ABSTRACT
The rotation of power agreement that was implemented in October 1986 was conceivably an original Israeli contribution to the art of politics, since no other democratic — or, for that matter, non-democratic — state ever featured such a peculiar arrangement. The major causes of intragovernmental crises were the ideological differences over the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Israeli Government spoke in what was termed a "forked tongue" on major national and international issues. There have always been differences of opinion within the government in Israel regarding basic issues of foreign policy. Social tensions continued to surface, with a diminishing of the Ashkenazi-Sephardi rift and an intensification of religious-secular differences. Labor relations were generally under control, except in the health. Religious-secular relations largely deteriorated during 1987. Confrontations took place in the courts and on the streets between furious and frustrated demonstrators on both sides, and the authorities.
