After a political and constitutional crisis, the Government of Mr. Rabin presented its resignation to the President of the State on 20 December 1976. A few weeks later, the Knesset decided to bring forward the general elections from October 1977 to 17 May 1977. Under sec. 11 of Basic Law: The Government, the procedure for setting up a new government ceases immediately after the adoption of a Law to dissolve the Knesset. Thus, the government of Mr. Rabin, having resigned will “continue to carry out its function until a new Government is formed”. It is generally assumed that it will take approximately 4–6 weeks to form a new government after the elections of May 17. Thus, a new government will not begin to function before the beginning of July 1977, leaving the present government of Mr. Rabin to “carry out its functions” for more than 6 months, i.e., from 20 December 1976 until (approximately) July 1977.

In direct contrast to Israel's western flowing streams, Lake Kinneret is used for a multiplicity of beneficial uses. The lake supplies 45% of the country's total water supply, 6% of its fish catch, a vacation spot for 1½ million tourists a year, a purification plant for 3 million cubic metres of sewage yearly, an annual supply of tons of smooth, decorative pebbles, and a source of income for at least 70 scientists.

Again in contrast to Israel's streams and wadis, data are available to those interested in preventing pollution of the Kinneret. Scientific studies of the lake began as far back as 1847. Beginning in the 1950's Israel scientists concentrated their efforts on solving a myriad of problems in the lake and its watershed. In the 1950's geographic surveys of the watershed were completed which described the type of land, its quality, texture and suitability for agricultural use. By 1964, scientific studies included the quality of lake water for drinking, lake currents, salt concentrations in the lake, sources of radiation, the lake's temperature, phytoplankton, zooplankton, algal blooms, floating plants, organisms living at the bottom of the lake, the lake's water level, thematodes and nematodes in the lake, water birds, chiromed flies, pesticides, commercial fish, and, last but not least, the Tabgha blind prawn, the only unique species endemic to the lake's waters.

The World Zionist Federation (hereafter W.Z.F.) was founded in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress as the structural framework of the organised Zionist Movement. Its contemporary members are Zionist organisations, whose aim is the implementation of the Zionist Programme as defined by its constitution. As such, the W.Z.F. is an inter-territorial organisation, not limited by national frontiers. It is known to command impressive financial resources and considerable international influence. In Israel, the W.Z.F. was also recognised and given a special status by law. Sec. 4 of the World Zionist Organisation—Jewish Agency (Status) Law provides that:

The State of Israel recognises the World Zionist Organisation as the authorised agency which will continue to operate in the State of Israel for the development and settlement of the country, the absorption of immigrants … and the coordination of activities in Israel of Jewish institutions and organisations active in those fields.

The W.Z.F. operates through three governing bodies: the Zionist Congress, the Zionist General Council and the Executive.

Neither under Ottoman rule nor under the Mandate—nor even under Israel law until 1957—were the Druzes recognised as a religious community. Until quite recently, they resorted to the Sharī'a Courts in matters of personal status although under the Palestine Order-in-Council of 1922 these courts had no jurisdiction over non-Muslims. But in 1957, the Druzes gained recognition as a religious community within the meaning of the Religious Communities (Organisation) Ordinance, 1926, and the Druze Spiritual Leadership was given the status of a religious council within the meaning of the Religious Communities (Organisation) (Druze Community) Regulations, 1957. In 1963, by virtue of the Druze Religious Courts Law, 1962, a court of first instance and a court of appeal were established for the community. These have exclusive jurisdiction in matters of marriage and divorce of Druzes in Israel who are nationals or residents of the State. In other matters of personal status they have concurrent jurisdiction. In the absence of agreement to the jurisdiction of the religious court, jurisdiction vests in the District Court. The Druze courts also have exclusive jurisdiction in matters relating to the creation or internal administration of waqfs (endowments) established before a Druze court under Druze law or established, prior to the coming into force of the Druze Religious Courts Law, in accordance with Druze custom and not before any judicial authority.

The purpose of this paper is to consider and discuss theories as to the nature of the subjective element in the formation of customary international law that have been propounded by various publicists, and to point out certain difficulties which attend all hitherto existing theories. An attempt will be made in a subsequent paper to develop a theory which avoids these difficulties.

The end of the Second World War seemed to signal to many observers the onset of a new era of international relations and international law. The appearance of former colonial entities as independent and sovereign political units led both diplomats and academicians to divine a new world order for international relations. At the same time the consequent significant increase in the number of political actors in the international system changed not only its complexion but also its manner of interaction. It appears that there are still further developments in the offing whose full significance cannot as yet be fully documented. One aspect, however, which we can examine is the increasing importance of the transnational actor in international forums. Our intention in this paper is to examine several features of this development in international relations, law and organization as evidenced by the continually increasing participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the chambers of the United Nations.