1990 in Israel

Following the November 1988 election, Yitzhak Shamir led a national unity government.[3] Its partners included Likud, the Alignment, Mafdal, Shas, and Agudat Yisrael.[3] The coalition later split over how to conduct negotiations with Palestinian representatives and over the kind of agreement Israel should pursue.[6]

The First Intifada, which had begun in December 1987, continued into 1990.[7] Armed attacks increased as civilian participation in the uprising declined, and Israel intensified arrests and other security measures.[4] The uprising was changing form rather than simply ending, with growing violence within Palestinian society accompanying confrontations with Israeli forces.[4]

Israel also entered the year under economic pressure: inflation had approached 23 percent in 1989, and unemployment exceeded 9 percent.[8] A 5 percent devaluation of the new Israeli shekel announced in late December was followed by another 8 percent devaluation when the budget was presented on January 1, 1990.[8] Budget cuts, reduced food and gasoline subsidies, planned civil-service dismissals, and reductions in cost-of-living increases formed part of the government’s response.[8]

Large-scale immigration from the Soviet Union had begun at the end of 1989.[9] The opening of emigration, political instability, rising antisemitic ultra-nationalism, and economic collapse encouraged Jews to leave.[10] Soviet immigration to Israel had totaled 12,859 in 1989, but by mid-January 1990 arrivals exceeded 1,000 people a week.[11][8] Israel initially planned to resettle 100,000 Soviet Jews over three years at an estimated cost of US$2 billion.[8] The scale of arrivals would soon place substantially greater demands on housing, employment, and public services.[11]

Immigration and housing became closely connected to diplomacy in the opening months of the year.[8] On March 1, James Baker made U.S. backing for a $400 million housing loan for Soviet immigrants conditional on Israel halting the establishment of settlements in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and the Gaza Strip.[8] Israel objected that Washington was, for the first time, linking aid to the way Israel spent its own money.[8] After President George H. W. Bush expressed opposition to settling new immigrants in East Jerusalem, Shamir announced on March 5 that new Jewish neighborhoods there would be expanded rapidly.[8] Palestinian Arabs also expressed concern that some Soviet newcomers might settle in the West Bank.[8]

The coalition crisis reached its decisive stage in March over a proposed meeting in Cairo between Israeli and Palestinian representatives.[12] Shamir dismissed Peres on March 13, and Labor ministers resigned.[8] On March 15, the Knesset passed a no-confidence motion by 60 votes to 55, forcing the national unity government to resign.[8] Five of the six Shas members were absent from the vote, helping make the opposition majority possible.[6] This was the first successful no-confidence motion against an Israeli national unity government.[3]

President Chaim Herzog asked Peres to form a government on March 20.[8] Peres’s bloc had 55 members and required six votes from the 18 religious-party members to construct a government without Likud; Shamir’s bloc numbered 48.[12] Peres’s effort faltered after Rabbi Elazar Shach’s March 26 speech and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s decision that Shas would not join an Alignment-led government.[3] On April 11, two Agudat Yisrael members were absent from a planned vote, leaving Peres without the support he expected.[3] After five weeks of negotiations, his attempt failed and the mandate passed to Shamir.[8]

Public dissatisfaction with coalition bargaining generated a substantial electoral-reform movement.[8] Approximately 100,000 people demonstrated on April 7, the largest such gathering since protests against Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.[8] More than 70,000 signed a petition calling for direct election of the prime minister and Knesset members, while an April 9 poll found 80 percent support for changing the electoral system.[8] Protesters objected particularly to the influence of small parties in negotiations over government formation.[8]

Settlement activity continued while Labor ministers were outside the government.[8] On April 12, a group of 150 Jewish religious students and their families occupied St. John’s Hospice in Jerusalem’s Christian Quarter.[8] The occupation prompted Christian Palestinian protests, and Jerusalem’s Christian churches closed for a day on April 27.[8] By May 1, the Supreme Court had upheld the occupants’ eviction.[8] Separately, on April 18 Shamir appointed Michael Dekel to oversee the start of four settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and to seek residential property in Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter.[8]

On May 20, Ami Popper, then 21, murdered seven Palestinian laborers at a gathering point near Rishon LeZion and Nes Ziona.[13] He used a rifle taken from his soldier brother, asked workers to show identification, and opened fire.[13][14] The murders were followed by widespread rioting in Israel and the territories, during which some rioters were killed by IDF fire.[13] Ten days later, on May 30, two motorboats carrying PLO members landed in central Israel; the IDF repulsed the attackers, and the Palestine Liberation Front claimed responsibility.[15]

Shamir presented a new government to the Knesset on June 11.[3] The coalition brought together Likud, the Party for Advancing the Zionist Idea, and religious and right-wing parties, excluding Labor.[3] It was Israel’s twenty-fourth government and served from June 11, 1990, to July 13, 1992.[16] Its cabinet listing names 19 ministers.[16]

