Lehavim

State of Lehavim לְהָבִים ‎מְדִינַת (Lehavimi) Medinat Lehavim
Flag Coat of arms
Capital and largest city	Habafar
Official languages	Lehavimi
Demonym(s)	Lehavimi
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic
• President	Lavan Hefetz
• Premier	Irina Fleischer
• Knesset Speaker	Ahron Zahavy
Legislature	Knesset
Area
•	10,452 km2 (4,036 sq mi)
Population
• 2020 estimate	6,859,408
• 2018 census	5,122,641
• Density	560/km2 (1,450.4/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2020 estimate
• Total	$310.743 billion
• Per capita	$29,045
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	$194.376 billion
• Per capita	$18,168
Gini (2020)	31.0 medium
HDI	0.812 very high
Currency	Shekel

Lehavim (Lehavimi: מְדִינַת), officially the State of Lehavim (Lehavimi: לְהָבִים ‎מְדִינַת; Medinat Lehavim) is a sovereign state located in _. It is bordered by _ to the east, _ to the west, _ to the south and _ to the north. All of its coast is bathed by the _ Sea, which have historically provided the country with enormous connections across the region. The capital of Lehavim is Habafar, which concentrates most political and economical decisions.

The territory of Lehavim contains evidence of human transit and civilisations that date back to several thousands years ago. Its coastal towns have served throughout the history as important commercial ports in the _ Sea while the inland has been renowned for being rich in the production of olives, cheeses and vegetables. Archaeological sites from these periods have provided information about the importance given to farming, fishing and commerce by early maritime societies laced in the Lehavimi lands. Its strategic position made it heavily prone to suffer occupations from nearby powers that brought together with them, several cultural characteristics still visible in today's Lehavim. Although Jews have always formed the majority of the populaton and have been present for years in Lehavim, these periods of almost continuous occupations have left Christian and Muslim communities and cultural forms, which over the years, have created the Lehavimi national identity.

Lehavim was finally conquered by the _ Empire, an occupation under which it remained for over 500 years until the _ War. After the international conflict and the dismemberment of the _ Empire, the strategic position of Lehavim was positioned under _ influence and a mandate was created in order to assert !European political and economical interests in the region. The mandate lasted five years, in which _ was responsible for the defence and administration of the territory. The creation of the Lehavimi state was made possible, though, in 1954, when the first constitution was signed and independence granted. These first years of Lehavim were marked by relative stability and the first signs of economic prosperity, however, as the Jewish community started to take over most places in the high sphere of the government, problems arose with other minorities present in the territory; a coup d'état and subsequent instauration of a civic-military regime happened in 1961. Under the leadership of Abarron Hyamson and the armed forces, the de facto government created a confessional state with far-right characteristics, repressing political opponents and dissidents and using torture on a wide scale. In 1971, after Hyamson's death, the government was taken over by the military junta until the referendum of 1975, in which the military sought to renew its support but failed. A gradual democratisation was initiated with Josef Shmerkin, who inaugurated a new constitution and the Zeiman Pact between the largest political forces to consolidate the Lehavimi democracy. Since then, the country's political world has been dominated by the centre-left Progressives and the centre-right People's Party, which have alternated in power over the years.

Lehavim is today a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic, it counts with a unicameral legislature, the Knesset, and the country is led by the President and the Premier, who act as head of state and head of government respectively. It counts with a developed and advanced high-income economy, and a high quality of life; Lehavim ranks high in most educative, development and security indexes in the regional context.

History

Recent history

Josef Sherkin, first Premier after the return of democracy in Lehavim.

In 1975, the military junta, which governed the State of Lehavim since the coup d'état of 1961, sought to renew its power with a popular referendum that aimed to legitimise their figure as heads of state. The referendum was the first electoral instance that the Lehavimi had since 1959 and although the polls perceived the victory of the military power, the results gave an overwhelming majority to the "no". In the months that followed the referendum, the national defence forces summoned the principal political actors in representation of the People's Party and the National List from the right, while the left was represented by the recently founded Progressive Party, which counted with the presence from former Socialist members due to the Socialist Party's prescription.

