Israel: Difference between revisions
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The [[Demographics of Israel|population of Israel]], as defined by the [[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]], was estimated in 2014 to be 8,146,300 people. It is the world's only [[Jewish population by country|Jewish-majority state]]; 6,212,000 citizens, or 74.9% of Israelis, are designated as [[Israeli Jews|Jewish]]. The country's second largest group of citizens are denoted as [[Arab citizens of Israel|Arabs]], with 1,718,400 people (including the Druze and most East Jerusalem Arabs).<ref name="cbsmonth">{{cite web |url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/publications15/yarhon0115/pdf/b1.pdf |title=Monthly Bulletin of Statistics for Population |date=7 August 2013 |publisher=[[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]] |accessdate=24 August 2013}}</ref><ref name="population_stat">{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/newpop.html |title=Latest Population Statistics for Israel |date=April 2013 |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library |accessdate=21 April 2013}}</ref> The great majority of Israeli Arabs are [[Sedentism|settled]] [[Islam in Israel|Muslims]], with smaller but significant numbers of semi-settled [[Negev Bedouin]]s; the rest are [[Christianity in Israel|Christians]] and [[Israeli Druze|Druze]]. Other minorities include [[Maronites in Israel|Maronites]], [[Samaritans]], [[Dom people]] and [[Romani diaspora#Israel|Roma]], [[African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem|Black Hebrew Israelites]], other [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]ns,<ref>{{cite news |title=The Black Hebrews of Israel |first=Stephanie |last=Rice |url=http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/israel-and-palestine/090430/israels-black-hebrews |newspaper=GlobalPost |date=4 May 2009 |accessdate=12 August 2012}}</ref> [[Armenians in Israel|Armenians]], [[Circassians in Israel|Circassians]], [[Overseas Vietnamese#Israel|Vietnamese boat people]], and others. Israel also hosts a significant population of non-citizen foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia.<ref name="Adriana Kemp"/> |
The [[Demographics of Israel|population of Israel]], as defined by the [[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]], was estimated in 2014 to be 8,146,300 people. It is the world's only [[Jewish population by country|Jewish-majority state]]; 6,212,000 citizens, or 74.9% of Israelis, are designated as [[Israeli Jews|Jewish]]. The country's second largest group of citizens are denoted as [[Arab citizens of Israel|Arabs]], with 1,718,400 people (including the Druze and most East Jerusalem Arabs).<ref name="cbsmonth">{{cite web |url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/publications15/yarhon0115/pdf/b1.pdf |title=Monthly Bulletin of Statistics for Population |date=7 August 2013 |publisher=[[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]] |accessdate=24 August 2013}}</ref><ref name="population_stat">{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/newpop.html |title=Latest Population Statistics for Israel |date=April 2013 |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library |accessdate=21 April 2013}}</ref> The great majority of Israeli Arabs are [[Sedentism|settled]] [[Islam in Israel|Muslims]], with smaller but significant numbers of semi-settled [[Negev Bedouin]]s; the rest are [[Christianity in Israel|Christians]] and [[Israeli Druze|Druze]]. Other minorities include [[Maronites in Israel|Maronites]], [[Samaritans]], [[Dom people]] and [[Romani diaspora#Israel|Roma]], [[African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem|Black Hebrew Israelites]], other [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]ns,<ref>{{cite news |title=The Black Hebrews of Israel |first=Stephanie |last=Rice |url=http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/israel-and-palestine/090430/israels-black-hebrews |newspaper=GlobalPost |date=4 May 2009 |accessdate=12 August 2012}}</ref> [[Armenians in Israel|Armenians]], [[Circassians in Israel|Circassians]], [[Overseas Vietnamese#Israel|Vietnamese boat people]], and others. Israel also hosts a significant population of non-citizen foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia.<ref name="Adriana Kemp"/> |
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In its [[Basic Laws of Israel|Basic Laws]], Israel defines itself as a [[Jewish and Democratic State]].<ref name=freedomhouse2008>{{cite web |url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2008/israel |work=Freedom in the World |title=Israel |publisher=Freedom House |year=2008 |accessdate=20 March 2012}}</ref> Israel is a [[representative democracy]]<ref name="Norton2001">{{cite book|author=Augustus Richard Norton|title=Civil society in the Middle East. 2 (2001)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k61qG1OlLl4C&pg=PA193|year=2001|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-10469-0|page=193}}</ref> with a parliamentary system, [[proportional representation]] and [[universal suffrage]].<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Rummel|1997|p=257}}. "A current list of liberal democracies includes: Andorra, Argentina, ... , Cyprus, ... , Israel, ..."</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.freedomhouse.org/article/global-survey-2006-middle-east-progress-amid-global-gains-freedom |title=Global Survey 2006: Middle East Progress Amid Global Gains in Freedom |accessdate=20 March 2012 |date=19 December 2005 |publisher=Freedom House}}</ref> The [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]] serves as head of government and the [[Knesset]] serves as Israel's [[legislative body]]. Israel is a [[developed country]] and an [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]] member,<ref name="OECD">{{cite web |url=http://www.oecd.org/israel/israelsaccessiontotheoecd.htm |title=Israel's accession to the OECD |publisher=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |accessdate=12 August 2012}}</ref> with the [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|37th-largest]] [[Economy of Israel|economy]] in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2012. The country has the [[List of countries by Human Development Index#Middle East and North Africa|highest standard of living in the Middle East]] and the [[List of countries by Human Development Index#Asia|fifth highest in Asia]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi-table|publisher=United Nations Development Programme|title=Human development index (HDI)|accessdate=1 August 2014}}</ref> and has the [[List of countries by life expectancy|one of the highest life expectancies]] in the world.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/who-life-expectancy-in-israel-among-highest-in-the-world-1.276618 |title=WHO: Life expectancy in Israel among highest in the world |newspaper=Haaretz |date=24 May 2009}}</ref> |
In its [[Basic Laws of Israel|Basic Laws]], Israel defines itself as a [[Jewish and Democratic State]].<ref name=freedomhouse2008>{{cite web |url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2008/israel |work=Freedom in the World |title=Israel |publisher=Freedom House |year=2008 |accessdate=20 March 2012}}</ref> Israel is a [[representative democracy]]<ref name="Norton2001">{{cite book|author=Augustus Richard Norton|title=Civil society in the Middle East. 2 (2001)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k61qG1OlLl4C&pg=PA193|year=2001|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-10469-0|page=193}}</ref> with a parliamentary system, [[proportional representation]] and [[universal suffrage]] except for [[Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law|non-persons]] is the disputed territories.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Rummel|1997|p=257}}. "A current list of liberal democracies includes: Andorra, Argentina, ... , Cyprus, ... , Israel, ..."</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.freedomhouse.org/article/global-survey-2006-middle-east-progress-amid-global-gains-freedom |title=Global Survey 2006: Middle East Progress Amid Global Gains in Freedom |accessdate=20 March 2012 |date=19 December 2005 |publisher=Freedom House}}</ref> The [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]] serves as head of government and the [[Knesset]] serves as Israel's [[legislative body]]. Israel is a [[developed country]] and an [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]] member,<ref name="OECD">{{cite web |url=http://www.oecd.org/israel/israelsaccessiontotheoecd.htm |title=Israel's accession to the OECD |publisher=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |accessdate=12 August 2012}}</ref> with the [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|37th-largest]] [[Economy of Israel|economy]] in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2012. The country has the [[List of countries by Human Development Index#Middle East and North Africa|highest standard of living in the Middle East]] and the [[List of countries by Human Development Index#Asia|fifth highest in Asia]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi-table|publisher=United Nations Development Programme|title=Human development index (HDI)|accessdate=1 August 2014}}</ref> and has the [[List of countries by life expectancy|one of the highest life expectancies]] in the world.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/who-life-expectancy-in-israel-among-highest-in-the-world-1.276618 |title=WHO: Life expectancy in Israel among highest in the world |newspaper=Haaretz |date=24 May 2009}}</ref> |
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=={{anchor|Etymology}} Etymology== |
=={{anchor|Etymology}} Etymology== |
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{{See also|Criticism of the Israeli government}} |
{{See also|Criticism of the Israeli government}} |
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[[File:PikiWiki Israel 7260 Knesset-Room.jpg|thumb|The [[Knesset]] chamber, home to the Israeli parliament]] |
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 7260 Knesset-Room.jpg|thumb|The [[Knesset]] chamber, home to the Israeli parliament]] |
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Israel operates under a [[parliamentary system]] as a democratic republic with [[universal suffrage]].<ref name="cia"/> A member of parliament supported by a parliamentary majority becomes the [[Prime Minister of Israel|prime minister]]—usually this is the chair of the largest party. The prime minister is the [[head of government]] and head of the [[Cabinet of Israel|cabinet]].<ref name="cia2"/><ref> In 1996, direct elections for the prime minister were inaugurated, but the system was declared unsatisfactory and the old one reinstated. See {{cite journal|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2683259.stm |publisher=BBC News |title=Israel's election process explained |accessdate=31 March 2010 |date=23 January 2003}}</ref> Israel is governed by a 120-member parliament, known as the [[Knesset]]. Membership of the Knesset is based on [[proportional representation]] of [[List of political parties in Israel|political parties]],<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_beh.htm |publisher=The Knesset |accessdate=8 August 2007 |title=The Electoral System in Israel }}</ref> with a [[Elections in Israel|3.25% electoral threshold]], which in practice has resulted in coalition governments. |
Israel operates under a [[parliamentary system]] as a democratic republic with [[universal suffrage]] except for [[Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law|non-persons]] is the disputed territories.<ref name="cia"/> A member of parliament supported by a parliamentary majority becomes the [[Prime Minister of Israel|prime minister]]—usually this is the chair of the largest party. The prime minister is the [[head of government]] and head of the [[Cabinet of Israel|cabinet]].<ref name="cia2"/><ref> In 1996, direct elections for the prime minister were inaugurated, but the system was declared unsatisfactory and the old one reinstated. See {{cite journal|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2683259.stm |publisher=BBC News |title=Israel's election process explained |accessdate=31 March 2010 |date=23 January 2003}}</ref> Israel is governed by a 120-member parliament, known as the [[Knesset]]. Membership of the Knesset is based on [[proportional representation]] of [[List of political parties in Israel|political parties]],<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_beh.htm |publisher=The Knesset |accessdate=8 August 2007 |title=The Electoral System in Israel }}</ref> with a [[Elections in Israel|3.25% electoral threshold]], which in practice has resulted in coalition governments. |
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Parliamentary elections are scheduled every four years, but unstable coalitions or a [[motion of no confidence|no-confidence vote]] by the Knesset can dissolve a government earlier. The [[Basic Laws of Israel]] function as an [[uncodified constitution]]. In 2003, the Knesset began to draft an official constitution based on these laws.<ref name="cia"/><ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Mazie|2006|p=34}}</ref> The [[president of Israel]] is [[head of state]], with limited and largely ceremonial duties.<ref name="cia2">{{cite journal |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2077.html |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |work=The World Factbook |title=Field Listing — Executive Branch |accessdate=20 July 2007 |date=19 June 2007 }}</ref> |
Parliamentary elections are scheduled every four years, but unstable coalitions or a [[motion of no confidence|no-confidence vote]] by the Knesset can dissolve a government earlier. The [[Basic Laws of Israel]] function as an [[uncodified constitution]]. In 2003, the Knesset began to draft an official constitution based on these laws.<ref name="cia"/><ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Mazie|2006|p=34}}</ref> The [[president of Israel]] is [[head of state]], with limited and largely ceremonial duties.<ref name="cia2">{{cite journal |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2077.html |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |work=The World Factbook |title=Field Listing — Executive Branch |accessdate=20 July 2007 |date=19 June 2007 }}</ref> |
Revision as of 03:30, 30 June 2015
State of Israel | |
---|---|
Anthem: "Hatikvah" (Hebrew) "The Hope" | |
Capital | Jerusalem (disputed) |
Official languages | |
Ethnic groups (2014) | |
Demonym(s) | Israeli |
Government | Unitary parliamentary republic |
Reuven Rivlin | |
Benjamin Netanyahu | |
Legislature | Knesset |
Independence | |
• Declared | 14 May 1948 |
1 May 1949 | |
Area | |
• Total | 20770⁄22072[note 1] km2 (0.36333 sq mi) (153rd) |
• Water (%) | 2.12 (440 km2 / 170 mi2) |
Population | |
• 2014 estimate | 8,238,300[1] (96th) |
• 2008 census | 7,412,200[2] (99th) |
• Density | 387.63/km2 (1,004.0/sq mi) (34th) |
GDP (PPP) | 2014 estimate |
• Total | $286.840 billion[3] |
• Per capita | $35,658[3] (25th) |
GDP (nominal) | 2014 estimate |
• Total | $305.707 billion [3] |
• Per capita | $38,004[3] (25th) |
Gini (2008) | 39.2[4] medium inequality (66th) |
HDI (2013) | very high (19th) |
Currency | Israeli new shekel (Template:Rtl-lang) (ILS [6]) |
Time zone | UTC+2 (Israel Standard Time) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (Israel Summer Time) |
Date format |
|
Driving side | right |
Calling code | +972 |
ISO 3166 code | IL |
Internet TLD | .il |
Israel (/ˈɪzreɪəl/ or /ˈɪzriːəl/), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [mediˈnat jisʁaˈʔel] ; Arabic: دولة إِسرائيل, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a country in Western Asia, situated at the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It shares land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip[7] to the east and west, respectively, Egypt to the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south. It contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area.[8][9] Israel's financial center is Tel Aviv,[10] while Jerusalem is both its designated capital and the most populous individual city under the country's governmental administration. Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem is internationally disputed.[note 2][11]
On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly recommended the adoption and implementation of the Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine. This UN plan specified borders for new Arab and Jewish states and also specified an area of Jerusalem and its environs which was to be administered by the UN under an international regime.[12][13] The end of the British Mandate for Palestine was set for midnight on 14 May 1948. That day, David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel," which would start to function from the termination of the mandate.[14][15][16] The borders of the new state were not specified in the declaration.[13][17] Neighboring Arab armies invaded the former Palestinian mandate on the next day and fought the Israeli forces.[18][19] Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states,[20] in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula (1956–57, 1967–82), part of South Lebanon (1982–2000), Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. It extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank.[21][22][23][24] Efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed. Israel’s occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is the world's longest military occupation in modern times.[note 3][25]
The population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2014 to be 8,146,300 people. It is the world's only Jewish-majority state; 6,212,000 citizens, or 74.9% of Israelis, are designated as Jewish. The country's second largest group of citizens are denoted as Arabs, with 1,718,400 people (including the Druze and most East Jerusalem Arabs).[26][27] The great majority of Israeli Arabs are settled Muslims, with smaller but significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins; the rest are Christians and Druze. Other minorities include Maronites, Samaritans, Dom people and Roma, Black Hebrew Israelites, other Sub-Saharan Africans,[28] Armenians, Circassians, Vietnamese boat people, and others. Israel also hosts a significant population of non-citizen foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia.[29]
In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish and Democratic State.[30] Israel is a representative democracy[31] with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage except for non-persons is the disputed territories.[32][33] The Prime Minister serves as head of government and the Knesset serves as Israel's legislative body. Israel is a developed country and an OECD member,[34] with the 37th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2012. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the fifth highest in Asia,[35] and has the one of the highest life expectancies in the world.[36]
Etymology
Upon independence in 1948, the country formally adopted the name "State of Israel" (Medinat Yisrael) after other proposed historical and religious names including Eretz Israel ("the Land of Israel"), Zion, and Judea, were considered and rejected.[37] In the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term "Israeli" to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett.[38]
The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically been used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel and the entire Jewish nation respectively.[39] The name "Israel" in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob (Standard Yisraʾel, Isrāʾīl; Septuagint Greek: Ἰσραήλ Israēl; "struggle with God"[40]) who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was given the name after he successfully wrestled with the angel of the Lord.[41] Jacob's twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. Jacob and his sons had lived in Canaan but were forced by famine to go into Egypt for four generations until Moses, a great-great grandson of Jacob,[42] led the Israelites back into Canaan during the "Exodus". The earliest known archaeological artifact to mention the word "Israel" is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt (dated to the late 13th century BCE).[43]
The area is also known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Bahá'í Faith. From 1920 the whole region was known as Palestine (under British Mandate) until the Israeli Declaration of Independence of 1948. Through the centuries, the territory was known by a variety of other names, including Judea, Samaria, Southern Syria, Syria Palaestina, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Iudaea Province, Coele-Syria, Retjenu, and Canaan.
