CENTERSHINUI MOVEMENT

A political bloc made up of threepolitical parties:Shinui, theIndependent Liberals, and theLiberal Center. Shinui was formed in 1974 byTel Aviv Universitylaw professorAmnon Rubinstein. In 1976, it joined with other groups to form theDemocratic Movement for Change(DMC), a centrist party headed byYigael Yadinthat won 15 seats in the 1977Knesset election.With the demise of the DMC, Shinui set out on its own, winning two seats in 1981 and three in 1984. It was a junior partner in the 1984-88Government of National Unity. It joined with the

Independent Liberal and Liberal Center Parties to form the Center-Shinui Movement and won two seats in the 1988 election.

In 1988, it campaigned on a platform that claimed it was the only political body combining an aspiration for peace based on compromise, a socioeconomic concept encouraging a free and enterprisingeconomy, the protection of individual rights, and opposition toreligiouscoercion. It claimed that it would not join a coalition government formed by theLikudand the religious parties. It also differed from theAlignmentin its approach to the economy and focused on a free-market economy encouraging growth and creativity rather than the failed bureaucratic approaches of the Labor-Alignment. In the political realm, the movement favored a peace agreement with theArabs, arguing that this would free Israel from the cycle of war and bloodshed and prevent it from becoming a binational state that would rule over another people. Such a peace agreement would be based on the principle ofland for peace. Israel's security would be guaranteed by secure border adjustments, security arrangements, and the demilitarization of evacuated areas.

In 1992, the Center-Shinui Movement joined with two other left-wingZionistparties (Citizens' Rights and Peace MovementandMapam) to form theMeretz/Democratic Israelcoalition that won 12 seats in the 13thKnessetand participated in the Labor-led coalition governments in the 1990s headed byYitzhak RabinandShimon Peres. However, Shinui split from Meretz to run independently for election to the 15th Knesset in 1999, while in March 2004, Meretz refashioned itself asYahad-Social Democratic Israelunder the leadership of former Labor member of the Knesset and government ministerJoseph(Yossi)Beilin.