Flag of Israel Emblem of Israel
Goverment of Israel
Country name:
conventional long form: State of Israel
conventional short form: Israel
local long form: Medinat Yisra’el
local short form: Yisra’el
Government type:
parliamentary democracy
Capital:
name: Jerusalem
geographic coordinates: 31 46 N, 35 14 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins Friday before the last Sunday in March; ends the first Sunday in October; note – if the end of DST falls on Rosh Hashanah, then the end of DST will fall on the first Monday after 1 October
note: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, but the US, like 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; note – since May 2003 the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee of the Knesset has been working on a draft constitution
Legal system:
mixed legal system of English common law, British Mandate regulations, and Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious laws
International law organization participation:
has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; withdrew acceptance of ICCt jurisdiction in 2002
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Shimon PERES (since 15 July 2007)
head of government: Prime Minister Binyamin NETANYAHU (since 31 March 2009)
cabinet: Cabinet selected by prime minister and approved by the Knesset
(For more information visit the World Leaders website )
elections: president largely a ceremonial role and is elected by the Knesset for a seven-year term (one-term limit); election last held 13 June 2007 (next to be held in 2014 but can be called earlier); following legislative elections, the president, in consultation with party leaders, assigns the task of forming a governing coalition to a Knesset member whom he or she determines is most likely to accomplish that task
election results: Shimon PERES elected president; number of votes in first round – Shimon PERES 58, Reuven RIVLIN 37, Colette AVITAL 21; PERES elected president in second round with 86 votes (unopposed)
Legislative branch:
unicameral Knesset (120 seats; political parties are elected by popular vote and assigned seats for members on a proportional basis; members serve four-year terms)
elections: last held on 22 January 2013 (next to be held in 2017)
election results: percent of vote by party – Likud-Ahi 23.3%, Yesh Atid 14.3%, Labor 11.4%, The Jewish Home 9.1%, SHAS 8.7%, United Torah Judaism 5.2%, The Movement 5%, Meretz 4.5%, United Arab List 3.6%, HADASH 3%, Balad 2.6%, Kadima 2.1%; other 7.2%; seats by party – Likud-Ahi 31, Yesh Atid 19, Labor 15, The Jewish Home 12, SHAS 11, United Torah Judaism 7, The Movement 6, Meretz 6, United Arab List 4, HADASH 4, Balad 3, Kadima 2
note: Ehud BARAK and four others on 17 January 2011 split from the Labor Party and formed the Atzmaut (Independence) Party; the Labor Party holds 8 seats in the Knesset and the Independence Party holds 5 seats; Aztmaut did not submit a candidate list for the election on 22 January 2013
Judicial branch:
highest court(s): Supreme Court ( consists of the chief justice and 14 judges)
judge selection and term of office: judges selected by the Judicial Selection Committee, made up of all three branches of the government and chaired by the Minister of Justice; judges can serve up to mandatory retirement age of 70
subordinate courts: district and magistrate courts; national and regional labor courts; special and religious courts
Political parties and leaders:
Atzmaut (Independence) Party [Ehud BARAK]
Balad [Jamal ZAHALKA]
Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (HADASH) [Muhammad BARAKEH]
Kadima [Shaul MOFAZ]
Labor Party [Shelly YECHIMOVICH]
Likud-Ahi [Binyamin NETANYAHU]
National Union Uri ARIEL]
SHAS [Eliyahu YISHAI]
The Jewish Home (HaBayit HaYehudi) [Naftali BENNETT]
The Movement (Hatnuah) [Tzipora “Tzipi” LIVNI]
The New Movement-Meretz [Haim ORON]
United Arab List-Ta’al [Ibrahim SARSUR]
United Torah Judaism or UTJ [Yaakov LITZMAN]
Yesh Atid [Yair LAPID]
Yisrael Beiteinu or YB [Avigdor LIEBERMAN]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
B’Tselem [Jessica MONTELL, Executive Director] monitors human rights abuses
Peace Now [Yariv OPPENHEIMER, Secretary General] supports territorial concessions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
YESHA Council of Settlements [Danny DAYAN, Chairman] promotes settler interests and opposes territorial compromise
Breaking the Silence [Yehuda SHAUL, Executive Director] collects testimonies from soldiers who served in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
International organization participation:
BIS, BSEC (observer), CE (observer), CICA, EBRD, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW (signatory), OSCE (partner), Paris Club (associate), PCA, SELEC (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Michael B. OREN
chancery: 3514 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 364-5500
FAX: [1] (202) 364-5647
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Daniel B. SHAPIRO
embassy: 71 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv 63903
telephone: [972] (3) 519-7475
FAX: [972] (3) 516-4390
consulate(s) general: Jerusalem
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; the basic design resembles a Jewish prayer shawl (tallit), which is white with blue stripes; the hexagram as a Jewish symbol dates back to medieval times.
