entrance. Sinai oil fields made Israel self-sufficient in energy.

History of Israel - Wikipedia

There were no other religious settlements until after Ben-Gurion's Rafi party merged with the Labour-Mapai alliance. Ben-Gurion remained outside as an independent. In , compulsory education was extended until the age of 16 for all citizens it had been 14 and the government embarked on an extensive program of integration in education.

The system remained in place until after The attack was in response to land mines placed on Israeli roads. The Israelis retreated after destroying the camp, however the Israelis sustained unexpectedly high casualties and the attack was not viewed as a success. Despite heavy casualties, the Palestinians claimed victory, while Fatah and the PLO of which it formed part became famous across the Arab world. In early , fighting broke out between Egypt and Israel along the Suez Canal.

In retaliation for repeated Egyptian shelling of Israeli positions along the Suez Canal, Israeli planes made deep strikes into Egypt in the — " War of Attrition ". In early , Levi Eshkol died in office of a heart attack and Golda Meir became Prime Minister with the largest percentage of the vote ever won by an Israeli party, winning 56 of the seats after the election. Meir was the first female prime minister of Israel and the first woman to have headed a Middle Eastern state in modern times. In December , Israeli naval commandos took five missile boats during the night from Cherbourg Harbour in France.

Israel had paid for the boats but the French had refused to supply them. In July the Israelis shot down five Soviet fighters that were aiding the Egyptians in the course of the War of Attrition. Following this, the US worked to calm the situation and in August a cease fire was agreed. At the request of the US, Israel moved troops to the border and threatened Syria, causing the Syrians to withdraw. The centre of PLO activity then shifted to Lebanon , where the Cairo agreement gave the Palestinians autonomy within the south of the country.

The area controlled by the PLO became known by the international press and locals as " Fatahland " and contributed to the — Lebanese Civil War. The event also led to Hafez al-Assad taking power in Syria. Egyptian President Nasser died immediately after and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat.

Increased Soviet antisemitism and enthusiasm generated by the victory led to a wave of Soviet Jews applying to emigrate to Israel. Those who left could only take two suitcases. Most Jews were refused exit visas and persecuted by the authorities. Some were arrested and sent to Gulag camps, becoming known as Prisoners of Zion. During , violent demonstrations by the Israeli Black Panthers , made the Israeli public aware of resentment among Mizrahi Jews at ongoing discrimination and social gaps.

At the Munich Olympics , two members of the Israeli team were killed, and nine members taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists. A botched German rescue attempt led to the death of the rest along with five of the eight hijackers. The three surviving Palestinians were released by the West German authorities eight weeks later without charge, in exchange for the hostages of hijacked Lufthansa Flight This and frequent invasion exercises by Egypt and Syria led to Israeli complacency about the threat from these countries.

In addition the desire not to be held responsible for initiating conflict and an election campaign highlighting security, led to an Israeli failure to mobilize, despite receiving warnings of an impending attack. The Syrian and Egyptian armies launched a well-planned surprise attack against the unprepared Israeli Defense Forces. For the first few days there was a great deal of uncertainty about Israel's capacity to repel the invaders. Both the Soviets and the Americans at the orders of Richard Nixon rushed arms to their allies.

The Syrians were repulsed by the tiny remnant of the Israeli tank force on the Golan and, although the Egyptians captured a strip of territory in Sinai, Israeli forces crossed the Suez Canal , trapping the Egyptian Third Army in Sinai and were kilometres from Cairo. The war cost Israel over 2, dead, resulted in a heavy arms bill for both sides and made Israelis more aware of their vulnerability. It also led to heightened superpower tension. Following the war, both Israelis and Egyptians showed greater willingness to negotiate.

The war led the Saudi government to initiate the oil crisis , an oil embargo in conjunction with OPEC , against countries trading with Israel. Severe shortages led to massive increases in the price of oil, and as a result, many countries broke off relations with Israel or downgraded relations, and Israel was banned from participation in the Asian Games and other Asian sporting events.

