Born in Poland, he emigrated to Palestine in 1935 and became an active member of Irgun and the Stern Gang. On Menachem Begin’s retirement in 1983, Shamir became Premier, but his Likud party was narrowly defeated in elections a year later. As Prime Minister of a coalition government with Labour, he sacked Shimon Peres in 1990 and formed a new government with a policy of conceding no land to a Palestinian state. Under his leadership Israel did not retaliate when attacked by Iraqi missiles during the Gulf War of 1991, thereby possibly averting the formation of a pro-Saddam Hussein Arab coalition. In 1992 his government fell when right-wing groups withdrew support as a protest against peace talks with Palestinians.