PRIME MINISTER MENACHEM BEGIN (ISRAEL) - AUTOGRAPH - HFSID 279136

MENACHEM BEGIN
March 27, 1978 cover of Time with a photo of Menachem Begin and Yasser Arafat, captioned "Peace: The Chances Now" and taped to a small sheet of stationery signed by begin. This issue is dated less than a week after the end of the 1978 Southern Lebanon Conflict between Israel and Arafat's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine or PLO. Accompanied by original mailing envelope.
Three items, taped together. 1) Signature: "M. Begin".3¾x5½ sheet of white stationery with embossed Israeli state seal near top edge. Captioned: "With the compliments/of the/Prime Minister". Lightly toned, stained and creased. Taped to cover at top and right edge. Tape is lightly toned. Otherwise in fine condition. 2) Unsignedmagazine cover. Color, 8x10¾. March 27, 1978 over of Timemagazine with photos of Begin and Arafat. Captioned: "Peace: The Chances Now". Lightly toned and creased. Caption is partially covered by signature. Cover was torn neatly from magazine on left edge. Three light tears on left edge. Lightly chipped at top edge. Adhesive residue at lower left corner from address label and in center of page. Folded twice and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition. 3) Unsigned Israeli air mail envelope from the Israeli Prime Minister's office. Postmarked 1978. Addressed to Mr. Anthony A. Strow, West Roxbury, Massachusetts. Lightly toned and creased. Envelope was torn open at top edge. Normal postal stamps. Otherwise in fine condition. The 1978 Southern Lebanon Conflict between Israel and the PLO ignited on March 14, 1978 and ended seven days later. Israel launched the war three days after members of Fatah, a PLO faction, traveled from Lebanon to Israel and, after hijacking two buses, killed 37 Israelis and an American. Israel invaded Lebanon and forced the PLO north of the Litani River. It was an Israeli victory, but most of the casualties were civilians, and Lebanon claimed that the fighting created hundreds of thousands of refugees. Israel withdrew from Lebanon later in 1978. Begin (1913-1992, born in Brest-Litovsk, Russia, now Belarus) reached British Palestine in 1943 to participate in the struggle for an independent state of Israel. He served in the Knesset from its first session. In 1973, the Likud Party was formed and Begin became its leader. When Likud won the elections in 1977, he became Prime Minister. Begin and Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat received the Nobel Peace Prize for the peace treaty they signed in 1978, after much of the Sinai was returned to Egypt. In June 1981, Begin asked the Cabinet to approve the bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak. On Shavuot, Israeli planes flew below radar detection through Arab air space and destroyed the facility, which Israel later claimed had been primed for a start-up. In 1982, Begin authorized the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. In failing health and following the death of his wife, Aliza, Begin stepped down in September 1983.