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, appointed for life by the president

Political parties and leaders:
government coalition: Likud Party, Prime Minister Binyamin NETANYAHU;
Tzomet, Rafael EITAN; SHAS, Arieh DERI; National Religious Party,
Yitzhak LEVI; Yisra'el Ba'Aliya, Natan SHARANSKY; United Jewish Torah,
Meir PORUSH; Third Way, Avigdor KAHALANI
opposition: Labor Party, Ehud BARAK; MERETZ, Yossi SARID; United Arab
List, Abd al-Malik DAHAMSHAH; Hadash-Balad, Hashim MAHAMID
other: Moledet, Rehavam ZEEVI; Gesher, David LEVI

Political pressure groups and leaders: Gush Emunim, Israeli
nationalists advocating Jewish settlement on the West Bank and Gaza
Strip; Peace Now supports territorial concessions in the West Bank and
is critical of government's Lebanon policy

International organization participation: AG (observer), BSEC
(observer), CCC, CE (observer), CERN (observer), EBRD, ECE, FAO, IADB,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat,
Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, OAS (observer), OSCE
(partner), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WToO, WTrO

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador-designate Zalman SHOVAL
chancery: 3514 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 364-5500
FAX: [1] (202) 364-5607
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles,
Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Edward WALKER
embassy: 71 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv
mailing address: PSC 98, Box 100, APO AE 09830
telephone: [972] (3) 519-7575
FAX: [972] (3) 517-3227
consulate(s) general: Jerusalem; note-an independent US mission,
established in 1928, whose members are not accredited to a foreign
government

Flag description: white with a blue hexagram (six-pointed linear star)
known as the Magen David