Israel

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See also Problems of Israel

This article is about the modern state of Israel; for other uses see Israel (disambiguation)

The State of Israel is a state in the Middle East with a predominantly Jewish population, bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It is a geographically small country, but has a population of over six million.

Israel's 1948 founding and continued existence has been a source of many conflicts with its neighbouring countries, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. Israel is also currently experiencing an on-going dispute with Palestinian territorial claims.

מדינת ישראל
Medinat Yisrael
State of Israel
Image:Israel flag medium.png Image:Israel-coa-medium.png
Official languagesHebrew, Arabic
CapitalJerusalem (disputed)1
PresidentMoshe Katsav
Prime MinisterAriel Sharon
Area


 - Total


 - % water		Ranked 149th
20,770 km2
2%
Population


 - Total (2003)


 - Density		Ranked 99th


6,700,000


286/km2
IndependenceMay 15, 1948
Currency1 New Sheqel (NIS) = 100 Agorot
Time zoneUTC +2/+3
National anthemHatikvah
Internet TLD.IL
Calling Code972

Contents

History

Main Article History of Israel

Israel's history is both long and controversial.

Israel is considered the spiritual home of many Jews. A Jewish state existed in the region before expultion by the Roman authourities in the second century. The land then became known as Palestine. It was conquered from the Romans by the Caliphate in the seventh century and became populated by Arabs.

Following centuries of diaspora, the nineteenth century saw the rise of Zionism, a desire to see the creation of a Jewish State in the region. Jews began moving to the Turkish and later British controlled region.

In 1947, the British government agreed to withdraw from their mandate of Palestine. The 1947 UN Partition Plan split the mandate into two states, giving about half the land to each state. Arab authourities rejected the plan.

On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was proclaimed in territory given for the Jewish state in the UN plan. The armies of five Arab nations attacked the new state (see: Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948, 1948 Arab-Israeli War). Israel captured an additional 20% of the mandate territory, and annexing it to the new state. Much of its Arab population subsequently ceased to live within this area; at the same time, many Jews were made refugees from the surrounding Arab nations.

Detailed discussions on Arab and Jewish refugees may be found here: Palestine, Palestinian refugee and Jewish refugees

In 1967, the Six-Day War resulted in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip coming under Israeli control.

Interpretation of the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict depends on how one interprets these events.

Politics

Main Article Politics of Israel

Israel is a constitutional, parliamentary republic. The nation's head of state is the president, who is a largely powerless figurehead. The nation's head of government is the prime minister, who is the leader of the majority party or ruling coilition in the legislature but is appointed by the president.2 Israel's legislative branch is a 120-member parliament known as the Knesset. Elections to the Knesset are normally held every four years, but the Knesset can decide to dissolve itself ahead of time by a simple majority.

Israel has no written constitution and its government functions based on the laws of the Knesset and Constitutional conventions.

Territory

Israel is a country whose exact territorial boundaries and borders are widely disputed.

The territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 war are not included in the Israel country profile, unless otherwise noted. In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations are being conducted between Israeli and Palestinian representatives (from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip) and Israel and Syria, to achieve a permanent settlement. On April 25 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Israel

Image:Is-map.PNG

Economy

Main article: Economy of Israel

Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil and gas, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel is largely self-sufficient in food production except for grains. Diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable current account deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the US, which is its major source of economic and military aid. The influx of Jewish immigrants from the former USSR topped 750,000 during the period 1989-1999, bringing the population of Israel from the former Soviet Union to 1 million, one-sixth of the total population, and adding scientific and professional expertise of substantial value for the economy's future. The influx, coupled with the opening of new markets at the end of the Cold War, energized Israel's economy, which grew rapidly in the early 1990s. But growth began slowing in 1996 when the government imposed tighter fiscal and monetary policies and the immigration bonus petered out. Those policies brought inflation down to record low levels in 1999.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Israel

As of 1997, 80% of Israel's population was considered Jewish. This is based on a legal definition of ethnicity, and includes many people who not practice Judaism as a religion. There is considerable diversity within this population. Only a quarter of the Jewish community is Israeli-born. Nearly 40% are immigrants from the West, and 35% are from developing countries in Asia and Africa, including Arab countries.

Arabs make up 18% of Israel's population, but few identify themselves themselves as part of the Israeli culture. Within this group is a minority of Palestinian Christians who make 12% of the Israeli Arab population.

There are also a number of smaller minorities dating back to before Israeli independence, including Druze and Armenian communities.

Currently 171,000 Israeli citizens live in settlements in the West Bank and 6,500 in the Gaza Strip. They are subject to Israeli law and lead lives similar to other Jewish Israelis.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Israel

Holidays
DateEnglish NameLocal NameRemarks
Tishri 1New YearRosh Hashanahbetween Sept 6 & Oct 5
Tishri 10Day of AtonementYom Kippurbetween Sept 15 & Oct 14
Tishri 15Feast of TabernaclesSukkotbetween Sept 20 & Oct 19
Tishri 22Assembly of the EighthShemini Atzeretbetween Sept 27 & Oct 26
Nissan 15PassoverPesachbetween March 27 & April 25
Nissan 21PassoverPesachbetween April 2 & May 1
Iyar 5Independence DayYom Ha-Atzmautbetween April 16 & May 15
Sivan 6PentecostShavuotbetween May 16 & June 14

Miscellaneous topics

Wars

See also: Land of Israel, Palestine, Ancient kingdom of Israel, Judaism, Holy Land

Footnote

1 Jerusalem is Israel's officially designated capital, and the location of its presidential residence and parliament. However, most countries do not recognize this designation, considering the status of Jerusalem an unresolved issue due to what they perceive as illegal Israeli actions in both designating the city to be its capital and in its seizure of Arab East Jerusalem. They believe that the final issue of the status of Jerusalem will be determined in future Israeli-Palestinian negotiations; these states instead recognize Tel Aviv, the original capital for a time in 1948, as the continuous legitimate capital, and as a result keep their embassies there. See the article on Jerusalem for more.
2 For a short period in the 1990s the prime minister was directly elected by the electorate. This change was not viewed a success and was abandoned.

Related articles

External links


Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Israel" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel, used under the GNU Free Documentation License.
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