BBS/israel

BBS/israel

File Name:	israel.txt
Author:	Unknown
Date:	Unknown
Posting BBS:	Unknown
Key Words:	Politics

ISRAEL

(also see separate Gaza Strip and West Bank entries) Note: The Arab territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 war are not included in the data below. As stated in the 1978 Camp David Accords and reaffirmed by President Reagan's 1 September 1982 peace initiative, the final status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, their relationship with their neighbors, and a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan are to be negotiated among the concerned parties. The Camp David Accords further specify that these negotiations will resolve the location of the respective boundaries. Pending the completion of this process, it is US policy that the final status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has yet to be determined (see West Bank and Gaza Strip entries). On 25 April 1982 Israel relinquished control of the Sinai to Egypt. Statistics for the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights are included in the Syria entry.

GEOGRAPHY

Total area: 20,770 km2; land area: 20,330 km2

Comparative area: slightly larger than New Jersey

Land boundaries: 1,006 km total; Egypt 255 km, Jordan 238 km, Lebanon 79 km, Syria 76 km, West Bank 307, Gaza Strip 51 km

Coastline: 273 km

Maritime claims:

Continental shelf: to depth of exploitation;

Territorial sea: 6 nm

Disputes: separated from Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank by the 1949 Armistice Line; differences with Jordan over the location of the 1949 Armistice Line which separates the two countries; West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli occupied with status to be determined; Golan Heights is Israeli occupied; Israeli troops in southern Lebanon since June 1982; water-sharing issues with Jordan

Climate: temperate; hot and dry in desert areas

Terrain: Negev desert in the south; low coastal plain; central mountains; Jordan Rift Valley

Natural resources: copper, phosphates, bromide, potash, clay, sand, sulfur, asphalt, manganese, small amounts of natural gas and crude oil

Land use: arable land 17%; permanent crops 5%; meadows and pastures 40%; forest and woodland 6%; other 32%; includes irrigated 11%

Environment: sandstorms may occur during spring and summer; limited arable land and natural water resources pose serious constraints; deforestation

Note: there are 175 Jewish settlements in the West Bank, 38 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 18 in the Gaza Strip, and 14 Israeli-built Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem

PEOPLE Population: 4,477,105 (July 1991), growth rate 1.5% (1991); includes 90,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank, 13,000 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 2,500 in the Gaza Strip, and 120,000 in East Jerusalem (1990 est.)

Birth rate: 21 births/1,000 population (1991)

Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

Infant mortality rate: 9 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

Life expectancy at birth: 76 years male, 79 years female (1991)

Total fertility rate: 2.9 children born/woman (1991)

Nationality: noun--Israeli(s); adjective--Israeli

Ethnic divisions: Jewish 83%, non-Jewish (mostly Arab) 17%

Religion: Judaism 82%, Islam (mostly Sunni Muslim) 14%, Christian 2%, Druze and other 2%

Language: Hebrew (official); Arabic used officially for Arab minority; English most commonly used foreign language

Literacy: 92% (male 95%, female 89%) age 15 and over can read and write (1983)

Labor force: 1,400,000 (1984 est.); public services 29.3%; industry, mining, and manufacturing 22.8%; commerce 12.8%; finance and business 9.5%; transport, storage, and communications 6.8%; construction and public works 6.5%; personal and other services 5.8%; agriculture, forestry, and fishing 5.5%; electricity and water 1.0% (1983)

Organized labor: 90% of labor force

GOVERNMENT

Long-form name: State of Israel

Type: republic

Capital: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem its capital in 1950, but the US, like nearly all other countries, maintains its Embassy in Tel Aviv

Administrative divisions: 6 districts (mehozot, singular--mehoz); Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, Tel Aviv

Independence: 14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)

Constitution: no formal constitution; some of the functions of a constitution are filled by the Declaration of Establishment (1948), the basic laws of the parliament (Knesset), and the Israeli citizenship law