History
Antiquity
The notion of the "Land of Israel", known in Hebrew as Eretz Yisrael, has been important and sacred to the Jewish people since Biblical times. According to the Torah, God promised the land to the three Patriarchs of the Jewish people.[44][45] On the basis of scripture, the period of the three Patriarchs has been placed somewhere in the early 2nd millennium BCE,[46] and the first Kingdom of Israel was established around the 11th century BCE. Subsequent Israelite kingdoms and states ruled intermittently over the next four hundred years, and are known from various extra-biblical sources.[47][48][49][50]
The first record of the name Israel (as ysrỉꜣr) occurs in the Merneptah stele, erected for Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah c. 1209 BCE, "Israel is laid waste and his seed is not."[51] This "Israel" was a cultural and probably political entity of the central highlands, well enough established to be perceived by the Egyptians as a possible challenge to their hegemony, but an ethnic group rather than an organised state;[52] Ancestors of the Israelites may have included Semites native to Canaan and the Sea Peoples.[53] McNutt says, "It is probably safe to assume that sometime during Iron Age a population began to identify itself as 'Israelite'", differentiating itself from the Canaanites through such markers as the prohibition of intermarriage, an emphasis on family history and genealogy, and religion.[54]
Villages had populations of up to 300 or 400,[55][56] which lived by farming and herding, and were largely self-sufficient;[57] economic interchange was prevalent.[58] Writing was known and available for recording, even in small sites.[59] The archaeological evidence indicates a society of village-like centres, but with more limited resources and a small population.[60] Modern scholars see Israel arising peacefully and internally from existing people in the highlands of Canaan.[61]
Around 930 BCE, the kingdom split into a southern Kingdom of Judah and a northern Kingdom of Israel. From the middle of the 8th century BCE Israel came into increasing conflict with the expanding neo-Assyrian empire. Under Tiglath-Pileser III it first split Israel's territory into several smaller units and then destroyed its capital, Samaria (722 BCE). An Israelite revolt (724–722 BCE) was crushed after the siege and capture of Samaria by the Assyrian king Sargon II. Sargon's son, Sennacherib, tried and failed to conquer Judah. Assyrian records say he leveled 46 walled cities and besieged Jerusalem, leaving after receiving extensive tribute.[62]
In 586 BCE King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon conquered Judah. According to the Hebrew Bible, he destroyed Solomon's Temple and exiled the Jews to Babylon. The defeat was also recorded by the Babylonians[63][64] (see the Babylonian Chronicles).
In 538 BCE, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon and took over its empire. Cyrus issued a proclamation granting subjugated nations (including the people of Judah) religious freedom (for the original text, which corroborates the biblical narrative only in very broad terms, see the Cyrus Cylinder). According to the Hebrew Bible 50,000 Judeans, led by Zerubabel, returned to Judah and rebuilt the temple. A second group of 5,000, led by Ezra and Nehemiah, returned to Judah in 456 BCE although non-Jews wrote to Cyrus to try to prevent their return.
Classical period
With successive Persian rule, the region, divided between Syria-Coele province and later the autonomous Yehud Medinata, was gradually developing back into urban society, largely dominated by Judeans. The Greek conquests largely skipped the region without any resistance or interest. Incorporated into Ptolemaic and finally Seleucid Empires, the southern Levant was heavily hellenized, building the tensions between Judeans and Greeks. The conflict erupted in 167 BCE with the Maccabean Revolt, which succeeded in establishing an independent Hasmonean Kingdom in Judah, which later expanded over much of modern Israel, as the Seleucids gradually lost control in the region.
The Roman Empire invaded the region in 63 BCE, first taking control of Syria, and then intervening in the Hasmonean civil war. The struggle between pro-Roman and pro-Parthian factions in Judea eventually led to the installation of Herod the Great and consolidation of the Herodian Kingdom as a vassal Judean state of Rome.
With the decline of Herodians, Judea, transformed into a Roman province, became the site of a violent struggle of Jews against Greco-Romans, culminating in the Jewish-Roman Wars, ending in wide-scale destruction, expulsions, and genocide. Jewish presence in the region significantly dwindled after the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE.[66] Nevertheless, there was a continuous small Jewish presence and Galilee became its religious center.[67][68] The Mishnah and part of the Talmud, central Jewish texts, were composed during the 2nd to 4th centuries CE in Tiberias and Jerusalem.[69] The region came to be populated predominantly by Greco-Romans on the coast and Samaritans in the hill-country. Christianity was gradually evolving over Roman paganism, when the area stood under Byzantine rule. Through the 5th and 6th centuries, the dramatic events of the repeated Samaritan revolts reshaped the land, with massive destruction to Byzantine Christian and Samaritan societies and a resulting decrease of the population. After the Persian conquest and the installation of a short-lived Jewish Commonwealth in 614 CE, the Byzantine Empire reconquered the country in 628.
Early Islamic rule, Crusades and Mamluks
In 635-641 CE, the region, including Jerusalem, was conquered by the Arabs who had just recently adopted Islam. It remained under Muslim control for the next 1300 years under various dynasties.[71] Control of the region transferred between the Umayyads,[71] Abbasids,[71] Fatimids, Seljuks, Crusaders, and Ayyubids throughout the next six centuries,[71] before the area was conquered in 1260 by the Mamluk Sultanate.[72]
During the Siege of Jerusalem (1099), the Jewish inhabitants of the city fought side by side with the Fatimid garrison and the Muslim population who tried in vain to defend the city against the Crusaders. When the city fell, about 60,000 people were massacred, including 6,000 Jews seeking refuge in a synagogue.[73] At this time, a full thousand years after the fall of the Jewish state, there were Jewish communities all over the country. Fifty of them are known and include Jerusalem, Tiberias, Ramleh, Ashkelon, Caesarea, and Gaza.[74] According to Albert of Aachen, the Jewish residents of Haifa were the main fighting force of the city, and "mixed with Saracen [Fatimid] troops", they fought bravely for close to a month until forced into retreat by the Crusader fleet and land army.[75][76] However, Joshua Prawer expressed doubt over the story, noting that Albert did not attend the Crusades and that such a prominent role for the Jews is not mentioned by any other source.[77][undue weight? – discuss]
In 1165 Maimonides visited Jerusalem and prayed on the Temple Mount, in the "great, holy house".[78] In 1141 Spanish-Jewish poet, Yehuda Halevi, issued a call to the Jews to emigrate to the Land of Israel, a journey he undertook himself. In 1187 Sultan Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, defeated the Crusaders in the Battle of Hattin and subsequently captured Jerusalem and almost all of Palestine. In time, Saladin issued a proclamation inviting Jews to return and settle in Jerusalem,[79] and according to Judah al-Harizi, they did: "From the day the Arabs took Jerusalem, the Israelites inhabited it."[80] al-Harizi compared Saladin's decree allowing Jews to re-establish themselves in Jerusalem to the one issued by the Persian king Cyrus the Great over 1,600 years earlier.[81]
In 1211, the Jewish community in the country was strengthened by the arrival of a group headed by over 300 rabbis from France and England,[82] among them Rabbi Samson ben Abraham of Sens.[83] Nachmanides, the 13th-century Spanish rabbi and recognised leader of Jewry greatly praised the land of Israel and viewed its settlement as a positive commandment incumbent on all Jews. He wrote "If the gentiles wish to make peace, we shall make peace and leave them on clear terms; but as for the land, we shall not leave it in their hands, nor in the hands of any nation, not in any generation."[84]
In 1260, control passed to the Mamluk sultans of Egypt. The country was located between the two centres of Mamluk power, Cairo and Damascus, and only saw some development along the postal road connecting the two cities. Jerusalem, although still left without the protection of any city walls, also saw a flurry of new construction projects centred around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound (the Temple Mount). In 1266 the Mamluk Sultan Baybars converted the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron into an exclusive Islamic sanctuary and banned Christians and Jews from entering, which previously would be able to enter it for a fee. The ban remained in place until Israel took control of the building in 1967.[85][86]
In 1470, Isaac b. Meir Latif arrived from Ancona and counted 150 Jewish families in Jerusalem.[87] Thanks to Joseph Saragossi who had arrived in the closing years of the 15th century, Safed and its environs had developed into the largest concentration of Jews in Palestine. With the help of the Sephardic immigration from Spain, the Jewish population had increased to 10,000 by the early 16th century.[88]
Ottoman Empire
In 1516, the region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire; it remained under Turkish rule until the end of the First World War, when Britain defeated the Ottoman forces and set up a military administration across the former Ottoman Syria. In 1920 the territory was divided between Britain and France under the mandate system, and the British-administered area which included modern day Israel was named Mandatory Palestine.[72][89][90]
Zionism and the British mandate
"I believe that a wondrous generation of Jews will spring into existence. The Maccabeans will rise again. Let me repeat once more my opening words: The Jews who wish for a State will have it. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and die peacefully in our own homes. The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there to accomplish for our own welfare, will react powerfully and beneficially for the good of humanity."
