- Introduction & Quick Facts
- Administration and social conditions
- Cultural life
- The decline of Labour dominance
- The national unity government
- The Rabin government
- A new political landscape
- Netanyahu’s second stint
- Relations with the Palestinians
- Domestic politics
- Prime ministers of Israel
Industry of Israel
For more than 40 years local demand fueled Israeli industrial expansion, as the country’s population grew rapidly and the standard of living rose. More recently, world demand for Israeli advanced technologies, software, electronics, and other sophisticated equipment has stimulated industrial growth. Israel’s high status in new technologies is the result of its emphasis on higher education and research and development. The government also assists industrial growth by providing low-rate loans from its development budget. The main limitations experienced by industry are the scarcity of domestic raw materials and sources of energy and the restricted size of the local market.
Mining and quarrying
The country’s mining industry supplies local demands for fertilizers, detergents, and drugs and also produces some exports. A plant in Haifa produces potassium nitrate and phosphoric acid for both local consumption and export. Products of the oil refineries at Haifa include polyethylene and carbon black, which are used by the local tire and plastic industries. The electrochemical industry also produces food chemicals and a variety of other commodities. Oil pipelines run from the port of Elat to the Mediterranean. Israel has some producing oil wells but continues to import most of its petroleum.
Industrial growth has been especially rapid since 1990 in high-technology, science-based industries such as electronics, advanced computer and communications systems, software, and weapons, and these have come to command the largest share of overall manufacturing output. Other principal products include chemicals, plastics, metals, food, and medical and industrial equipment. Israel’s diamond-cutting and polishing industry, centred in Tel Aviv, is the largest in the world and is a significant source of foreign exchange. The great majority of industries are privately owned, one exception being the government-run Israel Aircraft Industries, Ltd., a defense and civil aerospace manufacturer. Factories producing military supplies and equipment have expanded considerably since the 1967 war—a circumstance that stimulated the development of the electronics industry.
Israel’s central bank, the Bank of Israel, issues currency and acts as the government’s sole fiscal and banking agent. Its major function is to regulate the money supply and short-term banking. The Israeli currency was devalued numerous times after 1948, and the new Israeli shekel (NIS) was introduced in September 1985 to replace the earlier Israeli shekel. The government and central bank introduced this measure as part of a successful economic stabilization policy that helped control a rate of inflation that had grown steadily between the 1950s and mid-1980s and had skyrocketed in the 1970s.
Israel has commercial (deposit) banks, cooperative credit institutions, mortgage and investment credit banks, and other financial institutions that are supervised by the central bank. The banking system shows a high degree of specialization. Commercial banks are privately owned and generally are restricted to short-term business. Medium- and long-term transactions, however, are handled by development banks jointly owned by private interests and the government, which cater to the investment needs of different sectors of the economy: agriculture, industry, housing, and shipping. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange was established in 1953.
Tourism has increased significantly and has become an important source of foreign exchange, although its growth at times was affected by regional strife. Visitors are drawn to Israel’s numerous religious, archeological, and historic sites—such as the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock and biblical cities such as Nazareth, and Bethlehem in the West Bank—as well as to its geographic diversity, excellent weather for leisure activities, and links to the Jewish and Palestinian Arab diasporas. There are numerous resorts in the highlands and desert and along the coast, with most tourists coming from Europe and a growing number from North America.
Access to foreign markets has been vital for further economic expansion. Israel has free trade agreements with the European Union and the United States and is a member of the World Trade Organization. These agreements and Israel’s many industrial and scientific innovations have allowed the country to trade successfully despite its lack of access to regional markets in the Middle East. A central problem, however, has been the country’s large and persistent annual balance-of-trade deficit.
Imports consist mainly of raw materials (including rough diamonds), capital goods, and food. Exports more than doubled in value through the 1990s and became highly diversified, originating in all the major manufacturing sectors and in agriculture. High-technology products led the list of exports, and Israel sells fruit (including citrus), vegetables, and flowers throughout Europe during the off-season. Its biggest trade partners are the U.S. and China.
Israel has developed a modern, well-marked highway system, and road transport is more significant to the country’s commercial and passenger services than transport by rail. Bus companies provide efficient service within and between all cities and towns, supplemented by private taxis and sheruts—privately owned and operated shuttles—which run on urban and interurban routes. Sheruts also operate on Saturdays, when much of the regular rail and bus service is suspended in observance of the Sabbath.
Shipping is a vital factor both for the economy and in communications with other countries. As a result of the closing of the land frontiers following the Arab blockade of Israel, ocean and air shipping has played a major role in the transportation of supplies. Three modern deepwater ports—Haifa and Ashdod on the Mediterranean and Elat on the Red Sea—are maintained and developed by the Israel Ports and Railways Authority and are linked to the country by a combined road and rail system. Israel’s shipping access routes to both the Atlantic and Indian oceans have stimulated a continuous growth of its merchant fleet and airfreight facilities.
Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod is the country’s largest. Regular flights are maintained by several international airlines, with EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd., Israel’s national carrier, accounting for the largest share of the traffic. Scheduled domestic aviation and charter aviation abroad is operated by Arkia Israeli Airlines Ltd. Airports at Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Elat, Rosh Pinna, and Haifa serve the country’s domestic air traffic.