Word: beginning
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Moshe Dayan had resigned as Foreign Minister in basic disagreement over Israeli policy for the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. A day later, the country's Supreme Court struck a body blow at the Begin government's policy of permitting Jewish settlements to be established in the West Bank on the pretext that they strengthen Israel's ''security...
...same day, the government removed the subsidies for cooking oil and other household products, and prices for those items jumped by 50%. During a stormy session of the Knesset, where the ruling Likud coalition now has a majority of only six seats, Begin survived a series of no-confidence motions. But observers were predicting that it was only a matter of time before the beleaguered Premier would be obliged to call new elections...
Perhaps the only mystery in the Dayan affair was why he remained in the Begin government as long as he did. Dayan had made no secret of the fact that he disagreed with Begin's hard-line policy in dealing with the Palestinians. He genuinely want ed to reach some kind of agreement with the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza over their future relations with Israel (see box); Begin seemed content to let the status quo drift on forever. Because of this disagreement, Dayan refused to head the Israeli delegation in the autonomy talks...
Whatever happens in the immediate future, Begin has plenty of trouble on his hands. His citizenry is dispirited, his country's inflation rate is running at about 100%, and the popularity of the opposition Labor Party is once more on the rise. The lesson of Elon Moreh is that the aspirations of a few thousand nationalist fanatics do not necessarily coincide with the needs of the Israeli people. But it is a lesson that Menachem Begin does not appear ready or willing to accept...
When the nine Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court meet to discuss and vote on cases on Friday mornings, they begin with 'he simple ritual of shaking hands. Then they sit down to decide on some of the nation's most sensitive, sometimes most divisive issues. No reporter, no lobbyist, no aide, not even a messenger is allowed in the paneled conference room. The Justices are left alone to argue the law, their principles, their consciences. Theirs is not an abstract debate: comfortably hazy concepts like ''liberty'' and ''equality'' must...