Theodore Herzl, concluding words of The Jewish State, 1896[91]
Since the existence of the earliest Jewish diaspora, many Jews have aspired to return to "Zion" and the "Land of Israel",[92] though the amount of effort that should be spent towards such an aim was a matter of dispute.[93][94] The hopes and yearnings of Jews living in exile are an important theme of the Jewish belief system.[93] After the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, some communities settled in Palestine.[95] During the 16th century, Jewish communities struck roots in the Four Holy Cities—Jerusalem, Tiberias, Hebron, and Safed—and in 1697, Rabbi Yehuda Hachasid led a group of 1,500 Jews to Jerusalem.[96] In the second half of the 18th century, Eastern European opponents of Hasidism, known as the Perushim, settled in Palestine.[97][98][99]
The first wave of modern Jewish migration to Ottoman-ruled Palestine, known as the First Aliyah, began in 1881, as Jews fled pogroms in Eastern Europe.[100] Although the Zionist movement already existed in practice, Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl is credited with founding political Zionism,[101] a movement which sought to establish a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, thus offering a solution to the so-called Jewish Question of the European states, in conformity with the goals and achievements of other national projects of the time.[102] In 1896, Herzl published Der Judenstaat (The State of the Jews), offering his vision of a future Jewish state; the following year he presided over the first Zionist Congress.[103]
The Second Aliyah (1904–14), began after the Kishinev pogrom; some 40,000 Jews settled in Palestine, although nearly half of them left eventually.[100] Both the first and second waves of migrants were mainly Orthodox Jews,[104] although the Second Aliyah included socialist groups who established the kibbutz movement.[105] During World War I, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent the Balfour Declaration of 1917 to Baron Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, that stated that Britain intended for the creation of a Jewish "national home" within the Palestinian Mandate.[106][107]
The Jewish Legion, a group primarily of Zionist volunteers, assisted, in 1918, in the British conquest of Palestine.[108] Arab opposition to British rule and Jewish immigration led to the 1920 Palestine riots and the formation of a Jewish militia known as the Haganah (meaning "The Defense" in Hebrew), from which the Irgun and Lehi, or Stern Gang, paramilitary groups later split off.[109] In 1922, the League of Nations granted Britain a mandate over Palestine under terms which included the Balfour Declaration with its promise to the Jews, and with similar provisions regarding the Arab Palestinians.[110] The population of the area at this time was predominantly Arab and Muslim, with Jews accounting for about 11%,[111] Christians 9.5%.[112]
The Third (1919–23) and Fourth Aliyahs (1924–29) brought an additional 100,000 Jews to Palestine.[100]
Finally, the rise of Nazism and the increasing persecution of Jews in 1930s Europe led to the Fifth Aliyah, with an influx of a quarter of a million Jews. This was a major cause of the Arab revolt of 1936–39 during which the British Mandate authorities killed 5,032 Arabs and wounded 14,760,[113] resulting in over ten percent of the adult male Palestinian Arab population killed, wounded, imprisoned or exiled.[114] The British introduced restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine with the White Paper of 1939. With countries around the world turning away Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, a clandestine movement known as Aliyah Bet was organized to bring Jews to Palestine.[100] By the end of World War II, the Jewish population of Palestine had increased to 33% of the total population.[115]
Independence
WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel".
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel.
WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations.
WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.
WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.
WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.
PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL", WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948).
Closing Paragraphs of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, as translated by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs[116]
U.N partition resolution
After World War II, Britain found itself in intense conflict with the Jewish community over Jewish immigration limits, as well as continued conflict with the Arab community over limit levels. The Haganah joined Irgun and Lehi in an armed struggle against British rule.[117] At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Jewish Holocaust survivors and refugees sought a new life far from their destroyed communities in Europe. The Yishuv attempted to bring these refugees to Palestine but many were turned away or rounded up and placed in detention camps in Atlit and Cyprus by the British. Escalating violence culminated with the 1946 King David Hotel bombing which Bruce Hoffman characterized as one of the "most lethal terrorist incidents of the twentieth century."[118] In 1947, the British government announced it would withdraw from Mandatory Palestine, stating it was unable to arrive at a solution acceptable to both Arabs and Jews.
On 15 May 1947, the General Assembly of the newly formed United Nations resolved that a committee, United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), be created "to prepare for consideration at the next regular session of the Assembly a report on the question of Palestine".[119] In the Report of the Committee dated 3 September 1947 to the UN General Assembly,[120] the majority of the Committee in Chapter VI proposed a plan to replace the British Mandate with "an independent Arab State, an independent Jewish State, and the City of Jerusalem ... the last to be under an International Trusteeship System".[121] On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending the adoption and implementation of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union as Resolution 181 (II).[122] The Plan attached to the resolution was essentially that proposed by the majority of the Committee in the Report of 3 September 1947.
The Jewish Agency, which was the recognized representative of the Jewish community, accepted the plan. The Arab League and Arab Higher Committee of Palestine rejected it, and indicated that they would reject any other plan of partition.[123][124]
Independence war
A Butterfly improvised Armored car brings supply to an isolated Negev Kibutz. After the Egyptian invasion, those cars evacuated the children | Palestinian irregulars near a burnt armored Haganah supply truck, the road to Jerusalem, 1948 | A briefing of Palmach Negev brigade soldiers |
On the following day, 1 December 1947, the Arab Higher Committee proclaimed a three-day strike, and Arab bands began attacking Jewish targets.[125] The Jews were initially on the defensive as civil war broke out, but gradually moved onto the offensive.[126] The Palestinian Arab economy collapsed and 250,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled.[127]
On 14 May 1948, the day before the expiration of the British Mandate, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, declared "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel".[128][129] The only reference in the text of the Declaration to the borders of the new state is the use of the term, Eretz-Israel.[130]
The Kibbutzim, or collective farming communities, played a pivotal role in establishing the new state.[131]
The following day, the armies of four Arab countries—Egypt, Syria, Transjordan and Iraq—entered what had been British Mandatory Palestine, launching the 1948 Arab–Israeli War;[132][133] Contingents from Yemen, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Sudan joined the war.[134][135] The apparent purpose of the invasion was to prevent the establishment of the Jewish state at inception, and some Arab leaders talked about driving the Jews into the sea.[136][137][138] According to Benny Morris, Jews felt that the invading Arab armies aimed to slaughter the Jews.[139] The Arab league stated that the invasion was to restore law and order and to prevent further bloodshed.[140]
After a year of fighting, a ceasefire was declared and temporary borders, known as the Green Line, were established.[141] Jordan annexed what became known as the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip. The United Nations estimated that more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled by or fled from advancing Israeli forces during the conflict—what would became known in Arabic as the Nakba ("catastrophe").[142]
First years up to Suez Crisis
Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations by majority vote on 11 May 1949.[143] In the early years of the state, the Labor Zionist movement led by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion dominated Israeli politics.[144][145]
Immigration to Israel during the late 1940s and early 1950s was aided by the Israeli Immigration Department and the non-government sponsored Mossad LeAliyah Bet ("Institution for Illegal Immigration"[146]). Both groups facilitated regular immigration logistics like arranging transportation, but the latter also engaged in clandestine operations in countries, particularly in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, where the lives of Jews were believed to be in danger and exit from those places was difficult. Mossad LeAliyah Bet continued to take part in immigration efforts until its disbanding in 1953.[147] An influx of Holocaust survivors and Jews from Arab and Muslim lands immigrated to Israel during the first 3 years and the number of Jews increased from 700,000 to 1,400,000,[148] many of whom faced persecution in their original countries.[149] The immigration was in accordance with the One Million Plan.
Consequently, the population of Israel rose from 800,000 to two million between 1948 and 1958.[148] Between 1948 and 1970, approximately 1,150,000 Jewish refugees relocated to Israel.[150] The immigrants came to Israel for differing reasons. Some believed in a Zionist ideology, while others moved to escape persecution. There were others that did it for the promise of a better life in Israel and a small number that were expelled from their homelands, such as British and French Jews in Egypt after the Suez Crisis.[151]
Some new immigrants arrived as refugees with no possessions and were housed in temporary camps known as ma'abarot; by 1952, over 200,000 immigrants were living in these tent cities.[152] During this period, food, clothes and furniture had to be rationed in what became known as the Austerity Period. The need to solve the crisis led Ben-Gurion to sign a reparations agreement with West Germany that triggered mass protests by Jews angered at the idea that Israel could accept monetary compensation for the Holocaust.[153]
In 1950 Egypt closed the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping and tensions mounted as armed clashes took place along Israel's borders.
During the 1950s, Israel was frequently attacked by Palestinian fedayeen, nearly always against civilians,[154] mainly from the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip,[155] leading to several Israeli counter-raids. In 1956, Great Britain and France aimed at regaining control of the Suez Canal, which the Egyptians had nationalized (see the Suez Crisis). The continued blockade of the Suez Canal and Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, together with the growing amount of Fedayeen attacks against Israel's southern population, and recent Arab grave and threatening statements, prompted Israel to attack Egypt.[156][157][158][159] Israel joined a secret alliance with Great Britain and France and overran the Sinai Peninsula but was pressured to withdraw by the United Nations in return for guarantees of Israeli shipping rights in the Red Sea via the Straits of Tiran and the Canal[citation needed].[160][161] The war resulted in significant reduction of Israeli border infiltration.[162][163][164][165]
1960s
According to Tom Segev, the refugees were often treated differently according to where they were from. Jews of European descent were treated more favorably than Jews from Middle Eastern and North African countries and remained in transit camps for longer periods of time; tensions that developed between the two groups over such discrimination persist to the present day.[166] In the early 1960s, Israel captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and brought him to Israel for trial.[167] The trial had a major impact on public awareness of the Holocaust.[168] Eichmann remains the only person executed in Israel by conviction by an Israeli civilian court.[169]
1967 Six Day War and 1973 Yom Kippur War
Since 1964, Arab countries, concerned over Israeli plans to divert waters of the Jordan River into the coastal plain,[170] had been trying to divert the headwaters to deprive Israel of water resources, provoking tensions between Israel on the one hand, and Syria and Lebanon on the other.
Arab nationalists led by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser refused to recognize Israel, and called for its destruction.[20][171][172] By 1966, Israeli-Arab relations had deteriorated to the point of actual battles taking place between Israeli and Arab forces.[173] In May 1967, Egypt massed its army near the border with Israel, expelled UN peacekeepers, stationed in the Sinai Peninsula since 1957, and blocked Israel's access to the Red Sea. Other Arab states mobilized their forces.[174] Israel reiterated that these actions were a casus belli. On 5 June 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt. Jordan, Syria and Iraq responded and attacked Israel. In a Six-Day War, Israel defeated Jordan and captured the West Bank, defeated Egypt and captured the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, and defeated Syria and captured the Golan Heights.[175] Jerusalem's boundaries were enlarged, incorporating East Jerusalem, and the 1949 Green Line became the administrative boundary between Israel and the occupied territories.
Following the 1967 war and the "three nos" resolution of the Arab League, Israel faced attacks from the Egyptians in the Sinai, and from Palestinian groups targeting Israelis in the occupied territories, in Israel proper, and around the world. Most important among the various Palestinian and Arab groups was the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), established in 1964, which initially committed itself to "armed struggle as the only way to liberate the homeland".[176][177] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Palestinian groups launched a wave of attacks[178][179] against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,[180] including a massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The Israeli government responded with an assassination campaign against the organizers of the massacre, a bombing and a raid on the PLO headquarters in Lebanon.
On 6 October 1973, as Jews were observing Yom Kippur, the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched a surprise attack against Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights, that opened the Yom Kippur War. The war ended on 26 October with Israel successfully repelling Egyptian and Syrian forces but having suffered over 2,500 soldiers killed in a war which collectively took 10-35,000 lives in just 20 days.[181] An internal inquiry exonerated the government of responsibility for failures before and during the war, but public anger forced Prime Minister Golda Meir to resign.[182]
Further conflict and peace treaties
In July 1976 an airliner was hijacked during its flight to Tel Aviv by Palestinian guerrillas and landed at Entebbe, Uganda. Israeli commandos carried out an operation in which 102 out of 106 Israeli hostages were successfully rescued.
The 1977 Knesset elections marked a major turning point in Israeli political history as Menachem Begin's Likud party took control from the Labor Party.[183] Later that year, Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat made a trip to Israel and spoke before the Knesset in what was the first recognition of Israel by an Arab head of state.[184] In the two years that followed, Sadat and Begin signed the Camp David Accords (1978) and the Israel–Egypt Peace Treaty (1979).[185] In return, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel had captured during the Six-Day War in 1967, and agreed to enter negotiations over an autonomy for Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.[186]
On 11 March 1978, a PLO guerilla raid from Lebanon led to the Coastal Road Massacre. Israel responded by launching an invasion of southern Lebanon to destroy the PLO bases south of the Litani River. Most PLO fighters withdrew, but Israel was able to secure southern Lebanon until a UN force and the Lebanese army could take over. The PLO soon resumed its policy of attacks against Israel. In the next few years, the PLO infiltrated the south and kept up a sporadic shelling across the border. Israel carried out numerous retaliatory attacks by air and on the ground.
Meanwhile, Begin's government provided incentives for Israelis to settle in the occupied West Bank, increasing friction with the Palestinians in that area.[187] The Basic Law: Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel, passed in 1980, was believed by some to reaffirm Israel's 1967 annexation of Jerusalem by government decree, and reignited international controversy over the status of the city. No Israeli legislation has defined the territory of Israel and no act specifically included East Jerusalem therein.[188] The position of the majority of UN member states is reflected in numerous resolutions declaring that actions taken by Israel to settle its citizens in the West Bank, and impose its laws and administration on East Jerusalem, are illegal and have no validity.[189] In 1981 Israel annexed the Golan Heights, although annexation was not recognized internationally.[190]
On 7 June 1981, the Israeli air force destroyed Iraq's sole nuclear reactor, in order to impede Iraq's nuclear weapons program. The reactor was under construction just outside Baghdad. Following a series of PLO attacks in 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon that year to destroy the bases from which the PLO launched attacks and missiles into northern Israel.[191] In the first six days of fighting, the Israelis destroyed the military forces of the PLO in Lebanon and decisively defeated the Syrians. An Israeli government inquiry – the Kahan Commission – would later hold Begin, Sharon and several Israeli generals as indirectly responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacre. In 1985, Israel responded to a Palestinian terrorist attack in Cyprus by bombing the PLO headquarters in Tunis. Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon in 1986, but maintained a borderland buffer zone in southern Lebanon until 2000, from where Israeli forces engaged in conflict with Hezbollah.
