Likud

Alliance of right-wing Israeli political parties, formed in 1973 by Menachem Begin, uniting Herut (‘freedom’), the Liberal Party of Israel, Laam (‘for the nation’), and Ahdut. It defeated the Labour Party coalition in the May 1977 election, bringing Begin to power. Under the leadership of Yitzhak Shamir 1983-93, Likud became part of an uneasy national coalition with Labour 1984-90, but was defeated by the Labour Party in the 1992 general election. Under the leadership of Binyamin Netanyahu 1993-99 and Ariel Sharon since 1999, it adopted a much harder line than Labour in the Middle East peace process. In May 1996, Netanyahu became Israel's first directly-elected prime minister, and formed a Likud-led government. He was defeated in May 1999 by Ehud Barak of the Labour party, who was in turn defeated by Sharon in February 2001.

Likud is identified with the claim to indivisible sovereignty over the whole of the biblical Land of Israel (including the West Bank and Gaza) and with free-market economics. Under Begin and Shamir, historic peace agreements were reached with Egypt, and Sinai (captured by Israel in 1967) was returned to Egypt, but a controversial Israeli invasion of Lebanon was also launched in 1982. Likud administrations have been marked by expansions in Jewish settlement activities in the occupied territories and, under Sharon, by a marked deterioriation in relations with Arab neighbours.