National Trade Data Bank ITEM ID : ST BNOTES ISRAEL DATE : Oct 28, 1994 AGENCY : U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE PROGRAM : BACKGROUND NOTES TITLE : Background Notes - ISRAEL Source key : ST Program key : ST BNOTES Update sched. : Occasionally Data type : TEXT End year : 1994 Date of record : 19941018 Keywords 3 : Keywords 3 : | ISRAEL BACKGROUND NOTES: ISRAEL PUBLISHED BY THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS US DEPARTMENT OF STATE FEBRUARY 1994 Official Name: State of Israel PROFILE Geography Area (Including Jerusalem): 20,325 sq. km. (7,850 sq. mi); about the size of New Jersey. Cities: Capital--Jerusalem (Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950. The United States, like nearly all other countries, maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv.). Other cities--Tel Aviv, Haifa. Terrain: Plains, mountains, desert, and coast. Climate: Temperate, except in desert areas. People Population (1992): 5.2 million. Annual Growth Rate: 4.7%. Ethnic groups: Jewish 4.2 million; non-Jewish 950,000. Religions: Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Druze. Languages: Hebrew, Arabic, English. Education: Years compulsory--12; Literacy--Jewish 95%, Arab 87%. Health: Infant mortality rate (1992)--8.9/1000. Life expectancy--76 years. Work Force: 1.9 million: Public and community services--30%. Industry--22%. Commerce, restaurants, hotels--14%. Finance and business--10%. Personal and other services--7%. Transport, storage and communications--6%. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries--3.5%. Construction--6%. Electricity and water--1%. Government Type: Parliamentary democracy. Independence: May 14, 1948. Constitution: None. Branches: Executive--president (chief of state); prime minister (head of government). Legislative--unicameral, Knesset. Judicial--Supreme Court. Political parties: Labor Party, Meretz (left-wing coalition between Ratz, Mapam and Shinui), Likud (Herut-Liberal alliance), and various other religious, right-wing and predominantly Arab political movements. A total of 10 parties represented in current Knesset. Suffrage: Universal at 18. Flag: White field on which is centered a blue six-pointed Star of David bordered above and below by blue horizontal stripes (design based on Jewish prayer shawl). Economy GDP (1992): $65 billion. Annual growth rate: 6.2%. Per capita GDP: $10,600. Natural Resources: Copper, phosphate, bromide, potash, clay sand, sulphur, bitumen, manganese. Agriculture: Products--citrus and other fruits, vegetables, beef, dairy, poultry products. Industry: Types--food processing, diamond cutting and polishing, textiles and clothing, chemicals, metal products, transport equipment, electrical equipment, high technology electronics. Trade (1992): Exports--$12.4 billion: polished diamonds, citrus and other fruits, chemical and oil products, electrical and electronic products, textiles and clothing, processed foods. Tourism is also an important foreign exchange earner. Imports: $18.6 billion: military equipment, rough diamonds, oil, chemicals, machinery, iron and steel, textiles, vehicles, ships and aircraft. Major partners: U.S., F.R.G., U.K., France, Belgium, Luxembourg. Official Exchange Rate: On August 1, 1986, the Israeli shekel became linked to a weighted basket of five currencies. As of February 1994, the exchange rate was 3 New Israeli Shekels=U.S.$1. PEOPLE Of the approximately 5.2 million Israelis in 1992, about 4.2 million were Jewish. While the non-Jewish minority grows at an average rate of 4% per year, the Jewish population has increased by 10% over the last three years as a result of massive immigration to Israel, primarily from the republics of the former Soviet Union. In the past three years, nearly 400,000 such immigrants arrived in Israel, making this the largest wave of immigration since independence. In addition, almost 20,000 members of the Ethiopian Jewish community have immigrated to Israel, 14,000 of them during the dramatic May 1991 Operation Solomon airlift. The three broad Jewish groupings are: the Ashkenazim, or Jews who came to Israel mainly from Europe, North and South America, South Africa, and Australia; the Sephardim, who trace their origin to Spain, Portugal, and North Africa; and Eastern or Oriental Jews, who descend from ancient communities in Islamic lands. Of the non-Jewish population, about 77% are Muslims, 13% are Christian, and about 10% are Druze and others. Education between ages 5 and 16 is free and compulsory. The school system is organized into kindergartens, six-year primary schools, three-year junior secondary schools, and three-year senior secondary schools, after which a comprehensive examination is offered for university admissions. There are seven university-level institutions in Israel. With a population drawn from more than 100 countries on 5 continents, Israeli society is rich in cultural diversity and artistic creativity. The arts are actively encouraged and supported by the government. The Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra performs throughout the country and frequently tours abroad. The Jerusalem Symphony, the orchestra of the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, also tours frequently as do other musical ensembles. Almost every municipality has a chamber orchestra or ensemble, many boasting the talents of gifted performers recently arrived from the countries of the former Soviet Union. Folk dancing, which draws upon the cultural heritage of many immigrant groups, is very popular. Israel also has several professional ballet and modern dance companies. There is great public interest in the theater; the repertoire covers the entire range of classical and contemporary drama in translation, as well as plays by Israeli authors. Of the three major repertory companies, the most famous, Habimah, was founded in 1917. Active artist colonies thrive in Safed, Jaffa, and Ein Hod, and Israeli painters and sculptors exhibit and sell their works worldwide. Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem have excellent art museums, and many towns and kibbutzim have smaller high-quality museums. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem houses the Dead Sea Scrolls along with an extensive collection of Jewish religious and folk art. The Museum of the Diaspora is located on the campus of Tel Aviv University. Israelis are avid newspaper readers. Israeli papers have an average daily circulation of 600,000 copies. Major daily papers are in Hebrew; others are in Arabic, English, French, Polish, Yiddish, Russian, Hungarian, and German. HISTORY The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 was preceded by more than 50 years of efforts by Zionist leaders to establish a sovereign nation as a homeland for Jews. The desire of Jews to return to what they consider their rightful homeland was first expressed during the Babylonian exile and became a universal Jewish theme after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. and the dispersal that followed. It was not until the founding of the Zionist movement by Theodore Herzl at the end of the 19th century that practical steps were taken toward securing international sanction for large-scale Jewish settlement in Palestine--then a part of the Ottoman Empire. The Balfour declaration in 1917 asserted the British Government's support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This declaration was supported by a number of other countries, including the United States, and became more important following World War I, when the United Kingdom was assigned the Palestine mandate by the League of Nations. Jewish immigration grew slowly in the 1920s; it increased substantially in the 1930s, due to political turmoil in Europe and Nazi persecution, until restrictions were imposed by the United Kingdom in 1939. After the end of World War II, and the near-extermination of European Jewry by the Nazis, international support for Jews seeking to settle in Palestine overcame British efforts to restrict immigration. International support for establishing a Jewish state led to the adoption in November 1947 of the UN partition plan, which called for dividing the Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state and for establishing Jerusalem separately as an international city under UN administration. Violence between Arab and Jewish communities erupted almost immediately. Toward the end of the British mandate, the Jews planned to declare a separate state, a development the Arabs were determined to prevent. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was proclaimed. The following day, armies from neighboring Arab nations entered the former Mandate of Palestine to engage Israeli military forces. In 1949, under UN auspices, four armistice agreements were negotiated and signed at Rhodes, Greece, between Israel and its neighbors Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The 1948-49 war of independence resulted in a 50% increase in Israeli territory, including western Jerusalem. No general peace settlement was achieved at Rhodes, however, and violence along the borders continued for many years. In October 1956, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula at the same time that operations by French and British forces against Egypt were taking place in the Suez Canal area. Israeli forces withdrew in March 1957, after the United Nations established the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Gaza Strip and Sinai. In 1966-67, terrorist incidents and retaliatory acts across the armistice demarcation lines increased. In May 1967, after tension had developed between Syria and Israel, Egyptian President Nasser moved armaments and about 80,000 troops into the Sinai and ordered a withdrawal of UNEF troops from the armistice line and Sharm El Sheikh. Nasser then closed the Strait of Tiran to Israeli ships, blockading the Israeli port of Eilat at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba. On May 30, Jordan and Egypt signed a mutual defense treaty. In response to these events, Israeli forces struck targets in Egypt, Jordan, and Syria on June 5. After six days of fighting, by the time all parties had accepted the cease-fire called for by UN Security Council Resolutions 235 and 236, Israel controlled the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the formerly Jordanian-controlled West Bank of the Jordan River, including East Jerusalem. On November 22, 1967, the Security Council adopted Resolution 242, the "land for peace" formula, which called for the establishment of a just and lasting peace based on Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967 in return for the end of all states of belligerency, respect for the sovereignty of all states in the area, and the right to live in peace within secure, recognized boundaries. In the 1969-70 war of attrition, Israeli planes made deep strikes into Egypt in retaliation