Case Study on "Israel Internal Security"

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Israel Internal Security Case Study

Nature of the state

Israel is a young nation, developed following WWII, when Britain withdrew from Palestine and the United Nations partitioned a portion of it for the resettlement of displaced Jews following the war. Arab nations in the region and Palestine itself rejected the arrangement, but it was followed through with nonetheless. The arrangement developed into several costly wars in which the Israeli army was successful, with the aide of foreign backing but many deep rooted tensions have not been resolved since. The Israeli government also occupies additional lands, which were acquired through these costly wars, most notably the Gaza strip and a few other regions, though some have been returned to their nation of origin since.

On 25 April 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Israel and Palestinian officials signed on 13 September 1993 a Declaration of Principles (also known as the "Oslo accords") guiding an interim period of Palestinian self-rule. Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 26 October 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. In addition, on 25 May 2000, Israel withdrew unilaterally from southern Lebanon, which it had occupied since 1982. In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations were conducted between Israel and Palestinian representatives and Syria to achieve a permanent settlement.... progress toward a permanent status agreement has been undermined by Palestinian-Israeli violence ongoing since September 2000. (CIA World Factbook NP)

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It was hoped that the resolution to the conflict between Palestine and Israel would have come to a peaceful conclusion, when the long reigning Palestinian (PLO) leader Yasir Arafat, died in 2004 and was replaced by election in 2005 by Mahmud Abbas. Violence since 2005 does not suggest that there has been a serious resolution of the many long standing issues or the view of many Arabs, who often see Israel as a fundamentally aggressive nation.

Israel is governed as a parliamentary democracy but without a formal constitution. Some constitutional functions are fulfilled by the 1948 Declaration of Establishment, the basic laws of parliament, known as Knesst and the Israeli citizenship law. The Judiciary branch of government is a mixture of English common law, British Mandate regulations and according toe the CIA World factbook, personal matters are decided through Jewish, Christian and Muslim legal systems. There has in the past been some interjection of legal authority by the UN, but in 1985 Israel broke from tradition and informed the UN that it would no longer utilize compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction. The judicial branch's highest authority is the Supreme Court whose members are appointed for life by the Israeli president. (CIA World Factbook NP)

The executive branch consists of two lead positions, the chief of state President, currently Moshe Katzav and the head of government currently Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The cabinet is also considered a part of the executive branch and is selected by the prime minister and approved by the Knesset the presidential role is largely a ceremonial one, and he is elected by the Knesset to seven-year terms.

The legislative branch is unicameral and is known as the Knesset or parliament. There are 120 seats and they are each elected for four-year terms by popular vote.

A election results: percent of vote by party - Likud Party 29.4%, Labor 14.5%, Shinui 12.3%, Shas 8.2%, National Union 5.5%, Meretz 5.2%, United Torah Judaism 4.3%, National Religious Party 4.2%, Democratic Front for Peace and Equality 3.0%, One Nation 2.8%, National Democratic Assembly 2.3%, Yisra'el Ba'Aliya (YBA) 2.2%, United Arab List 2.1%, Green Leaf Party 1.2%, Herut 1.2%, other 1.6%; seats by party - Likud 38, Labor 19, Shinui 15, Shas 11, National Union 7, Meretz 6, National Religious Party 6, United Torah Judaism 5, Democratic Front for Peace and Equality 3, One Nation 3, National Democratic Assembly 3, YBA 2, United Arab List 2 (CIA Worldfactbook NP)

Salient facts

Location: Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Lebanon

Geographic coordinates: 31-30 N, 34-45 E

Map references: Middle East

Area:

total: 20,770 sq km land: 20,330 sq km water: 440 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than New Jersey

Land boundaries:

total: 1,017 km border countries: Egypt 266 km, Gaza Strip 51 km, Jordan 238 km, Lebanon 79 km, Syria 76 km, West Bank 307 km

Coastline: 273 km

Maritime claims:

continental shelf: to depth of exploitation territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: temperate; hot and dry in southern and eastern desert areas

Terrain: Negev desert in the south; low coastal plain; central mountains; Jordan Rift Valley

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m highest point: Har Meron 1,208 m

Natural resources: timber, potash, copper ore, natural gas, phosphate rock, magnesium bromide, clays, sand

Land use:

arable land: 16.39% permanent crops: 4.17% other: 79.44% (2001)

Irrigated land: 1,990 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: sandstorms may occur during spring and summer; droughts; periodic earthquakes

Environment - current issues: limited arable land and natural fresh water resources pose serious constraints; desertification; air pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions; groundwater pollution from industrial and domestic waste, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Marine Life Conservation

Geography - note: there are 242 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the West Bank, 42 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 25 in the Gaza Strip, and 29 in East Jerusalem (February 2002 est.); Sea of Galilee is an important freshwater source

The population of Israel, is: "6,199,008 note: includes about 187,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, about 20,000 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, more than 5,000 in the Gaza Strip, and fewer than 177,000 in East Jerusalem (July 2004 est.)" (CIA World factbook NP)

Ethnic and religious diversity has changed over the years but is logically varied. Representation of minorities is also relatively low, in Israel itself as can be seen from the above elected seats statistics. According to the CIA World Factbook the following applies to the nation, but does not include the populations in occupied territories, of Palestinian association.

