Politics in Israel - Overview
Laws
Israel's governmental system is based on several basic laws enacted by
its unicameral parliament, the Knesset. The president (chief of state, a
largely ceremonial role) is elected by the Knesset for a 5-year term.
Since August 2000, this post has been filled by Moshe Katsav. The prime
minister (head of government) exercises executive power. Every 4 years
there are national elections to the Knesset. In 2003 there were 13
poltical parties represented, from socialist (including arab parties) to
liberals, right wing conservatives and Jewish orthodox parties. The
largest are the "Avoda" (Labour) social-democrat party and the "Likud"
(unity) right wing conservative party.
The prime minister is selected by the president as the party leader most
able to form a government, based on the number of parliament seats his
coalition has won. After the president's selection, the prime minister
has forty-five days to form a government. In the May 1996 elections,
Israelis, for the first time, voted for the prime minister directly, but
direct election has since been repealed and the former system
re-enacted. The members of the cabinet must be collectively approved by
the Knesset. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (from the Likud party) was
first elected 17 February 2001, and re-elected 28 January 2003, forming
a coalition government with Shinui, National Union, and the Mafdal
(National Religious Party). In addition, Yisrael Ba-Aliya dissolved
itself into Likud. All three parties later left the coalition, and the
current coalition government is composed of the Likud, the Labour Party,
and United Torah Judaism.
Knesset
The Knesset's 120 members are elected by secret ballot to 4-year terms,
although the Knesset may decide to call for new elections before the end
of its 4-year term. Voting is carried out using the highest averages
method of party-list proportional representation, using the d'Hondt
formula. General elections are closed list; that is, voters vote only
for party lists and cannot affect the order of candidates within the
lists. There are no separate districts; all voters vote on the same
party lists. Suffrage is universal among Israeli citizens aged 18 years
or older. Polling locations are open throughout Israel ; absentee
ballots are limited to diplomatic staff and the merchant marine. The
electoral system makes it very difficult for any party to gain a working
majority in the Knesset and thus the government is generally formed on
the basis of coalitions of parties, based on negotiations which take
place after the elections.
Courts
The independent judicial system includes secular and religious courts.
The secular courts consist of a three-tier system: Magistrate Courts
serve as courts of first instance; above them are the District Courts
which serve as appelate courts and also serve as courts of first
instance for some cases; at the top of the judicial pyramid is the
Supreme Court, which is situated in Jerusalem. The religious
authorities, which were under control of the Religious Affairs ministry,
which have since been abolished, and put under the direct control of the
Prime minister's office and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. These courts
only have judicial distiction in five areas: Kashrut, Sabbath, Jewish
burial and marital issues (especially divorce), and Jewish status of
immigrants.
However, except for determining a person's marital status, all other
marital issues may also be taken to secular Family Courts. This is known
as the religious status quo, achieved by David Ben-Gurion with the
religious parties at the time of the declaration of independence in
1948, which is still mostly held today, under which streets of Haredi
neighborhoods are closed to traffic on the Sabbath, there is no public
transport on that day, and most businesses are closed. Restaurants who
wish to advertise themselves as kosher must be certified by the Chief
Rabbinate. Importation of non-kosher foods is prohibited, but there are
a few local pork Farms in kibbutzim, catering for establishments selling
"White Meat" (the Israeli euphemism for pork, forbidden under kashrut
laws), due to its relatively popular demand among specific population
sectors (especially after the waves of Russian immigration in the
1990s.)
The other major religions in Israel, such as Islam and Christianity are
supervised by their own official religious establishments, which have
similar jurdistiction over their followers, although Muslim religious
courts have more control over family affairs. This is an agreement
reached with the British Mandatory Authorities under the Mandate.
The Ministry of Education manages the secular (largest) and religious
streams of various faiths in parallel, with a limited degree
independence and a common core Curriculum.
Nevertheless, some breaches of the status quo have become prevalent,
such as several suburbian malls remaining open during the Sabbath.
Though this is contrary to the law, the Government largely turns a blind
eye. Currently, there is an ongoing discussion on the relationship
between Judaism and state, and these issues do not seem to be resolved
any time soon.
Origins of Israeli law
Israeli law is composed of both laws enacted by the Knesset and of
Ordinances which were enacted by the British Mandate rule (until 1948)
and later adopted and revised by the Knesset. Israel's legal system is
best described as a "mixed" one: it belongs to the western legal
tradition, it is heavily influenced by the Anglo-American legal system,
has some aspects which are typical to the Civil Law tradition, and has
unique characterisitics which are induced from the fact that Israel is a
Jewish and democratic state. The courts' right of judicial review of the
Knesset's legislation comes into effect in cases of non-conformance of
legislation to the Basic Laws, in problems of execution of laws and when
the validity of subsidiary legislation is in question. In December 1985,
Israel informed the UN Secretariat that it would no longer accept
compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction.