for repeated Egyptian shelling of Israeli positions along the Suez Canal. In early 1969, fighting broke out between Egypt and Israel along the Suez Canal. The United States helped end these hostilities in August 1970, but subsequent U.S. efforts to negotiate an interim agreement to open the Suez Canal and achieve disengagement of forces were unsuccessful. On October 6, 1973--Yom Kippur (the Jewish Day of Atonement)--Syrian and Egyptian forces attacked Israeli positions in Golan and along the Suez Canal. Initially, Syria and Egypt made significant advances against Israeli forces. However, Israel recovered on both fronts, pushed the Syrians back beyond the 1967 cease-fire lines, and recrossed the Suez Canal to take a salient on its west bank, isolating Egyptian troops, who eventually surrendered. The United States and the Soviet Union helped bring about a cease-fire between the combatants. In the UN Security Council, the United States supported Resolution 338, which reaffirmed Resolution 242 as the framework for peace and called for peace negotiations between the parties. The cease-fire did not end the sporadic clashes along the cease-fire lines nor did it dissipate military tensions. The United States tried to help the parties reach agreement on cease-fire stabilization and military disengagement. On March 5, 1974, Israeli forces withdrew from the canal, and Egypt assumed control. Syria and Israel signed a disengagement agreement on May 31, 1974, and the UN Disengagement and Observer Force (UNDOF) was established as a peacekeeping force in the Golan. Further U.S. efforts resulted in an interim agreement between Egypt and Israel in September 1975, which provided for another Israeli withdrawal in the Sinai, a limitation of forces, and three observation stations staffed by U.S. civilians in a UN-maintained buffer zone between Egyptian and Israeli forces. In November 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat broke 30 years of hostility with Israel by visiting Jerusalem at the invitation of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. During a two-day visit, which included a speech before the Knesset, the Egyptian leader created a new psychological climate in the Middle East in which peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors seemed a realistic possibility. Sadat recognized Israel's right to exist and established the basis for direct negotiations between Egypt and Israel. In September 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter invited President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin to meet with him at Camp David, where they agreed on a framework for peace between Israel and Egypt and a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. It set out broad principles to guide negotiations between Israel and the Arab states. It also established guidelines for a West Bank-Gaza transitional regime of full autonomy for the Palestinians residing in the occupied territories and for a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The treaty was signed on March 26, 1979, by Begin and Sadat, with President Carter signing as witness. Under the treaty, Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt in April 1982. In 1989, the Governments of Israel and Egypt concluded an agreement that resolved the status of Taba, a resort area on the Gulf of Aqaba. In the years following the 1948 war, Israel's border with Lebanon was quiet, compared to its borders with other neighbors. After the expulsion of the Palestinian fedayeen (fighters) from Jordan in 1970--and their influx into southern Lebanon, however, hostilities on Israel's northern border increased. In March 1978, after a series of clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian guerillas in Lebanon, Israeli forces crossed into Lebanon. After passage of Security Council Resolution 425, calling for Israeli withdrawal and the creation of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon peace-keeping force (UNIFIL), Israel withdrew its troops. In July 1981, after additional fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in Lebanon, President Reagan's special envoy, Philip C. Habib, helped secure a cease-fire between the parties. However, in June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to fight the forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In August 1982, the PLO withdrew its forces from Lebanon. With U.S. assistance, Israel and Lebanon reached an accord in May 1983 that set the stage to withdraw Israeli forces from Lebanon. The instruments of ratification were never exchanged, however, and in March 1984, under pressure from Syria, Lebanon canceled the agreement. In June 1985, Israel withdrew most of its troops from Lebanon, leaving a small residual Israeli force and an Israeli-supported militia in southern Lebanon in a "security zone," which Israel considers a necessary buffer against attacks on its northern territory. By the late 1980s, the spread of non-conventional weaponry--including missile technology--in the Middle East began to pose security problems for Israel from further afield. This was evident during the Gulf crisis that began with Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait. When allied coalition forces moved to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait in January 1991, Iraq launched a series of missile attacks against Israel. Despite the provocation, Israel refrained from entering the Gulf war