as 89 km

Ports: Ashdod, Ashqelon, Elat, Hadera, Haifa, Tel Aviv-Yafo

Merchant marine:
total: 28 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 577,747 GRT/701,459 DWT
ships by type: cargo 5, container 20, refrigerated cargo 2,
roll-on/roll-off cargo 1 (1995 est.)

Airports:
total: 50
with paved runways over 3 047 m: 2
with paved runways 2 438 to 3 047 m: 6
with paved runways 1 524 to 2 437 m: 7
with paved runways 914 to 1 523 m: 8
with paved runways under 914 m: 22
with unpaved runways 1 524 to 2 437 m: 2
with unpaved runways 914 to 1 523 m: 3 (1995 est.)

Heliports: 2 (1995 est.)

Communications
--------------

Telephones: 2.425 million (1990 est.)

Telephone system: most highly developed system in the Middle East
although not the largest
domestic: good system of coaxial cable and microwave radio relay
international: 3 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 3
Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 9, FM 45, shortwave 0

Radios: 2.25 million (1993 est.)

Television broadcast stations: 20

Televisions: 1.5 million (1993 est.)

Defense
-------

Branches: Israel Defense Forces (includes ground, naval, and air
components), Pioneer Fighting Youth (Nahal), Frontier Guard, Chen
(women); note - historically there have been no separate Israeli
military services

Manpower availability:
males age 15-49: 1,390,603
females age 15-49: 1,363,986
males fit for military service: 1,139,137
females fit for military service: 1,112,947
males reach military age (18) annually: 50,508
females reach military age (18) annually: 48,176 (1996 est.)

Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $9.2 billion,
about 9.8% of GDP (1996)

======================================================================

@Italy
-----

Map
---

Location: 42 50 N, 12 50 E -- Southern Europe, a peninsula
extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia

Flag
----

Description: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side),
white, and red; similar to the flag of Ireland, which is longer and
is green (hoist side), white, and orange; also similar to the flag
of the Cote d'Ivoire, which has the colors reversed - orange (hoist
side), white, and green

Geography
---------

Location: Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central
Mediterranean Sea, northeas