Ninth Knesset
(1977 - 1981)
The ninth
Knesset was the first in which the parties belonging to the Labor Movement were in opposition, after the political upheaval in the Knesset elections and the formation of a Right-Center government by Menachem
Begin. This was also the first Knesset in which a totally new party
- the Democratic Movement for Change
(DMC) - entered the Knesset with a substantial number of seats.
In the course of the ninth Knesset many Knesset members
moved from faction to faction, and this especially against the background
of the disintegration of the DMC.
Several Knesset members changed factions three or
even four times in the course of the ninth Knesset. The main event during
the term of the ninth Knesset was the visit
of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem in November 1977,
and his appearance in the Knesset.
After less than a year and a half, the first peace
agreement between Israel and an Arab state was signed. The Knesset appoved
the Camp David Accords in September
1978, by a large majority, and the peace
treaty with Egypt in March 1979. In the course of the ninth Knesset
talks began with Egypt on an autonomy plan for Judea,
Samaria and the Gaza Strip,
but the talks did not lead to an agreement.
In light of the worsening of the security situation
along Israel's northern border the Litani
Operation took place in March 1978.
A number of terrorist attacks in this period failed,
but in March 1978 there was an attack along the Coastal Road and another
attack in Antwerpen in Belgium in which Jewish children were hurt. Toward the end of the ninth Knesset
the Israeli air force attacked
the Iraqi nuclear reactor.
During the term of the ninth Knesset the Jewish settlement movement in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip was accelerated:
a permanent settlement was set up at Elon Moreh, Beit Hadassah in Hebron was settled and the number of Jews in the territories rose to about
8,300. In this period an attempt was made by Jews to assassinate several
mayors of Arab towns in the territories. "Peace Now" was founded
in 1978.
During the term of the ninth Knesset, three ministers
of finance served, but most of the attention was focused on the foreign
currency liberalization of Simha Erlich.
In the course of the ninth Knesset the phenomenon
of "specialized" financial allocations for religious institutions
developed. There was a steep fall in the number of new immigrants
from the Soviet Union, and the Knesset dealt with the issue of the
Prisoners of Zion - Nathan
Sharansky, Ida Nudel, Yossef Mendelovitz and Victor Breilovsky.
The Knesset dealt with the issue of the displaced persons from Iqrit
and Bir'am.
Sources: The Knesset |