2009 in Israel

Operation Cast Lead began with Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on December 27, 2008. Ground operations began on January 3, 2009, hostilities continued through January 18, and Israel completed its withdrawal on January 21.[6] Israel announced a humanitarian corridor on January 7 and accepted an Egyptian ceasefire initiative on January 17.[7] Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire that day; Hamas initially rejected it but announced a separate ceasefire twelve hours later. On January 18, Israel opened an emergency clinic at the Erez Crossing for Palestinian civilians.[8]

Public support inside Israel was initially extensive. A poll conducted the day after the operation began found that 81 percent supported it and 12 percent opposed it. On January 13, 78 percent called the operation a success, while 82 percent rejected the view that Israel had used excessive force.[2]

Casualty classifications remained contested. Human-rights organizations estimated nearly 1,400 Palestinians killed, including more than 1,000 civilians, while Israeli government figures reported 1,166 Palestinian deaths, including 295 noncombatants. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed.[6]

Israel held elections for the 18th Knesset on February 10, 2009, after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's resignation amid corruption investigations.[7] Approximately 3.4 million Israelis voted.[1] Turnout was 65.2 percent of registered voters, compared with 63.5 percent in 2006; measured against the voting-age population present in Israel, turnout was 72.1 percent.[7] Thirty-three lists competed, 12 crossed the 2 percent threshold, and the Central Election Committee announced final, uncontested results within 45 hours.[1][7]

Kadima won 28 seats, Likud 27, Yisrael Beiteinu 15, Labor 13, Shas 11, United Torah Judaism 5, National Union 4, Ra'am-Ta'al 4, Hadash 4, Meretz 3, Balad 3, and Habayit Hayehudi 3.[3] Twenty-one women were elected. The Israel Democracy Index described the result as highly proportional but fragmented and recorded a Party Dominance Index of 429.[7]

The election shifted the balance toward the right-religious bloc, which held 65 seats, compared with 55 for the center-left bloc. No single party approached a majority.[1] On January 21, the Supreme Court had overturned the Central Elections Committee's decision to bar the United Arab List-Ta'al and Balad from participating in the election.[6]

Both Tzipi Livni and Netanyahu claimed victory. Livni cited Kadima's one-seat lead; Netanyahu cited the right-religious majority and his ability to assemble a coalition.[1] On February 20, President Shimon Peres assigned Netanyahu the task of forming a government, while Livni announced that Kadima would enter opposition.[3][7]

Netanyahu formed a coalition comprising Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas, Labor, Jewish Home, and United Torah Judaism. It nominally controlled 74 seats, although five Labor members refused to support the government or accept coalition discipline, leaving 69 effective votes.[2][3] The four-member National Union, despite supporting Netanyahu's nomination, remained outside the government.[2]

On March 31, Netanyahu presented the 32nd government to the Knesset, which approved it with 69 votes.[3] It contained 30 ministers and seven deputy ministers and was described by contemporary sources as Israel's largest or one of its largest governments.[2][7] Netanyahu's inaugural policy statement proposed economic, security, and diplomatic channels for dealing with the Palestinian Authority and called for a permanent arrangement without referring to Palestinian statehood.[3]

At the end of 2009, the Knesset included 22 women, 10 Arab members, including one woman, and three Druze members. The cabinet included two women and no Arab ministers. Five of the Supreme Court's 15 justices were women, and one was an Arab Christian.[6]

Rocket fire from Gaza continued after Operation Cast Lead. The first identified post-operation rocket hit occurred on February 3, when a 122mm Grad landed between two houses in Ashkelon, damaging a car and causing three civilians to be treated for shock.[9] On February 28, nine rocket hits were identified. One long-range rocket struck an empty schoolyard in Ashkelon on a Saturday, seriously damaging the school and causing seven nearby civilians to be treated for shock.[9]

The terrorism-information report recorded 47 rocket hits in February and 54 in March, the year's highest monthly total. It identified 158 rocket hits in Israeli territory during 2009 and attributed the reduction after the operation to Israeli deterrence, Hamas's restrained policy, and Hamas's need to rebuild damaged infrastructure.[9]

The Israel Security Agency recorded 636 attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem through December 24, compared with 893 in 2008. Its annual summary recorded 15 terrorism fatalities overall, including nine during the Gaza operation, and reported that no suicide attacks were executed in 2009.[10] Separately, the U.S. Department of State reported that Palestinian rocket and terrorist attacks killed four Israeli civilians and injured 34 during the year. It recorded 125 rockets and 70 mortar shells fired from Gaza after the operation ended.[6]

On June 14, 2009, Netanyahu stated for the first time that Israel would accept the establishment of a Palestinian state, subject to conditions. These included Palestinian recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, resolution of the refugee issue outside Israel, effective demilitarization, an agreement formally ending the conflict, and international security guarantees.[3]

