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Introduction | Israel

Background: | Following World War II, the British withdrew from their mandate of Palestine, and the UN partitioned the area into Arab and Jewish states, an arrangement rejected by the Arabs. Subsequently, the Israelis defeated the Arabs in a series of wars without ending the deep tensions between the two sides. The territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 war are not included in the Israel country profile, unless otherwise noted. On 25 April 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 26 October 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. In addition, on 25 May 2000, Israel withdrew unilaterally from southern Lebanon, which it had occupied since 1982. In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations were conducted between Israel and Palestinian representatives (from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip) and Syria to achieve a permanent settlement. But progress toward a permanent status agreement has been undermined by the outbreak of Palestinian-Israeli violence since September 2000.

Geography | Israel

Location: | Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Lebanon
Geographic coordinates: | 31 30 N, 34 45 E
Map references: | Middle East
Area: | total: 20,770 sq km water: 440 sq km land: 20,330 sq km
Area - comparative: | slightly smaller than New Jersey
Land boundaries: | total: 1,017 km border countries: Egypt 266 km, Gaza Strip 51 km, Jordan 238 km, Lebanon 79 km, Syria 76 km, West Bank 307 km
Coastline: | 273 km
Maritime claims: | continental shelf: to depth of exploitation territorial sea: 12 NM
Climate: | temperate; hot and dry in southern and eastern desert areas
Terrain: | Negev desert in the south; low coastal plain; central mountains; Jordan Rift Valley
Elevation extremes: | lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m highest point: Har Meron 1,208 m
Natural resources: | timber, potash, copper ore, natural gas, phosphate rock, magnesium bromide, clays, sand
Land use: | arable land: 17.02% permanent crops: 4.17% other: 78.81% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: | 1,990 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards: | sandstorms may occur during spring and summer; droughts; periodic earthquakes
Environment - current issues: | limited arable land and natural fresh water resources pose serious constraints; desertification; air pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions; groundwater pollution from industrial and domestic waste, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides
Environment - international agreements: | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Marine Life Conservation
Geography - note: | there are 242 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the West Bank, 42 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 25 in the Gaza Strip, and 29 in East Jerusalem (February 2002 est.); Sea of Galilee is an important freshwater source

People | Israel

Population: | 6,116,533 (July 2002 est.) note: includes about 187,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, about 20,000 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, more than 5,000 in the Gaza Strip, and fewer than 177,000 in East Jerusalem (February 2003 est.) (July 2003 est.)
Age structure: | 0-14 years: 26.9% (male 842,885; female 803,864) 15-64 years: 63.2% (male 1,941,440; female 1,922,512) 65 years and over: 9.9% (male 260,315; female 345,517) (2003 est.)
Median age: | total: 28.9 years male: 28.1 years female: 29.8 years (2002)
Population growth rate: | 1.39% (2003 est.)
Birth rate: | 18.67 births/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Death rate: | 6.2 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Net migration rate: | 1.39 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Sex ratio: | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2003 est.)
Infant mortality rate: | total: 7.37 deaths/1,000 live births female: 6.57 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.) male: 8.14 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth: | total population: 79.02 years male: 76.95 years female: 81.19 years (2003 est.)
Total fertility rate: | 2.5 children born/woman (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: | 0.1% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: | 2,400 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: | 100 (2001 est.)
Nationality: | noun: Israeli(s) adjective: Israeli
Ethnic groups: | Jewish 80.1% (Europe/America-born 32.1%, Israel-born 20.8%, Africa-born 14.6%, Asia-born 12.6%), non-Jewish 19.9% (mostly Arab) (1996 est.)
Religions: | Jewish 80.1%, Muslim 14.6% (mostly Sunni Muslim), Christian 2.1%, other 3.2% (1996 est.)
Languages: | Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language
Literacy: | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 95.4% male: 97.3% female: 93.6% (2003 est.)

Government | Israel

Country name: | conventional long form: State of Israel conventional short form: Israel local short form: Yisra'el local long form: Medinat Yisra'el
Government type: | parliamentary democracy
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 KATSAV (since 31 July 2000) elections: president elected by the Knesset for a seven-year term; election last held 31 July 2000 (next to be held NA 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 to be held fall of 2007) head of government: Prime Minister Ariel SHARON (since 7 March 2001) cabinet: Cabinet selected by prime minister and approved by the Knesset election results: Moshe KATSAV 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 continues 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
Legislative branch: | unicameral Knesset or parliament (120 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 28 January 2003 (next to be held fall of 2007) 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 Alliance 2.3%, 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 Alliance 3, YBA 2, United Arab List 2
Judicial branch: | Supreme Court (justices appointed for life by the president)
Political parties and leaders: | Center Party [Dan MERIDOR]; Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) [Muhammad BARAKA]; Democratic Movement [Roman BRONFMAN]; Gesher [David LEVI]; Green Leaf Party [Boaz WACHTEL and Shlomi SANDAK]; Herut [Michael KLEINER]; Labor Party [Binyamin BEN-ELIEZER]; Likud Party [Ariel SHARON]; Meimad [Rabbi Michael MELCHIOR]; Meretz [Yossi SARID]; National Democratic Alliance (Balad) [Azmi BISHARA]; National Religious Party [Yitzhak LEVY]; National Union [Benyamin ELON] (includes Tekuma and Moledet); One Israel [Ra'anan COHEN]; One Nation [Amir PERETZ]; Shas [Eliyahu YISHAI]; Shinui [Tommy LAPID]; United Arab List [Abd al-Malik DAHAMSHAH]; United Torah Judaism [Meir PORUSH]; Yisra'el Ba'Aliya or YBA [Natan SHARANSKY]; Yisra'el Beiteinu [Avigdor LIEBERMAN]
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: | BSEC (observer), CE (observer), CERN (observer), EBRD, ECE, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS (associate), ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, OAS (observer), OPCW (signatory), OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador Daniel AYALON consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco FAX: [1] (202) 364-5607 telephone: [1] (202) 364-5500 chancery: 3514 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008
Diplomatic representation from the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador Daniel C. KURTZER embassy: 71 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv mailing address: PSC 98, Box 29, APO AE 09830 telephone: [972] (3) 519-7457/7369/7454/7458/7453 FAX: [972] (3) 517-4390 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 | Israel

