Tehiya

Tehiya. Tehiya was a right-wing to far-right political party in Israel, active from 1979 until 1992. It was founded in opposition to the Camp David Accords and the subsequent Israel–Egypt peace treaty, which involved the withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula and the dismantling of Israeli settlements there. The party advocated for the permanent incorporation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights into Israel, merging Revisionist Zionism with elements of Religious Zionism.

History

Tehiya was established in 1979 by a coalition of politicians and activists, primarily from the Likud and the National Religious Party, who were vehemently opposed to the peace process with Egypt initiated by Menachem Begin and Moshe Dayan. The immediate catalyst was the evacuation of the Yamit settlement bloc in the Sinai Peninsula as part of the treaty's implementation. The party first entered the Knesset following the 1981 Israeli legislative election, capitalizing on settler discontent and nationalist sentiment. Throughout the 1980s, Tehiya was a vocal opponent of any territorial concessions, strongly criticizing the Lebanon War and later the nascent peace talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Its political influence peaked during the period of the National Unity Government in the mid-1980s, where it held cabinet positions. However, internal divisions over strategy and the rise of more radical factions led to its decline, and it failed to win any seats in the 1992 Israeli legislative election, effectively dissolving.

Ideology and platform

The core ideology of Tehiya was an uncompromising commitment to the concept of Greater Israel, asserting Jewish sovereignty over all territories captured during the Six-Day War. Its platform rejected the principle of "land for peace" and any form of Palestinian self-determination, viewing the West Bank by its biblical names, Judea and Samaria, as an inalienable part of the Jewish homeland. The party synthesized secular Revisionist Zionism, as espoused by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, with the messianic fervor of the Gush Emunim settlement movement. It advocated for the unrestricted expansion of Israeli settlements and the formal annexation of the occupied territories. While not exclusively religious, Tehiya's platform heavily incorporated religious-nationalist motifs, presenting settlement as both a strategic imperative and a divine commandment.

Electoral performance

Tehiya contested four national elections. In its debut in the 1981 Israeli legislative election, it won three seats in the Knesset. Its best performance came in the 1984 Israeli legislative election, where it secured five seats, benefiting from disillusionment with the Lebanon War and the economic crisis. This result allowed it to join the broad coalition government led by Shimon Peres and later Yitzhak Shamir, with member Yuval Ne'eman serving as Minister of Science and Development. In the 1988 Israeli legislative election, its representation dropped to three seats. The party's staunch opposition to the Madrid Conference of 1991 and participation in the Shamir government, which engaged in the talks, caused a loss of support to more hardline parties like Moledet and Tzomet. It consequently failed to cross the electoral threshold in the 1992 Israeli legislative election, winning no seats and disappearing from the political map.

Leadership and notable members

The party's most prominent leader was Professor Yuval Ne'eman, a renowned physicist and former chief of military intelligence, who served as its chairman and primary ideological figurehead. Another founding figure was Geula Cohen, a former Irgun member and journalist known for her fiery nationalist rhetoric, who broke from the Likud over the peace treaty with Egypt. Other notable members included Gershon Shafat, a founder of the Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron, and Han Porat, a key leader of the Gush Emunim movement. The party also briefly included figures like Rafael Eitan, the former IDF Chief of Staff, though he later left to form his own party, Tzomet.

Legacy and dissolution

Though short-lived, Tehiya's legacy was significant in shifting the Israeli right toward more absolutist positions on the occupied territories and normalizing the discourse of annexation. Many of its ideological tenets were absorbed by subsequent parties and movements, particularly within the Religious Zionism bloc and the modern Likud's hardline faction. The party's dissolution after the 1992 election marked the consolidation of the far-right vote into newer, more organized entities like the National Union and later The Jewish Home. Its unwavering opposition to the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s presaged the potent political mobilization of the settler movement, which continues to be a dominant force in Israeli politics.

Category:Defunct political parties in Israel Category:Israeli nationalist parties Category:Right-wing political parties in Israel Category:Political parties established in 1979 Category:Political parties disestablished in 1992