Shmuel Tamir, a prominent lawyer who served as Justice Minister in the government of Premier Menachem Begin, died here Monday after a long illness. He was 64.
Born in Palestine into the well established Katznelson family, he adopted the surname Tamir as a member of the underground Irgun Zvai Leumi led by Begin. He was its acting commander in Jerusalem until deported to Kenya by the British authorities in 1946. He returned two years later when the State of Israel was founded.
Tamir was active in Herut politics and served in the Knesset during the 1960s. Subsequently he broke with Begin and formed his own political faction, the Free Center Party, which merged in 1976 with another new party, the Democratic Movement for Change founded by archacologist Yigael Yadin. The latter joined the Begin coalition government. Tamir held the justice portfolio in the first Begin Cabinet from 1977-80 and was involved innegotiations with Egypt over autonomy for Palestinians in the administered territories. He retired from politics in 1984 but helped negotiate the release of Israeli soldiers captured in Lebanon.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
