The Present Promised Land
From the North, the Golan Heights, to the South, the Red Sea, one can make the trip in less than 10 hours. It takes a fighter jet only 2.5 minutes to travel from North to South and twenty five seconds from west to east.
In the course of driving in a vehicle, one sees mountains and plains, seacoasts and rocky highlands and beautiful deserts. Israel is a good land (Deuteronomy 8:7).
In the Galilee and in the North forested highlands merge with green valleys. Driving along the sea coast there are both citrus groves and sand dunes, all bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
There are four seas, the Red, Dead, Mediterranean and the famous Sea of Galilee, known in Israel as the Kinneret for its harp shape.
There are over 63 national parks and nature reserves in this little land.
The deserts of the Negev and the Arava in the South, meet
the tropical waters on the Red Sea. Jacque Cousteau, the famous ocean explorer,
once said, “Diving in the Red Sea is every diver’s promised land.”
Israel is a natural wind tunnel and twice a year in March and in November more than one half billion (500 million) birds, more than two hundred and eighty different species, have been identified crossing over Israel on their migratory flights.
The Present State
Israel is a parliamentary democracy consisting of
legislative, executive and judicial branches and structured, according to the
principle of division of authority, to insure checks and balances within the
system. All citizens of Israel, regardless of race or religion, are guaranteed
equality before the law and full democratic rights. Freedom of speech and
assembly, of press and political affiliation, of strike and demonstration, as
well as the right of the individual to vote according to his or her conscience,
are embodied in the country’s laws and traditions.
Political Parties
Political parties in Israel represent the whole spectrum of
ideologies, from far left to far right.
There is a joke that we say about ourselves “Where there are two Jews,
there are three arguments”. All Israeli
citizens over the age of eighteen may vote and from age twenty one, be elected
to office. The country is regarded as a single constituency, and voting is
universal, secret and proportional on the basis of party lists. We vote
directly and every vote counts.
The President
He or she is the head of the state and elected by the
Knesset which is a 120 member body. The president may serve a maximum of one
seven-year term. The Presidential duties are largely ceremonial and formal. The
President accepts all the credentials of foreign envoys to Israel.
The Cabinet
This is Israel’s executive body and is appointed and headed
by the Prime Minister and is responsible to the Knesset. From the beginning of
the state in 1948 no one party has ever received an absolute majority of the
vote so the practice has been for the party receiving the highest number of
mandates (votes) to form a coalition with other parties. Then the Cabinet
ministers are assigned portfolios – such as foreign affairs, defense, housing,
tourism, education etc.
The Knesset
Israel’s legislative body is a single chamber parliament
consisting of 120 members. The Knesset elects the President and the Speaker of
the Knesset and may dissolve itself and call for new elections before the end
of the government’s four year term. Knesset debates are conducted in Hebrew and
Arabic.
The Israeli Court System
This is entirely independent of the executive and
legislative branches. Judges are appointed by the President on the
recommendation of a public nomination commission. There are 3 levels of court
and in addition, each religious group has its own courts with full jurisdiction
in matters of its own concerns.
From the book Israel, History in a Nutshell © Hela Tamir.
Used with permission
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