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 Ezer WEIZMAN (since 13 May 1993)
head of government : Prime Minister Binyamin NETANYAHU (since 18 June
1996)
cabinet: Cabinet selected from and approved by the Knesset
elections: president elected by the Knesset for a five-year term;
election last held 24 March 1993 (next to be held NA March 1998);
prime minister elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election
last held 29 May 1996 (next to be held NA 2000); note - in March 1992,
the Knesset approved legislation, effective in 1996, which allowed for
the direct election of the prime minister; under the new law, each
voter casts two ballots - one for the direct election of the prime
minister and one for the party in the Knesset; the candidate that
receives the largest percentage of the popular vote then works to form
a coalition with other parties to achieve a parliamentary majority of
61 seats; finally, the candidate must submit his or her cabinet to the
Knesset for approval and this must be done within 45 days of the
election; in contrast to the old system, under the new law, the prime
minister's party need not be the single-largest party in the Knesset
election results: Ezer WEIZMAN elected president; percent of Knesset
vote - NA; Binyamin NETANYAHU elected prime minister; percent of vote
- Binyamin NETANYAHU 50.4%, Shimon PERES 49.5%

Legislative branch: unicameral Knesset or parliament (120 seats;
members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 29 May 1996 (next to be held NA 2000)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party -
Labor Party 34, Likud Party 32, SHAS 10, MERETZ 9, National Religious
Party 9, Yisra'el Ba'Aliya 7, Hadash-Balad 5, Third Way 4, United Arab
List 4, United Jewish Torah 4, Moledet 2; note - Likud, Tzomet, and
Gesher candidates ran on a joint list

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders:
government coalition: Likud Party, Prime Minister Binyamin NETANYAHU;
Tzomet, Rafael EITAN; Gesher, David LEVI; SHAS,