Editing Menachem Begin (section)

===Gahal and unity government===
In the following years, Begin failed to gain electoral momentum, and Herut remained far behind [[Labor Party (Israel)|Labor]] with a total of 17 seats until 1961. In the [[1965 Israeli legislative election]], Herut and the [[Liberal Party (Israel)|Liberal Party]] united to form the [[Gahal]] bloc under Begin's leadership, but the merger prompted several Liberal MKs to split and form the [[Independent Liberals (Israel)|Independent Liberals]] and Gahal failed to gain seats in the election, or make up the seats it lost from the Independent Liberal defection. In 1966, during Herut's party convention, he was challenged by the young [[Ehud Olmert]]. The opposition group within Herut, however, sensed that Begin's leadership position was too strong to challenge directly and concentrated on winning control over the party organization. They won overwhelming victories in all votes for the composition of party institutions. Begin responded to these challenges by announcing his retirement as party chairman and suggesting he would also resign seat in the Knesset. Begin's move mobilized delegates in support of him, but the party convention ended without a party chairman being elected; the chair would be vacant for eight months. Internal opposition to Begin' leadership came to a head a month after the convention, when Haim Amsterdam, an assistant to one of the opposition leaders, [[Shmuel Tamir]], published a devastating attack on Begin in ''[[Ha'aretz]]'';<ref>[https://jfc.org.il/news_journal/60552-2/101717-2/?lang=eng Herut Members That Criticized Menachem Begin Tried by the Partys Tribunalr], Yoman Geva 378, 1966.</ref> this led to the suspension of Tamir's party membership.<ref>[[Asael Lubotzky]], [[Not My Last Journey]], [[Yedioth Ahronoth]], 2017, pages 196–202.</ref> The leaders of the opposition then established a new party in the Knesset, the [[Free Center]], with the loss of three seats for Herut. After this revolt, Begin reversed his decision to retire and returned as party chairman in February 1967.<ref>{{cite news |title=Herut Convention Ends with Appeal to Begin to Withdraw Resignation |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/herut-convention-ends-with-appeal-to-begin-to-withdraw-resignation |access-date=1 July 2024 |work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=5 July 1966}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goldstein |first1=Amir |title=Crisis and Development: Menachem Begin's Leadership Throughout the 1960s |journal=Israel Studies |date=Spring 2015 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=110–123 |doi=10.2979/israelstudies.20.1.110 |jstor=10.2979/israelstudies.20.1.110 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.20.1.110 |access-date=1 July 2024}}</ref><ref name=weitz>Yechiam Weitz: "The Road to the 'Upheaval': A Capsule History of the Herut Movement, 1948–1977", in ''Israel Studies'', Fall 2005, Vol. 10, No. 3.</ref>

The day the [[Six-Day War]] started in June 1967, Gahal joined the [[national unity government]] under Prime Minister [[Levi Eshkol]] of the Alignment, resulting in Begin serving in the [[Cabinet of Israel|cabinet]] for the first time, as a [[Minister without Portfolio]]. [[Rafi (political party)|Rafi]] also joined the unity government at that time, with [[Moshe Dayan]] becoming Defense Minister. Gahal's arrangement lasted until August 1970, when Begin and Gahal quit the government, then led by [[Golda Meir]] due to disagreements over the [[Rogers Plan]] and its "in place" cease-fire with Egypt along the Suez Canal,<ref>[[Newsweek]] 30 May 1977, ''The Zealot'', <blockquote> But he quit in 1970 when Prime Minister Golda Meir, under pressure from Washington, renewed a cease-fire with Egypt along the Suez Canal.</blockquote></ref> Other sources, including [[William B. Quandt]], note that the Labor party, by formally accepting [[UN 242]] in mid-1970, had accepted "peace for withdrawal" on all fronts, and because of this Begin had left the unity government. On 5 August, Begin explained before the Knesset why he was resigning from the cabinet. He said, "As far as we are concerned, what do the words 'withdrawal from territories administered since 1967 by Israel' mean other than Judea and Samaria. Not all the territories; but by all opinion, most of them."<ref>[[William B. Quandt]], ''Peace Process, American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1967'', pp. 194ff</ref>