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Revision as of 08:01, 10 April 2004
File:Bnetanyahu.jpg
Benjamin Netanyahu (also Binyamin) (בנימין נתניהו) (b. 1949) was the 9th Prime Minister of Israel. A member of the conservative Likud party, he was Prime Minister from April 1996 to May 1999.
In the army, he served in Sayeret Matkal. He is married with two children.
As Prime Minister he negotiated with Yasser Arafat (in the form of the Wye accords), but many claimed he tried to stall any progress. Unlike in his predecessor and successor reigns, Netanyahu's reign was relatively quiet with only few Palestinian suicide bombings within Israel. On 1996, Netanyahu and Jerusalem's mayor Ehud Olmert decided to open an exit for the Western Wall tunnel, this have sparked 3 days of riots by Palestinians, resulting in about dozen Israeli and hundred Palestinians killed.
After being defeated by Ehud Barak in the 1999 Israeli general elections, Netanyahu temporarily retired from politics.
In 2002 after the Labour party left the government and vacated the position of foreign minister, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appointed Netanyahu as Foreign Minister. Netanyahu challenged Sharon for the leadership of the Likud party, but failed to oust Sharon. After elections in 2003, Netanyahu accepted the post of Finance Minister in a newly formed Sharon coalition. He currently does not support the concept of a future Palestinian state.
He is the author of several books, including A Durable Peace, Fighting Terrorism, and A Place Among the Nations. His older brother Yonatan was killed during a successful raid in 1976 to rescue Israeli hostages held at Entebbe, Uganda after an airline hijacking.
| Preceded by : Shimon Peres |
Prime Ministers of Israel | Succeeded by: Ehud Barak |