Ethnic groups: Jewish 80.1% (Europe/America-born 32.1%, Israel-born 20.8%, Africa-born 14.6%, Asia-born 12.6%), non-Jewish 19.9% (mostly Arab) (1996 est.)

Religions: Jewish 80.1%, Muslim 14.6% (mostly Sunni Muslim), Christian 2.1%, other 3.2% (1996 est.)

Languages: Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language

Capital: Jerusalem

Note: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, but the U.S., like nearly all other countries, maintains its Embassy in Tel Aviv

Administrative divisions: 6 districts (mehozot, singular - mehoz); Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, Tel Aviv

Independence: 14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)

National holiday: Independence Day, 14 May (1948); note - Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, but the Jewish calendar is lunar and the holiday may occur in April or May

Constitution: no formal constitution; some of the functions of a constitution are filled 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 (CIA World Factbook NP)

Threats to the state (both historical and contemporary)

As a relatively new nation the concept of threats to Israel are broad, threats are both internal and external, including derisive internal threats from the Palestinian terror organizations as well as threats from other Arab nations, with regard to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians as well as their existence as a Jewish nation populated by a non-Jewish majority. Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Egypt have at various times throughout history posed a military threat against Israel,

Jones, and Murphy 117) yet more importantly the ideology of discord and hatred of Israel as a Jewish stronghold in the Arab world is a constant terrorist threat, which has been realized in hundreds if no thousands of incidence of terrorist attacks and near constant inclusion in terrorist activity against Israel.

Weinberg and Pedahzur 9) Nearly every recognized fundamentalist terrorist organization in the region, as well as in branches elsewhere have a diatribe condemning Israel and its existence as Jewish state. Each utilizes real and revisionist ideals of historical acts of Israel's aggression toward Arabs and Arab states to validate its contempt and actions.

Weiner 415)

What do the leaders consider the principle threats to be Leaders contend that that most principle threats from non-state organizations, are frequently associated with terrorist acts against civilians, suicide bombings and even in some cases air bombings of roads and buildings. State threats are also significant and recognized though they are mostly associated with the foundation of Arab Israeli conflict… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Israel Internal Security" Assignment:

“

GLOBAL INTERNAL SECURITY AND COUNTERTERRORISM

Guidelines for Construction of the Internal Security Country Case Studies

ISRAEL

The research strategy: What we are after is broad comparative information that will tell us something about the nature of Internal Security in the post-Cold War and post-9/11 eras. We will use a common format so that at the end of the day we can compare a large number of states. This translates into a number of *****sections***** for each case study.

Sections of the Case Study: The cases will vary widely, because the approach to internal security is different for every country. Each case should have the following elements and in this order:

Structure and Content for Country Case Studies

1)Nature of the state

*****¢Explanation of Israeli Democracy (Exec, Legislative, Judicial Branches)

*****¢salient facts (CIA Factbook info)

2)Threats to the state (both historical and contemporary)

*****¢What do the leaders consider the principle threats to be

*****¢What are the recognized threats

*****¢Short contemporary history of the threats

3)Description of known terrorist activity (both groups and incidents)

*****¢Organizations

*****¢Bombings / attacks (charts and graphs are a plus here)

*****¢Financing of terror groups

4)Description of important internal security policies, laws, legal definition of terrorism, etc.

5)Description of principal law enforcement and intelligence organizations*****”extent, powers, oversight, etc.

*****¢These three principle organizations on the Federal level (Mossad, Shin Bet/Israel Security Agency (ISA), Aman (Military Intelligence of Israeli Defense Force) must be described but not exclusive to these three groups.

*****¢How they function

*****¢How coercive are they

*****¢Extent of their powers

6)History of internal security organizations*****”incidents, evolution, etc.

*****¢Incidents that have defined the organizations (charts and graphs are a plus here)

*****¢How have they changed

7)Internal security relationship with the US (if none, describe relations with the US more broadly)

*****¢Counter terror

*****¢What is the broad relationship with the USA

8)Internal security relations with other states (other important elements of international relations).

9)Relations with International police/security organizations (e.g., Interpol), etc.

10)Sources used (very important, at least 30)

How to Reference "Israel Internal Security" Case Study in a Bibliography

“Israel Internal Security.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2007, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/israel-internal-security-case-study/83652. Accessed 5 Jul 2024.

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[1] ”Israel Internal Security”, A1-TermPaper.com, 2007. [Online]. Available: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/israel-internal-security-case-study/83652. [Accessed: 5-Jul-2024].

1. Israel Internal Security [Internet]. A1-TermPaper.com. 2007 [cited 5 July 2024]. Available from: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/israel-internal-security-case-study/83652

1. Israel Internal Security. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/israel-internal-security-case-study/83652. Published 2007. Accessed July 5, 2024.