Israeli prime ministerial election, 2001

Last updated
2001 Israeli prime ministerial election
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←  1999 6 February 2001 (2001-02-06) 2003  →
  Ariel Sharon 2001.jpg Ehud Barak Face.jpg
Candidate Ariel Sharon Ehud Barak
Party Likud Labor
Popular vote1,698,0771,023,944
Percentage62.39%37.61%
Prime Minister before election

Ehud Barak
Labor

Elected Prime Minister

Ariel Sharon
Likud

Elections for Prime Minister were held in Israel on 6 February 2001 following the resignation of the incumbent, Labour's Ehud Barak. Barak stood for re-election against Likud's Ariel Sharon.

Israel country in the Middle East

Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia, located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. The country contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel's economic and technological center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, although the state's sovereignty over Jerusalem has only partial recognition.

The Israeli Labor Party, commonly known as HaAvoda, is a social democratic and Zionist political party in Israel. The Israeli Labor Party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi. Until 1977, all Israeli Prime Ministers were affiliated with the Labor movement. The current party leader and candidate for prime minister is Avi Gabbay.

Ehud Barak Israeli politician and prime minister

Ehud Barak is an Israeli general and politician who served as the tenth Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011. He previously held the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister under Ehud Olmert and then in Benjamin Netanyahu's second government from 2007 to 2013, as he retired from politics at the end of the tenure.

Contents

It was the third and last Prime Ministerial election (separate elections were scrapped before the next Knesset elections in 2003), and the only one which was not held alongside simultaneous Knesset elections.

Voter turnout was 62.3%, the lowest turnout for any national election held in Israel. The low turnout was at least partially due to many Israeli Arabs boycotting the poll in protest at the October 2000 events in which 12 Israeli Arabs were killed by the police. [1] Other possible reasons are Sharon's massive advantage in advance polls, and the lack of enthusiasm of Barak supporters due to his perceived failings, notably, the failure of the 2000 Camp David talks with the Palestinians, and the "turbine affair" in which Barak yielded to the religious parties' pressure, violating previous promises.

Arab citizens of Israel ethnic group

Arab citizens of Israel, or Arab Israelis, are Israeli citizens who are Arab. Many Arab citizens of Israel self-identify as Palestinian and commonly self-designate themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel or Israeli Palestinians, According to a 2017 survey, only 16% of the Arab population prefers the term "Israeli Arab", while the largest and fastest growing proportion prefers "Palestinian in Israel". A notable percentage prefers Palestinian Arab, rejecting entirely the identity of "Israeli". The traditional vernacular of most Arab citizens, irrespective of religion, is Levantine Arabic, including Lebanese Arabic in the North of Israel, Palestinian dialect of Arabic in Central Israel and Bedouin dialects across the Negev desert; having absorbed much Hebrew loanwords and phrases, the modern dialect of Arab citizens of Israel is defined by some as the Israeli Arabic dialect. Most Arab citizens of Israel are functionally bilingual, their second language being Modern Hebrew. By religious affiliation, most are Muslim, particularly of the Sunni branch of Islam. There is a significant Arab Christian minority from various denominations as well as the Druze, among other religious communities.

October 2000 events

The October 2000 events were a series of protests in Arab cities and towns in northern Israel in October 2000 that turned violent, escalating into rioting by Israeli Arabs throughout Israel, which led to counter-rioting by Israeli Jews and clashes with the Israel Police and ending in the deaths of 13 Arab demonstrators. Most of the Israeli riots took place towards the end, between 7–9 October.

2000 Camp David Summit

The 2000 Camp David Summit was a summit meeting at Camp David between United States president Bill Clinton, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat. The summit took place between 11 and 25 July 2000 and was an effort to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The summit ended without an agreement.

Background

Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon

In 2000, 18 years after Israel occupied Southern Lebanon in the 1982 Lebanon War, Israel unilaterally withdrew its remaining forces from the "security zone" in southern Lebanon. Several thousand members of the South Lebanon Army (and their families) left with the Israelis. The following month, the UN confirmed that Israel's force deployment was now entirely consistent with the various security council resolutions with regard to Lebanon. [2] Lebanon claims that Israel continues to occupy Lebanese territory called "Sheba'a Farms" (however this area was governed by Syria until 1967 when Israel took control). The Sheba'a Farms dispute has provided Hezbollah with a ruse to maintain warfare with Israel. The Lebanese government, in contravention of the UN resolution, did not assert sovereignty in Southern Lebanon, which came under the control of Hezbollah.

1982 Lebanon War 1982 war between Israel and forces in Lebanon

The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First Lebanon War, and known in Lebanon as "the invasion", began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) invaded southern Lebanon, after repeated attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) operating in southern Lebanon and the IDF that had caused civilian casualties on both sides of the border. The military operation was launched after gunmen from Abu Nidal's organization attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin blamed Abu Nidal's enemy, the PLO, for the incident, and treated the incident as a casus belli for the invasion.

South Lebanon Army

The South Lebanon Army or South Lebanese Army (SLA), also known as Lahad Army, was a Lebanese militia, dominated by Christians, during the Lebanese Civil War and its aftermath, until it was disbanded in the year 2000. It was originally named the Free Lebanon Army, which split from the Army of Free Lebanon. After 1979, the militia operated in southern Lebanon under the authority of Saad Haddad's Government of Free Lebanon. It was supported by Israel, and became its primary ally in Lebanon during the 1985–2000 South Lebanon conflict to fight against Hezbollah.

