the Israeli election, Likud wins 47 seats, Labour wins 49, but Likud Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir remains in office. 22 December – Yitzhak Shamir presents his cabinet for a Knesset "Vote of Confidence". The 23rd Government is approved that day and the members are sworn in. Israeli–Palestinian conflict The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict which occurred during 1988 include: 6 April – A 15-year-old Israeli girl is killed in the Palestinian village of Bayta in West Bank. First official announcements state that she had been stoned to death. A subsequent IDF investigation revealed that she had been accidentally shot by her group leader. Two Palestinian Arabs are killed in the incident. 7 December – Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist. Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets The most prominent Palestinian Arab terror attacks committed against Israelis during 1988 include: 7 March – Mothers' Bus attack: A squad of three Palestinian Arab militants, members of the Fatah organization, infiltrated Israel from Egypt. The militants hijacked a bus full of women returning from work at the Negev Nuclear Research Center near Dimona and threatened to kill the passengers one by one if Israel would not release Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. After the militants executed one of the passengers, members of the elite civilian counter-terrorism unit Yamam broke into the bus, killing all three hijackers, but not managing to prevent another two Israeli passengers from being killed. See Mothers' Bus attack. 11 May – A car bomb near the Israeli Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus, kills three and injures 15. A caller claims that the Abu Nidal organization carried out the attack. Notable Israeli military operations against Palestinian militancy targets The most prominent Israeli military counter-terrorism operations (military campaigns and military operations) carried out against Palestinian militants during 1988 include: 2 January – Israeli helicopters and fighter jets attack Palestinian targets in South Lebanon killing at least 19, wounding 14. 11 January – The Israeli army declares the Gaza Strip a closed military zone and imposes curfews on Khan Yunis, Dayr al-Balah, Maghazi, Nusyrat and Burayj refugee camps. 13 January – All refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are put under curfew. 19 January – With 38 Palestinians killed since 9 December, Defense Minister Yitzhaq Rabin announces a new policy using "might, power and beating" to quell demonstrations. A month later a team