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ABSTRACT
Right-wing ethno-nationalist parties are conceived of as upholders of rigid foreign policy positions. But in what instances might a hawkish party pursue a peace-promoting policy? The present article seeks to examine this question through the case study of the hawkish-nationalist Right in Israel during the 1970s, which eventually led its leader Menachem Begin to sign a peace agreement with Egypt, entailing a commitment to a full Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula and the evacuation of the Jewish settlements established in the area. The article examines the process which paradoxically led such right-wing hawkish leadership to signing—with determination and contrary to public expectations—an unprecedented political agreement in the history of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Contrary to the Israeli Right historiography which has, hitherto, focused on Menachem Begin’s persona and on his role in the political process—the article emphasizes those broad historical processes eclipsed by the limelight cast on its leader, underscoring the peace discourse evolving within the Israeli right political network, from party activists and supporters to parliamentary leadership. Rather than a personal initiative opposing his network’s policy—as considered in academic discourse—Begin’s peace project followed the exhortations of his political matrix.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Harris Mylonas and Kendrick Kuo, ‘Nationalism and foreign policy’, in Oxford research encyclopaedia of politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).
2 See, for instance, Bertjan Verbeek, and Andrej Zaslove. ‘Populism and foreign policy.’ The Oxford handbook of populism (2017): 384–405; Erin K. Jenne, ‘Populism, nationalism and revisionist foreign policy.’ International Affairs 97.2 (2021): 323–343; Mylonas, Harris, and Kendrick Kuo. ‘Nationalism and foreign policy.’ Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Politics. 2017.
3 On the populist characteristics of the Israeli Right, see Dani Filc, The political right in Israel: Different faces of Jewish populism. Routledge, 2009.
4 Colin Shindler, The Rise of Israeli Right. From Odessa to Hebron, Cambridge University Press, New York 2015, 318 − 320; Yechiam Weitz, ‘From Peace in the South to War in the North: Menachem Begin as Prime Minister, 1977–1983.’ Israel studies 19.1 (2014): 145–165.; Lawrence Wright, Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David. Simon and Schuster, 2014.
5 Arye Naor, Erets yisarel hashlema—emuna ve-mediniut? (Haifa, 2001); Arye Naor, ‘Hawks’ Beaks, Doves’ Feathers: Likud Prime Ministers between Ideology and Reality.’ Israel Studies 10.3 (2005): 154–91.
6 Gerald M. Steinberg and Ziv Rubinovitz. Menachem Begin and the Israel-Egypt Peace Process: Between Ideology and Political Realism. Indiana University Press, 2019.
7 Seth Anziska, Preventing Palestine. Princeton University Press, 2018.
8 Avi Shilon, Menachem Begin. Yale University Press, 2012.
9 Anita Shapira, Israel: A History. UPNE, 2012, 326–33.
10 Ami Pedahzur, The triumph of Israel’s radical right. Oxford University Press, 2012, 35–80.
11 Nadav G. Shelef, ‘From’ Both Banks of the Jordan” to the ‘Whole Land of Israel:’ Ideological Change in Revisionist Zionism.” Israel studies 9.1 (2004): 125–148.
12 Amir Goldstein, ‘Crisis and Development: Menachem Begin’s Leadership Throughout the 1960s.’ Israel Studies 20.1 (2015): 110–133.
13 Filc, The political right in Israel, 25–6.
14 Minutes of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, Israel State Archives (henceforth: ISA) 19.10.1973.
15 Ibid, 28 October 1973.
16 Ibid.
17 Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov, ‘Israel and the Peace Process, 1977–1982: In Search of Legitimacy for Peace’ (1994), 20.
18 Minutes of the Herut Movement committee Center, 29 November 1973, Jabotinsky Institute Archive (henceforth, JIA), E 1–2/21/2.
19 Ibid.
20 Minutes of the Herut Movement committee Center, 29.11.1973, JIA, E 1–2/21/2.
21 Ibid, 16 December 1973.
22 Prof. Yochanan Aharoni to Menachem Begin, 2 December 1973, Begin Heritage Center Archive, (henceforth: BHCA) OP—556.
23 Minutes of the Herut Movement committee Center, 29.11.1973, JIA, E 1–2/21/2.
24 Ibid, 16 December 1973.
25 Meron Medzini, Golda Meir: a political biography. De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2017, 626.
26 Ma’ariv, 13 August 1974.
27 Davar, 8 August 1974.
28 Haaretz, 9 July 1974.
29 Protocol of Herut Administration, 17 July 1974 and 31 July 1974, JIA, E 1–2/23.
30 Herut Youth Board Meeting—23 July 1974, JIA, E 1–4 / 47.
31 Benjamin Halevy to Menachem Begin, 1 January 1975, BHCA, 20–210.
32 Farsoun, Samih K., and Naseer H. Aruri. Palestine and the Palestinians: A social and political history. Routledge, 2018, 180–89.