State funding was introduced for elected parties. The new system made parties independent of wealthy donors and gave Knesset members more power over party funding, however it also made them less dependent on existing party structures and able to take their funding elsewhere. The Likud won 39 seats. In May , Palestinians attacked a school in Ma'alot , holding children hostage. Twenty-two children were killed. Later that year the Agranat Commission , appointed to assess responsibility for Israel's lack of preparedness for the war, exonerated the government of responsibility, and held the Chief of Staff and head of military intelligence responsible.

Despite the report, public anger at the Government led to Golda Meir 's resignation. In March there was a massive strike by Israeli-Arabs in protest at a government plan to expropriate land in the Galilee. There, the Germans separated the Jewish passengers from the non-Jewish passengers, releasing the non-Jews. The hijackers threatened to kill the remaining, odd Jewish passengers and the French crew who had refused to leave. Despite the distances involved, Rabin ordered a daring rescue operation in which the kidnapped Jews were freed.

In January , French authorities arrested Abu Daoud , the planner of the Munich massacre, releasing him a few days later. Rabin resigned on April after it emerged that his wife maintained a dollar account in the United States illegal at the time , which had been opened while Rabin was Israeli ambassador.

The incident became known as the Dollar Account affair. Shimon Peres informally replaced him as prime minister, leading the Alignment in the subsequent elections. In a surprise result, the Likud led by Menachem Begin won 43 seats in the elections Labour got 32 seats. This was the first time in Israeli history that the government was not led by the left. A key reason for the victory was anger among Mizrahi Jews at discrimination, which was to play an important role in Israeli politics for many years. Talented small town Mizrahi social activists, unable to advance in the Labour party, were readily embraced by Begin.

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Many Labour voters voted for the Democratic Movement for Change 15 seats in protest at high-profile corruption cases. The party joined in coalition with Begin and disappeared at the next election. In addition to starting a process of healing the Mizrahi— Ashkenazi divide, Begin's government included Ultra-Orthodox Jews and was instrumental in healing the Zionist—Ultra-Orthodox rift, however it did so at the cost of expanding the exemption from military service to all Haredi Jewish students of military age. This led to creation of a huge class of unemployed Haredi Jews the exemption was conditional on attendance of a religious seminary, so they kept studying until they were too old for military service.

By remaining students, they were a massive burden on the state, while also failing to participate in the military burden. Begin actively supported Gush Emunim 's efforts to settle the West Bank and Jewish settlements in the occupied territories received government support, thus laying the grounds for intense conflict with the Palestinian population of the occupied territories. Sadat's two-day visit included a speech before the Knesset and was a turning point in the history of the conflict. The Egyptian leader created a new psychological climate in the Middle East in which peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours seemed possible.

Sadat recognized Israel's right to exist and established the basis for direct negotiations between Egypt and Israel. In March , eleven armed Lebanese Palestinians reached Israel in boats and hijacked a bus carrying families on a day outing, killing 38 people, including 13 children.

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The attackers opposed the Egyptian—Israeli peace process. Three days later, Israeli forces crossed into Lebanon beginning Operation Litani. 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 for the Palestinians residing in these territories, and for a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

Under the treaty, Israel returned the Sinai peninsula to Egypt in April The final piece of territory to be repatriated was Taba , adjacent to Eilat , returned in The Arab League reacted to the peace treaty by suspending Egypt from the organization and moving its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Sadat was assassinated in by Islamic fundamentalist members of the Egyptian army who opposed peace with Israel. Following the agreement Israel and Egypt became the two largest recipients of US military and financial aid [] Iraq and Afghanistan have now overtaken them.

On 30 June , the Israeli air force destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor that France was building for Iraq. Three weeks later, Begin won yet again, in the elections 48 seats Likud, 47 Labour. Ariel Sharon was made defence minister. The new government annexed the Golan Heights and banned the national airline from flying on Shabbat. In the decades following the war, Israel's border with Lebanon was quiet compared to its borders with other neighbours. Palestinian irregulars constantly shelled the Israeli north, especially the town of Kiryat Shmona , which was a Likud stronghold inhabited primarily by Jews who had fled the Arab world.

