(1913–92) A Jewish Israeli political and military figure of Russian and Polish origin. Begin immigrated to Palestine via subscription in the Polish army in 1942. He was a primary political leader of the Revisionist Zionist movement and served as a commander in the Irgun, an underground Jewish paramilitary group that operated prior to Israel’s establishment. Begin and others founded the Herut party (the precursor to Likud) after Israel’s establishment in 1948 and he officially entered politics as a member of the Israeli parliament beginning with the first elections. In 1977, as head of the Likud party, Begin was elected Prime Minister of Israel and held the position until 1982. While in office, he negotiated a peace treaty with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat that led to Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for Egypt’s recognition of Israel as a legitimate state (see Camp David), and was co-recipient of the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with Sadat. During his prime ministership, Begin also authorized the Israeli Air Force to bomb the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq, out of concern that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons, and launched the 1982 invasion of Lebanon (see War of 1982). He is known as well for advancing the Jewish Israeli settlement movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. See “Begin, Menachem.” Reich, Bernard, ed. Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1990; and “The Nobel Peace Prize 1978: Menachem Begin.” Nobelprize.org. 2 September 2011. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1978/begin-bio.html.  http://www.justvision.org/glossary/begin-menachem