Israel's ethnic diversity expanded in the 1980s and 1990s due to immigration. Several waves of Ethiopian Jews immigrated to Israel in the 1980s and 1990s, while between 1990 and 1994, Russian immigration to Israel increased Israel's population by twelve percent.[192]
The First Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule,[193] broke out in 1987, with waves of uncoordinated demonstrations and violence occurring in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Over the following six years, the Intifada became more organised and included economic and cultural measures aimed at disrupting the Israeli occupation. More than a thousand people were killed in the violence.[194] During the 1991 Gulf War, the PLO supported Saddam Hussein and Iraqi Scud missile attacks against Israel. Despite public outrage, Israel heeded US calls to refrain from hitting back and did not participate in that war.[195][196]
In 1992, Yitzhak Rabin became Prime Minister following an election in which his party called for compromise with Israel's neighbors.[197][198] The following year, Shimon Peres on behalf of Israel, and Mahmoud Abbas for the PLO, signed the Oslo Accords, which gave the Palestinian National Authority the right to govern parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.[199] The PLO also recognized Israel's right to exist and pledged an end to terrorism.[200] In 1994, the Israel–Jordan Treaty of Peace was signed, making Jordan the second Arab country to normalize relations with Israel.[201] Arab public support for the Accords was damaged by the continuation of Israeli settlements[202] and checkpoints, and the deterioration of economic conditions.[203] Israeli public support for the Accords waned as Israel was struck by Palestinian suicide attacks.[204] Finally, while leaving a peace rally in November 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a far-right-wing Jew who opposed the Accords.[205]
At the end of the 1990s, Israel, under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, withdrew from Hebron,[206] and signed the Wye River Memorandum, giving greater control to the Palestinian National Authority.[207] Ehud Barak, elected Prime Minister in 1999, began the new millennium by withdrawing forces from Southern Lebanon and conducting negotiations with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and U.S. President Bill Clinton at the 2000 Camp David Summit. During the summit, Barak offered a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state. The proposed state included the entirety of the Gaza Strip and over 90% of the West Bank with Jerusalem as a shared capital,[208] although some argue that the plan was to annex areas which would lead to a cantonization of the West Bank into three blocs, which the Palestinian delegation likened to South African "bantustans", a loaded word that was disputed by the Israeli and American negotiators.[209] Each side blamed the other for the failure of the talks.
After the collapse of the talks and a controversial visit by Likud leader Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount, the Second Intifada began. Some commentators contend that the uprising was pre-planned by Yasser Arafat due to the collapse of peace talks.[210][211][212][213] Sharon became prime minister in a 2001 special election. During his tenure, Sharon carried out his plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip and also spearheaded the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier,[214] ending the Intifada.[215][216] By this time 1,100 Israelis had been killed, mostly in suicide bombings.[217] The Palestinian fatalities, by 30 April 2008, reached 4,745 killed by Israeli security forces, 44 killed by Israeli civilians, and 577 killed by Palestinians.[218]
In July 2006, a Hezbollah artillery assault on Israel's northern border communities and a cross-border abduction of two Israeli soldiers precipitated the month-long Second Lebanon War.[219][220] On 6 September 2007, the Israeli Air Force destroyed a nuclear reactor in Syria. In May 2008, Israel confirmed it had been discussing a peace treaty with Syria for a year, with Turkey as a go-between.[221] However, at the end of the year, Israel entered another conflict as a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel collapsed. The Gaza War lasted three weeks and ended after Israel announced a unilateral ceasefire.[222][223] Hamas announced its own ceasefire, with its own conditions of complete withdrawal and opening of border crossings. Despite neither the rocket launchings nor Israeli retaliatory strikes having completely stopped, the fragile ceasefire remained in order.[224] In what Israel described as a response to more than a hundred Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israeli cities,[225] Israel began an operation in Gaza on 14 November 2012, lasting eight days.[226] Israel started another operation in Gaza following an escalation of rocket attacks by Hamas in July 2014.[227]
Geography
Israel is at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, bounded by Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank to the east, and Egypt and the Gaza strip to the southwest. It lies between latitudes 29° and 34° N, and longitudes 34° and 36° E.
The sovereign territory of Israel, excluding all territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War, is approximately 20,770 square kilometers (8,019 sq mi) in area, of which two percent is water.[8] However Israel is so narrow that the exclusive economic zone in the Mediterranean is double the land area of the country.[228] The total area under Israeli law, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, is 22,072 square kilometers (8,522 sq mi),[229] and the total area under Israeli control, including the military-controlled and partially Palestinian-governed territory of the West Bank, is 27,799 square kilometers (10,733 sq mi).[230] Despite its small size, Israel is home to a variety of geographic features, from the Negev desert in the south to the inland fertile Jezreel Valley, mountain ranges of the Galilee, Carmel and toward the Golan in the north. The Israeli Coastal Plain on the shores of the Mediterranean is home to 57 percent of the nation's population.[231][232][233] East of the central highlands lies the Jordan Rift Valley, which forms a small part of the 6,500-kilometer (4,039 mi) Great Rift Valley.
The Jordan River runs along the Jordan Rift Valley, from Mount Hermon through the Hulah Valley and the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the surface of the Earth.[234] Further south is the Arabah, ending with the Gulf of Eilat, part of the Red Sea. Unique to Israel and the Sinai Peninsula are makhteshim, or erosion cirques.[235] The largest makhtesh in the world is Ramon Crater in the Negev,[236] which measures 40 by 8 kilometers (25 by 5 mi).[237] A report on the environmental status of the Mediterranean basin states that Israel has the largest number of plant species per square meter of all the countries in the basin.[238]
Geology
The Jordan Rift Valley is the result of tectonic movements within the Dead Sea Transform (DSF) fault system. The DSF forms the transform boundary between the African Plate to the west and the Arabian Plate to the east. The Golan Heights and all of Jordan are part of the Arabian Plate, while the Galilee, West Bank, Coastal Plain, and Negev along with the Sinai Peninsula are on the African Plate.
This tectonic disposition leads to a relatively high seismic activity in the region. The most destructive earthquakes were recorded for the years 31 BCE, 363, 749, and 1033. A list of major historical earthquakes includes
- 92 BCE - coast hit by tsunamis[239]
- 140 BCE - disastrous earthquake between Tyre and Ptolemais (Acre/Akko)[240][241]
- 31 BCE - epicenter in the Jordan Valley, magnitude at least 7; among the largest in 2000 years.[240] Josephus Flavius writes of 30,000 people killed (War, Chapter 19-4)[242] Damages Emmaus and Caesarea.[241]
- 115 CE - Yavne and Caesarea are hit by a tsunami[239]
- 130 - strong earthquakes affect among other places Caesarea, Lydda and Emmaus.[239] Different sources give varying dates: 129,[243] 131[240][244]
- 306 - tsunami on the Levantine coast.[241] Affects or is felt in Caesarea, Tiberias, Jerusalem.
- 363 - the Galilee earthquake. See also next (365 CE) earthquake. The failed attempt of the Jews to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple during the reign of Emperor Julian is connected by some to the earthquake.
- 419 - earthquake causes destruction in Antipatris[239]
- 502 - Ptolemais allegedly destroyed (Syriac chronicle of Joshua the Stylite[245]), tsunami hits northern coast,[239] Safed, Latrun (Nicopolis) affected[246]
- 551 - affects much of the Middle East, possibly largest event in the Levant (see 551 Beirut earthquake).[240][241] Gush Halav is destroyed. A major tsunami sweeps the coast from Caesarea to Tripoli, Lebanon[239]
- 633 - affects Emmatha in the Yarmouk Valley[247]
- 658 - affects Syria and Palestine.[241] Jerusalem is badly damaged according to the chronicles of Michael the Syrian and Theophanes the Confessor.[248]
- 672 - Ascalon, Gaza and Ramla hit by strong earthquake[239]
- 746-749 - a series of earthquakes, often confused into one (see 749 Galilee earthquake). Tiberias, Baysan (Beit She'an) and Hippos were largely destroyed. A large event was centered in the Jordan Valley and had a magnitude of 7.6.[240][241]
- 808 - An earthquake affects Jerusalem[240]
- 881 - An earthquake on the Levantine coast leads to a tsunami at Acre[241]
- 1016 - Jerusalem, Jaffa and the region around are affected[240][249]
- 1033-34 - an earthquake which is felt for 40 days destroys Ramla, Jericho and Nablus[240]
- 1063 - a large earthquake hits the Levantine littoral. Acre is badly damaged[239]
- 1068 - ground-rupturing event in Wadi Arabah. Ramla was totally destroyed and lay abandoned for four years after losing some 15,000-25,000 inhabitants in the earthquake.[250]
- 1070 - a large earthquake centered in the Beqaa Valley affects Palestine[240][241]
- 1091 - coastal towns affected, city towers collapse[239]
- 1170 - Caesarea damaged by tremor[239]
- 1182 -
- 1201 -
- 1202 - 1202 Syria earthquake[246]
- 1261 - between Akko and Tripoli islands disappear under the sea[239]
- 1303 -
- 1545 -
- 1546 -
- 1752 - coast of Syria and Palestine hit by strong earthquake[239]
- 1759 -
- 1837 - Galilee earthquake of 1837, known as the Safed earthquake. The Roum fault, and its extension south to the Sea of Galilee, were sources of the event[251]
- 1856 -
- 1898 - Haifa damaged by earthquake[239]
- 1927 - the Jericho earthquake. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the northern area of the Dead Sea. The cities of Jerusalem, Jericho, Ramle, Tiberias, and Nablus were heavily damaged and at least 500 were estimated to have been killed.[252]
The death toll in Jerusalem included more than 130 people and around 450 were injured. About 300 houses collapsed or were severely damaged to the point of not being usable. The earthquake also caused heavy damage to the domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the al-Aqsa Mosque. The earthquake was especially severe in Nablus where it destroyed around 300 buildings, including the Mosque of Victory and the historic parts of the Great Mosque of Nablus.[253] The death toll in Nablus included more than 150 people and around 250 were injured. In Jericho, a number of houses collapsed, including several relatively new hotels in one of which three female tourists from India were killed.[254] In addition, the Allenby Bridge collapsed and the Jordan river was blocked for about 21 hours following the collapse of the Marl cliffs in its banks[citation needed]. Ramla and Tiberias were also heavily damaged.
Climate
Temperatures in Israel vary widely, especially during the winter. Coastal areas, such as those of Tel Aviv and Haifa, have a typical Mediterranean climate with cool, rainy winters and long, hot summers. The area of Beersheba and the Northern Negev has a semi-arid climate with hot summers, cool winters and fewer rainy days than the Mediterranean climate. The Southern Negev and the Arava areas have desert climate with very hot and dry summers, and mild winters with few days of rain. The highest temperature in the continent of Asia (53.7 °C or 128.7 °F) was recorded in 1942 at Tirat Zvi kibbutz in the northern Jordan river valley.[255] At the other extreme, more mountainous regions can be windy, cold, and sometimes snowy and areas and, at elevation of 750 metres or more (with a similar elevation as Jerusalem), these areas will usually receive at least one snowfall each year.[256]
From May to September, rain in Israel is rare.[257][258] With scarce water resources, Israel has developed various water-saving technologies, including drip irrigation.[259] Israelis also take advantage of the considerable sunlight available for solar energy, making Israel the leading nation in solar energy use per capita (practically every house uses solar panels for water heating).[260]
Four different phytogeographic regions exist in Israel, due to the country's location between the temperate and the tropical zones, bordering the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the desert in the east. For this reason the flora and fauna of Israel is extremely diverse. There are 2,867 known species of plants found in Israel. Of these, at least 253 species are introduced and non-native.[261] There are 380 Israeli nature reserves.[262]
-
Anemone coronaria - Israel's national flower
-
Nubian Ibex in the Negev
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Pine forest at Eshtaol planted by Jewish National Fund
-
Spring blossom of Chrysanthemum coronarium in Rishon LeZion's lake
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Buffaloes in the Hulah Valley Reservation, Northern Israel
-
Nahal Arugot
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Tahana waterfall in Nahal Ayun
Demographics
In late 2014, Israel's population was an estimated 8.2 million people, of whom 6,135,000 (74.9%) were Jews.[263] Arab citizens of Israel comprised 20.7% of the population, while those of other origins made up 4.3%.[27] Over the last decade, large numbers of migrant workers from Romania, Thailand, China, Africa, and South America have settled in Israel. Exact figures are unknown, as many of them are living in the country illegally,[264] but estimates run in the region of 203,000.[29] By June 2012, approximately 60,000 African migrants had entered Israel.[265] About 92% of Israelis live in urban areas.[266]
Retention of Israel's population since 1948 is about even or greater, when compared to other countries with mass immigration.[267] Emigration from Israel (yerida) to other countries, primarily the United States and Canada, is described by demographers as modest,[268] but is often cited by Israeli government ministries as a major threat to Israel's future.[269][270]
In 2009[update], over 300,000 Israeli citizens lived in West Bank settlements[271] such as Ma'ale Adumim and Ariel, and communities that predated the establishment of the State but were re-established after the Six-Day War, in cities such as Hebron and Gush Etzion. In 2011, there were 250,000 Jews living in East Jerusalem.[272] 20,000 Israelis live in Golan Heights settlements.[190] The total number of Israeli settlers is over 500,000 (6.5% of the Israeli population). Approximately 7,800 Israelis lived in settlements in the Gaza Strip, until they were evacuated by the government as part of its 2005 disengagement plan.[273]
Israel was established as a homeland for the Jewish people and is often referred to as a Jewish state. The country's Law of Return grants all Jews and those of Jewish lineage the right to Israeli citizenship.[274] Over three quarters, or 75.5%, of the population are Jews from a diversity of Jewish backgrounds. Around 4% of Israelis (300,000), ethnically defined as "others", are Russian-descendants of Jewish origin or family who are not Jewish according to rabbinical law, but were eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.[275][276][277] Approximately 73% of Israeli Jews are Israeli-born, 18.4% are immigrants from Europe and the Americas, and 8.6% are immigrants from Asia and Africa (including the Arab World).[278][279] Jews from Europe and the former Soviet Union and their Israeli-born descendants, including Ashkenazi Jews, constitute approximately 50% of Jewish Israelis. Jews who left or fled Arab and Muslim countries and their descendants, including both Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews,[280] form most of the rest of the Jewish population.[281][282][283] Jewish intermarriage rates run at over 35% and recent studies suggest that the percentage of Israelis descended from both Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews increases by 0.5 percent every year, with over 25% of school children now originating from both communities.[284]
Rank | Name | District | Pop. | Rank | Name | District | Pop. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jerusalem Tel Aviv |
1 | Jerusalem | Jerusalem | 981,711a | 11 | Ramat Gan | Tel Aviv | 172,486 | Haifa Rishon LeZion |
2 | Tel Aviv | Tel Aviv | 474,530 | 12 | Beit Shemesh | Jerusalem | 154,694 | ||
3 | Haifa | Haifa | 290,306 | 13 | Ashkelon | Southern | 153,138 | ||
4 | Rishon LeZion | Central | 260,453 | 14 | Rehovot | Central | 150,748 | ||
5 | Petah Tikva | Central | 255,387 | 15 | Bat Yam | Tel Aviv | 128,465 | ||
6 | Netanya | Central | 233,104 | 16 | Herzliya | Tel Aviv | 106,741 | ||
7 | Ashdod | Southern | 226,827 | 17 | Hadera | Haifa | 103,041 | ||
8 | Bnei Brak | Tel Aviv | 218,357 | 18 | Kfar Saba | Central | 101,556 | ||
9 | Beersheba | Southern | 214,162 | 19 | Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut | Central | 99,171 | ||
10 | Holon | Tel Aviv | 197,957 | 20 | Lod | Central | 85,351 |
^a This number includes East Jerusalem and West Bank areas, which had a total population of 573,330 inhabitants in 2019.[286] Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem is internationally unrecognized.