Immigration accelerated throughout these political changes.[11] Soviet arrivals numbered 7,300 in March and 10,500 in April.[8] Nearly 100,000 Soviet immigrants reached Israel in the first nine months, with monthly arrivals since April running at approximately 10,000–20,000.[11] Contemporary projections anticipated 150,000 by year’s end and an annual total greater than any since 1951; these were forecasts rather than final counts.[11] The eventual figure of 185,227 Soviet immigrants illustrates how rapidly the movement expanded.[2]

The new government’s absorption arrangements placed greater emphasis on markets and immigrants’ self-help rather than centrally managed absorption.[17] Assistance for a family of three included an initial payment equivalent to $2,500 and another $7,500 in installments.[17] Other benefits included six months of Hebrew instruction, tax breaks on durable goods, free health insurance, and some mortgage discounts.[17] Housing construction became a major government undertaking, with Ariel Sharon overseeing a drive that would produce 144,000 apartments over five years.[17]

Housing supply nevertheless lagged behind the demands created by immigration and the existing population.[11] Israel needed approximately 24,000 new dwellings annually for locally born residents alone.[11] A government plan envisaged starting 70,000 units in 1990, including 45,000 for immigrants, but a contemporary forecast warned of a deficit reaching 29,000 dwellings by year’s end.[11] Limited construction financing, slow permit procedures, and inadequate central planning contributed to the shortage.[11]

On July 1, Sharon obtained approval to import 3,000 prefabricated houses under emergency procedures bypassing ordinary permits; the High Court of Justice subsequently cancelled those emergency conditions.[11] He also called for 400,000 housing units over five years and ordered caravan neighborhoods on city outskirts.[11] The Treasury criticized his estimate as excessive and questioned whether the plans sufficiently addressed employment and services.[11]

The pressure affected established Israelis as well as newcomers.[11] Rents rose by as much as 50 percent during the first six months of 1990.[11] Approximately 23,000 disadvantaged veteran Israeli families, receiving smaller housing subsidies, struggled to compete with immigrant households in the rental market.[11] By late July, about 600 households had moved into tent camps to publicize their difficulties; most, though not all, were Mizrahi families.[11]

Ethiopian Jewish migration formed another part of the year’s immigration story.[18] By the summer, more than 20,000 Ethiopian Jews had traveled to Addis Ababa seeking exit visas, where they faced disease, malnutrition, and inadequate housing.[18] Immigration figures for Israel include more than 4,000 arrivals from Ethiopia during 1990.[19] The movement to Addis Ababa preceded Operation Solomon, which took place in 1991 rather than 1990.[18]

Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2 transformed Israel’s security environment.[20] On August 9, Saddam Hussein threatened that military action against Iraq would bring a strike on Israel.[20] Israeli leaders considered the possibility of an Iraqi chemical attack, but on August 22 a security ministers’ committee accepted IDF and Defense Ministry advice not to distribute anti-gas equipment immediately.[5] Officials disagreed over whether early distribution would reassure the population or instead cause panic and signal preparations for war.[5] Shamir warned in a television interview that day: “If the Iraqis dare to attack us, they will pay dearly for it.”[5]

The Gulf crisis intersected with the First Intifada.[5] Saddam Hussein’s anti-Israeli statements and the invasion of Kuwait encouraged pro-Iraq demonstrations and calls to intensify the uprising in the West Bank and Gaza.[5] Israeli Jews feared an Iraqi attack combined with a Palestinian revolt, and security measures in those areas were tightened.[5] These were contemporary fears and preparations, not events that had already occurred.[5]

On October 8, a major confrontation occurred on the Temple Mount amid tension over plans by the Temple Mount Faithful to lay a cornerstone for a Third Temple and Muslim calls to prevent it.[21] A border guard’s gas grenade accidentally rolled toward Muslim women, after which crowds attacked police and pushed them toward the Western Wall.[21] Two policemen were trapped in a station on the Mount; police entered to reach them and opened fire.[21] Seventeen Palestinians were killed, more than 100 were wounded, and 34 Jewish worshippers and police were wounded.[21]

The October confrontation was followed by attacks on Israeli security forces, arson, public-order disturbances, and knife attacks within Israel.[4] The escalation subsided only after curfews were imposed over broad areas.[4] During October, the Defense Ministry also approved opening fire at stone-throwers when soldiers’ lives appeared to be in danger.[4] The UN Security Council condemned the loss of life and injuries on the Temple Mount, and Israel refused to receive a proposed fact-finding mission.[21]

Distribution of anti-gas equipment began in October and November and was almost complete for civilian households by the end of December.[5] A Supreme Court ruling led to distribution beginning in the territories as well.[5] Provision of special masks for strictly Orthodox men unwilling to shave their beards became a point of religious-secular debate over allocation.[5]

Diplomatic openings accompanied these security concerns.[15] Israel restored relations with Czechoslovakia and Poland in February and Bulgaria in May, and signed a trade pact with the USSR after a 23-year break.[15] Israel sought assurances that Soviet Jewish emigration would continue, restoration of full diplomatic relations, and direct flights between the two countries.[22] It also sent several tons of fruit, vegetables, and powdered milk to help alleviate Soviet food shortages, while Shamir supported a one-year suspension of the Jackson-Vanik amendment.[22] The October Temple Mount incident complicated rapprochement and reportedly delayed plans for direct flights.[22]

