1981 Edition

Area

20,720 km2 (excluding about 26,331 km2 of occupied territory in Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Gaza as of January 1982); 20% cultivated, 40% pastureland and meadows, 4% forested, 4% desert, waste, or urban, 3% inland water, 29% unsurveyed (mostly desert)

Budget

(1980 actual) 3,702 million pounds expenditures, 3,155 million pounds revenues, 547 million pounds deficit, public sector borrowing requirement 1,316 million pounds; (1981 est.) 4,719 million pounds expenditures, 3,932 million pounds revenues, 787 million pounds deficit, public sector borrowing requirement 1,637 million pounds

Coastline

273 km (before 1967 war); including occupied areas, approximately 400 km (January 1982)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Land boundaries

1,036 km (before 1967 war); including occupied areas, approximately 1,050 km (as of January 1982)

Limits of territorial waters (claimed)

6 nm

Major trade partners

74.1% EC (42.7% UK); 8.0% US and Canada

Monetary conversion rate

1 Irish pound=US$2.0580 (1980 average)

Ethnic divisions

85% Jews, 15% non-Jews (mostly Arabs)

Labor force

1,318,000; 6.3% agriculture, forestry and fishing; 23.5% industry, mining, and manufacturing; 1.0% electricity and water; 6.3% construction and public works; 11.6% commerce; 6.9% transport, storage, and communications; 8.2% finance and business; 29.3% public services; 6.1% personal and other services (1980) 7SRAEL (Continued)

Language

Hebrew official; Arabic used officially for Arab minority; English most commonly used foreign language

Literacy

88% Jews, 48% Arabs

Nationality

noun — Israeli(s); adjective — Israeli

Organized labor

90% of labor force

Population

3,916,000, excluding East Jerusalem (July 1982), average annual growth rate 1.9%

Religion

85% Judaism, 11% Islam, 4% Christian and other

Branches

President Yitzhak Navon has largely ceremonial functions, except for the authority to decide which political leader should try to form a ruling coalition following an election or the fall of a previous government; executive power vested in Cabinet; unicameral parliament (Knesset) of 120 members elected under a system of proportional representation; legislation provides fundamental laws in absence of a written constitution; two distinct court systems (secular and religious)

Capital

Jerusalem; not recognized by US, which maintains Embassy in Tel Aviv

Communists

RAKAH (predominantly Arab but with Jews in its leadership) has some 1,500 members; the Jewish Communist Party, MAKI, is now part of Moked, which is a far-left Zionist party included in SHELLI

Elections

held every four years unless required by dissolution of Knesset; last election held in June 1981 Political parties and leaders: Herut, Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Foreign Affairs Minister Yitzhak Shamir; Liberal Party, Deputy Prime Minister Simcha Ehrlich; La 'am, Eliezer Shostak; State List, Yitzhak Peretz (Likud is a coalition formed in 1973 of Herut, Liberals, La "am, and State List); National Religious Party, Yosef Burg, Zevulun Hammer; Israel's Labor Alignment (includes MAPAM, Victor Shemtov, and Israel Labor Party, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin); RAKAH Communist Party, Meir Wilner; TAMI, Aharon Aba-Hatzeira; TELEM, Mordechai Ben-Porat; Orthodox Agudat Israel, Avraham Shapira; Citizens Rights Movement, Shulamit Aloni; Shinui Party, Amnon Rubinstein; Tehiya (Rebirth, formed by Likud defectors), Yuval Ne'eman

Government leader

Prime Minister Menachem BEGIN

Legal system

mixture of English common law and, in personal area, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim legal systems; commercial matters regulated substantially by codes adopted since 1948; no formal constitution; some of the functions of a constitution are filled by the Declaration of Establishment (1948), the basic laws of the Knesset (legislature) relating to the Knesset, Israeli lands, the president, the government and the Israel citizenship law; no judicial review of legislative acts; legal education at Hebrew University in Jerusalem; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Member of

FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMCO, IMF, IOOC, IPU, ITU, IWC— International Wheat Council, OAS (observer), UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO

National holiday

Independence Day, 14 May

Official name

State of Israel

Other political or pressure groups

rightwing Kach Movement led by Rabbi Meir Kahane; Black Panthers, a loosely organized youth group seeking more benefits for oriental Jews; Gush Emunim, Jewish religious zealots pushing for freedom for Jews to settle anywhere on the West Bank

Political subdivisions

six administrative districts

Suffrage

universal over age 18

Type

republic

Voting strength

Likud, 48 seats; National Religious Party, 6 seats; Orthodox Agudat Israel, 4 seats; Israel's Labor Alignment (Labor Party-MAPAM), 47 seats; Shinui Party, 2 seats; Citizens Rights Movement, 1 seat; RAKAH, 4 seats; Tehiya, 3 seats; TAMI, 3 seats; TELEM, 2 seats

Agriculture

main products — citrus and other fruits, vegetables, beef and dairy products, poultry products

Budget

public revenue $14.5 billion, current expenditures $13.7 billion, development expenditures $1.6 billion

Electric power

2,693,000 kW capacity (1980); 12.528 billion kWh produced (1980), 3,285 kWh per capita

Exports

$5.8 billion (f.o.b., 1980); major items — polished diamonds, citrus and other fruits, textiles and clothing, processed foods, fertilizer and chemical products; tourism is important foreign exchange earner

Fiscal year

1 April-31 March

GNP

$19.5 billion (1980, in 1980 prices), $4,640 per capita; 1980 growth of real GNP 2.3%

Imports

$9.2 billion (f.o.b., 1980); major items — military equipment, rough diamonds, oil, chemicals, machinery, iron and steel, cereals, textiles, vehicles, ships, and aircraft

Major industries

food processing, diamond cutting and polishing, textiles and clothing, chemicals, metal products, transport equipment, electrical equipment, miscellaneous machinery, rubber and plastic products, potash mining

Major trade partners

exports — US, West Germany, UK, Switzerland, France, Italy; imports — US, West Germany, UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy

Monetary conversion rate

the Israeli pound was allowed to float on 31 October 1977; the shekel became the unit of account on 1 October 1980 (1 shekel=10 Israeli pounds) and as of October 1981 13.74 shekels=US$l

Airfields

38 total, 37 usable; 9 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 3 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

36 major transport aircraft, including 2 leased in and 4 out

Highways

92,294 km total; 87,422 km surfaced, 4,872 km gravel or crushed stone

4,459 km paved, 7 km gravel/crushed stone, remainder unknown

Inland waterways

approximately 1,000 km

Military budget

for fiscal year ending 31 December 1981, $222 million; about 4.0% of the central government budget

Military manpower

males 15-49, 807,000; 662,000 fit for military service; about 33,000 reach military age (17) annually

NOTE

the Arab territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 war are not included in the data below unless indicated; the occupied Gaza Strip (360 kmz) was administered from 1948 to June 1967 by Egypt but not claimed as sovereign territory; Israel relinquished control of the Sinai to Egypt on 25 April 1982

Ports

6 major, 38 minor

Railroads

2,190 km 1.600-meter gauge, government owned

767 km standard gauge (1.435 m)

Telecommunications

small, modern system using cable and radio-relay circuits; 586,000 telephones (17.2 per 100 popl.); 15 AM, 14 FM, and 59 TV stations; 2 coaxial submarine cables; planned satellite station DEFENSE FORCES