Politics
Israel operates under a parliamentary system as a democratic republic with universal suffrage except for non-persons is the disputed territories.[8] A member of parliament supported by a parliamentary majority becomes the prime minister—usually this is the chair of the largest party. The prime minister is the head of government and head of the cabinet.[287][288] Israel is governed by a 120-member parliament, known as the Knesset. Membership of the Knesset is based on proportional representation of political parties,[289] with a 3.25% electoral threshold, which in practice has resulted in coalition governments.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled every four years, but unstable coalitions or a no-confidence vote by the Knesset can dissolve a government earlier. The Basic Laws of Israel function as an uncodified constitution. In 2003, the Knesset began to draft an official constitution based on these laws.[8][290] The president of Israel is head of state, with limited and largely ceremonial duties.[287]
Legal system
Israel has a three-tier court system. At the lowest level are magistrate courts, situated in most cities across the country. Above them are district courts, serving as both appellate courts and courts of first instance; they are situated in five of Israel's six districts. The third and highest tier is the Supreme Court, located in Jerusalem; it serves a dual role as the highest court of appeals and the High Court of Justice. In the latter role, the Supreme Court rules as a court of first instance, allowing individuals, both citizens and non-citizens, to petition against the decisions of state authorities.[291][292] Although Israel supports the goals of the International Criminal Court, it has not ratified the Rome Statute, citing concerns about the ability of the court to remain free from political impartiality.[293]
Israel's legal system combines three legal traditions: English common law, civil law, and Jewish law.[8] It is based on the principle of stare decisis (precedent) and is an adversarial system, where the parties in the suit bring evidence before the court. Court cases are decided by professional judges rather than juries.[291] Marriage and divorce are under the jurisdiction of the religious courts: Jewish, Muslim, Druze, and Christian. A committee of Knesset members, Supreme Court justices, and Israeli Bar members carries out the election of judges.[294] Administration of Israel's courts (both the "General" courts and the Labor Courts) is carried by the Administration of Courts, situated in Jerusalem. Both General and Labor courts are paperless courts: the storage of court files, as well as court decisions, are conducted electronically. Israel's Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty seeks to defend human rights and liberties in Israel.
Religious status
Israel has no official religion,[295][296][297] but the definition of the state as "Jewish and democratic" creates a strong connection with Judaism, as well as a conflict between state law and religious law. Interaction between the political parties keeps the balance between state and religion largely as it existed during the British Mandate.[298]
Administrative divisions
The State of Israel is divided into six main administrative districts, known as mehozot (מחוזות; singular: mahoz) – Center, Haifa, Jerusalem, North, Southern, and Tel Aviv Districts, as well as the Judea and Samaria Area in the West Bank. All of the Judea and Samaria Area and parts of the Jerusalem and North districts are not recognized internationally as part of Israel. Districts are further divided into fifteen sub-districts known as nafot (נפות; singular: nafa), which are themselves partitioned into fifty natural regions.[299]
District | Main city | Sub-district | Population |
---|---|---|---|
North | Nazareth | Acre, Karmiel, Kiryat Shmona, Nazareth, Nazareth Illit, Qatsrin, Safed, Tiberias | 1,242,100 |
Haifa | Haifa | Haifa, Hadera | 880,000 |
Center | Ramla | Herzliya, Kfar Saba, Modi'in, Netanya, Petah Tikva, Ra'anana, Ramla, Rehovot, Rishon LeZion | 1,770,200 |
Tel Aviv | Tel Aviv | Bat Yam, Bnei Brak, Givatayim, Holon, Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv | 1,227,000 |
Jerusalem | Jerusalem | Jerusalem, Mevaseret Zion | 910,300 (Including approximately 200,000 Israeli settlers and 208,000 Palestinians.[300][301][302]) |
South | Beersheba | Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beersheba, Eilat, Kiryat Gat, Sderot | 1,053,600 |
Judea and Samaria (West Bank) | Ariel | Ariel, Beitar Illit, Ma'ale Adumim, Modi'in Illit | 375,000 Israeli citizens[303] ~ 2.5 million Palestinians |
For statistical purposes, the country is divided into three metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv metropolitan area (population 3,206,400), Haifa metropolitan area (population 1,021,000), and Beer Sheva metropolitan area (population 559,700).[304] Israel's largest municipality, in population and area,[305] is Jerusalem with 773,800 residents in an area of 126 square kilometres (49 sq mi) (in 2009). Israeli government statistics on Jerusalem include the population and area of East Jerusalem, which is widely recognized as part of the Palestinian territories under Israeli occupation.[306] Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Rishon LeZion rank as Israel's next most populous cities, with populations of 393,900, 265,600, and 227,600 respectively.[305]
Israeli-occupied territories
In 1967, as a result of the Six-Day War, Israel took control of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Israel also took control of the Sinai Peninsula, but returned it to Egypt as part of the 1979 Israel–Egypt Peace Treaty.[307] Between 1982 and 2000, Israel occupied part of southern Lebanon, in what was known as the Security Zone.
Since Israel's capture of these territories, settlements (Jewish civilian communities) and military installations have been built within each of them. Israel has applied civilian law to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, incorporating them into its sovereign territory and granting their inhabitants permanent residency status and the choice to apply for citizenship. In contrast, the West Bank has remained under military occupation, and Palestinians in this area cannot become citizens. The Gaza Strip is independent of Israel with no Israeli military or civilian presence, but Israel continues to maintain control of its airspace and waters. The UN Security Council has declared the annexation of the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem to be "null and void" and continues to view the territories as occupied.[308][309] The International Court of Justice, principal judicial organ of the United Nations, asserted, in its 2004 advisory opinion on the legality of the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier, that the lands captured by Israel in the Six-Day War, including East Jerusalem, are occupied territory.[310]
The status of East Jerusalem in any future peace settlement has at times been a difficult issue in negotiations between Israeli governments and representatives of the Palestinians, as Israel views it as its sovereign territory, as well as part of its capital. Most negotiations relating to the territories have been on the basis of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which emphasises "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war", and calls on Israel to withdraw from occupied territories in return for normalization of relations with Arab states, a principle known as "Land for peace".[311][312][313]
The West Bank was annexed by Jordan in 1950, following the Arab rejection of the UN decision to create two states in Palestine. Only Britain recognized this annexation and Jordan has since ceded its claim to the territory to the PLO. The West Bank was occupied by Israel in 1967 during the Six-Day War. The population are mainly Palestinians, including refugees of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[314] From their occupation in 1967 until 1993, the Palestinians living in these territories were under Israeli military administration. Since the Israel–PLO letters of recognition, most of the Palestinian population and cities have been under the internal jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, and only partial Israeli military control, although Israel has on several occasions redeployed its troops and reinstated full military administration during periods of unrest. In response to increasing attacks as part of the Second Intifada, the Israeli government started to construct the Israeli West Bank barrier.[315] When completed, approximately 13% of the Barrier will be constructed on the Green Line or in Israel with 87% inside the West Bank.[316][317]
The Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt from 1948 to 1967 and then by Israel after 1967. In 2005, as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, Israel removed all of its settlers and forces from the territory. Israel does not consider the Gaza Strip to be occupied territory and declared it a "foreign territory". That view has been disputed by numerous international humanitarian organizations and various bodies of the United Nations.[318][319][320][321][322] Following June 2007, when Hamas assumed power in the Gaza Strip,[323] Israel tightened its control of the Gaza crossings along its border, as well as by sea and air, and prevented persons from entering and exiting the area except for isolated cases it deemed humanitarian.[323] Gaza has a border with Egypt and an agreement between Israel, the European Union and the PA governed how border crossing would take place (it was monitored by European observers).[324] Egypt adhered to this agreement under Mubarak and prevented access to Gaza until April 2011 when it announced it was opening its border with Gaza.
Foreign relations
Israel maintains diplomatic relations with 157 countries and has 100 diplomatic missions around the world.[325] Only three members of the Arab League have normalized relations with Israel: Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties in 1979 and 1994, respectively, and Mauritania opted for full diplomatic relations with Israel in 1999. Despite the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, Israel is still widely considered an enemy country among Egyptians.[326] Under Israeli law, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, and Yemen are enemy countries[327] and Israeli citizens may not visit them without permission from the Ministry of the Interior.[328]
The Soviet Union and the United States were the first two countries to recognize the State of Israel, having declared recognition roughly simultaneously.[329] The United States regards Israel as its "most reliable partner in the Middle East,"[330] based on "common democratic values, religious affinities, and security interests".[331] The United States has provided $68 billion in military assistance and $32 billion in grants to Israel since 1967, under the Foreign Assistance Act (period beginning 1962),[332] more than any other country for that period until 2003.[332][333][334] Their bilateral relations are multidimensional and the United States is the principal proponent of the Arab-Israeli peace process. The United States and Israeli views differ on some issues, such as the Golan Heights, Jerusalem, and settlements.[335]
India established full diplomatic ties with Israel in 1992 and has fostered a strong military, technological and cultural partnership with the country since then.[336] According to an international opinion survey conducted in 2009 on behalf of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, India is the most pro-Israel country in the world.[337][338] India is the largest customer of Israeli military equipment and Israel is the second-largest military partner of India after the Russian Federation.[339] India is also the third-largest Asian economic partner of Israel[340] and the two countries have military as well as extensive space technology ties.[341][342] India became the top source market for Israel from Asia in 2010 with 41,000 tourist arrivals in that year.[343]
Germany's strong ties with Israel include cooperation on scientific and educational endeavors and the two states remain strong economic and military partners.[344][345] Under the reparations agreement, by 2007[update] Germany had paid 25 billion euros in reparations to the Israeli state and individual Israeli Holocaust survivors.[346] The UK has kept full diplomatic relations with Israel since its formation having had two visits from heads of state in 2007. Relations between the two countries were also made stronger by former prime minister Tony Blair's efforts for a two state resolution. The UK is seen as having a "natural" relationship with Israel on account of the British Mandate for Palestine.[347] Iran had diplomatic relations with Israel under the Pahlavi dynasty[348] but withdrew its recognition of Israel during the Islamic Revolution.[349]
Although Turkey and Israel did not establish full diplomatic relations until 1991,[351] Turkey has cooperated with the State since its recognition of Israel in 1949. Turkey's ties to the other Muslim-majority nations in the region have at times resulted in pressure from Arab and Muslim states to temper its relationship with Israel.[352] Relations between Turkey and Israel took a downturn after the 2008&ndash09 Gaza War and Israel's raid of the Gaza flotilla.[353] IHH, which organized the flotilla, is a Turkish charity that has been challenged on ties to Hamas and Al-Qaeda.[354][355][356][357][358]
Relations between Israel and Greece have improved since 1995 due to the decline of Israeli-Turkish relations.[359] The two countries have a defense cooperation agreement and in 2010, the Israeli Air Force hosted Greece’s Hellenic Air Force in a joint exercise at the Uvda base. The joint Cyprus-Israel oil and gas explorations centered on the Leviathan gas field are also an important factor for Greece, given its strong links with Cyprus.[360] Israel is the second largest importer of Greek products in the Middle East.[361] In 2010, the Greek Prime minister George Papandreou made an official visit to Israel after many years, in order to improve bilateral relations between the two countries.[362]
Israel and Cyprus have a number of bilateral agreements and many official visits have taken place between the two countries. The countries have ties on energy, agricultural, military and tourism matters. The prospects of joint exploitation of oil and gas fields off Cyprus, as well as cooperation in the world's longest sub-sea electric power cable has strengthened relations between the countries.[363][364][365]
Azerbaijan is one of the few majority Muslim countries to develop bilateral strategic and economic relations with Israel. The relationship includes cooperation in trade and security matters and cultural and educational exchanges. Azerbaijan supplies Israel with a substantial amount of its oil needs, and Israel has helped modernize the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan. In the spring of 2012, the two countries reportedly concluded an arms deal worth $1.6 billion.[366][367] In 2005, Azerbaijan was Israel's fifth largest trading partner.[368][369]
In Africa, Ethiopia is Israel's main and closest ally in the continent due to common political, religious and security interests.[370] Israel provides expertise to Ethiopia on irrigation projects and thousands of Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) live in Israel.