In cultural and technological life, Habima returned to Moscow in January for the first time since its departure in 1928.[17] Israel launched the Ofek 2 satellite in April; like Ofek 1, it successfully transmitted technical information and reentered the atmosphere within six months of launch.[23] High-tech sectors employed 148,870 people in 1990.[24]

On November 5, Rabbi Meir Kahane was fatally shot by Egyptian-American El Sayyid Nosair while addressing a crowd in a Manhattan hotel.[25] Kahane had entered the Knesset in 1984 as head of Kach, which was barred from the 1988 election following the 1985 Basic Law prohibiting parties that incited racism.[25]

At the end of 1990, Israel’s population stood at 4.8217 million, including 3.9467 million Jews and 875,000 people classified as Arabs, or 18.1 percent of the total.[9] The statistical category included Muslims, Arab Christians, and Druze, and before the 1995 census also included people subsequently classified as “Others.”[9] The Arab share had risen from 11.8 percent in 1966 amid slower immigration after the 1973 war and higher natural increase among Israeli Muslims.[9]

The immigration surge continued in 1991, when approximately 148,000 Soviet immigrants arrived.[2] Together, 1990 and 1991 constituted Israel’s largest immigration wave in absolute numbers.[26] Immigration expanded the labor supply and contributed to growth in private consumption and construction investment in the early 1990s.[26] Industrial employment, however, continued to decline during 1990, extending the contraction of 1988 and 1989; recovery resumed in 1991 and afterward.[27]

The newcomers included skilled scientists and engineers, and the government’s technology-incubator program was designed partly to help them find employment and connect their expertise with industry.[24] These opportunities existed alongside serious absorption difficulties.[24][28] Personal recollections of the immigration wave describe poverty, displacement, difficulty finding work, and discrimination in employment and education.[28]

Shamir’s twenty-fourth government remained in office through the 1992 elections, formally ending on July 13, 1992.[16] The Temple Mount was closed to non-Muslim visitors for 40 days after the October disturbances; on reopening, visits were assigned hours coordinated around mosque prayer times, with Police Minister Roni Milo identifying preservation of the status quo as the objective.[29]

The Gulf crisis carried forward into 1991: Israel did not participate militarily in the Gulf War, and Iraqi Scud attacks on Israeli population centers occurred after the war began that year.[20] The First Intifada also continued beyond 1990, beginning to wane in 1991 amid security operations and economic pressure before the 1993 Oslo agreement brought it to an end.[7] Popper was subsequently convicted of seven murders and sentenced to seven life terms plus 20 consecutive years; he was also convicted of attempting to murder ten others.[13][14]

The failed attempt to replace Shamir became remembered through Yitzhak Rabin’s description of Peres’s maneuver as “the stinking trick.”[3] Its institutional significance lay in the successful no-confidence vote, the unsuccessful effort to create an alternative majority, and the eventual replacement of national unity by a narrower Likud-led coalition.[3][6] The accompanying demonstrations and petition campaign exposed substantial public dissatisfaction with small-party leverage in coalition formation.[8]

The immigration wave reshaped Israel’s demographic, economic, social, cultural, urban, and political life.[30] Israel became the destination for an estimated 55–60 percent of the 1.6 million Jewish emigrants from the former Soviet Union during the 1990s.[2] For 1990 specifically, an estimate places Israel’s share of Soviet emigration at 90 percent; this measures the destination of emigrants rather than the composition of all immigration to Israel.[31] The annual influx was a dramatic departure from the 1980s average of just over 15,000 immigrants a year.[10]

Immigration statistics require attention to coverage: one settlement table records 199,613 arrivals in 1990, including potential immigrants but excluding immigrating citizens, while another reference gives 199,516.[32][10] A country-by-country table totals 194,466 only for the countries listed, not for all immigration, and notes subsequent statistical revisions and exclusions.[19] These different scopes should not be conflated with contemporary projections made before the year ended.[11][19]

The October Temple Mount confrontation remains a significant dispute over the interpretation of the year’s violence.[21] Accounts differ over responsibility and casualties: several give 17 Palestinian deaths, while a contemporary account of the official inquiry gives 20.[21][33] The inquiry criticized senior police commanders’ handling of the riots while justifying live ammunition on the grounds that officers’ lives were endangered.[33] These differences concern a major political and religious confrontation rather than a single universally accepted account.[21]

Contemporary strategic assessments also reveal how the Gulf crisis altered expectations.[34] Dore Gold argued in December that Jordanian instability, King Hussein’s support for Iraq, possible Iraqi westward redeployment, and planned U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia could increase Israel’s security requirements in negotiations.[34] His assessment linked those concerns to the difficulty of reconciling Palestinian political rights with Israeli security.[34]