% commerce; 9.5% finance and business;
6.8% transport, storage, and communications; 6.5% construction and public works;
5.5% agriculture, forestry, and fishing; 5.8% personal and other services;
1.0% electricity and water (1983)

Organized labor: 90% of labor force

- Government
Long-form name: State of Israel

Type: republic

Capital: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem its capital in 1950, but the US,
like nearly all other countries, maintains its Embassy in Tel Aviv

Administrative divisions: 6 districts (mehozot, singular--mehoz); Central,
Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, Tel Aviv

Independence: 14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British
administration)

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

National holiday: Independence Day, 10 May 1989; Israel declared
independence on 14 May 1948, but the Jewish calendar is lunar and the holiday
may occur in April or May

Executive branch: president, prime minister, vice prime minister, Cabinet

Legislative branch: unicameral Knesset

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Leaders:
Chief of State--President Gen. Chaim HERZOG (since 5 May 1983);

Head of Government--Prime Minister Yitzhak SHAMIR (since 20 October 1986);
Vice Prime Minister Shimon PERES (Prime Minister from 13 September 1984 to
20 October 1986, when he rotated to Vice Prime Minister)

Political parties and leaders: Israel currently has a national unity
government comprising five parties that hold 95 of the Knesset's
120 seats; Members of the unity government--Likud bloc, Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir; Labor Party, Vice Prime Minister and Finance
Minister Shimon Peres; Sephardic Torah Guardians (SHAS), Minister of
Immigrant Absorption Yitzhak Peretz; National Religious Party, Minister of
Religious Affairs Zevulun Hammer; Agudat Yisrael, Deputy Minister
of Labor and Social Welfare Moshe Zeev Feldman;

Opposition parties--Tehiya Party, Yuval Ne'eman; Tzomet Party,
Rafael Eytan; Moledet Party, Rehavam Ze'evi; Degel HaTorah, Avraham
Ravitz; Citizens' Rights Movement, Shulam