In recent years, perceived frustration among some members of the secular
sector with the status quo has strengthened parties such as Shinui,
which advocate separation of religion from the state, without much
success so far. Although there is support for the enactment of civilian
marriage (not requiring religious affiliation), there is little
agreement on its implementation. There is fear that civil marriage will
divide the Jewish people in Israel between those who can marry Jews and
those who cant. Because of the wide religious and cultural
disagreements, among fears about the character of the Jewish state, this
complex issue will most likely be alive in the near future until the
internal character of Israel is determined (see Political conditions,
below). Currently, civilian marriages officially sanctioned if performed
abroad. Local marriage licenses must declare to be Jewish, Muslim,
Christian or any of the other officially recognized religions.
Israel has no formal constitution. Some of the functions of a
constitution are filled by the Declaration of Independence (1948), the
Basic Laws of the parliament (Knesset), and the Israeli citizenship law.
Israel is divided into six districts (mehozot, singular - mahoz):
Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, Tel Aviv. Administration
of the districts is coordinated by the Ministry of Interior. The
Ministry of Defense is responsible for the administration of the
disputed territories.
Political conditions
Golda Meir, a former Israeli Prime Minister, joked that "in Israel,
there are 3 million prime ministers". Because of the Proportional
representation system, there is a large number of political parties,
many of whom run on very specialized platforms, often advocating the
tenets of particular interest groups. The prevalent balance between the
largest parties means that the smaller parties can have
disproportionately strong influence to their size. Due to their ability
to act as tie breakers, they often use this status to block legislation
or promote their own agenda, even contrary to the manifesto of the
larger party in office.
Israeli politics is dominated by Zionist parties which traditionally
fall into three camps, Labour Zionism, Revisionist Zionism and Religious
Zionism (although there are several non Zionist Orthodox religious
parties, as well as anti-Zionist Israeli Arab parties).
From the founding of Israel in 1948 until the election of May 1977,
Israel was ruled by successive coalition governments led by the Labour
Alignment (or Mapai prior to 1967). From 1967 to 1970, a national unity
government included all of Israel's parties except for the two factions
of the Communist Party of Israel. After the 1977 election, the
Revisionist Zionist 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.
Recent Prime Ministers and governments
Begin and Shamir
As head of Likud, Menachem Begin became Prime Minister. He remained
Prime Minister through the succeeding election in June 1981, until his
resignation in the summer of 1983, when he 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 Labour and Likud considerably short of a Knesset majority.
Neither Labour 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.
Peres and Shamir
During the first 25 months of unity government rule, Labour'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 Labour out by one seat
but was unable to form a coalition with the religious and right-wing
parties. Likud and Labour 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 formation of the Labour-Likud coalition in 1984 resulted in the
Mapam party leaving the Labour Alignment to join other members of the
Israeli peace camp in forming the left wing Meretz party.
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 Oslo
Accords.
Shamir
Labour 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.
Shamir's government took office in June 1990, and held power for 2
years.
Rabin
In the June 1992 national elections, the Labour Party reversed its
electoral fortunes, taking 44 seats. Labour Party leader Yitzhak Rabin
formed a coalition with Meretz (a group of three centre-left parties)
and Shas (an ultra-Orthodox religious party). The coalition included the
support of Arab and communist parties. Rabin became Prime Minister in
July 1992. Shas subsequently left the coalition, leaving Rabin with a
minority government dependent on the votes of Arab and communist parties
in the Knesset.
Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish radical on November 4,
1995, after the passage of the controversial Oslo Accords. Peres, then
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, once again became Prime
Minister and immediately proceeded to carry forward the policies of
Yitzhak Rabin, as well as the economic liberalization policies, of the
Rabin government and to implement Israel's Oslo commitments (including
military redeployment in the West Bank and the holding of historic
Palestinian elections on January 20, 1996).
Peres, again
Enjoying broad public support and anxious to secure his own mandate,
Peres called for early elections after just 3 months in office. (They
would have otherwise been held by the end of October 1996.) In late
February and early March, a series of suicide bombing attacks by
Palestinian terrorists took some 60 Israeli lives, seriously eroding
public support for Peres and raising concerns about the Oslo Accords.
Increased fighting in southern Lebanon, which also brought Katyusha
rocket attacks against northern Israel, raised tensions and weakened the
government politically just a month before the 29 May elections. This
was further exacerbated, despite the sharp increase in economic growth
rates.
Netanyahu
In those elections - the first direct election of a prime minister in
Israeli history - Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu won by a narrow
margin, having sharply criticized the government's peace policies for
failing to protect Israeli security. Netanyahu subsequently formed a
predominantly right-wing coalition government publicly committed to
pursuing the Oslo Accords, but with an emphasis on security first and
reciprocity. His coalition included the Likud party, allied with the
Tsomet and Gesher parties in a single list; three religious parties
(Shas, the National Religious Party (Mafdal), and the United Torah
Judaism bloc); and two centrist parties, The Third Way and Yisrael
b'Aliyah. The latter is the first significant party formed expressly to
represent the interests of Israel's new immigrants. The Gesher party
withdrew from the coalition in January 1998 upon the resignation of its
leader, David Levy, from the position of Foreign Minister.
