Editing Ehud Barak (section)

===Prime Minister of Israel===
[[File:Barak pentagon 1999.jpg|thumb|233px|right|Barak at the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]] (1999)]] 
[[File:President Bill Clinton with Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority.jpg|thumb|233px|right|Ehud Barak shaking hands with [[Yasser Arafat]], joined by President [[Bill Clinton]] (1999)]]

In the [[1999 Israeli prime ministerial election|1999 Prime Ministerial election]], Barak beat [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] by a wide margin. However, he sparked controversy by deciding to form a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox party [[Shas]], who had won an unprecedented 17 seats in the 120-seat [[Knesset]]. Shas grudgingly agreed to Barak's terms that they eject their leader [[Aryeh Deri]], a convicted felon, and enact reform to "clean up" in-party corruption. Consequentially, the left wing [[Meretz]] party quit the coalition after they failed to agree on the powers to be given to a Shas deputy minister in the Ministry of Education.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In 1999 Barak gave a campaign promise to end Israel's 22-year-long occupation of [[Southern Lebanon]] within a year. On 24 May 2000 Israel [[Blue Line (Lebanon)|withdrew]] from Southern Lebanon. On 7 October, three Israeli soldiers were killed in a border raid by [[Hezbollah]] and their bodies were subsequently captured. The bodies of these soldiers, along with the living Elhanan Tenenbaum, were eventually exchanged for Lebanese captives in 2004.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

The Barak government resumed peace negotiations with the [[PLO]], stating that "Every attempt [by the State of Israel] to keep hold of this area [the West Bank and Gaza] as one political entity leads, necessarily, to either a nondemocratic or a non-Jewish state. Because if the Palestinians vote, then it is a [[binational state]], and if they don't vote it is an [[apartheid state]]."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/opinion/dont-give-up-on-mideast-peace.html |author=[[Jimmy Carter]] |title=Don't Give Up on Mideast Peace |newspaper=International Herald Tribune |date=12 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415235950/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/opinion/dont-give-up-on-mideast-peace.html |archive-date=15 April 2012 }}</ref> As part of these negotiations, Barak took part in the [[Camp David 2000 Summit]] which was meant finally to resolve the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]] but failed. Barak also allowed Foreign Minister [[Shlomo Ben-Ami]] to attend the [[Taba Summit]] with the leadership of the [[Palestinian Authority]], after his government had fallen.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}