COUNTRY PROFILES

ISRAEL

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Israel – background information

General Information on Israel

The State of Israel is a republic, established on May 15th in 1948 with Jerusalem as its capital. Tel Aviv-Yaffo is the main business and cultural center. The political system is parliamentary, with the prime minister being the head of the political party, which won the election. The parliament (, the Knesset) selects the President to serve as the Head of the State.

The political system is democratic with free elections every 4 years. The chosen representatives. The political parties of whom form the Knesset, of 120 members.

Table 2.1: Basic Data

The general geographic and topographic layout Geography, Topography, and Climate

Israel’s dimensions are some 430km in the north/south direction and 60 to 100 km in the west/east dimension is roughly 430 km long and 60-100 km wide (see Map 2.1). The north part of the country is hilly to mountainous, rising to about 2,200m at Mount Hermon. The Galilee blends to the south with the hills of Samaria and Judea where elevations rise up to some 1,000m at Hebron. A coastal plain, starting as a very narrow strip south of Haifa, broadens to the south to about 40km at the Gaza area.

To the south lies the Negev desert, reaching the Gulf of Aqaba/Eilat at its southernmost extreme. Israel’s neighbors include borders with Lebanon and Syria to the north, with Jordan and the West Bank portions of the Palestinian territories to the East, and Gaza and Egypt to the West. The Palestinian Authority territories comprise of the Gaza Strip and parts of Samaria and Judea (better known as the West Bank).

From the climatic aspect Israel’s temperatures and precipitation vary dramatically over relatively short horizontal distances due the country’s location at the junction of several climatic zones (moderately humid temperate, semi-arid subtropical, and arid subtropical). Is on the boundary between the temperate and semi-arid zones. Average annual Precipitation declines from annual averages of around approximately 1000mm in the extreme north to 50mm or less in the more arid portions of the south and from 400-800mm along the coast to 50-200mm along the Jordan valley. (See map 2.2 - precipitation)

The State of Israel is a democracy situated in the Middle East, bordering with Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Lebanon
to the north, Jordan and Syria to the east and the Gulf of Eilat to the
South. It has a total surface area of 21,714 km2.

The population in 2003 was estimated to be some 6,508,000

The GDP of Israel is 127,171, NIS Million at current prices; its employment is 2,324,000 seasonally adjusted.

Economic and Sociopolitical

Israel has a market economy with substantial government participation. Due to large current account deficits, Israel has been targeting high- technology niches in international markets, to earn much-needed foreign exchange. Today, diamonds, high technology equipment and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports.

There is a statement of policy regarding the generation of energy. A new master plan for energy was prepared during 2003. This plan has not been officially approved yet.

Energy and Economy - Economic growth has dropped sharply from an average 6% per annum between 1990-95 to an estimated 0% in 2002. The need to meet fiscal deficit targets of the Government budget (initial plans were to reduce the fiscal deficit to 1.5% of the GDP in 2001 but this was not achieved) implies restrictive monetary policies. The GDP in 2003 (the latest data) was 127,171 Million NIS at current prices. Although progress has been made towards privatization and liberalization of the state-orientated economy, the government would like to go much further.

Israel's energy economy is based on imported fossil fuels, especially crude oil. In 2002, the annual supply of primary energy was about 22.5 million TOE (tons of oil equivalent), with fossil fuels comprising 97% of the total (66% oil and 44% coal). Domestic solar water heaters provide approximately 3% of the primary energy supply.

The primary energy supply in 2002 increased by approximately 1.9% compared to 2001, while the GDP increased by -1%. Since 1990, the average annual growth rates in energy consumption, GDP and energy intensity are 6.3%, 4.8% and 1.5%, respectively.

Relations with the EU (Bilateral & Multilateral Agreements)

There are bilateral agreements between Israel and some European countries such as Italy and Germany in the area of R& D. Israel has been active in the European Commission research programs such as the 5th and the 6th Framework Programs.