Barak
In 27 May 1999, Ehud Barak from the Labour party was elected Prime
minister, and formed a coalition with the center party (a new party with
centrist views, led by former generals Yitzhak Mordechay and Amnon
Lipkin Shachak), the left-wing Meretz, Yisrael b'Aliyah, the religious
Shas and the National Religious Party. The coalition was committed to
continuing negotiations; however, during the two years of the
government's existence, most parties left the coalition, leaving Barak
with a minority government of the Labour and the center party alone.
Barak was forced to call for early elections.
Political pressure groups and leaders
Political right
On the political right:
* Gush Emunim, Israeli nationalists advocating Jewish settlement on the
West Bank and Gaza Strip and opposing evacuation of any of these
settlements. (Largely defunct)
* Yesha Council (Yesha being a Hebrew acronym for "Judea, Samaria and
Gaza"), a loose formation of local office-bearers in the Disputed
Territories that claims to represent the interests of the Israeli
settlers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They have high influence
through strong organization and highly motivated communities.
* Almagor: association of terror victims.
Political left
On the political left:
* the self identified Israeli "Peace Camp" is a coalition of parties and
non-paralaimental groups which desire to promote their version of peace
between Israel and its Arab neighbours to resolve the Arab-Israeli
conflict through a "land for peace" program. One of its major groups is
Peace Now (see below).
* Peace Now supports territorial concessions in the West Bank and was
critical of government's policy in the Lebanon Civil War and military
control of South Lebanon.
* Geneva Initiative and The People's Voice (HaMifkad HaLeumi), two peace
initiatives led by prominent Israeli and Palestinian public figures that
surfaced in 2004. These initiatives were based on unofficial bilateral
understandings between the two sides, and offer models for a permanent
agreement. These initiatives have little validity with the Israeli
public.
* Histadrut ("Union"; short for "the General Union of the Workers in
Israel"), an umbrella organization for many labor unions in Israel. In
the past, was identified with the different forms of the Israel Labor
party; nowadays, the chairman of the Histadrut is Amir Peretz, head of
the socialist Am Ehad party (which eventually merged into the Labor in
2004).
* Several radical left-wing organizations calling soldiers to refuse
service in the West Bank and Gaza; the best known are HaOmetz LeSarev
("Courage to Refuse") and Yesh Gvul. They effect is little since they
are shuned by the majority of the public, and only anti-Israeli parties
agree to have contacts with them.
Interest groups
* The kibbutzim lobby, which seek to receive financial aid from the
government.
* The agriculture lobby, which seek to receive subsidies and tax relief
on water.
* The lobby for promoting the status of women, a feminist group which
co-operates with the Knesset.
* The lobby for the release of Jonathan Pollard, a Jewish spy jailed in
the USA
* Or Yarok ("Green Light"): an organization devoted to reducing road
accidents in Israel through education, enforcement, improvement of
infrastructure and the stablishment of a national task force to research
the problem and formulate a long-range plan to reduce car accidents.
Others
* Notable rabbinic figures have considerable influence on several
Israeli parties and politicians, notably Shas and United Torah Judaism.
* Neturei Karta, fringe Haredi group that rejects Israel and refrains
from taking part in elections. They have very tiny effect on the Israeli
politics.
* The Monitor Committee of Israeli Arabs: an Arab group, claiming to
represent the interests of the Arab minority in Israel, tend to be
seperatists and hence percieved as hostile by the Jewish majority and
have little influence in politics.
Political issues
Major issues in Israeli political life include:
* The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Arab-Israeli conflict
* The relationships between Jewish religious movements
* The nature of the state of Israel; (e.g. in what ways should it
represent Judaism and in what ways should it represent secular
democracy?)(see Jewish State)
* The economy, and trade issues with other nations.
Country name
Conventional long form: State of Israel
Conventional short form: Israel
Local long form: Medinat Yisra'el (Hebrew: מדינת ישראל)
Local short form: Yisra'el (Hebrew: ישראל)
Data code
* IS
Capital
* Jerusalem
note: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, but most
countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv.
National holiday
Independence Day is known as Yom Ha'atzma'ut, 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. Its Hebrew date is 5 Iyar.
International organization participation
BSEC (observer), CCC, CE (observer), CERN (observer), EBRD, ECE, FAO,
IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF,
International Maritime Organization, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC,
IOM, ISO, ITU, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO.
Flag description
White with a blue hexagram (six-pointed linear star) known as the Magen
David (Star of David) centered between two equal horizontal blue bands
near the top and bottom edges of the flag.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Israel
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