Lack of control over Palestinian areas was an important factor in causing civil war in Lebanon. In June , the attempted assassination of Shlomo Argov , the ambassador to Britain, was used as a pretext for an Israeli invasion aiming to drive the PLO out of the southern half of Lebanon. Sharon agreed with Chief of Staff Raphael Eitan to expand the invasion deep into Lebanon even though the cabinet had only authorized a 40 kilometre deep invasion. Some of the Shia and Christian population of South Lebanon welcomed the Israelis, as PLO forces had maltreated them, but Lebanese resentment of Israeli occupation grew over time and the Shia became gradually radicalized under Iranian guidance.

Israel helped engineer the election of a new Lebanese president, Bashir Gemayel , who agreed to recognize Israel and sign a peace treaty. Gemayal was assassinated before an agreement could be signed, and one day later Phalangist Christian forces led by Elie Hobeika entered two Palestinian refugee camps and massacred the occupants. In , an Israeli public inquiry found that Israel's defence minister, Sharon, was indirectly but personally responsible for the massacres. In , the May 17 Agreement was signed between Israel and Lebanon, paving the way for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory through a few stages.

Israel continued to operate against the PLO until its eventual departure in , and kept a small force stationed in Southern Lebanon in support of the South Lebanon Army until May In September , Begin resigned and was succeeded by Yitzhak Shamir as prime minister. The election was inconclusive, and led to a power sharing agreement between Shimon Peres of the Alignment 44 seats and Shamir of Likud 41 seats. Peres was prime minister from to and Shamir from to The party won 4 seats in the first election it contested and over the next twenty years was the third largest party in the Knesset.

Shas established a nationwide network of free Sephardi Orthodox schools. In , during a severe famine in Ethiopia , 8, Ethiopian Jews were secretly transported to Israel.

In Natan Sharansky , a famous Russian human rights activist and Zionist refusenik denied an exit visa , was released from the Gulag in return for two Soviet spies. In June , Israel withdrew most of its troops from Lebanon, leaving a residual Israeli force and an Israeli-supported militia in southern Lebanon as a " security zone " and buffer against attacks on its northern territory. Since then, IDF fought for many years against the Shia organization Hezbollah , which became a growing threat to Israel.

History of Israel

Peres introduced emergency control of prices and cut government expenditure successfully bringing inflation under control. Growing Israeli settlement and continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, led to the first Palestinian Intifada uprising in , which lasted until the Madrid Conference of , despite Israeli attempts to suppress it. Human rights abuses by Israeli troops led a group of Israelis to form B'Tselem , an organization devoted to improving awareness and compliance with human rights requirements in Israel.

The Israelis found themselves unable to sustain the huge development costs, and faced US opposition to a project that threatened US influence in Israel and US global military ascendancy. In September , Israel launched an Ofeq reconnaissance satellite into orbit, using a Shavit rocket, thus becoming one of only eight countries possessing a capacity to independently launch satellites into space two more have since developed this ability. The Alignment and Likud remained neck and neck in the elections Shamir successfully formed a national unity coalition with the Labour Alignment.

In March , Alignment leader Shimon Peres engineered a defeat of the government in a non-confidence vote and then tried to form a new government. He failed and Shamir became prime minister at the head of a right-wing coalition. Prior to this, Jews trying to leave the USSR faced persecution ; those who succeeded arrived as refugees. Over the next few years some one million Soviet citizens migrated to Israel. Although there was concern that some of the new immigrants had only a very tenuous connection to Judaism, and many were accompanied by non-Jewish relatives, this massive wave of migration slowly transformed Israel, bringing large numbers of highly educated Soviet Jews and creating a powerful Russian culture in Israel.