As a result of the 2008&ndash09 Gaza War, Mauritania, Qatar, Bolivia, and Venezuela suspended political and economic ties with Israel.[354][371]
Israel is included in the European Union's European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) which aims at bringing the EU and its neighbours closer.
Israel does not have any diplomatic relations with most Muslim Countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh and United Arab Emirates.[citation needed] Many Israelis are not entitled to visit these countries.[citation needed]
International humanitarian efforts
Israel has a history of providing emergency aid and humanitarian response teams to disasters across the world. For the past 26 years, Israel has sent out 15 aid missions to countries struck by natural disasters.[372] In Haiti, immediately following the 2010 earthquake, Israel was the first country to set up a field hospital. Israel sent over 200 medical doctors and personnel to start treating injured Haitians at the scene.[373][374] At the end of its humanitarian mission, the Israeli delegation treated more than 1,110 patients, conducted 319 successful surgeries, delivered 16 births and rescued or assisted in the rescue of 4 individuals.[375] Despite radiation concerns, Israel was one of the first countries to send a medical delegation to Japan following the earthquake and tsunami disaster.[376] Israel sent a medical team and set up a field clinic in tsunami-stricken city of Kurihara, which included a pediatric ward, surgical ward, maternity and gynecological wards and intensive care unit.[377] Overall, medical care was given to more than 2,300 people in afflicted areas, and 220 were saved from certain death.
Israel's humanitarian efforts officially began in 1958, with the establishment of MASHAV, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Agency for International Development Cooperation.[378] MASHAV has provided humanitarian aid to over 140 countries, trained thousands in capacity building skills, distributed food to poverty-stricken countries, built medical treatment facilities and provided medical training across the world.[379] There are additional Israeli humanitarian and emergency response groups that work with the Israel government, including IsraAid, The Fast Israeli Rescue and Search Team (FIRST), Israeli Flying Aid (IFA), Save a Child's Heart (SACH) and LATET.[380]
Military
Israel has the one of the highest ratios of defense spending to GDP of all developed countries, only topped by Oman and Saudi Arabia.[381] The Israel Defense Forces is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and is headed by its Chief of General Staff, the Ramatkal, subordinate to the Cabinet. The IDF consist of the army, air force and navy. It was founded during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War by consolidating paramilitary organizations—chiefly the Haganah—that preceded the establishment of the state.[382] The IDF also draws upon the resources of the Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman), which works with Mossad and Shabak.[383] The Israel Defense Forces have been involved in several major wars and border conflicts in its short history, making it one of the most battle-trained armed forces in the world.[384][385]
Most Israelis are drafted into the military at the age of 18. Men serve three years and women two to three years.[386] Following mandatory service, Israeli men join the reserve forces and usually do up to several weeks of reserve duty every year until their forties. Most women are exempt from reserve duty. Arab citizens of Israel (except the Druze) and those engaged in full-time religious studies are exempt from military service, although the exemption of yeshiva students has been a source of contention in Israeli society for many years.[387][388] An alternative for those who receive exemptions on various grounds is Sherut Leumi, or national service, which involves a program of service in hospitals, schools and other social welfare frameworks.[389] As a result of its conscription program, the IDF maintains approximately 176,500 active troops and an additional 445,000 reservists.[390]
The nation's military relies heavily on high-tech weapons systems designed and manufactured in Israel as well as some foreign imports. Since 1967, the United States has been a particularly notable foreign contributor of military aid to Israel: the US is expected to provide the country with $3.15 billion per year from 2013–2018.[391][392] The Arrow missile is one of the world's few operational anti-ballistic missile systems.[393] Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile air defense system gained worldwide acclaim after intercepting hundreds of Qassam, 122 mm Grad and Fajr-5 artillery rockets fire by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip.[394][395]
Since the Yom Kippur War, Israel has developed a network of reconnaissance satellites.[396] The success of the Ofeq program has made Israel one of seven countries capable of launching such satellites.[397] Since its establishment, Israel has spent a significant portion of its gross domestic product on defense. In 1984, for example, the country spent 24%[398] of its GDP on defense. By 2006, that figure had dropped to 7.3%.[8]
Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons[399] as well as chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.[400] Israel has not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons[401] and maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity toward its nuclear capabilities.[402] Since the Gulf War in 1991, when Israel was attacked by Iraqi Scud missiles, all homes in Israel are required to have a reinforced security room, Merkhav Mugan, impermeable to chemical and biological substances.[403]
Israel is consistently rated very low in the Global Peace Index, ranking 145th out of 153 nations for peacefulness in 2011.[404]
Israel is one of the world's largest arms exporters, reaching the world's 4th largest arms-exporter in 2007.[405] The majority of Israel's arms exports are unreported for security reasons.[406]
-
Arrow 3 launch in January 2014.
-
Dolphin submarines are believed to be armed with nuclear Popeye Turbo missiles, offering nuclear second strike capability.[407]
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The Python missile series, are considered among the most crucial weapons in Israel's military history.[408]
-
Iron Dome is the world's first operational anti-artillery rocket defense system.
-
Israeli Air Force F-16 with 6.5 kill marks of other aircraft and one bombing of a nuclear reactor - more kills than any other in the world.
-
An Israel Defense Forces soldier of the unisex Caracal Battalion armed with the Israel Weapons Industries Tavor assault rifle with Meprolight 21 reflex sight.
Economy
Israel is considered the most advanced country in Southwest Asia and the Middle East in economic and industrial development.[411] Israel's quality university education and the establishment of a highly motivated and educated populace is largely responsible for spurring the country's high technology boom and rapid economic development.[412] In 2010, it joined the OECD.[34][413] The country is ranked 3rd in the region and 38th worldwide on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index[414] as well as in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report.[415] It has the second-largest number of startup companies in the world (after the United States)[416] and the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside North America.[417]
In 2010, Israel ranked 17th among the world's most economically developed nations, according to IMD's World Competitiveness Yearbook. The Israeli economy was ranked as the world's most durable economy in the face of crises, and was also ranked first in the rate of research and development center investments.[418]
The Bank of Israel was ranked first among central banks for its efficient functioning, up from 8th place in 2009. Israel was also ranked as the worldwide leader in its supply of skilled manpower.[418] The Bank of Israel holds $78 billion of foreign-exchange reserves.[419]
Despite limited natural resources, intensive development of the agricultural and industrial sectors over the past decades has made Israel largely self-sufficient in food production, apart from grains and beef. Imports to Israel, totaling $77.59 billion in 2012, include raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, consumer goods.[8] Leading exports include electronics, software, computerized systems, communications technology, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, fruits, chemicals, military technology, and cut diamonds;[420] in 2012, Israeli exports reached $64.74 billion.[8]
Israel is a leading country in the development of solar energy.[422][423] Israel is a global leader in water conservation and geothermal energy,[424] and its development of cutting-edge technologies in software, communications and the life sciences have evoked comparisons with Silicon Valley.[425][426] According to the OECD, Israel is also ranked 1st in the world in expenditure on Research and Development (R&D) as a percentage of GDP.[427] Intel[428] and Microsoft[429] built their first overseas research and development centers in Israel, and other high-tech multi-national corporations, such as IBM, Google, Apple, HP, Cisco Systems, and Motorola, have opened R&D facilities in the country.
In July 2007, American business magnate and investor Warren Buffett's holding company Berkshire Hathaway bought an Israeli company, Iscar, its first non-U.S. acquisition, for $4 billion.[430] Since the 1970s, Israel has received military aid from the United States, as well as economic assistance in the form of loan guarantees, which now account for roughly half of Israel's external debt. Israel has one of the lowest external debts in the developed world, and is a net lender in terms of net external debt (the total value of assets vs. liabilities in debt instruments owed abroad), which in June 2012[update] stood at a surplus of US$60 billion.[431]
Days of working time in Israel are Sunday through Thursday (for a five-day workweek), or Friday (for a six-day workweek). In observance of Shabbat, in places where Friday is a work day and the majority of population is Jewish, Friday is a "short day", usually lasting till 14:00 in the winter, or 16:00 in the summer. Several proposals have been raised to adjust the work week with the majority of the world, and make Sunday a non-working day, while extending working time of other days or replacing Friday with Sunday as a work day.[432]
Science and technology
Israel has nine public universities that are subsidized by the state.[433][434][435] The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel's second-oldest university after the Technion,[436][437] houses the National Library of Israel, the world's largest repository of Judaica and Hebraica.[438] The Technion, the Hebrew University, and the Weizmann Institute consistently ranked among world's 100 top universities by the prestigious ARWU academic ranking.[439][440][441] Other major universities in the country include Tel Aviv University (TAU), Bar-Ilan University, the University of Haifa, The Open University, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Ariel University, in the West Bank, is the newest university institution, upgraded from college status, and the first in over thirty years. Israel's seven research universities (excluding the Open University) are consistently ranked among top 500 in the world.[442] Israel has produced six Nobel Prize-winning scientists since 2002[443][443][444] and has been frequently ranked as one of the countries with the highest ratios of scientific papers per capita in the world.[445][446][447]
Israel has embraced solar energy; its engineers are on the cutting edge of solar energy technology[423] and its solar companies work on projects around the world.[422][449] Over 90% of Israeli homes use solar energy for hot water, the highest per capita in the world.[260][450] According to government figures, the country saves 8% of its electricity consumption per year because of its solar energy use in heating.[451] The high annual incident solar irradiance at its geographic latitude creates ideal conditions for what is an internationally renowned solar research and development industry in the Negev Desert.[422][423][449]
Israel is one of the world's technological leaders in water technology. In 2011, its water technology industry was worth around $2 billion a year with annual exports of products and services in the tens of millions of dollars. The ongoing shortage of water in the country has spurred innovation in water conservation techniques, and a substantial agricultural modernization, drip irrigation, was invented in Israel. Israel is also at the technological forefront of desalination and water recycling. The Ashkelon seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant, the largest in the world, was voted 'Desalination Plant of the Year' in the Global Water Awards in 2006. Israel hosts an annual Water Technology Exhibition and Conference (WaTec) that attracts thousands of people from across the world.[453][454] By the end of 2013, 85 percent of the country's water consumption will be from reverse osmosis.[needs update] As a result of innovations in reverse osmosis technology, Israel is set to become a net exporter of water in the coming years.[455]
Israel has led the world in stem-cell research papers per capita since 2000.[456] In addition, Israeli universities are among 100 top world universities in mathematics (Hebrew University, TAU and Technion), physics (TAU, Hebrew University and Weizmann Institute of Science), chemistry (Technion and Weizmann Institute of Science), computer science (Weizmann Institute of Science, Technion, Hebrew University, TAU and BIU) and economics (Hebrew University and TAU).[457]
Israel had a modern electric car infrastructure involving a countrywide network of recharging stations to facilitate the charging and exchange of car batteries. It was thought that this would have lowered Israel's oil dependency and lowered the fuel costs of hundreds of Israel's motorists that use cars powered only by electric batteries.[458][459][460] The Israeli model was being studied by several countries and being implemented in Denmark and Australia.[461] However, Israel's trailblazing electric car company Better Place shut down in 2013.[462]
The Israeli Space Agency coordinates all Israeli space research programs with scientific and commercial goals. In 2012 Israel was ranked ninth in the world by the Futron's Space Competitiveness Index.[463] Israel is one of only seven countries that both build their own satellites and launch their own launchers. The Shavit is a space launch vehicle produced by Israel to launch small satellites into low earth orbit.[464] It was first launched in 1988, making Israel the eighth nation to have a space launch capability. Shavit rockets are launched from the spaceport at the Palmachim Airbase by the Israeli Space Agency. Since 1988 Israel Aerospace Industries have indigenously designed and built at least 13 commercial, research and spy satellites.[465] Some of Israel's satellites are ranked among the world's most advanced space systems.[466] In 2003, Ilan Ramon became Israel's first astronaut, serving as payload specialist of STS-107, the fatal mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Transport
Israel has 18,096 kilometers (11,244 mi) of paved roads,[467] and 2.4 million motor vehicles.[468] The number of motor vehicles per 1,000 persons was 324, relatively low with respect to developed countries.[468] Israel has 5,715 buses on scheduled routes,[469] operated by several carriers, the largest of which is Egged, serving most of the country. Railways stretch across 949 kilometers (590 mi) and are operated solely by government-owned Israel Railways[470] (All figures are for 2008). Following major investments beginning in the early to mid-1990s, the number of train passengers per year has grown from 2.5 million in 1990, to 35 million in 2008; railways are also used to transport 6.8 million tons of cargo, per year.[470]
Israel is served by two international airports, Ben Gurion International Airport, the country's main hub for international air travel near Tel Aviv-Yafo, Ovda Airport in the south, as well as several small domestic airports.[471] Ben Gurion, Israel's largest airport, handled over 12.1 million passengers in 2010.[472]
On the Mediterranean coast, Haifa Port is the country's oldest and largest port, while Ashdod Port is one of the few deep water ports in the world built on the open sea.[471] In addition to these, the smaller Port of Eilat is situated on the Red Sea, and is used mainly for trading with Far East countries.[471]
Tourism
Tourism, especially religious tourism, is an important industry in Israel, with the country's temperate climate, beaches, archaeological, other historical and biblical sites, and unique geography also drawing tourists. Israel's security problems have taken their toll on the industry, but the number of incoming tourists is on the rebound.[473] In 2013, a record of 3.54 million tourists visited Israel with the most popular site of attraction being the Western Wall with 68% of tourists visiting there.[474][475] Israel has the highest number of museums per capita in the world.[476]
Culture
Israel's diverse culture stems from the diversity of the population: Jews from diaspora communities around the world have brought their cultural and religious traditions back with them, creating a melting pot of Jewish customs and beliefs.[477] Israel is the only country in the world where life revolves around the Hebrew calendar. Work and school holidays are determined by the Jewish holidays, and the official day of rest is Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.[478] Israel's substantial Arab minority has also left its imprint on Israeli culture in such spheres as architecture,[479] music,[480] and cuisine.[481]
Language
Israel has two official languages, Hebrew and Arabic.[8] Hebrew is the primary language of the state and is spoken by the majority of the population, and Arabic is spoken by the Arab minority. Many Israelis communicate reasonably well in English, as many television programs are broadcast in this language and English is taught from the early grades in elementary school. As a country of immigrants, many languages can be heard on the streets. Due to mass immigration from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia (some 130,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel),[482][483] Russian and Amharic are widely spoken.[484] More than one million Russian-speaking immigrants arrived in Israel from the former Soviet Union states between 1990 and 2004.[485] French is spoken by around 700,000 Israelis,[486] mostly originating from France and North Africa (see Maghrebi Jews).