directly, accepting U.S. assistance to deflect continued Iraqi missile attacks. The coalition's victory in the Gulf war opened new possibilities for regional peace, and in October 1991, the Presidents of the United States and the Soviet Union jointly convened an historic meeting in Madrid of Israeli, Lebanese, Jordanian, Syrian, and Palestinian leaders which became the foundation for ongoing bilateral and multilateral negotiations designed to bring lasting peace and economic development to the region. On September 13, 1993, Israel and the PLO signed a Declaration of Principles on the South Lawn of the White House. The declaration was a major conceptual breakthrough achieved under the Madrid framework. It established an ambitious set of objectives relating to a transfer of authority from Israel to an interim Palestinian authority. Final status talks are to begin by the third year of the interim regime. Implementation is contingent upon the details of the declaration. These negotiations were continuing in early 1994. Additionally, on September 14, Israel and Jordan signed a substantive common agenda to guide their bilateral negotiations. GOVERNMENT Israel is a parliamentary democracy. Its governmental system is based on several basic laws enacted by its unicameral parliament, the Knesset. The president (chief of state) is elected by the Knesset for a five-year term. The prime minister (head of government) exercises executive power and has in the past been selected by the president as the party leader most able to form a government. The prime minister and other members of the cabinet must be approved by the Knesset, to which they are responsible. Recent legislation calls for the direct election of the prime minister as of the next elections (currently scheduled for 1996). The Knesset's 120 members are elected by secret ballot to four-year terms, although the prime minister may decide to call for new elections before the end of its term. Voting is for party lists rather than for individual candidates, and the total number of seats assigned each party reflects that party's percentage of the vote. Successful Knesset candidates are drawn from the lists in order of party-assigned rank. Under the present electoral system, all members of the Knesset are elected at large. The independent judicial system includes secular and religious courts. The courts' right of judicial review of the Knesset's legislation is limited. Judicial interpretation is restricted to problems of execution of laws and validity of subsidiary legislation. The highest court in Israel is the Supreme Court, whose judges are approved by the president. Israel is divided into six districts, administration of which is coordinated by the Ministry of Interior. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for the administration of the occupied territories. Principal Government Officials President--Ezer Weizman Prime Minister--Yitzhak Rabin Labor Foreign Minister--Shimon Peres Labor Ambassador to the United States--Dr. Itamar Rabinovich Ambassador to the United Nations--Gad Yaacobi Israel maintains an embassy in the United States at 3514 International Drive NW, Washington DC, 20008 (tel. 202-364-5500). There are also consulates general in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. POLITICAL CONDITIONS From the founding of Israel in 1948 until the election of May 1977, Israel was ruled by a coalition government led by the Labor alignment or its constituent parties. From 1967-70, the coalition government included all of Israel's parties except the communist party. After the 1977 election, the Likud bloc, then composed of Herut, the Liberals, and the smaller La'am Party, came to power, forming a coalition with the National Religious Party, Agudat Israel, and others. As head of Likud, Menachem Begin became Prime Minister. The Likud retained power in the succeeding election in June 1981, and Begin remained Prime Minister. In the summer of 1983, Begin resigned and was succeeded by his Foreign Minister, Yitzhak Shamir. After losing a Knesset vote of confidence early in 1984, Shamir was forced to call for new elections, held in July of that year. The vote was split among numerous parties and provided no clear winner leaving both Labor and Likud considerably short of a Knesset majority. Neither Labor nor Likud was able to gain enough support from the small parties to form even a narrow coalition. After several weeks of difficult negotiations, they agreed on a broadly based government of national unity. The agreement provided for the rotation of the office of prime minister and the combined office of vice prime minister and foreign minister midway through the government's 50-month term. During the first 25 months of unity government rule, Labor's Shimon Peres served as prime minister, while Likud's Yitzhak Shamir held the posts of vice prime minister and foreign minister. Peres and Shamir switched positions in October 1986. The November 1988 elections resulted in a similar coalition government. Likud edged Labor out by one seat but was unable to form a coalition with the religious and right-wing parties. Likud and Labor formed another national unity government in January 1989 without providing for rotation. Yitzhak Shamir became Prime Minister, and Shimon Peres became Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister. The national unity government fell in March 1990, in a vote of no-confidence precipitated by disagreement over the government's