Begin

**Menachem Begin**

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Menachem Begin was born in Brest-Litovsk, Poland on 16 August 1913. He was taught at the Mizrachi Hebrew School and the Polish Gymnasium. In 1931, Begin attended Warsaw University and got his law degree in 1935. Until the age of 13 he was part of the Hashomer Hatza'ir scout movement, and at the age of 16 joined Betar (Brit Trumpeldor), the nationalist youth movement associated with the Zionist Revisionist Movement. In 1932 he became head of the Organization Department of Betar for Poland travelling on its behalf throughout the country, and contributing many articles to the revisionist press. He was sent to Czechoslovakia to head the movement there.

In 1937 Begin returned to Poland, and for a time was imprisoned for leading a demonstration, in front of the British Legation in Warsaw, protesting against British policy in Palestine. He organized groups of Betar members who went to Palestine as illegal immigrants, and in 1939 became the head of the movement in Poland. On the outbreak of World War II, he was arrested by the Russian authorities and in 1940-41 was confined in concentration camps in Siberia and elsewhere, but was released under the terms of the Stalin-Sikorski agreement.

On his release he joined the Polish army and was transferred to the Middle East. After demobilization, in 1943, he assumed command of the Irgun Zvati Leumi (National Military Organization), known by the initials of its Hebrew name as "Etzel". In this capacity he directed Etzel's operations against the British, and the Palestine Government offered a reward of £ 10,000 for information leading to his arrest, but he avoided capture by living in disguise in Tel Aviv. In 1947, he met in secret with several members of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine as well as the foreign press, to explain the outlook of his movement.

After the establishment of the State of Israel, he founded the Herut Movement, together with his colleagues, and headed the party's list of candidates for the Knesset. He has been a member of the Knesset since the first elections.

On 1 June 1967, Begin joined the Government of National Unity in which he served as Minister without Portfolio until 4 August 1970.

On June 20, 1977, Mr. Menachem Begin, head of the Likud party - after having won the Knesset elections (17 May 1977) - presented the new Government to the Knesset and became Prime Minister of Israel. His publications include "White Nights" and "The Revolt", that are translated into several languages.

//Courtesy of BookRags.com//

//Bibliography// "Menachem Begin." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 26 May 2011. < @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menachem_Begin >.

Some of the information like the date of birth and offices held are from this web. I also got the picture of Begin from the Wikipedia.

"Menachem Begin - Biography." //Nobelprize.org//. Web. 26 May 2011. < @http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1978/begin-bio.html >. I got most of the information from the Noble Prize. org. This website provides a general biography of Begin. .

"FOREIGN LEADER & POLITICIAN AUTOGRAPHS." Web. 02 June 2011. []. I used this website to get an image. Begin is shown in the Israeli money bill.

"Menachem Begin Biography | BookRags.com." //BookRags.com | Study Guides, Lesson Plans, Book Summaries and More//. Web. 02 June 2011. []. An image from this web is Begin in the Time's magazine. I used this image because it's not easy to find a photo that features Begin in a nice way.