Not one inch was Israeli Prime Minister

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'', ; (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the prime minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Isra ...

's campaign pledge in 1977 to not return an

inch The inch (symbol: in or prime (symbol), ) is a Units of measurement, unit of length in the imperial units, British Imperial and the United States customary units, United States customary System of measurement, systems of measurement. It is eq ...

of territory without a peace agreement, which has seen periodic use since then.

Origin

The phrase originated with Israeli Prime Minister

's campaign in 1977. The

settlement movement The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity an ...

embraced his campaign pledge not to return an inch of territory without a

peace agreement A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surr ...

. The Israeli youth group

Betar The Betar Movement (), also spelled Beitar (), is a Revisionist Zionism, Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. It was one of several right-wing youth movements tha ...

produced a

pin-back button A pin-back button or pinback button, pin button, button badge, or simply pin-back or badge, is a button or badge that can be temporarily fastened to the surface of a garment using a safety pin, or a pin formed from wire, a clutch or other mechani ...

with the slogan "Not One Inch". After Begin won office, he returned the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

to Egypt in the

Camp David Accords The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retre ...

Yitzhak Shamir Yitzhak Shamir (, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh prime minister of Israel, serving two terms (1983–1984, 1986–1992). Before the establishment of the State of Israel, ...

became prime minister when Begin resigned, and continued the pledge with a different meaning: to not cede territory to any other governments as a part of any compromise. After losing the 1984 election, he formed a

rotation government A rotation government or alternation government is one of the ways of forming of a government in a parliamentary state. It is a government that, during its term, will see the individual holding the post of prime minister switch (or "rotate"), whe ...

with

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

. The latter negotiated the Peres–Hussein London Agreement, which would have given much of the territory of the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

Jordanian control Jordanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Jordan, a country in the Near East * Jordanian culture * Jordanian people, see Demographics of Jordan * Jordanian cuisine * Jordanian Arabic * Royal Jordanian, an airline See also * L ...

. As part of the rotation deal, Shamir returned to the premiership in 1986, and rejected the agreement the next year.

Later use

The phrase was revived in a 2004 ''

Economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

'' article entitled, "No, not an inch". The question at that time was whether then-prime minister

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon ( ; also known by his diminutive Arik, ; 26 February 192811 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. Born in Kfar Malal in Mandatory Palestin ...

should disengage from Gaza. Facing internal opposition, he quit the

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

party in 2005 over the "Not one inch" ideology, saying that it was impractical and harmful to Israel's interests. The election of

Ehud Olmert Ehud Olmert (; , ; born 30 September 1945) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009. The son of a former Herut politician, Olmert was first elected to the Knesset for Likud in 1973, at th ...

as prime minister was seen as a rejection of the "not one inch" policy, as he was seen as the politician most likely to withdraw from the

. The phrase returned in 2019 in relation to Israeli prime minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

Roger Cohen Roger Cohen is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author. He is a correspondent and former foreign editor and Op-Ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. He has worked as a foreign correspondent in more than 60 countries and was named Pari ...

, writing an

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...

for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', said: "He is a true believer in

Greater Israel Greater Israel (, ''Eretz Yisrael HaShlema'') is an expression with several different biblical and political meanings over time. It is often used, in an irredentist fashion, to refer to the historic or desired borders of Israel. There are two d ...

, and will not give up one inch of the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River."

References

{{Zionism Arab–Israeli peace process Not one inch (policy) Territory for peace Two-state solution Israeli irredentism Phrases related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Menachem Begin Egypt in the Arab–Israeli conflict 20th century in the Sinai Peninsula