The party was formed in 1979 during the term of the
ninth Knesset, when
Geula Cohen and
Moshe Shamir broke away from
Herut in response to the
Camp David Treaty between
Egypt and Israel, particularly the return of the
Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, and the eviction of its Israeli settlers. Tehiya was strongly affiliated with the extra-parliamentary movement of
Gush Emunim, In its first electoral test, the
1981 legislative election, Tehiya picked up three seats. Despite their previous difference of opinion, they were included in Menachem Begin's coalition government alongside
Likud, the
National Religious Party,
Agudat Israel,
Tami and
Telem. Although Cohen did not take a ministerial position, Neeman became Minister of Science and Development. Although the two parties officially merged in 1986, Tzomet left the alliance the following year, due to conflicts between Eitan and Cohen. Tehiya was reduced to three seats in the
1988 legislative election, and was again excluded from Shamir's national unity government. However, when the Alignment left the coalition in 1990, Tehiya were invited into a new narrow right-wing government which included Likud, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Israel,
Degel HaTorah, the
New Liberal Party. Although Cohen again declined a ministerial position, Neeman was appointed Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and Minister of Science and Technology. Despite its late entry to the government, the party pulled out of the coalition on 21 January 1992 in protest over Yitzhak Shamir's participation in the
Madrid conference, which forced the government to hold new elections. Leading up to the
1992 legislative election, Tehiya began to feel the weight of Tzomet's growing popularity. Until a month before the election, the two parties had been at roughly the same level in the opinion polls. Both parties were competing for the same secular right-wing electorate. Party members blamed the poor result on the early election date, claiming that they were ill-prepared. Geula Cohen blamed the defeat on 'personality cult' parties, singling out Tzomet,
Moledet, and
Moshe Levinger's small list that failed to cross the threshold. Tehiya subsequently disappeared, with Cohen joining Likud that year. Tzomet themselves would forge an electoral alliance with the Likud in
1996, before it lost its electorate to another ultranationalist party, the
National Union. Tehiya fronted a number of controversial positions in its time, some of which were adopted by the mainstream; most notably, the
Jerusalem Law, which was proposed by the party and enacted on 30 July 1980 establishing
Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel. == Structure ==