Not one inch
Not one inch was Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin's campaign pledge in 1977 to not return an inch of territory without a peace agreement, which has seen periodic use since then.
Origin
[edit]The phrase originated with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin's campaign in 1977. The settlement movement embraced his campaign pledge not to return an inch of territory without a peace agreement. The Israeli youth group Betar produced a pin-back button with the slogan "Not One Inch".[1] After Begin won office, he returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in the Camp David Accords.[2]
Yitzhak Shamir became prime minister when Begin resigned, and continued the pledge with a different meaning: to not cede territory to any other governments as a part of any compromise. After losing the 1984 election, he formed a rotation government with Shimon Peres. The latter negotiated the Peres–Hussein London Agreement, which would have given much of the territory of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to Jordanian control. As part of the rotation deal, Shamir returned to the premiership in 1986, and rejected the agreement the next year.[3]
Later use
[edit]The phrase was revived in a 2004 Economist article entitled, "No, not an inch". The question at that time was whether then-prime minister Ariel Sharon should disengage from Gaza.[4] Facing internal opposition, he quit the Likud party in 2005 over the "Not one inch" ideology, saying that it was impractical and harmful to Israel's interests.[5] The election of Ehud Olmert as prime minister was seen as a rejection of the "not one inch" policy, as he was seen as the politician most likely to withdraw from the West Bank.[6] The phrase returned in 2019 in relation to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Roger Cohen, writing an op-ed for The New York Times, said: "He is a true believer in Greater Israel, and will not give up one inch of the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River."[7]
References
[edit]- ^ "Betar "Not One Inch" Pinabck Button". Cincinnati Judaica Fund. The Center for Holocaust Humanity Education. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ Wilson, Scott (2 April 2006). "Election Reveals Israeli Settlement Movement as a Dream Deserted". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ Sachs, Natan (5 July 2012). "Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, A Stalwart of Israeli Conservatism". The Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on 3 April 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ "No, not an inch". The Economist Newspaper. 6 May 2004. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ Reich, Bernard; Goldberg, David H. (2016). Historical dictionary of Israel (Third ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 490. ISBN 978-1442271845. Archived from the original on 31 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ Rosenberg, MJ (3 April 2006). "Let's seize the opportunity". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ Cohen, Roger (10 April 2019). "Israel's Lesson for the Democrats in 2020". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
