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capital:
jerusalem; note - israel proclaimed jerusalem as 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) national holiday: independence day. 14 may (1948); note - israel declared independence on 14 may 1948. but the jewish calendar is lunar and the holiday may occur in april or may 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 suffrage: 18 years of age; universal executive branch: chief of state: president moshe katzav (since 31 july 2000) head of government: prime minister (acting) ehud olmert cabinet: cabinet selected by prime minister and approved by the knesset elections: president is largely a ceremonial role and is elected by the knesset for a seven-year term; election last held 31 july 2000 (next to be held mid-2007); following legislative elections. the president assigns a knesset member - traditionally the leader of the largest party - the task of forming a governing coalition; election last held 28 january 2003 (next scheduled to be held march 2006) election results: moshe katzav elected president by the 120-member knesset with a total of 60 votes. other candidate. shimon peres. received 57 votes (there were three abstentions); ariel sharon continued as prime minister after likud party victory in january 2003 knesset elections; likud won 38 seats and then formed coalition government with shinui. the national religious party. and the national union; controversy surrounding sharon's disengagement plan ultimately led to the formation of a likud-labor-united torah judaism (utj) coalition government in january 2005 legislative branch: unicameral knesset (120 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 28 january 2003 (next scheduled to be held march 2006) election results: percent of vote by party - likud party 29.4%. labor 14.5%. shinui 12.3%. shas 8.2%. national union 5.5%. meretz 5.2%. united torah judaism 4.3%. national religious party 4.2%. democratic front for peace and equality 3.0%. one nation 2.8%. national democratic assembly 2.3%. yisra'el ba'aliya (yba) 2.2%. united arab list 2.1%. green leaf party 1.2%. herut 1.2%. other 1.6%; seats by party - likud 38. labor 19. shinui 15. shas 11. national union 7. meretz 6. national religious party 6. united torah judaism 5. democratic front for peace and equality 3. one nation 3. national democratic assembly 3. yba 2. united arab list 2 judicial branch: supreme court (justices appointed for life by the president) political parties and leaders: democratic front for peace and equality (hadash) [muhammad baraka]; green leaf party (no longer active) [boaz wachtel and shlomi sandak]; herut (no longer active) [michael kleiner]; kadima (formed in november 2005) [ariel sharon]; labor party [amir peretz]; likud party [leader na]; meretz (merged with yahad) [zahava galon]; national democratic assembly (balad) [azmi bishara]; national religious party [ephraim "efie" eitam]; national union (haichud haleumi) [avigdor liberman] (includes tekuma moledet and yisra'el beiteinu); one nation [david tal]; shas [eliyahu yishai]; shinui [yosef "tommy" lapid]; tzalash (zionism. liberty. and equality) [joseph paritzky]; united arab list [abd al-malik dahamshah]; united torah judaism [yaakov litzman]; yahad [yossi beilin]; yisra'el ba'aliya or yba (merged with likud) [natan sharansky] political pressure groups and leaders: israeli nationalists advocating jewish settlement on the west bank and gaza strip; peace now supports territorial concessions in the west bank and gaza strip; yesha (settler) council promotes settler interests and opposes territorial compromise; b'tselem monitors human rights abuses international organization participation: bis. bsec (observer). ce (observer). cern (observer). ebrd. fao. iadb. iaea. ibrd. icao. icc. icct (signatory). icftu. ida. ifad. ifc. ifrcs (observer). ilo. imf. imo. interpol. ioc. iom. iso. itu. miga. oas (observer). opcw (signatory). osce (partner). pca. un. unctad. unesco. unhcr. unido. upu. wco. who. wipo. wmo. wtoo. wto diplomatic representation in the us: chief of mission: ambassador daniel ayalon chancery: 3514 international drive nw. washington. dc 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 364-5500 fax: [1] (202) 364-5560 consulate(s) general: atlanta. boston. chicago. houston. los angeles. miami. new york. philadelphia. and san francisco diplomatic representation from the us: chief of mission: ambassador richard h. jones embassy: 71 hayarkon street. tel aviv 63903 mailing address: psc 98. box 29. apo ae 09830 telephone: [972] (3) 519-7369/7453/7454/7457/7458/7551/7575 fax: [972] (3) 516-4390 consulate(s) general: jerusalem; note - an independent us mission. established in 1928. whose members are not accredited to a foreign government flag description: 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 technologically advanced market economy with substantial government participation. it depends on imports of crude oil. grains. raw materials. and military equipment. despite limited natural resources. israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. israel imports substantial quantities of grain. but is largely self-sufficient in other agricultural products. cut diamonds. high-technology equipment. and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports. israel usually posts sizable current account deficits. which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the us. which is its major source of economic and military aid. the bitter israeli-palestinian conflict; difficulties in the high-technology. construction. and tourist sectors; and fiscal austerity in the face of growing inflation led to small declines in gdp in 2001 and 2002. the economy rebounded in 2003 and 2004. growing at a 4% rate each year. as the government tightened fiscal policy and implemented structural reforms to boost competition and efficiency in the markets. in 2005. rising consumer confidence. tourism and foreign direct investment - as well as higher demand for israeli exports - boosted gdp by 4.3%. gdp (purchasing power parity): $139.2 billion (2005 est.) gdp (official exchange rate): $123.7 billion (2005 est.) gdp - real growth rate: 4.3% (2005 est.) gdp - per capita: purchasing power parity - $22.200 (2005 est.) gdp - composition by sector: agriculture: 2.8% industry: 37.7% services: 59.5% (2003 est.) labor force: 2.42 million (2005 est.) labor