Legal system: mixture of English common law, British Mandate regulations, and, in personal matters, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim legal systems; in December 1985 Israel informed the UN Secretariat that it would no longer accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: Independence Day, 10 May 1989; Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, but the Jewish calendar is lunar and the holiday may occur in April or May

Executive branch: president, prime minister, vice prime minister,

Cabinet

Legislative branch: unicameral parliament (Knesset)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Leaders:

Chief of State--President Chaim HERZOG (since 5 May 1983);

Head of Government--Prime Minister Yitzhak SHAMIR (since 20 October 1986)

Political parties and leaders: Israel currently has a coalition government comprising eleven parties that hold 66 of the Knesset's 120 seats;

Members of the government--Likud bloc, Prime Minister Yitzhak SHAMIR; Sephardic Torah Guardians (SHAS), Minister of Interior Arieh DER'I; National Religious Party, Minister of Education Zevulun HAMMER; Agudat Yisrael, Moshe Zeev FELDMAN; Degel HaTorah, Avraham RAVITZ; Moriya, Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Yitzhak PERETZ; Ge'vlat Yisrael, Elizer MIZRAHI; Party for the Advancement of Zionist Ideology (PAZI), Minister of Finance Yitzhak MODAI; Tehiya Party, Minister of Science, Technology, Energy, and Infrastructure Yuval NE'EMAN; Tzomet Party, Minister of Agriculture Rafael EITAN; Unity for Peace and Aliyah, Efrayim GUR; Moledet Party, Rehavam ZE'EVI;

Opposition parties--Labor Party, Shimon PERES; Citizens' Rights Movement, Shulamit ALONI; United Workers' Party (MAPAM), Yair TZABAN; Center Movement-Shinui, Amnon RUBENSTEIN; New Israeli Communist Party (MAKI), Meir WILNER; Progressive List for Peace, Muhammad MI'ARI; Arab Democratic Party, Abd Al Wahab DARAWSHAH; Black Panthers, Charlie BITON

Suffrage: universal at age 18

Elections:

President--last held 23 February 1988 (next to be held February 1994); results--Chaim HERZOG reelected by Knesset;

Knesset--last held 1 November 1988 (next to be held by November 1992); seats--(120 total) Labor Party 38, Likud bloc 37, SHAS 5, National Religious Party 5, Citizens' Rights Movement 5, Agudat Yisrael 4, PAZI 3, MAKI 3, Tehiya Party 3, MAPAM 3, Tzomet Party 2, Moledet Party 2, Degel HaTorah 2, Center Movement-Shinui 2, Progressive List for Peace 1, Arab Democratic Party 1; Black Panthers 1, Moriya 1, Ge'ulat Yisrael 1, Unity for Peace and Aliyah 1

Communists:

Hadash (predominantly Arab but with Jews in its leadership) has some 1,500 members

Other political or pressure groups: Gush Emunim, Jewish nationalists advocating Jewish settlement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip; Peace Now, critical of government's West Bank/Gaza Strip and Lebanon policies

Member of: AG (observer), CCC, EBRD, FAO, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, OAS (observer), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Zalman SHOVAL; Chancery at 3514 International Drive NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 364-5500; there are Israeli Consulates General in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco;

US--Ambassador William A. BROWN; Embassy at 71 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv (mailing address is APO New York 09672); telephone 972 (3) 654338; there is a US Consulate General in Jerusalem

Flag: white with a blue hexagram (six-pointed linear star) known as the Magen David (Shield of David) centered between two equal horizontal blue bands near the top and bottom edges of the flag

