Israeli

Coat of arms:

For thousands of years, the seven branched candelabrum (the Menorah) has symbolised Israel and the Jewish people. Depicted here is a Menorah from the Old Temple in Jerusalem. The two olive branches symbolise Israel's aspiration for peace. Below the candelabrum it says “Israel” in Hebrew.

Flag:

The design takes its inspiration from the Jewish prayer shawl (Tallit). In the middle, one finds the Shield of David (Magen David), also called the Star of David. The official size of the flag is 160x220 cm (that is 8:11 - which is the same size as the standard American flag - 6 x 10 feet). The colour is described as 'dark sky blue'. Often one can see the proportions 2:3 and a lighter shade of blue.

Independence:

May 14th 1948
This means that modern-day Israel is older than the majority of the 200-odd states today.
(Since the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, the Independence celebration takes place in either April or May).

Area:

22 145 km2 (8,550 sq mi)
Half the size of countries such as Denmark and Switzerland - twice the size of Rhode Island.
The number above includes East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, but not the West Bank or Gaza.

Population:

7 047 001 inhabitants (2006)
(Israel MFA, via Wiki)

Time zone:

GMT (or UTC) +2
Israel Standard Time (IST) has the same difference from UTC as Eastern European Time (EET).

Important rivers:

Jordan

Largest lake:

Lake Kinneret

Borders:

Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.

Capital:

Tel Aviv or Jerusalem
Israel says Jerusalem; most other states claim Tel Aviv.

Larger cities:

Jerusalem (724 000 inhabitants)
Tel Aviv (379 000)
Haifa (267 800)
Rishon LeZiyyon (202 000 - år 2000)
Beersheba (173 000 - år 2000)

Stockholm (776 545) Gothenburg (487 488), Malmoe (273 477)
Source: Israel MFA (MFA.gov.il) and Swedish SCB. All numbers from 2006 unless stated elsewise.

Currency:

Shekel (New Israeli Shekel, NIS - or ILS acc. to the standardisation code)
100 ILS = 23,86 US Dollars
100 ILS = 18,08 Euros
(XE.com December 2006)

Bruttonational- produkt
BNP:

159 600 million US dollar
268 300 million US dollar, Sweden

Agriculture 2,6% 1,1%, Sweden
Industry 31,7% 28,2%, Sweden
Service 65,7% 70,7%, Sweden
(CIA World Fact Book 2005)

Life expectancy at birth, women:

79,46 years
82,87 years, Sweden
(CIA World Fact Book 2005)

Life expectancy at birth, men:

77,33 years
78,29 years, Sweden
(CIA World Fact Book 2006)

Median age:

29,6 years
40,9 years, Sweden
(CIA World Fact Book 2006)

Infant mortality rate:

0,6 %
0,3 %, Sweden
(World Bank 2001)

Public spending on health services:

6,0 % of GDP
6,7 % of GDP, Sweden
(World Bank 1998)

Anthem:

The Israeli National Anthem is called “The Hope” (Hatikva).
The text was written in 1878 by Naftali Herz Imber, who moved to Palestine a few years later. The music was arranged in 1882 by Samuel Cohen, an immigrant from Moldavia. The tune was inspired by a Moldavian-Romanian folk tune. The same tune was also used by the composer Smetana in 'Moldau'. Some say the 'Moldau' was inspired by the popular Swedish folk tune 'Ack Värmland Du Sköna'.

Hatikva was sung at the 9th Zionist congress in 1907. By the time of the 18th Zionist congress in 1933, it was adopted as the official Zionist Anthem (at the same time as the flag was adopted).

The Hope
As long as deep in the heart,
The soul of a Jew yearns,
And towards the East
An eye looks to Zion,

Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free people in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

Haikvah
Kol od baleivav p'nima
Nefesh Y'hudi homiya
Ul'fa-atey mizrach kadima
Ayin L'Tziyon tzofiya

Od lo avda tikvateynu
Hatikva sh'not alpayim
Lih'yot am chofshi b'artzenu
B'Eretz Tziyon v'yirushalayim.
Lih'yot am chofshi b'artzenu
B'Eretz Tziyon v'yirushalayim.

Hatikva as small midi-files:
hatikva1.mid hatikva2.mid

And in mp3-format (2mb):
Hatikvah.mp3

President:

Moshe Katzav (since July 31 2000)

Prime Minister:

Ehud Olmert (since March 29 2006)

Political parties in the Knesseth after the 2006 election (results from the 2003 election within parenthesis)::

Kadima 29 (-)
Labor - Meimad 19 (19)
Likud 12 (38)
Shas 12 (11)
Yisrael Beitenu 11 (-)
NRP/NUP-Mafdal 9 (-)
Gil Senior Citizen Party 7 (-)
United Torah Judaism 6 (5)
Meretz-Yahad 5 (6)
Ra’am Ta’al 5 (-)
Hadash 3 (3)
National Democratic Assembly 3 (-)

Since the election 2003, several parties have merged, others have started and yet others have disappeared. The political map has been re-drawn. In 2005, Ariel Sharon broke out of Likud and founded the party Kadima ('Forward') in order to be able to conduct more unilateral withdrawals. After the sudden illness of Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert was elected party chairman of Kadima; the party then went on to win the national elections in March 2006. The government is now based on Kadima as well as The Labour Party, with the support of Yisrael Beitenu. All in all, the government enjoys support of 78 of the 120 members of Knesseth.

(Ariel Sharon was in 2003 the first prime minister in twenty years to be re-elected by the Israeli people. His Likud and Shinui formed a government with the support of nearly half of the members of Knesset. Also NUP and NRP was part of the government.)

Notes:
Statistical information can often be calculated in various ways. When comparing Israel and e.g. Sweden, we've thus tried to use the same sources and years, in order to attain as valid comparisons as possible. Calculations concerning Israel are affected by political assessments as well as international public law judgments. When we in calculations above include East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, but not the West Bank and Gaza, that's primarily a practical choice, which we believe best reflects what in everyday speech is referred to as 'Israel'. .

www.jafi.org.il/.../tikva.html

flagspot.net/flags/il.html

www.science.co.il/Israel-Anthem.asp

www.cia.gov/.../factbook/.../is.html

www.xe.com

www.mfa.gov.il

www.scb.se

www.knesset.gov.il/mk/.../