National symbol(s):
Star of David
National anthem:
name: “Hatikvah” (The Hope)
lyrics/music: Naftali Herz IMBER/traditional, arranged by Samuel COHEN
note: adopted 2004, unofficial since 1948; used as the anthem of the Zionist movement since 1897; the 1888 arrangement by Samuel COHEN is thought to be based on the Romanian folk song “Carul cu boi” (The Ox Driven Cart)
Israel’s financial center is Tel Aviv, while Jerusalem is the country’s most populous city (if East Jerusalem is included) and its designated capital. The population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2013 to be 8,051,200 people, of whom 6,045,900 are Jewish. Arabs form the country’s second-largest group with 1,663,400 people (including the Druze). The great majority of Israeli Arabs are settled-Muslims, with smaller but significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins; the rest are Christians and Druze. Other minorities include various ethnic and ethno-religious denominations such as Russians, Maronites, Samaritans, Black Hebrew Israelites, Armenians, Circassians and others.
Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The Prime Minister serves as head of government and the Knesset serves as Israel’s unicameral legislative body. Israel has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. It is a developed country, an OECD member, and its economy, based on the nominal gross domestic product, was the 43rd-largest in the world in 2012. Israel has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia
Economy of Israel:
In September 2010, Israel was invited to join the OECD. Israel has also signed free trade agreements with the European Union, the United States, the European Free Trade Association, Turkey, Mexico, Canada, Jordan, Egypt, and on 18 December 2007, became the first non-Latin-American country to sign a free trade agreement with the Mercosur trade bloc.
The economy of Israel is a technologically advanced market economy, including rapidly developing high-tech, agricultural, financial and service sectors. As of 2012, Israel ranks 16th among 187 nations on the UN’s Human Development Index, which places it in the category of “Very Highly Developed”.
Etymology
Upon independence in 1948, the new Jewish state was formally named Medinat Yisrael, or the State of Israel, after other proposed historical and religious names including Eretz Israel (“the Land of Israel”), Zion, and Judea, were considered and rejected. In the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term “Israeli” to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett.
The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically been used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel and the entire Jewish nation respectively. The name “Israel” in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob (Standard Yisraʾel, Isrāʾīl; Septuagint Greek: Ἰσραήλ Israēl; “struggle with God” ) who, according to the Hebrew Bible was given the name after he successfully wrestled with the angel of the Lord. Jacob’s twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. Jacob and his sons had lived in Canaan but were forced by famine to go into Egypt for four generations until Moses, a great-great grandson of Jacob, led the Israelites back into Canaan during the “Exodus”. The earliest archaeological artifact to mention the word “Israel” is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt (dated to the late 13th century BCE).
The area is also known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Bahá’í Faith. From 1920 the whole region was known as Palestine (under British Mandate) until the Israeli Declaration of Independence of 1948. Through the centuries, the territory was known by a variety of other names, including Judea, Samaria, Southern Syria, Syria Palestina, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Iudaea Province, Coele-Syria, Retjenu, and Canaan.
informations from:
– http://www.science.co.il
– http://mfa.gov.il
– http://history-of-israel.org
– https://www.cia.gov
– http://www.wikipedia.org/
Trip to Israel 