3 Kaplan St., Qiryat Ben-Gurion
P.O. Box 187, 91919 Jerusalem
Tel: 972-2-6705555
Fax: 972-2-6512631
(Source: Israel Government Year Book)
Website: http://www.pmo.gov.il
E-mail: pm_eng@pmo.gov.il
The Prime Minister's Office embraces a number of areas of official activity
included there because of their importance: the Central Bureau of Statistics,
the Government Press Office, the State Archives, the Center for Volunteering,
the Anti-Drug Authority, the Government Names Committee, and the Atomic Energy
Commission.
Prime Minister's Bureau
This assists the Prime Minister in his day-to-day work, and both processes
and controls the flow of material to the Prime Minister. It passes on his
instructions to the relevant addresses, sets up the Prime Minister's agenda,
and coordinates activities related to his work. The Prime Minister is
assisted by the director-general of the Office, a bureau chief, and advisors
in the following areas: media, political affairs, and economic affairs. The
Prime Minister also has a military secretary, who functions as his liaison
with the IDF and the Defense Ministry.
The Prime Minister's Office Staff was set up to assist the Prime Minister
and the director-general in their day-to-day work and in implementing
government policy, in accordance with the national priorities set by the
Prime Minister. The Staff is headed by the director-general, and comprises
three departments: follow-up, research, and information and public
affairs.
The staff serves to create tools to receive direct, rapid information from
the government ministries and other state bodies; to follow-up and oversee
the implementation of decisions by the Prime Minister and agreements between
the Prime Minister and government ministers; to maintain professional
contact with the various ministries and to coordinate among them when
necessary; to deal promptly and efficiently with issues which require the
attention the Prime Minister; and to advise the Prime Minister
professionally in various areas.
A National Security Team was set up by the Prime Minister, in
accordance with the Basic Law: The
Government, in order to provide him with ongoing professional advice in the
area of national security, and to carry out additional tasks on the request of
the Prime Minister.
Government Secretariat
The duties of the Government Secretariat relate to the ongoing work of the
Government, pursuant to the Basic Law: The Government and the Government
operating regulations. In accordance with the Prime Minister's instructions,
the Government Secretariat prepares the agenda and background material for
Government sessions and meetings of ministerial committees. The Secretariat
also coordinates proposals for decisions by the Government and ministerial
committees prior to the cabinet debate. It drafts the text of Government and
ministerial committee decisions; prepares shorthand records and minutes
(summaries of discussions), conveys the decisions of Government and
ministerial committees to those concerned, and monitors their
implementation. It is responsible for liaison between the Government and the
President of the State and the Knesset, and publishes Government
communiques.
In addition to their ongoing duties, the Government Secretary and the
Secretariat deal with various topics, on the instructions of the Prime
Minister or as part of the Secretariat's inter-ministerial activities,
including the following: matters relating to the work of the Anti-Drug
Authority; coordinating an inter-ministerial team monitoring anti-Semitic
phenomena; continued coordination of the Directors-General Forum; matters
concerned with international relations, in accordance with the Prime
Minister's instructions, including the Government's peace initiative;
coordination of activities to commemorate Israel's deceased presidents and
prime ministers.
Government Press Office
The Government Press Office (GPO) is responsible for distributing Government
communiqus and announcements to the press. Its activities focus on both
permanently posted and visiting foreign journalists. The GPO deals routinely
with some 350 foreign correspondents in the former category; during the year
in review it assisted a further 1200 visiting journalists. As part of its
information activities, it has endeavored to turn Jerusalem's Beit Agron
into a center of press activity, by providing an array of modern
communications facilities, including tickers for real-time reception of news
agency reports, overseas satellite links, and office services.
The Visiting Correspondents and Briefings Department deals with three
categories of journalists: foreign correspondents permanently posted in
Israel; organized groups of visiting journalists; and journalists in Israel
to cover a particular topic or event. The department's briefing operations
included seminars for groups of foreign journalists, designed to provide
information on various aspects of the Israeli scene - defense and
settlement, economy and society, culture and education, and so forth.
Special symposiums - on topics dictated by the public and media "agenda" -
are conducted for foreign correspondents and Israeli journalists.
The News Department provides foreign correspondents with English
translations from the local press on a daily basis, including editorials, a
survey of articles and reports, translations of radio and television reports
and interviews, as well as statements by ministry spokespersons, the cabinet
secretary, and speeches by the Prime Minister and other ministers. These
translations from the Hebrew press are provided as a service for foreign
journalists, and the GPO is not responsible for their contents or the
positions expressed in such articles and reports. The schedules of the Prime
Minister, Defence Minister, and Foreign Minister are distributed daily, as
are the itineraries of trips within Israel by the President of the State.
Knesset speeches by the Prime Minister and radio and television interviews
with him and other ministers are translated as soon as possible, to assist
foreign correspondents in their work. Maximum priority is given to the
translation and circulation of communiqus issued by the IDF spokesman.
