Zeev Begin

Tired, divided and visionless after 15 years in power and its election defeat last June, Israel's Likud Party is trying to reshape itself with a new leader, a new image and a new political strategy with which it can challenge Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the Labor Party.

Tired, divided and visionless after 15 years in power and its election defeat last June, Israel's Likud Party is trying to reshape itself with a new leader, a new image and a new political strategy with which it can challenge Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the Labor Party.

The 20-year-old granddaughter of former Prime Minister Menachem Begin jumped from the fifth floor of a building in a suicide attempt, news reports said today. Mirav Begin, an Israeli soldier, was taken to a hospital in critical condition, Israeli newspapers and Israel radio reported. She jumped from the fifth floor of the building Tuesday in Netanqa, north of Tel Aviv, the reports said.

The son of former Prime Minister Menachem Begin has surprised members of his own Likud Party by announcing he wants to run for prime minister in the next Israeli elections. Zeev Benjamin Begin, 48, a Parliament member and American-educated geologist, said on state television Tuesday night that he will seek the right-wing party's nomination if Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir decides not to run. The next Knesset, or Parliament, elections are in 1992.

As a complement to a recent speech by former Israeli President Chaim Herzog, the Temple Bat Yahm will present a talk tonight on peace in the Middle East by the son of former Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Ze'ev Binyamin Begin, a noted leader of the Israeli Likud Party who serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security Policy in Israel, will speak at the temple at 1011 Camelback St.

In the article by Knesset member Ze'ev Benyamin Begin (Commentary, April 1), the Hebrew phrase, "Eretz Yisrael" the meaning of which is "the land of Israel," was followed by the term "Greater Israel," in parentheses. This term was undoubtedly added by the editor and not written by Begin. By identifying "Eretz Yisrael" with "Greater Israel," you distort the meaning of the article and mislead your readers. "Eretz Yisrael" is a geographic concept and not a political one. "Eretz Yisrael" is mentioned innumerable times in the Old Testament as the land of which the fathers of the nation of Israel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, lived, and in which the people of Israel lived for approximately 1,500 years until the exile.

The man who helped Benjamin Netanyahu leave the furniture business and go into politics 17 years ago announced Monday that he will try to wrest the leadership of the Likud Party from his former protege and run for prime minister of Israel. Moshe Arens, a former defense minister and Israeli ambassador to the United States, gave Netanyahu his political start in 1982 by appointing him to the No. 2 spot at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have survived a narrow no-confidence vote in the parliament this week, but he has emerged from the victory battered and with his ever-fractious coalition considerably weakened. The Israeli leader's damaged standing could hurt his ability to move forward in peace talks with the Palestinians, with the rifts inside his eight-party coalition making it tougher for him to muster the support needed for peace-making concessions.

Israel's first Arab candidate for prime minister pulled out of the race Saturday in a move that could bring front-runner Ehud Barak a step closer to outright victory in Monday's national elections. Azmi Bishara, an Israeli Arab member of parliament and former philosophy professor, said he was withdrawing because he believed that remaining a candidate would hurt the chances that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might be ousted.

Ariel Sharon, Israel's hawkish former defense minister, launched a campaign Friday to oust Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the 1996 elections, declaring his intention to form a broad right-wing coalition and lead "a rescue mission to save the Land of Israel and the Jewish people." But Sharon's announcement was more a challenge to Benjamin Netanyahu, chairman of the opposition Likud Party, who has been feuding with Sharon. Netanyahu angrily demanded Sharon's expulsion from the party.

A cartoon in the daily Haaretz newspaper this week shows a jetliner bearing the name of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu preparing to land on a bumpy, perilous-looking runway. The uneven surface turns out to be the fractured name of his own Likud Party.