33 Resolutions of the National Convention, 26 November 1975, p. 217 JIA, E 1, 13/12/18.
34 Ma’ariv, 23 July 1974.
35 Minutes from the National Convention of the Liberal Party, 26 November 1975, JIA, E 3–1/4/1, 63.
36 Ibid, 102.
37 Ibid, 107.
38 Ibid., 11.
39 Minutes of the Liberal Party Management 29.05.75, JIA, E 3–4/5, p. 41; Minutes of the Political Thinking Team of the Liberal Party, ibid, E 5. 3–12/3.
40 Minutes of the Liberal Party Center, Archive—JIA, E 5. 3/3/1, 2 December 1974.
41 Minutes of the Herut committee Center, 05.01.75, ibid, E 1–2/26.
42 Davar, 13 January 1975.
43 Menachem Begin, ‘Bitachon ve-Shalom be-Eretz Israel, Ne’um Hebron’ [Security and Peace in the Land of Israel, Hebron Speech], Ma’ariv, 7 January 1975.
44 See Brian J. Horowitz, Vladimir Jabotinsky’s Russian Years, 1900–1925 (Indiana University Press, 2020), 174–81.
45 Menachem Begin, ‘Bitachon ve-Shalom be-Eretz Israel, Ne’um Hebron’ [Security and Peace in the Land of Israel, Hebron Speech], Ma’ariv, 7 January 1975.
46 Davar, 16 January 1975.
47 Menachem Begin, ‘Le’an Molich HaViturism’ [Where Does Waiverism Lead to?], Ma’ariv, 31 January 1975.
48 See, for instance, Begin’s conversation with Tel Aviv University students, Davar, 6 June 1975.
49 Amir Goldstein and Elchanan Shilo, ‘Menachem Begin and the Question of the Settlements: 1967–1977.’ British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (2020): 1–20.
50 Ma’ariv, 2 January 1977.
51 Ma’ariv, 4 January 1977.
52 Eliyahu Ben-Elishar, ‘Lo od Milchama’ [No More War], Or-Yehuda (1995), p. 26.
53 The speech was published in the press: Menachem Begin, ‘Ma Ta’aseh Memshelet ha-Likud’ [What will the Likud Government Do], Ma’ariv, 2 January 1977; Steinberg and Ziv Rubinovitz, Menachem Begin, 52.
54 Minutes of the 13th Herut Movement Convention, JIA, E 5.1–13/13/6; Davar, 6 January 1977.
55 Jørgen Jensehaugen, “Terra Morata: the West Bank in Menachem Begin’s Worldview. “
Contemporary Levant 5.1 (2020): 54–63.
56 Ma’ariv, 3 January 1977.
57 Minutes of the Herut Movement committee Center, 11 September 1974, JIA, E 1–2 / 24.
58 Minutes of the Herut Movement Management, 1 January 1976, ibid, E 1–2/27/1.
59 An allusion to the biblical verse ‘Samson, the Philistines are upon you!’ (Judges 16:12).
Menachem Begin, ‘Me Akev Achilles le-Agudal Natui’ [From Achilles’ Heel to an Askew Thumb], Ma’ariv, 23 January 1976.
60 Minutes of the Herut Movement Management, 1 January 1976, JIA, E 1-2-2 / 27/1.
61 Jørgen Jensehaugen, ‘Smokescreen Diplomacy: Excluding the Palestinians by Self-rule.’ The Middle East Journal 73.2 (2019): 224–241.
62 Anziska, Preventing Palestine, 117–125.
63 Ma’ariv, 11 May 1977.
64 Minutes of the Israeli Cabinet Meeting, ISA, 13 July 1977, p. 21. Regarding the future withdrawal from the Golan Heights, the addition ‘significant’ did not feature.
‘The Framework -for -the Peace Making Process -between Israel -and its Neighbors (7 July 1977)’, ISA, A 4313/1.
65 Shahin Berenji, ‘Sadat and the Road to Jerusalem: Bold Gestures and Risk Acceptance in the Search for Peace.’ International Security 45.1 (2020): 127–163.
66 Steinberg and Ziv Rubinovitz, Menachem Begin, 170–182.
67 Minutes of the Herut Movement committee Center, 19 November 1978, JIA, 1–2/32/1.
68 The Israeli Secret Intelligence Service assessed that Begin’s rise to the Israeli prime minister’s office would hasten the possibility of a military escalation and hamper the chances that the political contacts come to fruition; Sagit Stivi-Kerbis, ‘The Surprise of Peace: The Challenge of Intelligence in Identifying Positive Strategic–Political Shifts.’ International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 32.3 (2019): 448–466.