Iraq attacked Israel with 39 Scud missiles. Israel did not retaliate at request of the US, fearing that if Israel responded against Iraq, other Arab nations might desert the allied coalition. Israel provided gas masks for both the Palestinian population and Israeli citizens, while Netherlands and the United States deployed Patriot defence batteries in Israel as protection against the Scuds. Shamir opposed the idea but agreed in return for loan guarantees to help with absorption of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

His participation in the conference led to the collapse of his right-wing coalition. In the elections , the Labour Party , led by Yitzhak Rabin , won a significant victory 44 seats promising to pursue peace while promoting Rabin as a "tough general" and pledging not to deal with the PLO in any way. The pro-peace Zionist party Meretz won 12 seats, and the Arab and communist parties a further 5, meaning that parties supporting a peace treaty had a full albeit small majority in the Knesset. Later that year, the Israeli electoral system was changed to allow for direct election of the prime minister.

It was hoped this would reduce the power of small parties mainly the religious parties to extract concessions in return for coalition agreements. The new system had the opposite effect; voters could split their vote for prime minister from their interest based party vote, and as a result larger parties won fewer votes and smaller parties becoming more attractive to voters. It thus increased the power of the smaller parties.

By the election the system was abandoned. On 25 July , Israel carried out a week-long military operation in Lebanon to attack Hezbollah positions. The principles established objectives relating to a transfer of authority from Israel to an interim Palestinian Authority , as a prelude to a final treaty establishing a Palestinian state, in exchange for mutual recognition.

In February , Baruch Goldstein , a follower of the Kach party, killed 29 Palestinians and wounded at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron , which became known as the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre. Kach had been barred from participation in the elections on the grounds that the movement was racist. It was subsequently made illegal. The agreement was witnessed by President Bill Clinton on behalf of the United States and by Russia, Egypt, Norway and the European Union, and incorporates and supersedes the previous agreements, marking the conclusion of the first stage of negotiations between Israel and the PLO.

The agreement allowed the PLO leadership to relocate to the occupied territories and granted autonomy to the Palestinians with talks to follow regarding final status. In return the Palestinians promised to abstain from use of terror and changed the Palestinian National Covenant , which had called for the expulsion of all Jews who migrated after and the elimination of Israel.

The agreement was opposed by Hamas and other Palestinian factions, which launched suicide bomber attacks at Israel. Rabin had a barrier constructed around Gaza to prevent attacks. The growing separation between Israel and the " Palestinian Territories " led to a labour shortage in Israel, mainly in the construction industry. Israeli firms began importing labourers from the Philippines , Thailand , China and Romania ; some of these labourers stayed on without visas. In addition, a growing number of Africans began illegally migrating to Israel.

In February Rabin's successor, Shimon Peres , called early elections. In April , Israel launched an operation in southern Lebanon as a result of Hezbollah's Katyusha rocket attacks on Israeli population centres along the border. The May elections were the first featuring direct election of the prime minister and resulted in a narrow election victory for Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

A spate of suicide bombings reinforced the Likud position for security. Hamas claimed responsibility for most of the bombings. Despite his stated differences with the Oslo Accords , Prime Minister Netanyahu continued their implementation, but his prime ministership saw a marked slow-down in the Peace Process.

Netanyahu also pledged to gradually reduce US aid to Israel. In September , a Palestinian riot broke out against the creation of an exit in the Western Wall tunnel. Over the subsequent few weeks, around 80 people were killed as a result. His party was the largest in the Knesset with 26 seats.

In September the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that the use of torture in interrogation of Palestinian prisoners was illegal. On 25 May , Israel unilaterally withdrew its remaining forces from the "security zone" in southern Lebanon. Several thousand members of the South Lebanon Army and their families left with the Israelis.

Lebanon claims that Israel continues to occupy Lebanese territory called " Sheba'a Farms " however this area was governed by Syria until when Israel took control. Ehud Barak offered to meet most of the Palestinian teams requests for territory and political concessions , including Arab parts of east Jerusalem; however, Arafat abandoned the talks without making a counterproposal.

Prior to this Israel was the only nation at the UN which was not a member of any group The Arab states would not allow it to join the Asia group , which meant it could not be a member of the Security Council or appoint anyone to the International Court and other key UN roles. Since December it has been a permanent member of the group. In July , Aryeh Deri was sentenced to 3 years in prison for bribe taking.