Menachem Begin Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

Menachem Begin (August 16, 1913 - March 9, 1992) became the 6th Prime Minister of Israel in May 1977. He negotiated the Camp David Accords with Egyptian president Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat, for which they jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978.

Begin was born in Brest-Litovsk, Russia (located in a region which became part of Poland from 1919 to 1939 and is today a part of Belarus and known simply as Brest) and since 1939 he was the leader of the Zionist Betar organisation. In 1940-1941 he was imprisoned in the USSR. In 1941 he was released after Sikorski-Mayski Agreement and joined the Polish army of Anders. Unofficialy released from that army along with many other Jewish soldiers, in 1942 he joined the Irgun (also known as Etzel) and in 1947 assumed its leadership. He was responsible for the bombing of Jerusalem's King David Hotel, at that time a British administrative and military headquarters, that killed 91 people. In 1948 he was at the center of the shipping of Irgun arms to Israel, ending in the sinking of Altalena, by gunfire ordered by David Ben-Gurion.

After the founding of the state of Israel, Begin founded the Herut political party (which later on became the dominant party in the Likud coalition).

In 1979, Begin signed the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty with Anwar Al-Sadat. Under the terms of the treaty, Israel handed over the Sinai peninsula to Egypt. This involved the demolishing of all Israeli settlements in the area (including the town of Yamit). Begin faced a strong internal opposition to this move, which led to a split in his own Likud party.

In 1981, Begin ordered the bombing of Iraq's Osiraq/Tammuz nuclear reactor. Soon after, Begin stated that "On no account shall we permit an enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction against the people of Israel." This change in Israel's nuclear policy is now known as the Begin doctrine.

In 1982, Begin's government invaded Lebanon, citing the need to put the PLO out of rocket range of Israel's northern border. This began the Lebanon War which lasted for three years (with limited Israeli presence in Lebanon continuing until 2000). According to Haaretz reporter Uzi Benziman, the then minister of defence Ariel Sharon deceived Begin as to the purpose of the war, and extended it without authorization. Sharon sued Haaretz and Benziman in 1991. The trial lasted 11 years, with one of the highlights being the deposition of Benny Begin, Menachem Begin's son, in favor of the defendants. Sharon lost the case [1].

Begin himself retired in August 1983, deeply disappointed and depressed by the war, his spouse's death and his own illness. He died in Jerusalem in 1992, followed by a simple ceremony and burial at the Mount of Olives.

Quotes

"No more wars, no more bloodshed, and no more threats"

-Menachem Begin, Broadcast to the Egyptian People, November 11, 1977.

"Free women and men everywhere must wage an incessant campaign so that these human values become a generally recognized and practised reality. We must regretfully admit that in various parts of the world this is not yet the case. Without those values and human rights the real peace of which we dream is jeopardized."

- Menachem Begin, Nobel Lecture, December 10, 1978

• The Center for Begin's legacy
• The Camp David Accords
• The King David Hotel Warnings
• Hotel King David Massacre
• Irgun Web Page
• Menachem Begin Obituary Editorial
• The Begin Biography, Nobel Foundation

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