Summary
Israel’s major right-wing political party, an alliance of right-wing groups led by Herut, whose governments of 1977 and 1981 forged a symbiotic relationship with Gush Emunim and poured state resources into settlement of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Introduction, lines 630-680; Chapter 2, lines 1990-2059).
Details
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Likud politicians and activists lacked a systematic ideological doctrine capable of justifying sacrifices or coordinating their annexationist objectives beyond populist slogans, assertions of Jewish national rights and irredentist claims; insofar as the vacuum was filled, it was filled by Gush Emunim’s ultranationalism and active messianism, which also gave rising Likud politicians such as Ariel Sharon a symbol system of Jewish authenticity. Neither Herut nor the Liberal party, Likud’s two major components, had a strong settlement movement of its own, so the fundamentalist settlers’ expertise and zeal were an indispensable resource for the Likud governments of 1977 and 1981 (Introduction, lines 630-660).
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In return the fundamentalists exploited the relationship: friendly ties to the highest echelons of government and official sympathy legitimized fundamentalist ideas in the national debate, and the enormous financial resources both Likud governments put at the disposal of Gush Emunim and its settlement projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were crucial to sustaining the movement (Introduction, lines 655-680).
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Herut’s road to Likud ran through the 1965 Gahal alliance with the center-right Liberal party, which received 21 percent of the vote in 1965, and Menachem Begin’s co-option into the 1967 emergency government, which legitimized Herut’s struggle for power and paved the way for the Likud alliance (Chapter 2, lines 1955-1995).
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Discredited Labor was voted out in 1977 and Begin became prime minister at the head of a Likud coalition with the National Religious Party dominated by Gush Emunim; after Begin’s resignation in 1983 and a slipped electoral performance, Likud was forced into a national unity government with Labor in 1984, and Yitzhak Shamir assumed the premiership in October 1986 (Chapter 2, lines 1990-2010).
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From 1977 until the end of 1984 two Likud governments poured more than $1 billion into Jewish settlement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and support activities; in the West Bank alone nearly sixty new settlements were added and the number of Jewish settlers in predominantly Arab areas rose from a few thousand to over 38,000, with sweeping land requisitions and zoning restrictions, virtually open access to cabinet ministers for Gush leaders, and generous settlement employment for Gush activists (Chapter 2, line 2013, lines 2010-2050).
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In Lustick’s Chapter 3, Likud spent $400 million in the West Bank and Gaza between 1977 and mid-1981, built twenty settlements in areas previous governments had considered off-limits, and raised West Bank settlers (minus the Jordan Valley and East Jerusalem) from about 3,500 to 18,500; by August 1984 some 113 settlements and 46,000 settlers were spread over the entire West Bank (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 2450-2560).
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Lustick stresses the difference within the symbiosis: Gush Emunim is a fundamentalist organization seeking to transform society and bring redemption; Likud is a coalition of practical political parties that primarily wants to win elections and organize governments, and each sought to use the other (For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Chapter 3, lines 2450-2560).
Related pages
For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Gush Emunim, Menachem Begin, Herut, National Religious Party, Jewish Fundamentalism