Netanyahu called for negotiations without preconditions. U.S. officials welcomed his endorsement of Palestinian statehood and treated the conditions as subjects for negotiation, while Palestinian negotiators argued that the conditions preempted final-status issues.[3]

The speech formed part of a broader dispute with the Obama administration over the pace and terms of Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy. Contemporary analysis identified the economic crisis, Gaza, relations with the Palestinian Authority, and especially Iran as the government's principal strategic concerns, with relations between Jerusalem and Washington central to addressing them.[2] Attempts to restart negotiations did not produce renewed talks during 2009.[11]

The president of the United Nations Human Rights Council established the Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict on April 3, 2009. Headed by South African jurist Richard Goldstone, the mission was mandated to investigate alleged violations connected to military operations in Gaza between December 27, 2008, and January 18, 2009. Its report was dated September 15, 2009, and Goldstone presented it to the council on September 29.[12][6]

The mission investigated 36 alleged Israeli violations in Gaza as well as alleged Palestinian violations. It attributed to Israeli forces alleged deliberate attacks on civilians, destruction of critical infrastructure, and the use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas.[6] It also concluded that Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity, by firing rockets into southern Israel.[13]

Israel rejected the allegations and criticized the report for methodological, legal, and factual errors and for insufficiently addressing operations by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations in densely populated areas.[6] Israeli officials argued that the report minimized years of rocket fire and Hamas's use of civilians as human shields, while Hamas representatives also criticized aspects of the report.[13]

On November 25, Netanyahu announced a ten-month moratorium on new residential construction in settlements in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria. U.S. envoy George Mitchell said the measure would stop new housing approvals, housing construction starts, and related infrastructure in the affected settlements and described it as more extensive than previous Israeli measures.[4]

The moratorium was not a complete freeze. Public buildings such as schools and synagogues were excepted, buildings already under construction could be completed, and Jerusalem was excluded.[4] The Obama administration had urged Israel to halt settlement activity as part of its effort to create conditions for renewed negotiations; the announcement followed that diplomatic pressure.[4][14] Palestinian officials considered the partial moratorium insufficient, and direct negotiations did not resume during 2009.[11][4]

Israel's economy contracted sharply as the global financial crisis reduced demand and trade. Year-end preliminary estimates placed first-quarter GDP contraction at an annualized 3.2 percent.[5] A contemporary INSS survey reported declines of 4.2 percent in business product and 4.3 percent in consumption, with exports of goods and services falling 14.4 percent from the preceding quarter and selected imports falling 21.4 percent. In March, 20,072 employees lost their jobs, then a record monthly figure.[2]

Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer cut the interest rate by 75 basis points in January to an all-time low of 1 percent, citing falling inflation and a reduced growth forecast.[15] The rate reached 0.5 percent in April, the lowest in Israeli economic history, before rising gradually to 1.25 percent in the final quarter.[16]

Preliminary estimates at the end of 2009 showed annual GDP growth of 0.5 percent, compared with an OECD average contraction of 3.5 percent. GDP grew at annualized rates of 1.1 percent in the second quarter and 3 percent in the third. GDP per capita fell 1.3 percent, while unemployment averaged 7.7 percent.[5] A later State Department background note listed annual real growth at 0.8 percent, nominal GDP at $195 billion, and per-capita GDP at $26,178.[17]

The budget deficit reached 5.15 percent of GDP, below the approved ceiling of 6 percent, while government debt rose to 78 percent of GDP.[16] Israel issued NIS 102 billion in tradable government bonds, then the highest annual volume recorded, including NIS 90 billion domestically and NIS 12 billion in foreign-currency funding. The TA-100 index rose 88 percent, the government-bonds index rose 5.9 percent, and the consumer price index rose 3.9 percent.[16]

On May 13, the government approved a two-year budget. The 2009 budget was NIS 316.6 billion with a 6 percent deficit ceiling; the 2010 budget was NIS 321.5 billion with a 5.5 percent ceiling. The 2009 defense budget was reduced by approximately NIS 1.5 billion.[2] U.S.-Israeli bilateral trade totaled $22.3 billion, about 20 percent below its 2008 level.[17]

A major natural-gas reserve was discovered at the Tamar 1 drilling site in January, approximately 90 kilometers west of Haifa. A smaller reserve was found at Dalit 1 in March. Contemporary estimates valued Tamar at about $15 billion and placed its gas volume at least three times that previously discovered at the Yam Tethys site.[2]

Venture-capital-backed Israeli high-tech companies raised $735 million in 2009, 47 percent less than in 2008. Foreign funds with representatives in Israel supplied $333 million, or 45 percent of the total. Companies responded to the crisis by emphasizing mature products, revenue, self-funding, and smaller angel-financing rounds.[18]

