1989

The elections for the 12th Knesset held on 1 November 1988 did not result in a conclusive victory for either the Likud or the Labour Party. After lengthy negotiations, Israel once again had a Government of National Unity headed by Mr. Shamir, with Mr. Rabin continuing as defense minister, Mr. Peres became vice premier and minister of finance while Mr. Arens was appointed foreign minister. The new government policy guidelines resembled those of 1984, calling for talks with representatives of the administered territories to reach an interim agreement on the areas under the Camp David Framework. In January 1989 Defense Minister Rabin presented a plan for negotiations with the residents of the areas, which was rejected by both the Palestinians and the prime minister. The Soviet Union, with whose foreign minister Mr. Arens met in Cairo on 20 February called for an international conference under the five permanent members of the Security Council. Pressure was building on Israel to formulate a peace initiative. To that end, Mr. Shamir presented in Washington certain ideas in April that became known as the Shamir plan, which once again called for the implementation of the autonomy part of the Camp David Agreements. When the United States encouraged Israel to pursue the plan, the

Israel Government initiated a peace initiative on 14 May which became its declared policy. Based on the Camp David Agreements, it called for a two-stage settlement. The first would be a transition period of five years, while the areas will be administered by a council that would be elected by the residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. At the beginning of the third year Israel will negotiate a final settlement with representatives of the Palestinians. Egypt and Jordan would be invited to take part in the negotiations. The initial American response to the plan was positive, that of the Arabs lukewarm and that of the PLO was one of rejection. But the plan was aimed at excluding the PLO from the process. Israel sought to enlist Egypt to persuade the Palestinians to accept the plan as basis for negotiations. Egypt was prepared to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians but insisted that the PLO must be involved in the talks. But the talks dragged on during the summer of 1989 with no visible progress. To break the deadlock, Egypt's President Mubarak proposed a ten-point plan including election modalities, promise by Israel to enter into a dialogue on the final status of the areas, freezing all settlement activity, acceptance by Israel of Resolutions 242 and 338 and the formula "land for peace. " Residents of East Jerusalem will take part in the elections. Based on this plan, Secretary of State Baker proposed a five-point plan for elections in the areas. This became the subject of intense negotiations between Israel and the United States that lasted until the end of the year. On 5 November 1989, the Israel Government endorsed the five-point Baker plan under certain assumptions. Israel was prepared to start talks in Cairo on modalities of the elections in the areas, but sought American assurances that the PLO will be excluded from the process and that Israel will not be required to deal with the final status of the areas at this stage. Until the end of 1989 the U.S. did not provide Israel with such assurances.

In other areas, 1989 saw the beginning of massive immigration from the Soviet Union. On 1 October, that nation effectively opened its gates for unrestricted Jewish immigration. The end of 1989 also was the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transformation of all of Eastern Europe from being a series of Soviet satellite nations into free and independent states. By the end of 1989 some 25,000 immigrants arrived in Israel. In 1990 the number would jump to 200,000.