Likud

/lee"koohd, lee koohd"/, n.

a conservative political party in Israel, founded in 1973.

[ < Heb likkudh lit., consolidation]

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Coalition of Israeli right-wing political parties.

It was created by the 1973 merger of the Herut Party (1948) and the Liberal Party (1961), which itself was a merger of the General Zionists and the Progressives. From the late 1970s Likud alternated in power with the Israel Labour Party. The party generally was skeptical of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, opposing the formation of a Palestinian state and supporting continued Jewish settlement of the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Party leaders have included Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, and Ariel Sharon. See also Arab-Israeli wars; Irgun Zvai Leumi; Vladimir Jabotinsky.

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▪ political party, Israel

Hebrew in full  Likud-Liberalim Leumi , English  Unity-National Liberals 

      right-wing Israeli political party. It was founded in September 1973 to challenge the Israel Labour Party, which had governed the country since its independence in 1948, and first came to power in 1977, with Menachem Begin (Begin, Menachem) as prime minister. Thereafter, Likud alternated in government with the Labour Party, forming coalitions with minor parties, especially those with an ultrareligious or a nationalist ideology. Because of the country's political fragmentation and unique security needs, Likud and Labour have sometimes entered into so-called “unity governments” with each other.

      At its founding in 1973, the Likud coalition was dominated by the Gahal bloc, which consisted of the Herut (“Freedom”) party and the Liberal Party (Miflaget ha-Liberali). The Herut had its roots in the Russian Jewish Zionism of the 1920s and '30s and was formally organized in 1948, the year of Israel's independence, in the merger of preindependence groups such as the Irgun Zvai Leumi. Some of the groups had been considered terrorist organizations by the British authorities. Begin, a Polish-born Jew, had been leader of the Irgun. The other member of the Gahal bloc, the Liberal Party, was formed in 1961 in the merger of the General Zionist Party (which was active from 1948 to 1961) and the smaller Progressive Party. Staunchly Zionist (Zionism), it advocated retention of all territories conquered by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The other partners in Likud were relatively small, though they were often influential.

      During Begin's prime ministry (1977–83), Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt, for which Begin was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Egyptian President Anwar el-Sādāt (Sādāt, Anwar el-), and launched a controversial invasion of Lebanon. Although Begin's peace initiative was popular both at home and abroad, it alienated many party stalwarts who opposed the return of any territories. In 1983 he was succeeded as prime minister and party leader by Yitzḥak Shamir (Shamir, Yitzḥak), who governed in coalition with the Israel Labour Party from 1984 to 1990. Likud was ousted from government by a Labour-led coalition in 1992, and in 1993 Shamir was succeeded as party leader by Benjamin Netanyahu (Netanyahu, Benjamin), who led the Likud coalition back to power in 1996. Netanyahu was defeated in 1999 by Labour's Ehud Barak (Barak, Ehud), but in 2001, capitalizing on increasing attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, Likud candidate Ariel Sharon (Sharon, Ariel) convincingly defeated Barak. With Israel facing attacks from Palestinian militant groups, Sharon subsequently formed a unity government with Labour. In 2003 Likud doubled its seats in the Knesset from 19 to 38; after Labour refused to join a coalition, Sharon formed a coalition government with Shinui, a centrist party, the National Religious Party (Mafdal), and an electoral coalition representing nationalist and Russian voters. In 2005 a Likud-led government under Sharon's leadership oversaw a complete pullout of Israeli soldiers and settlers from the Gaza Strip. Many Likud members opposed Sharon's disengagement policy, and in November 2005 he left Likud to form the centrist party Kadima (“Forward”), taking many Likud moderates with him. Kadima won the largest share of seats in parliamentary elections in March 2006; by then the party was led by Ehud Olmert, after Sharon had suffered a debilitating stroke. Likud fared poorly in the election, finishing fourth.

      Ideologically, Likud is both conservative and nationalist, and it has generally supported a “hawkish” (aggressive) security policy. It took an equivocal stance toward the 1993 peace accord between Israel (signed for the country by the Labour-led government of Prime Minister Yitzḥak Rabin (Rabin, Yitzhak)) and the Palestine Liberation Organization; although Likud supported a peace with guarantees of security, it opposed ceding major portions of land to Palestinian control and dismantling Israeli settlements in the territories that Israel had conquered in 1967. However, in subsequent years the party grew increasingly divided over its policies concerning Palestine. In the early 21st century it adopted a policy opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state under any conditions.

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