ECONOMY

Overview: Israel has a market economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports for crude oil, food, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has developed its agricultural and industrial sectors on an intensive scale over the past 20 years. Industry accounts for about 23% of the labor force, agriculture for 5%, and services for most of the balance. Diamonds, high-technology machinery, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are the biggest export earners. The balance of payments has traditionally been negative, but is offset by large transfer payments and foreign loans. About half of Israel's $18 billion external government debt is owed to the US, which is its major source for economic and military aid. To earn needed foreign exchange, Israel must continue to exploit high-technology niches in the international market, such as medical scanning equipment. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on 2 August dealt a blow to Israel's economy in 1990. Higher world oil prices added an estimated $300 million to Israel's 1990 oil import bill, and helped keep the inflation rate at 18% for the year. Regional tensions and continuing acts of the Palestinian uprising (intifadah)-related violence contributed to a sharp dropoff in tourism--a key source of foreign exchange--to the lowest level since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. In 1991, the influx of up to 400,000 Soviet immigrants will increase unemployment, intensify the country's housing crisis, and contribute to a widening budget deficit.

GNP: $46.5 billion, per capita $10,500; real growth rate 3.5% (1990 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 18% (1990)

Unemployment rate: 9.8% (March 1991)

Budget: revenues $28.7 billion; expenditures $33.0 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY91)

Exports: $10.7 billion (f.o.b., 1989);

commodities--polished diamonds, citrus and other fruits, textiles and clothing, processed foods, fertilizer and chemical products, military hardware, electronics;

partners--US, UK, FRG, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy

Imports: $14.2 billion (c.i.f., 1989 est.);

commodities--military equipment, rough diamonds, oil, chemicals, machinery, iron and steel, cereals, textiles, vehicles, ships, aircraft;

partners--US, FRG, UK, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg

External debt: $24.5 billion, of which government debt is $18 billion (December 1990)

Industrial production: growth rate - 1.5% (1989); accounts for about 40% of GDP

Electricity: 4,392,000 kW capacity; 17,500 million kWh produced, 4,000 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: food processing, diamond cutting and polishing, textiles, clothing, chemicals, metal products, military equipment, transport equipment, electrical equipment, miscellaneous machinery, potash mining, high-technology electronics, tourism

Agriculture: accounts for 5% of GNP; largely self-sufficient in food production, except for bread grains; principal products--citrus and other fruits, vegetables, cotton; livestock products--beef, dairy, and poultry

Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-90), $18.2 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $2.5 billion

Currency: new Israeli shekel (plural--shekels); 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot

Exchange rates: new Israeli shekels (NIS) per US$1--2.35 (May 1991), 2.0162 (1990), 1.9164 (1989), 1.5989 (1988), 1.5946 (1987), 1.4878 (1986), 1.1788 (1985)

Fiscal year: 1 April-31 March; changing to calender year basis starting January 1992

COMMUNICATIONS Railroads: 594 km 1.435-meter gauge, single track; diesel operated Highways: 4,500 km; majority is bituminous surfaced

Pipelines: crude oil, 708 km; refined products, 290 km; natural gas, 89 km

Ports: Ashdod, Haifa, Elat

Merchant marine: 30 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 516,714 GRT/611,795 DWT; includes 7 cargo, 21 container, 2 refrigerated cargo; note--Israel also maintains a significant flag of convenience fleet, which is normally at least as large as the Israeli flag fleet; the Israeli flag of convenience fleet typically includes all of its POL tankers

Civil air: 27 major transport aircraft

Airports: 51 total, 44 usable; 26 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 6 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 12 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: most highly developed in the Middle East though not the largest; good system of coaxial cable and radio relay; 1,800,000 telephones; stations--11 AM, 24 FM, 54 TV; 2 submarine cables; satellite earth stations--2 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT

DEFENSE FORCES Branches: Israel Defense Forces includes ground, naval, and air components; historically there have been no separate Israeli military services

Manpower availability: eligible 15-49, 2,213,808; of the 1,117,733 males 15-49, 920,449 are fit for military service; of the 1,096,075 females 15-49, 899,022 are fit for military service; 44,429 males and 42,249 females reach military age (18) annually; both sexes are liable for military service; Nahal or Pioneer Fighting Youth, Frontier Guard, Chen

Defense expenditures: $5.3 billion, 13.9% of GNP (1991); note--includes an estimated $1.8 billion in US military aid