Religion
Israel and the Palestinian territories comprise the major part of the Holy Land, a region of significant importance to all Abrahamic religions – Jews, Christians, Muslims and Baha'is.
The religious affiliation of Israeli Jews varies widely: a social survey for those over the age of 20 indicates that 55% say they are "traditional", while 20% consider themselves "secular Jews", 17% define themselves as "Religious Zionists"; 8% define themselves as "Haredi Jews".[488] While the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredim, represented only 5% of Israel's population in 1990,[489] they are expected to represent more than one-fifth of Israel's Jewish population by 2028.[490]
Making up 16% of the population, Muslims constitute Israel's largest religious minority. About 2% of the population is Christian and 1.5% is Druze.[491] The Christian population primarily comprises Palestinian Christians, but also includes post-Soviet immigrants and the Foreign Laborers of multinational origins and followers of Messianic Judaism, considered by most Christians and Jews to be a form of Christianity.[492] Members of many other religious groups, including Buddhists and Hindus, maintain a presence in Israel, albeit in small numbers.[493] Out of more than one million immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel, about 300,000 are considered not Jewish by the Orthodox rabbinate.[494]
The city of Jerusalem is of special importance to Jews, Muslims and Christians as it is the home of sites that are pivotal to their religious beliefs, such as the Israeli-controlled Old City that incorporates the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.[495]
Other locations of religious importance in Israel are Nazareth (holy in Christianity as the site of the Annunciation of Mary), Tiberias and Safed (two of the Four Holy Cities in Judaism), the White Mosque in Ramla (holy in Islam as the shrine of the prophet Saleh), and the Church of Saint George in Lod (holy in Christianity and Islam as the tomb of Saint George or Al Khidr).
A number of other religious landmarks are located in the West Bank, among them Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, the birthplace of Jesus and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
The administrative center of the Bahá'í Faith and the Shrine of the Báb are located at the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa and the leader of the faith is buried in Acre. Apart from maintenance staff, there is no Bahá'í community in Israel, although it is a destination for pilgrimages. Bahá'í staff in Israel do not teach their faith to Israelis following strict policy.[496][497][498] A few miles south of the Bahá'í World Centre is the Middle East centre of the reformist Ahmadiyya movement. It's mixed neighbourhood of Jews and Ahmadi Arabs is the only one of its kind in the country.[499][500]
Literature
Israeli literature is primarily poetry and prose written in Hebrew, as part of the renaissance of Hebrew as a spoken language since the mid-19th century, although a small body of literature is published in other languages, such as English. By law, two copies of all printed matter published in Israel must be deposited in the National Library of Israel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2001, the law was amended to include audio and video recordings, and other non-print media.[502] In 2011, 86 percent of the 6,302 books transferred to the library were in Hebrew.[503]
The Hebrew Book Week is held each June and features book fairs, public readings, and appearances by Israeli authors around the country. During the week, Israel's top literary award, the Sapir Prize, is presented.
In 1966, Shmuel Yosef Agnon shared the Nobel Prize in Literature with German Jewish author Nelly Sachs.[504] Leading Israeli poets have been Yehuda Amichai, Nathan Alterman and Rachel Bluwstein. Internationally famous contemporary Israeli novelists include Amos Oz, Etgar Keret and David Grossman. The Israeli-Arab satirist Sayed Kashua (who writes in Hebrew) is also internationally known.
Israel has also been the home of two leading Palestinian poets and writers: Emile Habibi, whose novel The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist, and other writings, won him the Israel prize for Arabic literature; and Mahmoud Darwish, considered by many to be "the Palestinian national poet."[505] Darwish was born and raised in northern Israel, but lived his adult life abroad after joining the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Music and dance
Israeli music contains musical influences from all over the world; Sephardic music, Hasidic melodies, Belly dancing music, Greek music, jazz, and pop rock are all part of the music scene.[506][507]
The nation's canonical folk songs, known as "Songs of the Land of Israel," deal with the experiences of the pioneers in building the Jewish homeland.[509] The Hora circle dance introduced by early Jewish settlers was originally popular in the Kibbutzim and outlying communities. It became a symbol of the Zionist reconstruction and of the ability to experience joy amidst austerity. It now plays a significant role in modern Israeli folk dancing and is regularly performed at weddings and other celebrations, and in group dances throughout Israel.
Modern dance in Israel is a flourishing field, and several Israeli choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Rami Beer, Barak Marshall and many others, are considered to be among the most versatile and original international creators working today. Famous Israeli companies include the Batsheva Dance Company and the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company.
Among Israel's world-renowned[510][511] orchestras is the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, which has been in operation for over seventy years and today performs more than two hundred concerts each year.[512] Israel has also produced many musicians of note, some achieving international stardom. Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and Ofra Haza are among the internationally acclaimed musicians born in Israel.
Israel has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nearly every year since 1973, winning the competition three times and hosting it twice.[513][514] Eilat has hosted its own international music festival, the Red Sea Jazz Festival, every summer since 1987.[515]
Israel is home to many Palestinian musicians, including internationally acclaimed oud and violin virtuoso Taiseer Elias, singer Amal Murkus, and brothers Samir and Wissam Joubran. Israeli Arab musicians have achieved fame beyond Israel's borders: Elias and Murkus frequently play to audiences in Europe and America, and oud player Darwish Darwish (Prof. Elias's student) was awarded first prize in the all-Arab oud contest in Egypt in 2003. The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance has an advanced degree program, headed by Taiseer Elias, in Arabic music.
Cinema and theatre
Ten Israeli films have been final nominees for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards since the establishment of Israel. The 2009 movie Ajami was the third consecutive nomination of an Israeli film.[516] Continuing the strong theatrical traditions of the Yiddish theatre in Eastern Europe, Israel maintains a vibrant theatre scene. Founded in 1918, Habima Theatre in Tel Aviv is Israel's oldest repertory theater company and national theater.[517] Palestinian Israeli filmmakers have made a number of films dealing with the Arab-Israel conflict and the status of Palestinians within Israel, such as Mohammed Bakri's 2002 film Jenin, Jenin and The Syrian Bride.
Media
In 2014, Israel proper was ranked 96th of 180 according to Reporters Without Borders' Press Freedom Index, 2nd below Kuwait (at 91) in the Middle East and North Africa region.[518] The 2013 Freedom in the World annual survey and report by U.S.-based Freedom House, which attempts to measure the degree of democracy and political freedom in every nation, ranked Israel as the Middle East and North Africa's only free country.[519]
Museums
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem is one of Israel's most important cultural institutions[520] and houses the Dead Sea scrolls,[521] along with an extensive collection of Judaica and European art.[520] Israel's national Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, is the world central archive of Holocaust-related information.[522] Beth Hatefutsoth (the Diaspora Museum), on the campus of Tel Aviv University, is an interactive museum devoted to the history of Jewish communities around the world.[523]
Apart from the major museums in large cities, there are high-quality artspaces in many towns and kibbutzim. Mishkan Le'Omanut on Kibbutz Ein Harod Meuhad is the largest art museum in the north of the country.[524]
Several Israeli museums are devoted to Islamic culture, including the Rockefeller Museum and the L. A. Mayer Institute for Islamic Art, both in Jerusalem. The Rockefeller specializes in archaeological remains from the Ottoman and other periods of Middle East history. It is also the home of the first hominid fossil skull found in Western Asia called Galilee Man.[525] A cast of the skull is on display at the Israel Museum.[526]
Cuisine
Israeli cuisine includes local dishes as well as dishes brought to the country by Jewish immigrants from the diaspora. Since the establishment of the State in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, an Israeli fusion cuisine has developed. Most Israeli food is kosher and cooked in accordance with the Jewish Halakha. Although most of its population is either Jewish or Muslim, pork is both produced and consumed in Israel.
Israeli cuisine has adopted, and continues to adapt, elements of various styles of Jewish cuisine, particularly the Mizrahi, Sephardic, and Ashkenazi styles of cooking, along with Moroccan Jewish, Iraqi Jewish, Ethiopian Jewish, Indian Jewish, Iranian Jewish and Yemeni Jewish influences. It incorporates many foods traditionally eaten in the Arab, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, such as falafel, hummus, shakshouka, couscous, and za'atar, which have become common ingredients in Israeli cuisine. Schnitzel, pizza, hamburgers, French fries, rice and salad are also very common in Israel.
Sports
The Maccabiah Games, an Olympic-style event for Jewish athletes and Israeli athletes, was inaugurated in the 1930s, and has been held every four years since then. In 1964 Israel hosted and won the Asian Nations Cup; in 1970 the Israel national football team managed to qualify to the FIFA World Cup, which is still considered the biggest achievement of Israeli football.
The 1974 Asian Games held in Tehran, were the last Asian Games in which Israel participated, and was plagued by the Arab countries which refused to compete with Israel, and Israel since ceased competing in Asian competitions.[527] Israel was excluded from the 1978 Asian Games due to security and expense involved if they were to participate.[528] In 1994, UEFA agreed to admit Israel and all Israeli sporting organizations now compete in Europe.
The most popular spectator sports in Israel are association football and basketball.[529] The Israeli Premier League is the country's premier football league, and the Israeli Basketball Super League is the premier basketball league.[530] Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem are the largest sports clubs. Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv have competed in the UEFA Champions League and Hapoel Tel Aviv reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals. Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. has won the European championship in basketball six times.[531] Israeli tennis champion Shahar Pe'er ranked 11th in the world on 31 January 2011.
Chess is a leading sport in Israel and is enjoyed by people of all ages. There are many Israeli grandmasters and Israeli chess players have won a number of youth world championships.[532] Israel stages an annual international championship and hosted the World Team Chess Championship in 2005. The Ministry of Education and the World Chess Federation agreed upon a project of teaching chess within Israeli schools, and it has been introduced into the curriculum of some schools.[533][534][535] The city of Beersheba has become a national chess center, with the game being taught in the city's kindergartens. Owing partly to Soviet immigration, it is home to the largest number of chess grandmasters of any city in the world.[536][537] The Israeli chess team won the silver medal at the 2008 Chess Olympiad[538] and the bronze, coming in third among 148 teams, at the 2010 Olympiad. Israeli grandmaster Boris Gelfand won the Chess World Cup in 2009[539] and the 2011 Candidates Tournament for the right to challenge the world champion. He only lost the World Chess Championship 2012 to reigning world champion Anand after a speed-chess tie breaker.
Krav Maga, a martial art developed by Jewish ghetto defenders during the struggle against fascism in Europe, is used by the Israeli security forces and police. Its effectiveness and practical approach to self-defense, have won it widespread admiration and adherence round the world.