Israel's population at the end of 2009 was 7,552,049, an annual increase of 1.8 percent. The Jewish population numbered 6,016,476 and the Arab population 1,535,573.[19] Growth was 1.7 percent among Jews, 2.4 percent among Arabs, and 0.8 percent among other groups.[20]

Approximately 161,000 children were born during the year, 2.6 percent more than in 2008. The fertility figure reported for Jewish mothers was 2.9 children, compared with 3.73 among Muslim mothers. Life expectancy reached 79.9 years for men and 83.5 for women.[20] Nearly 28 percent of the population was aged 14 or younger, while about 10 percent was aged 65 or older.[20]

Israel received 14,572 new Jewish immigrants, about 6 percent more than in 2008. The largest source countries were Russia, the United States, Ukraine, France, and Britain. Approximately 27,000 migrant workers entered Israel, while about 23,000 who had arrived in earlier years departed.[20]

The year also marked two decades since the major immigration wave from the former Soviet Union began in spring 1989. Approximately 970,000 immigrants had arrived by 2007, about 795,000 were living in Israel in 2009, and immigration had slowed to roughly 6,000 arrivals annually.[7] Tel Aviv celebrated its centennial during the year.[11]

On May 18, the Supreme Court ruled that the government had to end discriminatory funding of non-Orthodox conversion institutes.[21] The following day, it ordered the High Rabbinical Court to explain its annulment of conversions involving approximately 40,000 people who had converted through state-sanctioned Orthodox courts since 1999.[21]

Approximately 310,000 citizens, mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union, were not recognized as Jewish by the Orthodox Rabbinate and consequently faced restrictions concerning marriage, divorce, and burial in Jewish cemeteries. Civil-marriage recognition generally required couples to marry abroad.[21]

In January, the Education Ministry approved accreditation for Mar Elias College, described in the religious-freedom report as Israel's first fully independent Arab university. Operated by the Melkite Catholic Church, it enrolled Muslims, Christians, and Jews and promoted coexistence.[21]

On March 5, investigators announced sufficient evidence to indict outgoing prime minister Olmert on fraud and breach-of-trust charges in the Investments Center affair. On March 19, the State Attorney's Office indicted former president Moshe Katsav on rape, indecent-assault, sexual-harassment, and obstruction-related charges.[7]

The 2009 Israel Democracy Index reported that seven of 18 updated indicators improved, six deteriorated, and five were unchanged. It recorded voter turnout of 65.2 percent, a Corruption Perceptions Index score of 6, a Freedom of the Press score of 31, an Economic Freedom score of 67.6, and a Global Competitiveness score of 4.97.[7]

Public trust varied sharply. The Israel Defense Forces received 79 percent confidence, compared with 40 percent for the police and 21 percent for political parties.[7] In a survey of 1,191 adults, 61 percent were dissatisfied with Israeli democracy. Eighteen percent believed they could influence government policy to a large or certain extent, while about half believed they had no influence. Seventy-four percent said political violence was never justified, but 61 percent agreed that a few strong leaders could be more useful than discussions and laws.[7]

On August 1, a shooting at Bar-Noar, the Tel Aviv branch of the Israeli GLBT Association, killed two people and wounded at least 15. Police ruled out terrorism.[8]

The political arrangements established in 2009 carried into the following year. Netanyahu remained dependent on a broad but internally divided coalition, while the diplomatic framework presented at Bar-Ilan and the dispute over settlement construction continued to shape relations with the United States and the Palestinian Authority.[2][3]

Israeli-Palestinian negotiations did not resume during 2009, although proximity talks began in May 2010.[11] Economically, the return to growth in the second and third quarters suggested that the most acute contraction had passed, while the Tamar discovery created the prospect of reducing Israel's dependence on imported energy if the reserve met contemporary estimates.[2][5]

Several central developments of 2009 remain subjects of factual or interpretive dispute. Palestinian casualty totals and civilian classifications from Operation Cast Lead differed substantially between Israeli official figures and human-rights organizations.[6] The Goldstone mission's legal conclusions were strongly rejected by Israel, while the report also attributed possible war crimes and crimes against humanity to Palestinian armed groups.[6][13]

The election produced a similarly divided political interpretation. Kadima won the largest number of seats, but the right-religious bloc gave Netanyahu the stronger path to a governing majority.[1] Contemporary claims that the result reflected disillusionment with the peace process, unilateral withdrawals, or the outgoing government were analytical interpretations rather than demonstrated motives shared by every voter.[1]

Turnout figures that appear inconsistent often use different denominators. The Israel Democracy Index recorded turnout at 65.2 percent of registered voters and 72.1 percent of the voting-age population present in Israel; INSS used the latter measure as its effective-turnout figure.[1][7] Netanyahu's Bar-Ilan conditions and the scope of the settlement moratorium likewise remained contested between Israeli, Palestinian, and U.S. officials.[3][4]