Official statements by ministry spokespersons and the translated material
are distributed simultaneously in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The material is
transmitted by a computerized system to the "mailboxes" of newspapers and
journalists. Extremely urgent information is transmitted by a special
simultaneous telephone system and journalists' pagers. Adapting itself to
new technologies, the GPO has expanded the electronic mail services it uses
to distribute the material produced by its news department directly to
journalists' terminals at home or in their offices.
The Photo Department covers official and news events in Israel and abroad,
both on its own initiative and at the request of government ministries. The
Photo Archives contain half a million photographs, catalogued by subject.
These include photographs taken by the GPO since the establishment of the
State, as well as pictures from the pre-State period contributed by various
photographers.
The Archives also include photographs by the department's photographers
documenting current events, portraits of government ministers, Knesset
members, and other important persons, and daily life. The holdings of the
Negatives Archive are vast. The highly sophisticated Jerusalem photo
laboratories fill orders from the Archives and provide regular services to
the department's photographers. The Photo Department has expanded the
distribution of color prints and slides, thus bringing the GPO into the
color era for the electronic and print media.
In addition to Israeli newspapers, which receive its photographs on an
ongoing basis, on the GPO's initiative, the Photo Department's services are
also enjoyed by Israeli and foreign journalists, television networks and
stations, foreign news agencies, government ministries and the Knesset,
researchers, institutions, museums, and publishing houses. The tariff for
such services is adjusted periodically, as recommended by the Ministry's
comptroller.
State visits by the Prime Minister and the President of the State are
documented and preserved for posterity by GPO photographers, and their
exclusive photographs receive worldwide distribution. GPO photographers also
accompany the Prime Minister in his trips around Israel.
State Archives
The principal tasks of the State Archives are:
- collecting the archival material of state institutions and preserving
it for the future, if its legal, administrative, or research value so
justifies;
- making the archival material so collected available for research by
cataloguing and publishing it;
- professional monitoring of the operation of the filerooms and archives of
all state institutions and local authorities and supervision of the proper and
effective storage of the records they maintain;
- destruction of archival material in all state institutions and local
authorities, pursuant to the statutes;
- registration of archival material held by individuals and public
institutions, with value for students of the Jewish people, the State, and
Israeli society.
The State Archivist works through the State Archives and pursuant to the
Archives Law 5715-1955 and the subsequent regulations based on it.
Government Names Committee
The Government Names Committee was established to determine Hebrew names for
the map of Israel. Its members consists of experts from the fields of
science, history, geography, archaeology, Bible, and philology. They give
their services on a voluntary basis, and are divided into three
sub-committees: history, geography, and settlement, which together make up
the plenary committee.
The committee assigns official names, promotes their dissemination, and sees
to it that maps and official publications are updated in accordance with its
decisions. It also replies to queries from various bodies and Eretz Israel
scholars concerning names of settlements, geographical features, and
historical sites. The historical geography of Eretz Israel is the basic
principle that guides the Committee when it assigns names.
Atomic Energy Commission
The Israel Atomic Energy Commission advises the Government on all matters
concerning the advancement of nuclear research and development, and the
setting of nuclear policy and priorities. The Commission implements policies
laid down by the Government, and represents Israel in its contacts with
national and international nuclear research institutions. The Prime Minister
serves as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.
Nuclear energy activities take place in two centers: the Nahal Soreq Nuclear
Research Center and the Negev Nuclear Research Center.
The Nuclear Engineering Division (previously the Power and Water Unit) deals
with a number of areas, including the following: promoting power reactors in
Israel and developing the requisite infrastructure; nuclear fuel and nuclear
waste disposal; long-term planning, including examining advanced reactor
technologies and considering their future application in Israel; research
into the integration of water desalination and atomic energy.
The Licensing and Safety Division drafts general safety goals and
technical-safety criteria to govern the planning, construction, and
operation of nuclear power plants in Israel. It also examines the safety
aspect of all work related to the construction of such power plants.
Anti-Drug Authority
Website: http://www.antidrugs.org.il (Hebrew)
The Anti-Drug Authority operates pursuant to the Anti-Drug Authority Law
5748-1988, passed by the Knesset on June 14, 1988, in accordance with
Government resolution 604 (Aug. 2, 1987). The Authority was set up, as
recommended by interministerial committees, to more effectively combat
Israel's worsening drug problem. The Authority is a small staff unit that
coordinates government anti-drug activity and initiates, plans, and promotes
the establishment and operation of agencies and institutions to curb the
abuse of dangerous drugs.
The Prime Minister bears ministerial responsibility for the Authority, which
operates through a 43-member Council chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. The
Council has seven committees: prevention (education and public information
campaigns); treatment and rehabilitation; law enforcement; budget, finance,
and donations; research and information; public relations; and training of
personnel for the war on drugs.
The Center for Volunteering in Israel
The Center was set up so as to derive maximum benefit from the vast
potential of volunteers in the country. The Center seeks to increase public
awareness of voluntarism as an educational and cultural value. To this end
it works among volunteers' organizations, as well as institutes and agencies
to integrate volunteers.
