Sixth Knesset
(1965 - 1969)
The sixth
Knesset moved to the Knesset's permanent building at Givat Ram.
The main event during the term of the sixth Knesset, which it dealt
with extensively, was the Six
Day War - the waiting period before the war, its course, its results
and the internal debate which began in Israel around Security
Council Resolution 242 regarding the territories occupied by the IDF.
Soon after the fighting ended Prime Minsiter Levi
Eshkol announced the unification of Jerusalem,
and the Knesset added to the Government and Legal Procedures
Ordinance, article 11b regarding the application
of the Israeli justice, jurisdiction and administration
systems to Jerusalem.
The War and its results created difficulties for Israel
in the international arena. Upon the outbreak of the War, France - Israel's main supplier of arms - imposed a military embargo on it,
and thus left Israel with no
other option but to depend almost exclusively on the U.S.
Soon after the fighting ended, all the countries of
the East bloc, except Romania, broke off their diplomatic relations
with Israel. Following the establishment of the PLO in its new version, in 1968, a wave of hijackings of and attacks on
commercial airlines began. An El-Al plane was first hijacked to Algeria in October 1968.
The sixth Knesset was the first in which the cystallization
of two main political blocs became apparent: Gahal,
which was made up of Herut and the Liberal Party and the Alignment, which in its first version
included Mapai and Ahdut
Ha'avodah and in its second version - the Israel Labor Party (made up of Mapai, Ahdaut Ha'avodah and Rafi)
and Mapam.
On the eve of the Six Day War, Israel's first national unity government
was formed, with the participation of Gahal.
The sixth Knesset was also the first to which a small new faction, which
acted as a radical protest party - the Olam Hazeh Koah Hadash, headed
by Uri Avneri - was elected.
In the year and a half that preceded the war, the
Knesset dealt extensively with the economic depression in the Israeli
market, and, in 1966, finally terminated the military administration
over the Arab
population of Israel. Both Gahal and Uri Avneri demanded the implementation
of a national health insurance
system. The religious parties raised the issue of organ transplantations.
The issue of the disappearance of the children of Yemenite families
in the early years of the state first came up, and an investigation
commission was set up to deal with it. The problem of elected representatives
in local government changing political allegiances in return for material
benefit - Kalanterism - also came up for debate. In 1966, black and
white television broadcasts began in Israel.
Sources: The Knesset |