response to U.S. Secretary of State Baker's initiative in the peace process. Labor Party leader Peres was unable to attract sufficient support among the religious parties to form a government. Yitzhak Shamir then formed a Likud-led coalition government including members from religious and right-wing parties. This government took office in June 1990, and held power for 2 years. In the June 1992 national elections, the Labor Party reversed its electoral fortunes, taking 44 seats. Labor Party leader Yitzhak Rabin formed a coalition with Meretz (a group of three leftist parties) and Shas (a religious party); the coalition included the support of two Arab-majority parties. Rabin became Prime Minister in July 1992. ECONOMY Israel has a mixed economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports of oil, food, grain, raw material, and military equipment. It is poor in natural resources but well endowed with skilled labor. Israel's strong commitment to economic development and its talented work force led to economic growth rates during the nation's first two decades that frequently exceeded 10% annually. This growth transformed the Israeli economy into a modern industrial and service economy with a per-capita income roughly comparable to that of Ireland, Spain, and Greece. In 1992, GDP was an estimated $65 billion. The major industrial sectors are metal products, electronic equipment, food processing, chemical and oil products, transport equipment, and rubber and plastic products. Israel's growth rate began to slow in the mid-1970s, primarily due to high inflation that peaked in the first half of the 1980s. In July 1985, the government began a comprehensive economic stabilization program to attack inflation and the balance-of-payments deficit. The United States helped finance the program by providing $1.5 billion in emergency economic aid. This program reduced inflation to about 20% in 1986; in 1992, inflation fell to 9.6%, a single-digit figure for the first time in 23 years. Despite a slowdown in growth toward the end of 1992, the annual GDP growth rate was a strong 6.4%, with growth balanced among various economic sectors in contrast to the high growth rate in the construction sector that had characterized the last few years. Unemployment has become one of the government's chief concerns, reaching a historically high 11% in 1992, in part because of high immigration level. Although the government has removed many restrictions on capital, labor, and, currency markets in recent years, heavy government involvement continues to characterize the Israeli economy. Many economic policy makers recognize that structural reform is needed, but the implementation of reforms has been slow. Prime Minister Rabin continues to stress that economic reform will be a priority of his administration. Israel's balance-of-payments problems have been offset by capital inflows. Israel's trade deficit rose slightly in 1992, with exports totaling $12.4 billion and imports reaching $18.6 billion. Overall trade with the rest of the world rose 11% in 1992. The United States remains Israel's principal trading partner, although trade with European Union countries is larger. Excluding U.S. military exports, bilateral trade with Israel exceeded $7 billion in 1992, with Israel accruing a $718 million trade surplus. U.S. non-military exports totaled $3.2 billion in 1992, down from $3.3 billion in 1991. Israel continues to be an attractive market for U.S. products. The U.S.-Israel free-trade-area agreement has eliminated duties on most American manufactured items, and, beginning in 1991, the Israeli Government embarked on a program to dismantle non-tariff barriers. Israel also has industrial free-trade-area agreements with the European Union and the European Free Trade Association. Effective January 1986, Israel established the city of Eilat as a duty-free zone. FOREIGN RELATIONS In addition to seeking an end to hostilities with Arab forces, against which it has fought 5 wars in its 45-year history, Israel has given high priority to gaining wide acceptance as a sovereign state with an important international role. Before 1967, it had established diplomatic relations with a majority of the world's nations, except for the Arab states and most other Muslim countries. While the Soviet Union and the communist states of Eastern Europe (except Romania) broke diplomatic relations with Israel in the 1967 war, those relations had been restored by 1991. Israel has also successfully established relations with most of the republics of the former Soviet Union except Turkmenistan. Currently, 125 countries--nearly 70% of all UN members--have established formal diplomatic relations with Israel. Since 1987, 42 countries have formalized ties with Israel--31 of these since the beginning of 1991. Both China and India established relations with Israel in early 1992. DEFENSE Israel's ground, air, and naval forces, known as the Israel Defense Force (IDF), fall under the command of a single general staff. Conscription is universal for Jewish men and women over the age of 18, although exemptions may be made on religious grounds. Druze, members of a small Islamic sect living in Israel's mountains, also serve in the IDF. Arab-Israelis, with very few exceptions, do not serve. During 1950-66, Israel spent an average of 9% of GDP on defense. Real defense expenditures increased dramatically after both the 1967 and 1973 wars. In 1992, the military budget reached 9.9% of GDP and represented about 16% of the total 1992 budget. In 1983, the United States and Israel established the Joint Political Military Group, which includes joint military planning and combined exercises. The United States and Israel have collaborated on military research and weapons development and have signed an agreement allowing Israel to participate in Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) research. U.S.