force - by occupation: agriculture. forestry. and fishing 2.6%. manufacturing 20.2%. construction 7.5%. commerce 12.8%. transport. storage. and communications 6.2%. finance and business 13.1%. personal and other services 6.4%. public services 31.2% (1996) unemployment rate: 8.9% (2005 est.) population below poverty line: 21% (2005) household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.4% highest 10%: 28.3% (1997) distribution of family income - gini index: 34 (2005) inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.3% (2005 est.) investment (gross fixed): 17.5% of gdp (2005 est.) budget: revenues: $43.82 billion expenditures: $58.04 billion. including capital expenditures of na (2005 est.) public debt: 101% of gdp (2005 est.) agriculture - products: citrus. vegetables. cotton; beef. poultry. dairy products industries: high-technology projects (including aviation. communications. computer-aided design and manufactures. medical electronics. fiber optics). wood and paper products. potash and phosphates. food. beverages. and tobacco. caustic soda. cement. construction. metals products. chemical products. plastics. diamond cutting. textiles and footwear industrial production growth rate: 4.8% (2005 est.) electricity - production: 44.24 billion kwh (2003) electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 99.9% hydro: 0.1% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001) electricity - consumption: 39.67 billion kwh (2003) electricity - exports: 1.47 billion kwh (2003) electricity - imports: 0 kwh (2003) oil - production: 2.740 bbl/day (2003 est.) oil - consumption: 270.100 bbl/day (2003 est.) oil - exports: na (2001) oil - imports: na (2001) oil - proved reserves: 1.92 million bbl (1 january 2002) natural gas - production: 10 million cu m (2001 est.) natural gas - consumption: 10 million cu m (2001 est.) natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.) natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2001 est.) natural gas - proved reserves: 20.81 billion cu m (1 january 2002) current account balance: $500 million (2005 est.) exports: $40.14 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.) exports - partners: us 36.8%. belgium 7.5%. hong kong 4.9% (2004) imports: $43.19 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.) imports - partners: us 15%. belgium 10.1%. germany 7.5%. switzerland 6.5%. uk 6.1% (2004) reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $29.69 billion (2005 est.) debt - external: $73.87 billion (30 june 2005 est.) economic aid - recipient: $662 million from us (2003 est.) currency (code): new israeli shekel (ils); note - nis is the currency abbreviation; ils is the international organization for standarization (iso) code for the nis currency code: ils exchange rates: new israeli shekels per us dollar - 4.46 (2005). 4.482 (2004). 4.5541 (2003). 4.7378 (2002). 4.2057 (2001) fiscal year: calendar year telephones - main lines in use: 3.006 million (2002) telephones - mobile cellular: 6.334 million (2002) telephone system: general assessment: most highly developed system in the middle east although not the largest domestic: good system of coaxial cable and microwave radio relay; all systems are digital international: country code - 972; 3 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 3 intelsat (2 atlantic ocean and 1 indian ocean) radio broadcast stations: am 23. fm 15. shortwave 2 (1998) radios: 3.07 million (1997) television broadcast stations: 17 (plus 36 low-power repeaters) (1995) televisions: 1.69 million (1997) internet country code: .il internet hosts: 437.516 (2004) internet service providers (isps): 21 (2000) internet users: 2 million (2002) airports: 51 (2004 est.) airports - with paved runways: total: 28 over 3.047 m: 2 2.438 to 3.047 m: 4 1.524 to 2.437 m: 8 914 to 1.523 m: 10 under 914 m: 4 (2005 est.) airports - with unpaved runways: total: 23 1.524 to 2.437 m: 1 914 to 1.523 m: 2 under 914 m: 20 (2005 est.) heliports: 3 (2005 est.) pipelines: gas 140 km; oil 1.509 km (2004) railways: total: 640 km standard gauge: 640 km 1.435-m gauge (2004) roadways: total: 17.237 km paved: 17.237 km (including 126 km of expressways) (2002) merchant marine: total: 17 ships (1.000 grt or over) 752.873 grt/881.711 dwt by type: cargo 1. container 16 registered in other countries: 48 (2005) ports and terminals: ashdod. elat (eilat). hadera. haifa military branches: israel defense forces (idf): ground corps. navy. air and space force (includes air defense forces); historically there have been no separate israeli military services military service age and obligation: 17 years of age for compulsory (jews. druzes) and voluntary (christians. muslims. circassians) military service; both sexes are eligible for military service; conscript service obligation - 36 months for men. 21 months for women (2004) manpower available for military service: males age 17-49: 1.492.125 females age 17-49: 1.443.916 (2005 est.) manpower fit for military service: males age 17-49: 1.255.902 females age 17-49: 1.212.394 (2005 est.) manpower reaching military service age annually: males: 53.760 females: 51.293 (2005 est.) military expenditures - dollar figure: $9.11 billion (fy03) military expenditures - percent of gdp: 8.7% (fy02) disputes - international: west bank and gaza strip are israeli-occupied with current status subject to the israeli-palestinian interim agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; israel continues construction of a "seam line" separation barrier along parts of the green line and within the west bank; israel announced its intention to pull out israeli settlers and withdraw from the gaza strip and four settlements in the northern west bank in 2005; golan heights is israeli-occupied (lebanon claims the shab'a farms area of golan heights); since 1948. about 350 peacekeepers from the un truce supervision organization (untso) headquartered in jerusalem monitor ceasefires. supervise armistice agreements. prevent isolated incidents from escalating. and assist other un personnel in the region refugees and internally displaced persons: idps: 276.000 (arab villagers displaced from homes in northern israel) (2004) illicit drugs: increasingly concerned about cocaine and heroin abuse; drugs arrive in country from lebanon and. increasingly. from jordan; money-laundering center
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