The three political parties signed the guidelines for a gradual return to democracy, pacting the pardons to political activists in prison and a highly polemical protection to the military leadership for committing human rights violations. After the approval from the military junta, the country celebrated national elections a year later, with Josef Shmerkin being elected Premier from the People's Party and an independent proposed by the four political parties to be President. The legislature was marked by the realignment of the left under the Progressive Party and the remaining conditions imposed by the armed forces, which included among others the prescription of Arab political parties, an issue that rapidly caused the increase of tensions and the return of communal violence that was heavily repressed. The legislature met its end six years later with a general election that concluded with the victory of Levey Silberstein from the Progressive Party, who sought to introduce a large social legislation aiming to repair the victims of the dictatorship and leave behind the impositions on the political life, allowing the Socialist Party to return to legality together with political groups of Arab interests.

During the 1990s, a difficult economic situation made the public lack the confidence in traditional parties to solve the crisis. The irruption of the Liberal Party as a political partner of the People's Party first, took it to lead the governments of Tomas Federman and Aryeh Gaster. The period was characterised by the privatisation of state-owned and deregularisation of labour markets; the party governed until 2001, when increasing social inequalities and regular protests forced the dismissal of the Gaster cabinet and the call for earlier elections.

Geography

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  View of the Amafroun Valley.

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  Rock formations in the coast near Habafar.

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  Cedars on the Amafroun mountain range.

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  Urban landscape of the town of Hautif.

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  Olive plantations on the north plains.

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  Although desertification is a main environmental issue, mountains still see snow during winters.

Politics and government

Main article: Politics of Lehavim

Lavan Hefetz
President of Lehavim
since 16 March 2018

Irina Fleischer
Premier of Lehavim
since 10 May 2019

Ahron Zahavy
Knesset Speaker
since 24 November 2018

Lehavim is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic, its political system has been, since the return of democracy, well settled in a multi-party system that has granted a high level of political stability. The current Constitution of Lehavim was put into force after the fall of the military junta in 1975 and is the fourth that has been in use since the creation of the Lehavimi state. The constitution recognises the socially preponderant position of the Jewish religion although puts on a high level of importance religious freedom and the state defence of all religions, the constitution recognises also important civil rights and the adoption of a social state. The Head of State of the State of Lehavim is the President and the Head of Government is the Premier; although both are regarded as the highest levels in the political scene of the country, Presidents have been merely ceremonial figures.

The government is separated into three branches:

• Executive: is led by the President, who is also commander-in-chief; the person who is holding the office is responsible of forming cabinets by appointing ministers and the Premier and has the power to impose a veto on laws passed by the Knesset. Other figures of the executive are the ministers and the Premier.
• Legislative: consolidated in the Knesset, a unicameral legislature composed by 125 members who are responsible of enacting laws, approving budgets, providing confidence for the Premier and its cabinet and controlling the government. Members of the legislature and commonly called Members of the Knesset or MKs and can, through certain procedurements, force the dimissal of individual ministers, the Premier or the whole cabinet.
• Judiciary: consisting of secular and religious courts and overseen by the Supreme Court of Lehavim, which is composed by 15 judges and presided by the President of the Supreme Court and the Minister of Justice. Other courts exist focused in gender equality and labour.

While the President of Lehavim is elected every six years and has the option of one renew in power, Premiers are appointed by the Chief of the Executive after general elections and their terms have no length, although legislatures are usually fixed to five years. Premiers are appointed by the President on the behalf that they count with the needed confidence from the Knesset, this leads to winning political parties to form coalitions and alliances with other similar formations in order to form governments. Premiers can hold the office until the end of the legislature or advice the President to dissolve the Knesset and set a date for earlier elections. Since the return of democracy, only three political parties have hold the Premiership and in the last decades, two have dominated the political scenario, which are the Progressives (Lehavimi: מפלגה פרוגרסיבית) and the People's Party (Lehavimi: המפלגה העממית), representing the social democracy and the right-wing economic liberalism respectively.

