ABSTRACT
On Sunday, August 28, 1983, Benny Begin surprised his government by announcing his intention to resign. He waited until September to submit his formal resignation, allowing time for his replacement to stabilize the coalition under his new leadership. The Revisionist movement had been led by only two men over the course of sixty years: Ze'ev Jabotinsky and Begin. Many others have insisted that the explanation lies with Begin's acute distress over the war that Sharon brought upon him. Three senior heirs – Begin's son, Benny, and government secretaries Arye Naor and Dan Meridor – were outspoken critics of Sharon during the war. In Begin's absence, the Likud split into different factions and coalitions. Just as the Revisionist movement had split into two underground movements and its two separate constituent generations, so the movement and the party were now on the verge of dissolution.
