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 Ehud OLMERT (since May 2006);
Deputy Prime Minister Tzipora "Tzipi" LIVNI (since May 2006)
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 (no term limits); 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 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 29 March 2006 (next scheduled to be held in
2010)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party -
Kadima 29, Labor 19, Likud 12, SHAS 12, Yisrael Beiteinu 11, NU/NRP
9, GIL 7, Torah and Shabbat Judaism 6, Meretz-YAHAD 5, United Arab
List 4, Balad 3, HADASH 3
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (justices appointed by Judicial Selection Committee -
made up of all three branches of the government; mandatory
retirement age is 70)
Political parties and leaders:
Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (HADASH) [Muhammad BARAKA];
GIL (Pensioners) [Rafael EITAN]; Kadima [Ehud OLMERT]; Labor Party
[Amir PERETZ]; Likud Party [Binyamin NETANYAHU]; Meretz-YAHAD [Yossi
BEILIN]; National Democratic Assembly (Balad) [Azmi BISHARA];
National Union (NU)/National Religious Party (NRP) [Binyamin ELON];
SHAS [Eliyahu YISHAI]; Torah and Shabbat Judaism [Yaakov LITZMAN];
United Arab List [Ibrahim SARSOUR]; Yisrael Beiteinu [Avigdor
LIEBERMAN]; Yisrael Ba'Aliya (merged with Likud)
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), CERN (observer), EBRD, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD,
ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol,
IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, MIGA, OAS (observer), OPCW (signatory),
OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WCO,
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO