ABSTRACT
Israel is a strong regional military power, capable of deterring any enemy and remaining in relative security. The Israeli government is a party government: The party that wins the national elections controls the government, and the party leader becomes the prime minister. Since the 1967 and the 1973 wars, almost all of Israel's political parties have linked matters of peace and security to the future of the occupied territories. In addition to the territorial compromise and autonomy, two other options exist: annexation and transfer. The purpose of annexation is to formalize and finalize the Israeli presence in the territories and thus to fulfill the aspiration for the existence of Greater Israel. The essence of the transfer idea is to relocate some or all of the Arabs in the occupied territories to neighboring Arab states. In the four election campaigns from 1977 to 1988, all major parties used the territorial debate to rally popular support for a particular position.
