Israel at the Polls, 1996

by Elazar,Daniel J.

• ISBN13: 9780714644219
• ISBN10: 0714644218
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1998-03-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The 1996 Israeli elections were the first elections by direct vote for the position of prime minister in which a newcomer - Binyamin Netanyahu - defeated the most veteran Israeli politician, Shimon Peres. The result indicated not only a transition of power from the left-centre to the right-centre, but also the decline of the major parties and the ascendance of the smaller parties. Israel at the Polls, 1996 looks at the parties, election campaigns and the processes that determined this outcome. Major issues such as religion and politics, Israel as a Jewish state, the peace process, and the 'new politics' are analysed by outstanding Israeli political scientists.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Battle over Jewishness and Zionism in the Post-Modern Era	1	(32)
Daniel J. Elazar
Shmuel Sandler
PART I: THE PARTIES	33	(116)
Netanyahu Takes Over	33	(20)
Efraim Inbar
The Electoral Fall of the Israeli Left	53	(20)
Giora Goldberg
Religion, Ethnicity and Electoral Reform: The Religious Parties and the 1996 Elections	73	(30)
Eliezer Don-Yehiya
The Arab Vote: The Radicalization of Politicization?	103	(18)
Hillel Frisch
Sectarian Party Politics in Israel: The Case of Yisrael Ba'Aliya, the Russian Immigrant Party	121	(28)
Etta Bick
PART II: FACTORS, PROCESSES, AND ISSUES	149	(88)
External Influences on the Israeli Elections	149	(18)
Barry Rubin
The Media Campaign: The Negative Effects of Positive Campaigning	167	(20)
Sam Lehman-Wilzig
The Great Losers: Women in the 1996 Elections	187	(22)
Yael Yishai
Peace, Security and Terror in the 1996 Elections	209	(28)
Gerald M. Steinberg
PART III: THE NEW POLITICS	237	(36)
The Direct Election of the Prime Minister: A Balance Sheet	237	(21)
Bernard Susser
Elections 1996: The Candidates and the "New Politics"	258	(15)
Michael Keren
Index	273