Hezbollah Shia Islamist militant group and political party based in Lebanon

Hezbollah —also transliterated Hizbullah, Hizballah, etc.—is a Shi'a Islamist political party and militant group based in Lebanon. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese parliament. Since the death of Abbas al-Musawi in 1992, the group has been headed by Hassan Nasrallah, its Secretary-General. The group, along with its military wing is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Israel, Canada, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council,, the United Kingdom, Australia and the European Union.

2000 Camp David Summit

Ehud Barak, Bill Clinton, and Yasser Arafat during the 2000 Camp David Summit Arafat&Clinton&Barak.jpg
Ehud Barak, Bill Clinton, and Yasser Arafat during the 2000 Camp David Summit

In the Fall of 2000, talks were held at Camp David to reach a "final status" agreement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The summit collapsed after Yasser Arafat would not accept a proposal drafted by American and Israeli negotiators. Barak was prepared to offer the entire Gaza Strip, a Palestinian capital in a part of East Jerusalem, 73% of the West Bank (excluding eastern Jerusalem) raising to 90-94% after 10–25 years, and financial reparations for Palestinian refugees for peace. Israel would therefore have gained an additional 6-10% of the West Bank, including more of East Jerusalem than previously held, and Palestinian leaders would have had to give up the Right of Return. Arafat turned down the offer without making a counter-offer. [3] [4]

Yasser Arafat 20th-century former Palestinian President, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient

Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini, popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004 and President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) from 1994 to 2004. Ideologically an Arab nationalist, he was a founding member of the Fatah political party, which he led from 1959 until 2004.

East Jerusalem eastern sector of Jerusalem

East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem is the sector of Jerusalem that was occupied by Jordan during the Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel. Since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, East Jerusalem has been, along with the rest of the West Bank, occupied by Israel.

Second Intifada

On September 28, 2000, Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount, the following day the Palestinians launched the al-Aqsa Intifada, which included increased Palestinian terror attacks being made against Israeli civilians. Both Palestinian and Israeli sources allege the uprising was planned much earlier. [5] [6]

Ariel Sharon prime minister of Israel and Israeli general

Ariel Sharon was an Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006.

Temple Mount religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem

The Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Haram esh-Sharif and the Al Aqsa Compound is a hill located in the Old City of Jerusalem that for thousands of years has been venerated as a holy site, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alike.

October 2000 events

The October 2000 events were a series of large-scale protests carried out by Israeli Arabs, mostly alongside major Israeli highways, following the outbreak of the second intifada. In some cases, the protests escalated into clashes with the Israeli Police involving rock-throwing, firebombing, and live-fire. Policemen used tear-gas and opened fire with rubber-coated bullets and later live ammunition in some instances, many times in contravention with police protocol governing crowd-dispersion. In all, during these protests 12 Arab citizens of Israel and a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip were killed by Israeli Police, while an Israeli Jew was killed when his car was hit by a rock on the Tel-Aviv-Haifa freeway.

These events led to a significant drop in support for Ehud Barak amongst the Israeli-Arab population. In addition, the severity of the events in which main highways were blocked, many vehicles were attacked, communities and government institutions were attacked, full or partial blockade was imposed on several towns, and in which many shops were burned, led also to a decrease in Ehud Barak's popularity among the Israeli Jewish public.

Following the protests, there was a high degree of tension between Jewish and Arab citizens and distrust between the Arab citizens and police. An investigation committee, headed by Supreme Court Justice Theodor Or, reviewed the protests and found that the police were poorly prepared to handle such disturbances and charged major officers with bad conduct. The Or Commission reprimanded Prime Minister Ehud Barak and recommended Shlomo Ben-Ami (then the Internal Security Minister) not serve again as Minister of Public Security. The committee also blamed Arab leaders and Knesset members for contributing to inflaming the atmosphere and making the violence more severe.

Results

Israeli prime ministerial election, 2001
PartyCandidateVotes%
Likud Ariel Sharon 1,698,07762.4
Labor Ehud Barak 1,023,94437.6
Invalid or blank votes83,9173.0
Total votes2,805,938100.0
Likud gain from Labor

Aftermath

After winning the election, Sharon needed to form a government in the Knesset. However, because there had been no Knesset elections, Labour remained the largest party.

The result was a national unity government involving eight parties; Labour, Likud, Shas, the Centre Party, the National Religious Party, United Torah Judaism, Yisrael BaAliyah, the National Union and Yisrael Beiteinu. The government initially had 26 ministers, though this later rose to 29.

New Knesset elections were called in 2003, which resulted in a landslide victory for Sharon's Likud.

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Events in the year 2000 in Israel.

Politics in Israel is dominated by Zionist parties. They traditionally fall into three camps, the first two being the largest: Labor Zionism, Revisionist Zionism (conservative) and Religious Zionism. There are also several non-Zionist Orthodox religious parties, non-Zionist left-wing groups as well as non-Zionist and anti-Zionist Israeli Arab parties.

References

  1. ↑ Barak concedes defeat The Guardian, 6 February 2001
  2. ↑ Security Council endorses Secretary-General's conclusion on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as of 16 June United Nations, 18 June 2000
  3. ↑ Camp David Proposals for Final Palestine-Israel Peace Settlement
  4. ↑ Israeli Proposal to Palestinians and Syria Information Regarding Israel's Security (IRIS)
  5. ↑ Khaled Abu Toameh. "How the war began" . Retrieved March 29, 2006.
  6. ↑ "In a Ruined Country". The Atlantic Monthly Online. September 2005.
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