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Lehavim

Leah Lebzelter, actual Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lehavim meeting foreign representatives.

Lehavim is an active actor on the foreign relations scenery. The country maintains strong ties with most nations in the world and especially with those that have seen a great portion of the Lehavimi diaspora. The Lehavimi foreign relations are conducted from the Ministry of Foreign Relations and Cooperation, of which the Minister is the highest ranked person; since the return of democracy, the country has boosted its international projection from a place of neutrality and seeking cooperation with other nations and although it has embassies and consulates in most regions of the world, Lehavim continues having territorial disputes with some of its neighbours and with the Arab world regarding religious affairs.

During the civic-military dictatorship and military junta, Lehavim experienced a strong alignment with other non-democratic regimes and with far-right or right governments, however, at the end of the period, Lehavim suffered a period of international isolation, which worked back then as preassure to the regime to impose several reforms and the transition towards a democratic state of right. Since then and following Progressive and People's administrations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have moved towards the depoliticization of its foreign agenda while recovering the prestige and international presence that held before the 60s and 70s, reinforced by the pursue of alliances and membership to several intergubernamental organisations.

Armed forces

Lehavimi soldiers praying with tallit and tefillin during service in the desert.

The armed forces of Lehavim —Lehavimi National Defence Forces— consist on three braches, the Lehavimi Navy, the Lehavimi Army and the Lehavimi Air Force. The three branches are overseen militarily by the LNDF and civilly by the Ministry of Defence, a strong position inside the cabinet. While the forces are commanded independently, they are subordinated to the President of Lehavim, who is Commander-in-Chief and usually accompanied by the Minsiter regarding defence and sovereignty issues. After periods of military rule, the current constitution specifies the primary mission of the forces as to safeguard Lehavimi independence and sovereignty, in recent times, the forces have also been present during peacekeeping missions overseas and as emergency relief units during natural disaster of catastrophes.

An ongoing public debate is being conducted since at least the end of the military junta if whether the armed forces should undergone a serious internal process; since the end of the dictatorial period, governments have pushed to continue seeking the truth about the disappeared period and political political prisoners but few bone remains have been found and identified. The presence of the armed forces in the Lehavimi society have also been discussed and several political efforts conducted to decrease it. In 2019, the Ministry of Defence published a document that specified the annual spending as of 2.1% of the national GDP. Although it has seen a decrease on its spending budget more recently, the armed forces of Lehavim are well-equipped and use technology that has been designed or produced in the territory or in conjuction with other allied forces.

Demographics

Port of Jalif, a city with a considerable _ population in the south coast of the country.

In 2019, the population of Lehavim was estimated to be at 6,859,408 inhabitants. The population of the country is on its majority, adherent to the Jewish religion, which together with Mizrahi and Sephardis make up 71.2% of the total population; due to its historical ties with other regions of the world through the _ Sea, Lehavim holds considerable population of Muslims and Catholics. Immigration is scarce although several reports expose growing numbers of migrants arriving to Lehavim, especially from _, _ and _. The majority of the population lives on urban areas and a considerable part of these are found on the coasts and metropolitan area of Habafar. Lehavim has an average life expactancy of 80.2 years generally owed to its cliamte and lifestyle.

Lehavim is home to near 600,000 refugees from neighbouring countries, most of whom have fled from political or religious prosecution and internal conflicts. Because of this situation, the country has a _ special committee that has created and administrates several camps in the south and east of the country. Throughout the decades, its rather hostile relations with neighbouring nations has took Lehavim to pass bills in order to protect Jewish population abroad by returning them to Lehavim.

Most of the Lehavimi population is concentrated in the city of Habafar and its Governorate, which comprise 1,785,420 approximate total inhabitants. Due to its geographical conditions, the population is spread along the coast and the Amaoufroun Valley, where Hahjran is a major city. The proximity of the desert and the recent effects of desertification has made of the Merhavim Governorate, the less inhabited of all, with a large portion of its population living in kibutz.