Twenty-Second Government of Israel

The Twenty-Second Government arose from the inconclusive 1984 Knesset election, after which neither the Labor Alignment led by Shimon Peres nor Likud led by Yitzhak Shamir could assemble a stable governing majority. The parties formed a national unity coalition and agreed to rotate the premiership. The coalition included the Alignment, Likud, the National Religious Party, Agudat Yisrael, Shas, Morasha, Shinui, and Ometz, and initially commanded 97 Knesset seats.[4]

Peres headed the Twenty-First Government during the first half of the arrangement. On October 20, 1986, he transferred the premiership to Shamir and became vice premier and foreign minister; the succeeding cabinet retained nearly the same composition.[3][4] Government listings date the Twenty-Second Government from October 20, 1986, to December 22, 1988, and record 24 ministers.[1][2] Yitzhak Navon and David Levy served as deputy prime ministers, Yitzhak Rabin remained defense minister, Moshe Nissim served as finance minister, and Yossi Beilin was cabinet secretary.[2]

Two major achievements associated with the broader 1984–1988 unity arrangement largely preceded the formation of the Twenty-Second Government but shaped the conditions it inherited. The economic stabilization program associated with Peres and Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai confronted annual inflation that had reached approximately 400 percent. A Globes retrospective credits the unity government with bringing inflation under control.[4]

Israel also redeployed most of its forces in Lebanon to a narrower security zone during 1985, before Shamir assumed the premiership under the rotation agreement.[7][4] The Twenty-Second Government therefore inherited the results of both policies rather than initiating them. Its own term was marked less by new economic or military restructuring than by diplomatic disputes and the security challenge created by the First Intifada.

A Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs retrospective describes Shamir as seeking a formula that would protect Israeli interests in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and the Gaza Strip. It connects his approach to the autonomy provisions of the Camp David Agreements, Jordanian involvement, and opposition to an international conference capable of imposing terms on Israel.[8]

The coalition's divisions became especially visible in April 1987, when Peres met Jordan's King Hussein in London. The resulting London Document proposed invitations from the United Nations secretary-general to an international conference, followed by direct bilateral committees. It contemplated discussion of the Palestinian issue among Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian representatives, with Palestinians included in a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. The document remained subject to approval by the Israeli and Jordanian governments.[5] Shamir opposed advancing the initiative. A Globes retrospective reports that he learned its details from U.S. ambassador Thomas Pickering and objected in part to the manner in which Peres had negotiated it; Shamir subsequently blocked the proposal.[4]

The episode illustrated the structural difficulty of what the Jerusalem Center retrospective called a "two-headed national-unity government," which sometimes sent conflicting signals abroad.[8] Shamir relied on a diplomatic team that included Moshe Arens, Dan Meridor, Ehud Olmert, and Benjamin Netanyahu.[8] On September 16, 1988, U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz declared: "Israel will never negotiate from or return to the lines of partition or to the 1967 borders."[8]

In December 1987, during the Twenty-Second Government's term, Palestinian uprisings erupted in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, marking the beginning of the First Intifada.[7][6] The unrest became a sustained security and political challenge. A Ynet historical account states that Israel proved unable to quell the riots and that the uprising continued beyond the government's term.[6]

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin pursued an effort to suppress the uprising by force. A Washington Institute study describes highly publicized images of Israeli soldiers beating young Palestinian stone-throwers as part of the diplomatic and political context confronting the government.[5] A Jerusalem Center retrospective similarly links the growing influence of television coverage to pressure on Israel's international standing.[8] The uprising intensified the coalition's existing disagreement over whether military containment should be accompanied by a new diplomatic initiative.

The Twenty-Second Government remained in office through the November 1, 1988 election for the Twelfth Knesset. Likud won 40 seats and Labor 39, while the four religious parties won 18 seats: Shas received 6, Agudat Israel 5, the National Religious Party 5, and Degel Hatorah 2.[7][9]

Neither major party secured a governing majority. Labor and Likud explored coalitions involving smaller parties before agreeing to another national unity government.[10] The religious parties sought concessions involving public funding, religious education, Sabbath rules, and the "Who is a Jew?" question. An academic study of the negotiations concludes that their bargaining position weakened substantially once Likud and Labor agreed to govern together.[9]

The succeeding Twenty-Third Government was presented to the Knesset on December 22, 1988.[7] It did not preserve the earlier rotation arrangement.[11] Shamir remained prime minister, Rabin remained defense minister, Moshe Arens became foreign minister, and Peres became vice premier and finance minister.[7] The Twenty-Second Government thus ended through ordinary electoral succession rather than a coalition crisis.

The Twenty-Third Government continued the Likud-Labor partnership under Shamir, but its diplomatic disagreements eventually caused its collapse. On April 6, 1989, Shamir presented a peace initiative while visiting the White House, and the cabinet elaborated it five weeks later.[5] The plan returned to the Camp David framework, proposed elections for Palestinian representatives and a five-year transitional period of self-rule, and reserved Israeli authority over security, foreign affairs, and matters concerning Israeli citizens in the territories.[5][12] It opposed another Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria, or the Gaza Strip and negotiations with the PLO. It did not address voting rights for approximately 140,000 Arab residents of East Jerusalem.[12]

Peres objected to Shamir's response to U.S. Secretary of State James Baker's diplomatic initiative.[10] The coalition crisis intensified in early 1990. Ariel Sharon resigned on February 18 after the Likud central committee moved toward approving Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. On March 13, Shamir dismissed Peres as deputy prime minister and finance minister, after which the other Labor ministers resigned.[12]

On March 15, 1990, the government lost a no-confidence vote by 60 votes to 55. Shas's abstention was decisive, and the Library of Congress account identifies the vote as the first occasion on which the Knesset dissolved an Israeli government.[12] Yitzhak Rabin later called the maneuver "the stinking trick," a politically charged label that became associated with the episode.[10]

President Chaim Herzog asked Peres to form a government on March 20, but Peres could not secure sufficient support from the religious parties.[12][9] Herzog then transferred the mandate to Shamir. A new Shamir coalition comprising Likud, the Party for Advancing the Zionist Idea, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael, and Degel Hatorah was approved by 62 Knesset members on June 11, 1990, and remained in office until the 1992 election.[10]

Sources differ over Shimon Peres's portfolio in the Twenty-Third Government. One Washington Institute retrospective calls him foreign minister, while a separate Washington Institute study identifies him as finance minister.[10][5] The Library of Congress account and the Jewish Virtual Library timeline also identify Peres as vice premier and finance minister, with Moshe Arens as foreign minister.[12][7]

Sources also use different dates for the formation of the post-election government. The Jewish Virtual Library timeline records its presentation to the Knesset on December 22, 1988, while a U.S. Department of State background account describes another national unity government as forming in January 1989.[13][7] The December 22 date is used here because it is the specific date attached to the Knesset presentation and transition between the two cabinets.