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 significant 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 influx of Jewish immigrants from the former USSR during the period 1989-99, coupled with the opening of new markets at the end of the Cold War, energized Israel's economy, which grew rapidly in the early 1990s; growth began moderating in 1996 when the government imposed tighter fiscal and monetary policies and the immigration bonus petered out. Growth was a strong 7.2% in 2000, but 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.
GDP: | purchasing power parity - $117.4 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: | -0.8% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita: | purchasing power parity - $19,500 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 3% industry: 30% services: 67% (2001 est.)
Population below poverty line: | 18% (2001 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: 2.4% highest 10%: 28.3% (1997)
Distribution of family income - Gini index: | 35.5 (2001)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 5.7% (2002 est.)
Labor force: | 2.5 million (2002 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: | public services 31.2%, manufacturing 20.2%, finance and business 13.1%, commerce 12.8%, construction 7.5%, personal and other services 6.4%, transport, storage, and communications 6.2%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 2.6% (1996)
Unemployment rate: | 10.4% (2002 est.)
Budget: | revenues: $38.5 billion expenditures: $45.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2002 est.)
Industries: | high-technology projects (including aviation, communications, computer-aided design and manufactures, medical electronics), wood and paper products, potash and phosphates, food, beverages, and tobacco, caustic soda, cement, diamond cutting
Industrial production growth rate: | -1.5% (2002 est.)
Electricity - production: | 42.24 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source: | fossil fuel: 99.9% hydro: 0.1% other: 0% (2001) nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption: | 37.82 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports: | 1.457 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports: | 0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production: | 80 bbl/day NA bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption: | 260,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports: | NA (2001)
Oil - imports: | NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves: | 1.92 million bbl (37257)
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 (37257)
Agriculture - products: | citrus, vegetables, cotton; beef, poultry, dairy products
Exports: | $28.1 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities: | machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel
Exports - partners: | US 39.2%, Belgium 6.5%, Germany 4.4%, UK 4.2% (2002)
Imports: | $30.8 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities: | raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, consumer goods
Imports - partners: | US 21.6%, Belgium 8.9%, Germany 6.7%, UK 6.6%, Switzerland 4.9%, Italy 4.5% (2002)
Debt - external: | $42.8 billion (2001 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: | $720 million from US (2001 est.)
Currency: | 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 - 4.74 (2002), 4.21 (2001), 4.08 (2000), 4.14 (1999), 3.8 (1998)
Fiscal year: | calendar year

Communications | Israel

Telephones - main lines in use: | 2.8 million (1999)
Telephones - mobile cellular: | 2.5 million (1999)
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: 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 Service Providers (ISPs): | 21 (2000)
Internet users: | 1.94 million (2001)

Transportation | Israel

Railways: | total: 640 km standard gauge: 640 km 1.435-m gauge (2002)
Highways: | total: 16,281 km paved: 16,281 km (including 56 km of expressways) unpaved: 0 km (2000)
Waterways: | none
Pipelines: | gas 100 km; oil 1,509 km (2003)
Ports and harbors: | Ashdod, Ashqelon, Elat (Eilat), Hadera, Haifa, Tel Aviv-Yafo
Merchant marine: | total: 18 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 705,897 GRT/823,605 DWT ships by type: container 17, roll on/roll off 1 (2002 est.)
Airports: | 52 (2002)
Airports - with paved runways: | total: 28 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 914 to 1,523 m: 11 under 914 m: 4 (2002) 1,524 to 2,437 m: 7
Airports - with unpaved runways: | total: 24 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 3 under 914 m: 20 (2002)
Heliports: | 3 (2002)

Military | Israel

Military branches: | Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (includes ground, naval, and air components with Air Defense Forces), Pioneer Fighting Youth (Nahal); note - historically there have been no separate Israeli military services
Military manpower - military age: | 18 years of age (2003 est.)
Military manpower - availability: | males age 15-49: 1,562,716 note: both sexes are liable for military service (2003 est.) females age 15-49: 1,516,505
Military manpower - fit for military service: | males age 15-49: 1,279,277 females age 15-49: 1,237,926 (2003 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: | males: 51,080 females: 53,496 (2003 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: | $8.97 billion (FY02)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: | 8.75% (FY02)

Transnational Issues | Israel

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; Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied (Lebanon claims the Shab'a Farms area of Golan Heights)
Illicit drugs: | increasingly concerned about cocaine and heroin abuse; drugs arrive in country from Lebanon and, increasingly, from Jordan

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2003