Anatoly Shcharansky (Natan Sharansky), a seminal figure in the Soviet human rights and Jewish emigration movement, was released after nine years in a strict regime labour camp in the USSR, in exchange for Eastern bloc spies imprisoned in the USA and West Germany.
A gleeful bird, sporting the Star of David and labelled ‘Shcharansky’, flies to freedom from an onion-domed, snow-covered building where a multitude of doleful birds are imprisoned.
A blackbird labelled ‘Mandela’ is also taking flight – an indication of the relaxation of his incarceration by the apartheid regime in South Africa.
- 1 Jan
Second Lebanese Jew kidnapped by Shi’ite militants found dead in Beirut
- 15 Jan
Visit of right-wing MKs to Temple Mount causes Arab disturbances
- 23 Jan
Sharon and Time magazine reach out of court agreement in libel case
- 8 Feb
Israel Galili, Ahdut Ha’Avoda politician, dies aged 74
- 11 Feb
Exchanged for a Czech spy, refusenik Natan Sharansky arrives in Israel
- 12 Feb
Diplomatic relations with Ivory Coast, broken off in 1973, resumed
- 19 Feb
King Hussein ends negotiations seeking a joint approach with the PLO
- 2 Mar
Zafer al-Masri, mayor of Nablus, assassinated by Palestinian militants
- 9 Mar
Fifteenth convention of Herut opens, displaying divisions and disarray
- 21 Mar
Golan Druze demonstrate against harassment at Majdal Shams
- 27 Mar
Katyusha hits schoolyard in Kiriat Shemona, injuring teacher and pupils
- 28 Mar
First Israeli test tube baby born at Tel Hashomer hospital
- 15 Apr
US attack on Libya after attack on West Berlin nightclub
- 17 Apr
Plot to blow up El Al flight from London by Nezar Hindawi foiled
- 11 May
Head of Bank Leumi resigns over shares scandal
- 24 May
Margaret Thatcher becomes the first British prime minister to visit Israel
- 9 June
Israeli ambassador to Vienna recalled after election of Kurt Waldheim
- 11 June
Secularist attack on Tel Aviv synagogue after Jerusalem arson by religious Jews
- 15 June
Michael Bruno appointed next governor of Bank of Israel
- 24 June
Strike by 11,000 hospital nurses over right to form a union
- 25 June
Shin Bet head, Avraham Shalom, resigns over Bus 300 controversy
- 26 June
El Al guard discovers handbag bomb at Madrid airport
- 7 July
Jordanian government orders closure of all Fatah offices in Jordan
- 10 July
PFLP seaborne attack on Nahariya foiled
- 21 July
Peres arrives in Morocco to negotiate with King Hassan
- 10 Aug
Israel and Egypt sign arbitration agreement over possession of Taba
- 26 Aug
Cameroon re-establishes diplomatic relations during Peres visit
- 6 Sept
Istanbul synagogue attacked during Shabbat service, killing 22
- 11 Sept
Peres and Mubarak meet in Alexandria for first summit in five years
- 22 Sept
Peres meets Soviet foreign minister in diplomatic relations thaw
- 28 Sept
Cabinet approves the establishment of a commercial television channel
- 20 Oct
Shamir takes over as prime minister as part of the rotation agreement
- 8 Nov
Israel’s first liver transplant patient dies at Rambam hospital
- 9 Nov
Government confirms that Mordechai Vanunu is imprisoned in Gedera
- 15 Nov
Breslav hasid killed in knife attack in Muslim quarter of Jerusalem
- 26 Nov
Trial begins in Jerusalem of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a guard at Treblinka
- 28 Dec
Akram Haniya, editor of East Jerusalem daily A-Shaab, deported
In May, the fifteenth convention of Herut opened in Jerusalem amidst a three-way split between Shamir, Sharon and the housing minister, David Levy. It reflected not only a generational conflict but also one between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim. There was also a determination at all costs to stop Sharon from becoming party leader. Shamir’s candidate, Moshe Katsav, narrowly won the contest to become chairman of the party presidium by 940 votes to 900. Sharon, however, decisively defeated Binyamin Begin to become chairman of the Mandates committee. The conference was marred by violence, intimidation and verbal abuse before disintegrating towards the end.
The Likud was also at odds with its Labour party partner in government. It took a different approach towards negotiations with Egypt over Taba. During Passover, Shamir promised Gush Emunim in Hebron to place greater emphasis on settling the West Bank. Shamir was also considering the appointment of Otniel Schneller, the secretary of the Council of Jewish Settlements, as an adviser on settlement activity.
Shamir’s most difficult problem was the implication that he had given approval to the execution by the Shin Bet of the two Palestinians in the immediate aftermath of the Bus 300 hijacking in April 1984.
