Begin, Menachem, << BAY guhn, mehn AHK hehm >> (1913-1992), served as prime minister of Israel from 1977 to 1983. The leader of the conservative Likud Party, he came to power after the party won a majority of the seats in the Knesset (Israeli parliament). After the 1981 elections, the Likud Party and smaller conservative parties formed a coalition, and Begin remained prime minister. Begin resigned from office in 1983.
In 1978, Begin, President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt, and President Jimmy Carter held discussions in the United States about ways to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. The discussions resulted in a major agreement that included plans for Israel’s withdrawal from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The agreement also called for a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Begin and Sadat shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. The treaty was signed in 1979. Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula was completed in 1982.
In 1981, Begin’s government claimed legal and political authority over Syria’s Golan Heights. Syria and many other countries denounced this claim. Israel had gained control of the area in a war against Syria in 1967. Although Israel’s relations with Egypt improved under Begin, relations with other Arab countries remained hostile. For more details on the Arab-Israeli conflict, see Arab-Israeli conflict.
Begin was born on Aug. 16, 1913, in Brest-Litovsk, Russia (now Brest, Belarus). In the 1930’s, he became active in the Zionist movement. The Zionists called for the creation of a Jewish nation in Palestine, which was then ruled by the British. Begin moved to Palestine in 1942. There he joined the Irgun Zvai Leumi, an underground Jewish militia that fought the British and the Palestinian Arabs. He led the Irgun from 1944 to 1948, when the nation of Israel was created in Palestine. He played a leading military role in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. He served in the Knesset from 1949 to 1984. Begin died on March 9, 1992.
