Moledet (Homeland) Party

   A political party created for the 1988 Knesset election by Israel Defense Forces reserve general Re-havam ("Gandhi") Ze'evi. It advocated the transfer of the Arab population of the Occupied Territories to neighboring Arab countries. In 1991, it joined the narrow coalition formed by Yitzhak Shamir, but it subsequently quit to protest Israel's participation in the Madrid Middle East Peace Conference. In 1992, there was a petition to the Central Elections Committee to disqualify Moledet on the grounds that its program was antidemocratic and racist; Moledet spokesmen countered that the "transfer" would be instituted exclusively on a voluntary basis. The Central Elections Committee held in favor of Moledet, and it went on to win three seats in the 13th Knesset. It won two seats in the 14th Knesset (1996). It was strongly opposed to the Oslo peace process and to any territorial concessions to the Palestinians. Moledet joined with the New Herut Party and Tekuma to form the new National Union Party that won four seats in the 15th Knesset (May 1999) and seven seats in the 16th Knesset (2003). As a member of National Union, Moledet founder and leader Ze'evi was appointed minister of tourism in March 2001, however he resigned on 15 October 2001; he was assassinated two days later (while still technically a minister) in a Jerusalem hotel by Palestinian terrorists. Moledet was a minor partner in the Nation Union coalition, which, together with the National Religious Party, won nine seats in the 17th Knesset (2006).