The secret Zorea committee had exonerated the Shin Bet’s head, Avraham Shalom, while testimonies by operatives had pointed the finger of suspicion at Yitzhak Mordechai, who had led the Sayeret Matkal storming of the bus. In 1985, the trial of Mordechai – together with eleven others – had led to an acquittal. The unravelling of this cover-up led to Reuven Hazak, the deputy head of the Shin Bet, and two other senior officials approaching Peres and informing him of their suspicions about Shalom. The three were dismissed from their posts. Attorney-General Yitzhak Zamir wanted to instigate an investigation, but he too was forced to resign.
Avraham Shalom’s resignation in June and President Herzog’s subsequent pardoning of him aroused the ire of many in the Labour party and others who demanded transparency in the affair. Herzog compared the pardon to that given to Richard Nixon following the Watergate controversy. His predecessor, Yitzhak Navon, now a Labour minister, called for a further investigation.
Yitzhak Shamir, waiting quietly to succeed Peres in October, became embroiled in this deepening controversy since he had been prime minister at the time of the Bus 300 affair and the head of the Shin Bet reported directly to him. Despite the endorsement of the lack of transparency by numerous Labour figures, it also presented the possibility of unseating Shamir before he could attain the premiership. Motti Gur, the former head of the IDF and now the minister of health, called upon Shamir to resign.
When the presidential pardon was challenged in the Supreme Court, Avraham Shalom stated that his actions were ‘authorised and approved’. Shamir therefore opposed any investigation of Shalom’s actions. It was only in July, when Shamir was forced to speak publicly, that he contradicted Shalom’s assertion that he had acted with official sanction. Shamir pleaded that he did not know about the killing of the two Palestinians until after the incident and that it was therefore a local initiative. His version also differed from that of Peres, who had made a statement that the head of the Shin Bet had ‘general backing’. In July, the cabinet discussed the possibility of a full judicial inquiry and was evenly split between Labour and the Likud. The proposal was eventually voted down 14–11 owing to the vote of the three NRP ministers. Instead the Attorney-General would now proceed with a general police inquiry.
The Abu Nidal group had been responsible for attacks on El Al facilities at both Vienna and Rome airports. It also claimed responsibility for the attack on the Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul. Nezar Hindawi was believed to be a member of the Abu Nidal group, but it is more likely that he was employed by Syrian intelligence in attempting to smuggle semtex explosives aboard an El Al flight at Heathrow airport in London. The destruction of the aircraft was due to take place on Syria’s National Day. His unaware, pregnant girlfriend, Anne-Marie Murphy, was given the semtex, but this was discovered during a security check. Hindawi had already booked a flight to Damascus for later that day. He was sentenced to forty-five years. During his trial, he implicated the Syrian ambassador, with the result that Margaret Thatcher broke off diplomatic relations with Syria.
King Hussein broke off cooperation with the PLO during a long broadcast on television. He spoke about the PLO’s lack of ‘commitment, credibility and constancy’. Arafat refused to accept a written agreement in support of UNR 242. Hussein closed down the Fatah offices in Amman and accused the PLO of involvement in Jordan’s internal affairs, such as the clashes at Yarmuk University in Irbid.
Since 1983 Jordanian diplomats had been assassinated or been the targets of failed attempts to kill them in Delhi, Athens and Madrid. The facilities of Royal Jordanian Airlines had been bombed in Rome, Athens and Nicosia. On the West Bank, the newly appointed mayor of Nablus, Zafer al-Masri, who had pro-Jordanian sympathies, was assassinated. Al-Masri’s appointment was to be the first in restoring mayors to Ramallah, El Bireh and Hebron.
The Foreign Ministry under Shamir did have success in re-establishing diplomatic relations with several African nations, after twenty-nine had severed official contact under Arab economic pressure in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War. However, the Camp David Agreement between Israel and Egypt and the withdrawal from the Sinai had removed obstacles to the resumption of diplomatic relations. Egypt was a full member of the Organisation of African States. The Ivory Coast and Cameroon had followed Zaire and Liberia in re-establishing formal relations, while there was a general improvement with states who had unofficial and semi-official ties with Israel. This was accompanied by a stronger condemnation by Israel of apartheid in South Africa. In June, the Foreign Ministry condemned the state of emergency proclaimed by the South African government in response to the proposed demonstrations to mark the tenth anniversary of the Soweto protests.
Senior figures in the four major banks in Israel resigned following the findings of the Bejski inquiry. They were accused of manipulating bank shares and thereby contributing to the crash on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in October 1983.
In early November the Iran–Contra story broke in the press and questions began to be asked about Israel’s role in the transaction of arms.
The accession of Mikhail Gorbachev began to indicate a thaw in the frostiness between the USSR and Israel. Although diplomatic relations had been broken off after the Six Day War, Shamir had met Andrei Gromyko for an official discussion at the UN in 1984. In September, Shimon Peres met the Soviet foreign minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, to discuss the normalisation of relations between Israel and the USSR. This followed the release of the leading refusenik and human rights activist Natan Sharansky (Anatoly Shcharansky) after nine years’ internment in Soviet camps and prisons and his emigration to Israel.