-ISRAELI RELATIONS Commitment to Israel's security and well-being has been a cornerstone of U.S. policy in the Middle East since Israel's creation in 1948, in which the United States played a key supporting role. Israel and the United States are bound closely by historic and cultural ties as well as by mutual interests. Continuing U.S. economic and security assistance to Israel acknowledges these ties and signals U.S. commitment. The broad issues of Arab-Israeli peace have been a major focus in the U.S.-Israeli relationship. U.S. efforts to reach a Middle East peace settlement are based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. These resolutions provided the basis for cease-fire and disengagement agreements concerning the Sinai and the Golan Heights between Israel, Egypt, and Syria and in promoting the Camp David accords and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty. They were also the foundation for President Reagan's September 1982 peace initiative and Secretary Shultz's January 1988 initiative that aimed at stimulating conditions to bring Jordan and representative Palestinians into the Middle East peace process. The October 1991 Madrid conference also recognized the importance of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 in resolving regional disputes and launched a series of direct bilateral and multilateral negotiations between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries. These talks were designed to finally resolve outstanding security, border, and other issues between the nations of the region while providing a basis for mutual cooperation on issues of general concern, including the status of refugees, disarmament and security, water and environmental concerns, and economic development. On a bilateral level, relations between the United States and Israel have been strengthened in recent years by the establishment of cooperative institutions in many fields. Bilateral foundations in the fields of science and technology include the Binational Science Foundation and the Binational Agricultural Research and Development Foundation. The U.S.-Israeli Education Foundation sponsors educational and cultural programs. In addition, the Joint Economic Development Group maintains a high-level dialogue on economic issues. In early 1993, the United States and Israel agreed to establish a joint Science and Technology Commission. In 1983, the United States and Israel established the Joint Political Military Group, which includes joint military planning and combined exercises. The United States and Israel have collaborated on military research and weapons development and have signed an agreement allowing Israel to participate in Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) research. Principal U.S. Officials U.S. Embassy Charge d'affaires ad interim--William A. Brown Deputy Chief of Mission--James A. Larocco Political Affairs--Bruce Burton Economic Affairs--Alan Parker Administration--Wayne K. Logsdon Consular Affairs--Robert E. Tynes Public Affairs (USIS)--David P. Good Commercial Affairs--Judith A. Henderson Science Attache-- David W. Mulenex Defense Attache--Col. John V. Siebert The U.S. embassy in Israel is located at 71 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv (tel. 03-517-4338). U.S. Consulate General Consul General--Edward G. Abington, Jr. Deputy Principal Officer--John H. Bargeron, Jr. Chief, Consular Section--Kathleen Riley The Consulate General in Jerusalem has offices at 18 Agron Road (tel. 02-253288) and on Nablus Road (tel. 02-282-231). Travel Notes Clothing: Clothing needs are about the same as for the American southwest. Low-heeled, thick-soled walking shoes are best suited for most tourist sites. Dress at most religious sites should be appropriately modest. Most of Israel is quite warm and humid, except for December through March. Rainfall occurs regularly during winter months; occasionally it snows in Jerusalem and in the mountains. Health: Israel requires that at least one pharmacy in a neighborhood be open or on call at all times; a list is published at least weekly in the English-language Jerusalem Post. Israel and U.S. public health standards are about equal. Adequate medical and dental care is available, and tapwater is potable. Telecommunications: Telephone and telegraph services, domestic and international, are efficient. Rates are higher than in the U.S. Israel is 7 standard time zones ahead of eastern standard time. Published by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of Public Communication. Managing Editor: Peter A. Knecht Editor: Peter Freeman Department of State Publication 7752. February 1994 . Background Notes Series Contents of this publication are not copyrighted unless indicated. If not copyrighted, the material may be reproduced without consent; citation of the publication as the source is appreciated. Permission to reproduce any copyrighted material (including photos and graphics) must be obtained from the original source. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.