Yad (also Ya'ad, Yehud, Yud; Hebrew for Ensemble, Union)
YAD (also Ya'ad, Yehud, Yud; Hebrew for ensemble, union)
Israeli political bloc created in February 1984 following a split in the extreme right party, Tzomet. First constituted in 1984 by Ezer Weizman, Yad won two seats in the legislative elections of that year, following which Weizman was named minister without portfolio in the national union government headed by Shimon Peres. Four years later Yad was dissolved, after which its leaders decided to join the Labor Party. The revival of Yad in 1994 resulted in the Tzomet losing three seats in the Knesset.
Yad was envisioned as a nationalist and liberal party, although its proposals were sometimes vague. It saw itself as upholding the "spirit of the Camp David accords" and supported Jewish settlement in the occupied territories. In July 1994 two of the party's leaders, Gonen Segev and Alexander Goldfarb, joined the government of Yitzhak Rabin as minister of energy and deputy minister of housing respectively. During their mandate they tried to support the development of Jewish settlements and advocated holding a referendum before Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Weakened by a power struggle among its leaders, and by a judicial procedure involving one of its officials, Yad progressively lost influence. After failing to obtain any seats in the Knesset elections of 1996, Yad disappeared from Israeli politics.
SEE ALSO Golan Heights;Knesset;Peres, Shimon;Tzomet Party;Weizman, Ezer.