Israel's History:
2003

2003:
by Shira Grossman, 2003 Israel Affairs IGB

These last few months have been important for Israel. From the Knesset elections, to forming a coalition party - this is only the beginning of what we can hope will be creating peace in Israel. As it is only the beginning of the year we can only imagine what's next... What will the government put into action this year? How will the economy fair? Who will be the next Israeli pop star? Will we have peace? Those are just a few questions that came into my mind. So here are a few facts about some of the events so far this year:

Results of 16th Knesset Elections

• Voting statistics:
• Total number of ballot boxes counted: 7,697
• Total number of registered voters: 4,720,074
• Total Ballots: 3,200,773
• Invalid Ballots: 52,409
• Valid Ballots: 3,148,364
• Number of votes for qualifying threshold: 44,750
• Number of votes per Knesset seat: 23,860
• Votes by party list:
• Likud: 38 Seats, 925,279 Votes
• Labor-Meimad: 19 Seats, 455,183 Votes
• Green Leaf Party: 0 Seats, 37,855 Votes
• Shinui: 15 Seats, 386,535 Votes
• Herut: 0 Seats, 36,202 Votes
• Shas: 11 Seats, 258,879 Votes
• Progressive National Alliance: 0 Seats, 20,571 Votes
• National Union: 7 Seats, 173,973 Votes
• Green Party: 0 Seats, 12,833 Votes
• Meretz: 6 Seats, 164,122 Votes
• Yisrael Aheret: 0 Seats, 7,144 Votes
• National Religious Party: 6 Seats, 132,370
• Ahavat Yisrael: 0 Seats, 5,468 Votes
• Torah and Shabbat Judaism: 5 Seats, 135,087 Votes
• Tzomet: 0 Seats, 2,023 Votes
• Hadash: 3 Seats, 93,819 Votes
• Center Party: 0 Seats, 1,961 Votes
• Am Ehad: 3 Seats, 86,808 Votes
• Organization for Democratic Action: 0 Seats, 1,925 Votes
• National Democratic Assembly (Balad): 3 Seats, 71,299 Votes
• Citizen and State: 0 Seats, 1,566 Votes
• Yisrael Ba'aliya: 2 Seats, 67,719 Votes
• Men's Rights in the Family: 0 Seats, 1,284 Votes
• United Arab List: 2 Seats, 65,551 Votes
• Lahava: 0 Seats, 1,181 Votes
• Za'am: 0 Seats, 894 Votes
• Leeder: 0 Seats, 833 Votes

The coalition partners are Likud, Shinui, the National Religious Party and the National Union. This was approved February 28, 2003.

• Recent Terrorist Attacks
• March 30th:
  A suicide bombing in the pedestrian mall entrance of a cafe in Netanya wounded more than 40 people. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it a "gift to the Iraqi people."
• March 7th:
  Two Israelis were killed and five were wounded when armed terrorists infiltrated the community of Kiryat Arba and attacked during Shabbat. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• March 5th:
  Sixteen people were killed and more than 30 wounded when a terrorist detonated a powerful bomb on a bus en route to Haifa University. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• January 5th:
  Twenty two people were killed and about 120 wounded in a double suicide bombing near the old Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Islamic Jihad and Hamas all claimed responsibility for the attacks.
• January 2nd:
  The charred body of an Israeli from Menahemiya in the Lower Galilee was found in the northern Jordan Valley in his burned out car. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility.
• Israeli World Windsurfing Champion
  A great achievement for Israeli sports: Windsurfer Gal Friedman this week won the World Mistral Sailboard Championship that was held in Thailand. This is the first time than an Israeli has won the world championship.

  Friedman won the gold medal after demonstrating outstanding ability already on the first day. "I came here to win," he said after his victory. "This was my goal from the first and if I hadn't kept my eyes on it, it probably wouldn't have happened."

• Israeli Drama Chosen for Prestigious TV Festival in France
  An Israel TV drama was one of twelve TV dramas from around the world chosen to participate in the prestigious Pipa-Biarritz television festival, which will open next week in France. 156 programs from all over the world were submitted to the festival's selection committee. The Israeli creation, called Everything I Own, is a surrealistic story about two ships sailing to the Next World. One carries people who died at a ripe old age, while the other's passengers are young people, who died before their time. The program also has a love angle: one of the passengers on the young people's ship was killed in a traffic accident while driving with his girlfriend. The dead youth waited for his beloved on the ship for 50 years. Now, after all these years, after raising a family and dying in her old age, she, too, is arriving at the port. The drama was funded by the Margalit Fund, and produced by Tel-Ad Studios and Hamon Hafakot.
• Israeli Films Win Int'l Prizes; Eight Israeli Artists Invited to Biennale in Venice
  Success abroad for Israeli artists; Two Israeli films won international prizes; six others were selected for an international festival, and eight Israeli artists were chosen to make presentations a the Biennale festival in Venice.