Its activities include: volunteers' meetings in a number of localities, to
encourage those already engaged in the sphere and to locate new volunteers;
symposiums for volunteers and those who use their services; university
courses for coordinators of volunteers; setting up a council of volunteers'
organizations, on a local level, bringing together all those involved in
volunteer activities in the locality, in order to foster community awareness
of voluntarism; establishing national forums of volunteers' organizations on
a countrywide level that deal with a specific area, such as immigrant
absorption, helping the elderly, health care, and so on.
Once a year, the Center for Volunteering holds the "President's Award for
Volunteers" ceremony. The award, the most important citation bestowed on
volunteers in Israel, is intended to foster awareness of voluntarism and to
encourage new initiatives for volunteer activity in hitherto untapped
areas.
Central Bureau of Statistics
Website: http://www.cbs.gov.il/
The Central Bureau of Statistics is a government institution charged with collecting, processing, and
publishing statistical data about Israel's population, society, and economy
- data required by the Knesset, the Government, research and educational
institutions, and the general public. The CBS operates pursuant to the
Statistics Ordinance (New Version) 5732-1972, as amended by the Knesset in
1978. The ordinance requires all persons or bodies to reply to CBS
inquiries, with full confidentiality of personal information guaranteed.
The CBS prepares on an ongoing basis thousands of statistical series,
describing socioeconomic phenomena that involve households (Israel's
population and its movements, immigration, employment, standard of living,
consumption, etc.), activity in every economic sector (including industry,
agriculture, construction, transport, finance, energy, etc.), as well as
changes in the national accounts, international trade, and various aspects
of Israel's balance of payments, the energy balance, energy consumption, and
so on. The CBS also collects statistics on Judea-Samaria and the Gaza
District. It has produced various basic statistical series on the
territories, dealing with population, employment, wages, external trade,
national accounts, and various other topics.
The Public Advisory Council for Statistics, first convened in
1963, oversees the Bureau's professional and scientific work and represents the
producers and consumers of the statistics in question. The Council comprises
representatives of government ministries, public bodies, and academic
institutions. Its tasks include providing advice on matters involved with
statistical activities in Israel and forecastng the State's long-term
statistical needs.
Sources of Statistical Data
The work of the CBS is based on periodical censuses, such as population
censuses (the last of which was conducted in 1983), agricultural censuses
(1981), industrial and business censuses, and others. The CBS also carries
out other regular surveys, either annually or every several years, such as
surveys on teachers, travel habits, the elderly, household expenditures, and
so on. There are also ongoing surveys. The most important of these is the
labor force survey, conducted since 1958; today this is the Bureau's main
household survey. In addition to censuses and surveys, data are also
garnered by making extensive use of various administrative records, such as
those relating to imports and exports (customs records), judicial and
criminal activity (police and court records), population changes due to
natural growth (births and deaths) and population movements from and to
Israel and within its borders (Population Register), wage and employment
data (employers' reports to the National Insurance Institute), road
accidents with casualties, etc.
Information for the Public and Publications
The CBS pays particular attention to disseminating its data to the general
public. It publishes the results of its wide-ranging work on a regular basis
- in daily press releases and various series of statistical publications,
especially the Israel Statistical Yearbook. The Yearbook collates annual
statistical information on Israel's population, economy, and society, and is
intended for policymakers, planners, and researchers, as well as for the
general public both at home and overseas. Another publication is the Israel
Statistical Monthly Review, which includes monthly, annual, and quarterly
data series. The CBS also publishes periodicals, most of them monthly or
quarterly, which deal specifically with prices, foreign trade, agriculture,
tourism, and transport. The findings of one-time or periodic surveys are
published in the aforementioned periodicals or in the Bureau's series of
special publications. Other special series, such as those on Judea-Samaria
and the Gaza District, and that on the population census, appear as
required. In addition to distributing its publications, the CBS has
developed a flexible information service that provides information and
service to all inquirers in Israel and abroad, by telephone, in writing, or
orally.
The Bureau's computer system permits sophisticated storage and retrieval of
major series of periodical data. To date, several thousand data series have
been stored in this fashion.
Population Estimates
The CBS produces population estimates on the basis of national data, as well
as for specific geographical units (e.g., districts, sub-districts,
localities, etc.). Sources of data on the population include the population
and housing censuses, normally conducted every 10 years. Over the years,
such basic data are supplemented by current information covering various
aspects of the population, primarily information on natural growth (births
and deaths) and migration (mainly immigration and absorption), as well as
information on internal migration. Statistical population information is
computerized and published according to sex, age, and population groups, by
religion, family status, continent of birth, father's continent of birth,
etc.
Labor Force Survey: This is intended primarily to provide
current and up-to-date information on the structure of Israel's work force and
changes therein, on employment and unemployment, households and their
composition, housing density, and on various demographic and social parameters
of individuals and households. From time to time the Labor Force Survey is
supplemented by related surveys - on household income, seniority in the
workplace and job mobility, number of shifts worked per month, housing
conditions, household appliances, senior citizens, health-service use,
kindergarten attendance, injuries caused by criminal acts, etc.