354 • 18 WAR AND THE QUEST FOR PEACEbeen. It turned out that AIPAC, the pro-Zionist lobby, prevented the US
government from pressing Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and
Gaza Strip and make a compromise peace with the Arabs, in particular
with Egypt and Jordan. It would have served American interests in the
Middle East if Washington had done so.
Israel's Domestic Crisis
While Kissinger was conducting his diplomacy, Israel's government un¬
derwent a severe crisis. The general election, planned for October 1973,
had been put off until late December because of the war. When it was
held, the conservative Likud coalition scored significant gains at the ex¬
pense of the Labor Alignment and its traditional coalition partners. The
results were probably a voter reaction to the mistakes made by Meir's cab¬
inet just before the war. In early 1974 she tried to form a new government,
but her efforts were stymied by disputes between secularist and Orthodox
parties over "Who is a Jew." A hoary Israeli issue that has not been re¬
solved, it centers on whether the government may confer citizenship rights
on any Jewish immigrant desiring them (the secularist position) or
whether it may do so only for an immigrant who can prove that he or she
had a Jewish mother or has been converted according to Jewish law. Many
North American Jews who belong to the Conservative or Reform move¬
ments oppose the latter definition, which implies that Israel does not ac¬
cept their rabbis' authority to perform conversions to Judaism. Orthodox
Jews argue that Israel must strive to be a truly Jewish state, not just one in
which those people who call themselves Jews happen to form a majority.
Meir, unable to reach a consensus on whether to include the National Reli¬
gious Party (the advocate of the Orthodox stance) in her coalition and
stung by criticism about the war, offered her resignation. Once Israel's dis¬
engagement with Syria took effect in June 1974, Yitzhak Rabin became the
new premier.
Effects of the Oil Embargo
The 1973-1974 crisis posed major economic and political problems for
the industrialized world. For a while crude oil prices fluctuated wildly, as
some countries started bidding against one another to get what they
needed to run their factories, drive their cars, and heat their houses. At one
point the price per barrel reached $20, far above the average posted price
of $3 charged in January 1973, but finally it settled at about $11.65. Oil
shortages caused problems for industries and consumers in all parts of the