ISRAEL

State of Israel [Arabic] Dawlat Israel [Hebrew] Medinat Yisrael CAPITAL: Jerusalem (Yerushalayim, Al-Quds) FLAG: The flag, which was adopted at the First Zionist Congress in 1897, consists of a blue six-pointed Shield of David (Magen David) centered between two blue horizontal stripes on a white field. ANTHEM: Hatikvah (The Hope). MONETARY UNIT: The new Israeli shekel (NIS), a paper currency of 100 new agorot, replaced the shekel (IS) at a rate of 1,000 to 1 in 1985; the shekel replaced the Israeli pound (IL) in 1980 at the rate of 10 pounds per shekel. There are coins of 5, 10, and 50 agora, 1 and 5 shekels and notes of 10, 50, 100, and 200 shekels. NIS1 = $0.21978 (or $1 = NIS4.55) as of May 2003. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: The metric system is the legal standard, but some local units are used, notably the dunam (equivalent to 1,000 square meters, or about 0.25 acre). HOLIDAYS: Israel officially uses both the Gregorian and the complex Jewish lunisolar calendars, but the latter determines the occurrence of national holidays: Rosh Hashanah (New Year), September or October; Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), September or October; Sukkot (Tabernacles), September or October; Simhat Torah (Rejoicing in the Law), September or October; Pesach (Passover), March or April; Independence Day, April or May; and Shavuot (Pentecost), May or June. All Jewish holidays, as well as the Jewish Sabbath (Friday/Saturday), begin just before sundown and end at nightfall 24 hours later. Muslim, Christian, and Druze holidays are observed by the respective minorities. TIME: 2 PM = noon GMT