Fifteenth Knesset
(1999 - 2003)
Fifteen factions were elected to the 15th
Knesset - the same number as were elected to the 11th and 12th Knessets. The
major difference, however, was the number of seats won by the two largest
factions in the previous Knessets.
In the previous Knessets, the number of members that constituted the
two largest factions was 85 and 79 respectively. In the 15th Knesset,
that number declined to only 45. Two centrist parties received 6 seats
each: Shinui and the Central
Parties. By the end of the fifteenth Knesset's term, the Central
Party, for all intents and purposes ceased to exist, while Shinui increased
its power in the 16th Knesset to 15 seats.
As with all of its predecessors from the 11th Knesset
on, the 15th Knesset reigned for less than four years - three years
and eight months.
The 15th Knesset was the second since the establishment
of the State during which two governments, headed by Prime
Ministers from two different parties, held power. The first time
this occurred was during the 11th Knesset, when Shimon
Peres from the Labor Party and Yitzhak Shamir from
the Likud Party held power
in rotation within a National Unity Government.
During the term of office of the 15th Knesset two separate
Prime Ministers were elected by direct personal vote (instead of being
elected as head of a party list, which had previously been the case): Ehud Barak from the One
Israel Party (an alliance of the Labor, Gesher and Meimad Parties) on
May 17, 1999, and Ariel Sharon from the Likud on February 6, 2001. The coalition that each established
was constituted from different factions. The major difference between
the two was that under Barak, Meretz was One Israel's chief partner while under Sharon, Labor-Maimad was
the Likud's chief partner. Immediately upon the formation of the Sharon
government, the Knesset at the initiative of the Government, revoked
the direct personal election of the Prime Minister. The old system of
voting for one list was reinstated and took effect in time for the election
of the 16th Knesset.
Since the Sharon Government was composed of 29 Ministers,
an additional small table had to be placed in the in the middle of the
old government table in the Knesset Hall in order to accommodate all
of the government members.
MK Avraham
Burg of the Labor Party was elected Chairperson of the 15th Knesset,
despite his not being the nominee of Prime Minister Barak. He continued
in this position even after Sharon was elected PM and even though he
opposed Labor taking part in the National Unity Government. Burg initiated
the establishment of "The Research and Information Center"
in the Knesset in 2000 as well as "The Commissioner for Future
Generations" in March of 2001, whose purpose is to evaluate the
impact of current legislation on future generations.
Burg advocated the right of the Knesset to direct
its own independent external relations. This policy became manifest
when he invited the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and the
Chairperson of the Palestinian Parliament Abu Ala to visit the Knesset
in spite of the Foreign Ministry's objections.
At the beginning of the 15th Knesset there was optimism
regarding the potential progress of the Peace Process. This, despite
fierce disagreements concerning the concessions it appeared Barak was
willing to make on the Palestinian front at Camp David, as well as on the Syrian front.
These disagreements were frequently expressed in Knesset
debates. A year after the establishment of the Barak Government, the IDF unilaterally
withdrew from Lebanon.
This was also a subject of dispute between the various factions of the
Knesset.
In September 2000, the Second
Intifada broke out, destroying any hopes for a permanent peace in
the near term. In October, riots broke out in the Israeli Arab sector,
in the course of which 13 Israeli Arabs were killed. The Northern Border
remained relatively quiet despite the IDF withdrawal from Lebanon. Corresponding
to the outbreak of the Intifada, three Israeli soldiers were kidnapped
from within Israel and murdered by the Hizballah,
and an Israeli citizen was kidnapped while on an overseas visit.
As the Intifada continued, Palestinian
terror acts against Israel increased, as did Palestinian terrorist suicide bombings.
On October 23, 2000, Revhavam
Ze'evi, a Minister in the Israeli Government, was murdered at the
Hyatt Hotel in Jerusalem by
Palestinian terrorists. At the end of March 2002, Operation Defensive
Shield was initiated. All these events were subject to extensive Knesset
debate.
At the beginning of the 15th Knesset's term of office,
the state of the Israeli economy appeared robust. The Intifada, however, negatively influenced the economy.
The global economic crisis and the worldwide Hi-Tech bust also contributed
to the deep recession that had beset the Israeli economy. The Knesset
dealt extensively with Finance Ministry proposals to combat the economic
crisis. Severe budget cuts for 2001 (approved only in March 2001) were
the end result. There were also difficulties in passing the 2002 budget
(approved only in February 2002). There was also massive opposition
to Government proposals for a radical tax reform that included, among
other things: A tax on capital gains, savings accounts and stock market
investments as well as an inheritance tax. The Knesset voted down these
proposals.
The Second Intifada increased the demand for foreign
workers. Their number increased to 260,000 by the end of the 15th Knesset,
two thirds of which were in Israel without work permits. Parallel to
the increase in foreign workers there was also an increase in unemployment.
The number of unemployed reached 200,000. The 15th Knesset created a
specific committee to handle matters regarding foreign workers. It also
dealt extensively with the unemployment problem as well with the growing
social/economic gap. The Knesset was also witness to protests by members
of the handicapped community.
A record number of private members' laws were proposed
in the 15th Knesset - 4,236 in all. Of these, 239 were passed into law,
in comparison to 162 governmental proposals and 39 committee proposals.
There was a realization that many of the private members'
laws required a large financial expenditure that was not covered in
the budget. Consequently, on July 15, 2002, an important amendment to
the Basic Law:
The State Economy was adopted: Legislative proposals and reservations
whose adoption entails budgetary expenditure. This amendment made it
mandatory that private member legislative proposals requiring five million
NIS or more per year to implement and that were not supported by the
Government receive the support of at least 50 Members of Knesset to
pass.
One of the most important pieces of legislation that
was passed by the 15th Knesset had to do with sorting out the terms
of military service of ultra-orthodox Yeshiva students according to
the proposals of the Tal Committee. Other important pieces of legislation
dealt in the following areas: The employment of workers by labor subcontractors,
the amending the social security law that doubled the birth allowance
from the fourth child on and increased the child allowance from the
fifth child on, and a law that delineated the activities of the internal intelligence
service - the “Shabak.”
While the 14th Knesset did not institute even one Parliamentary
Inquiry Committee, the 15th Knesset instituted nine such committees.
Among the most important of these committees were those that dealt in
the slave trade of women, the social gap, and road accidents. Six committees
published reports.
On July 31, 2000, the 15th Knesset elected Moshe
Katzav to be the eighth President of the State of Israel.
Sources: The Knesset |