To date, Israel has won seven Olympic medals since its first win in 1992, including a gold medal in windsurfing at the 2004 Summer Olympics.[540] Israel has won over 100 gold medals in the Paralympic Games and is ranked about 15th in the all-time medal count. The 1968 Summer Paralympics were hosted by Israel.[541]
Education
Israel has a school life expectancy of 15.5 years[542] and a literacy rate of 97.1% according to the United Nations.[543] The State Education Law, passed in 1953, established five types of schools: state secular, state religious, ultra orthodox, communal settlement schools, and Arab schools. The public secular is the largest school group, and is attended by the majority of Jewish and non-Arab pupils in Israel. Most Arabs send their children to schools where Arabic is the language of instruction.[544]
Education is compulsory in Israel for children between the ages of three and eighteen.[545][546] Schooling is divided into three tiers – primary school (grades 1–6), middle school (grades 7–9), and high school (grades 10–12) – culminating with Bagrut matriculation exams. Proficiency in core subjects such as mathematics, the Hebrew language, Hebrew and general literature, the English language, history, Biblical scripture and civics is necessary to receive a Bagrut certificate.[433] In Arab, Christian and Druze schools, the exam on Biblical studies is replaced by an exam on Muslim, Christian or Druze heritage.[547] Christian Arabs are one of the most educated groups in Israel.[548] Maariv have describe the Christian Arabs sectors as "the most successful in education system",[548] since Christian Arabs fared the best in terms of education in comparison to any other group receiving an education in Israel.[549]
In 2003, over half of all Israeli twelfth graders earned a matriculation certificate.[550] Israel also boasts a highly motivated and educated populace where in 2012, the country ranked third in the world in the number of academic degrees per capita (20 percent of the population).[551][552] In addition, the quality of Israeli university education is very high, robust, and prestigious. As many offerings are varied, Israeli universities are considered to be of top quality, and they are inexpensive to attend. The country has nine highly regarded research universities and 49 private colleges. Despite many incentives to study domestically, interest in studying abroad is very high among Israelis, with many expressing a desire to attending Ivy League institutions in United States. Other preferred destinations include Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Eastern Europe.[412] Israel's quality university education is largely responsible for spurring the country's high technology boom and rapid economic development over the past 60 years.[412] The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University are ranked among the world's top 100 universities by Times Higher Education magazine.[553]
See also
- Index of Israel-related articles
- International rankings of Israel
- Outline of Israel
- State of Palestine
Notes
- ^ 20,770 is Israel within the Green Line. 22,072 includes the annexed Golan Heights and East Jerusalem.
- ^ The Jerusalem Law states that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel" and the city serves as the seat of the government, home to the President's residence, government offices, supreme court, and parliament. United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 (20 August 1980; 14–0, U.S. abstaining) declared the Jerusalem Law "null and void" and called on member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from Jerusalem. The United Nations and all member nations refuse to accept the Jerusalem Law (see Kellerman 1993, p. 140) and maintain their embassies in other cities such as Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, and Herzliya (see the CIA Factbook and Map of Israel). The U.S. Congress subsequently adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which said that the U.S. embassy should be relocated to Jerusalem and that it should be recognized as the capital of Israel. However, the US Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel concluded that the provisions of the act "invade exclusive presidential authorities in the field of foreign affairs and are unconstitutional". Since passage of the act, all Presidents serving in office have determined that moving forward with the relocation would be detrimental to U.S. national security concerns and opted to issue waivers suspending any action on this front. The Palestinian Authority sees East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. The city's final status awaits future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (see "Negotiating Jerusalem," Palestine–Israel Journal). See Positions on Jerusalem for more information.
- ^ The majority of the international community (including the UN General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, the International Criminal Court, and the vast majority of human rights organizations) considers Israel to be occupying Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The government of Israel and some supporters have, at times, disputed this position of the international community. For more details of this terminology dispute, including with respect to the current status of the Gaza Strip, see International views on the Israeli-occupied territories and Status of territories captured by Israel.
For an explanation of the differences between an annexed but disputed territory (e.g. Tibet) and a militarily occupied territory, please see the article Military occupation.
References
- ^ "Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, Population, end of 8/2014". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
- ^ "The 2008 Israel Integrated Census of Population and Housing" (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 28 December 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
- ^ a b c d "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". International Monetary Fund. April 2014. Retrieved April 2014.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ "Distribution of family income – Gini index". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
- ^ "2014 Human Development Report Summary" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 2014. pp. 21–25. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ sometimes as NIS
- ^ "Palestinian Territories". State.gov. 22 April 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Israel". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
- ^ Skolnik 2007, pp. 132–232
- ^ "GaWC – The World According to GaWC 2008". Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
- ^ "''Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel''". Knesset.gov.il. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
- ^ Galnoor, Itzhak. The Partition of Palestine: Decision Crossroads in the Zionist Movement. SUNY Press, 1995. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
- ^ a b Harris, J. (1998) The Israeli Declaration of Independence The Journal of the Society for Textual Reasoning, Vol. 7
- ^ "Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 14 May 1948. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
- ^ Brenner, Michael; Frisch, Shelley (April 2003). Zionism: A Brief History. Markus Wiener Publishers. p. 184.
- ^ "Zionist Leaders: David Ben-Gurion 1886–1973". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
- ^ Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- ^ The Arab-Israeli War of 1948 (US Department of State, Office of the Historian)"Arab forces joining the Palestinian Arabs in attacking territory in the former Palestinian mandate."
- ^ Yoav Gelber, Palestine 1948, 2006 — Chap.8 "The Arab Regular Armies' Invasion of Palestine".
- ^ a b Gilbert 2005, p. 1
- ^ "The status of Jerusalem" (PDF). The Question of Palestine & the United Nations. United Nations Department of Public Information.
East Jerusalem has been considered, by both the General Assembly and the Security Council, as part of the occupied Palestinian territory.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ BBC News (29 March 2006). "Analysis: Kadima's big plans". Retrieved 10 October 2010.
- ^ Kessner, BC (2 April 2006). "Israel's Hard-Learned Lessons". Homeland Security Today. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
- ^ Kumaraswamy, P. R. (5 June 2002). "The Legacy of Undefined Borders". Tel Aviv Notes. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
- ^ See for example:
* Hajjar, Lisa (2005). Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza. University of California Press. p. 96. ISBN 0520241940.The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is the longest military occupation in modern times.
* Anderson, Perry (July–August 2001). "Editorial: Scurrying Towards Bethlehem". New Left Review. 10....longest official military occupation of modern history—currently entering its thirty-fifth year
* Makdisi, Saree (2010). Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393338447....longest-lasting military occupation of the modern age
* Kretzmer, David (Spring 2012). "The law of belligerent occupation in the Supreme Court of Israel" (PDF). International Review of the Red Cross. 94 (885). doi:10.1017/S1816383112000446.This is probably the longest occupation in modern international relations, and it holds a central place in all literature on the law of belligerent occupation since the early 1970s
* Alexandrowicz, Ra'anan (24 January 2012), The Justice of Occupation, The New York Times,Israel is the only modern state that has held territories under military occupation for over four decades
* Weill, Sharon (2014). The Role of National Courts in Applying International Humanitarian Law. Oxford University Press. p. 22. ISBN 9780199685424.Although the basic philosophy behind the law of military occupation is that it is a temporary situation modem occupations have well demonstrated that rien ne dure comme le provisoire A significant number of post-1945 occupations have lasted more than two decades such as the occupations of Namibia by South Africa and of East Timor by Indonesia as well as the ongoing occupations of Northern Cyprus by Turkey and of Western Sahara by Morocco. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, which is the longest in all occupation's history has already entered its fifth decade.
- ^ "Monthly Bulletin of Statistics for Population" (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 7 August 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
- ^ a b "Latest Population Statistics for Israel". Jewish Virtual Library. April 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
- ^ Rice, Stephanie (4 May 2009). "The Black Hebrews of Israel". GlobalPost. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ a b Adriana Kemp, "Labour migration and racialisation: labour market mechanisms and labour migration control policies in Israel", Social Identities 10:2, 267–292, 2004
- ^ "Israel". Freedom in the World. Freedom House. 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Augustus Richard Norton (2001). Civil society in the Middle East. 2 (2001). BRILL. p. 193. ISBN 90-04-10469-0.
- ^ Rummel 1997, p. 257. "A current list of liberal democracies includes: Andorra, Argentina, ... , Cyprus, ... , Israel, ..."
- ^ "Global Survey 2006: Middle East Progress Amid Global Gains in Freedom". Freedom House. 19 December 2005. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ a b "Israel's accession to the OECD". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ "Human development index (HDI)". United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
- ^ "WHO: Life expectancy in Israel among highest in the world". Haaretz. 24 May 2009.
- ^ "Popular Opinion". The Palestine Post. Jerusalem. 7 December 1947. p. 1.
- ^ "On the Move". Time. New York. 31 May 1948. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
- ^ Levine, Robert A. (7 November 2000). "See Israel as a Jewish Nation-State, More or Less Democratic". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
- ^ Wells, John C. (1990). Longman pronunciation dictionary. Harlow, England: Longman. p. 381. ISBN 0-582-05383-8. entry "Jacob".
- ^ "And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." (Genesis, 32:28, 35:10). See also Hosea 12:5.
- ^ Exodus 6:16–20
- ^ Barton & Bowden 2004, p. 126. "The Merneptah Stele ... is arguably the oldest evidence outside the Bible for the existence of Israel as early as the 13th century BCE."
- ^ "And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers." (Deuteronomy 30:5).
- ^ "But if ye return unto me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your dispersed were in the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to cause my name to dwell there." (Nehemiah 1:9).
- ^ "Walking the Bible Timeline". Walking the Bible. Public Broadcast Television. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
- ^ Friedland & Hecht 2000, p. 8. "For a thousand years Jerusalem was the seat of Jewish sovereignty, the household site of kings, the location of its legislative councils and courts."
- ^ Ben-Sasson 1985
- ^ Matthews, Victor H. (2002). A Brief History of Ancient Israel. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-664-22436-3.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Miller, J. Maxwell (1986). A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 523. ISBN 978-0-664-21262-9.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Stager in Coogan 1998, p. 91.[full citation needed]
- ^ Dever 2003, p. 206.[title missing]
- ^ Miller 1986, pp. 78–9.[title missing]
- ^ McNutt 1999, p. 35.[title missing]
- ^ McNutt 1999, p. 70.[title missing]
- ^ Miller 2005, p. 98.[title missing]
- ^ McNutt 1999, p. 72.[title missing]
- ^ Miller 2005, p. 99.[title missing]
- ^ Miller 2005, p. 105.[title missing]
- ^ Lehman in Vaughn 1992, pp. 156–62.[full citation needed]
- ^ Gnuse 1997, pp.28,31[title missing]
- ^ column 2 line 61 to column 3 line 49
- ^ "British Museum - Cuneiform tablet with part of the Babylonian Chronicle (605-594 BC)". Retrieved 30 October 2014.
- ^ See http://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/abc5/jerusalem.html reverse side, line 12.
- ^ Judaism in late antiquity, Jacob Neusner, Bertold Spuler, Hady R Idris, BRILL, 2001, p. 155
- ^ Oppenheimer, A'haron and Oppenheimer, Nili. Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society. Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 2.
- ^ Cohn-Sherbok, Dan (1996). Atlas of Jewish History. Routledge. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-415-08800-8.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Lehmann, Clayton Miles (18 January 2007). "Palestine". Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces. University of South Dakota. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ Morçöl 2006, p. 304
- ^ The Abuhav Synagogue, Jewish Virtual Library.
- ^ a b c d Gil, Moshe (1997). A History of Palestine, 634–1099. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-59984-9.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ a b Kramer, Gudrun (2008). A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel. Princeton University Press. p. 376. ISBN 978-0-691-11897-0.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Allan D. Cooper (2009). The geography of genocide. University Press of America. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-7618-4097-8. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
- ^ Carmel, Alex. The History of Haifa Under Turkish Rule. Haifa: Pardes, 2002 (ISBN 965-7171-05-9), pp. 16-17
- ^ Moshe Gil (1992). A History of Palestine, 634-1099. Cambridge University Press. p. 829. ISBN 9780521404372. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
Haifa was taken [...] in August 1100 or June 1101, according to Muslim sources which contradict one another. Albert of Aachen does not mention the date in a clear manner either. From what he says, it appears that it was mainly the Jewish inhabitants of the city who defended the fortress of Haifa. In his rather strange Latin style, he mentions that there was a Jewish population in Haifa, and that they fought bravely on the walls of the city. He explains that the Jews there were protected people of the Muslims (the Fatimids). They fought side by side with units of the Fatimid army, striking back at Tancred's army from above the walls of the citadel (... Judaei civis comixtis Sarracenorum turmis) until the Crusaders overcame them and they were forced to abandon the walls. The Muslims and the Jews then managed to escape from the fortress with their lives, while the rest of the population fled the city en masse. Whoever remained was slaughtered, and huge quantities of spoils were taken. [...] [Note #3: Albert of Aachen (Albericus, Albertus Aquensis), Historia Hierosolymitanae Expeditionis, in: RHC (Occ.), IV. p. 523; etc.]
- ^ Irven M. Resnick (1 June 2012). Marks of Distinctions: Christian Perceptions of Jews in the High Middle Ages. CUA Press. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-0-8132-1969-1.
citizens of the Jewish race, who lived in the city by the favour and consent of the king of Egypt in return for payment of tribute, got on the walls bearing arms and put up a very stubborn defence, until the Christians, weighed down by various blows over the period of two weeks, absolutely despaired and held back their hands from any attack. [...] the Jewish citizens, mixed with Saracen troops, at once fought back manfully,... and counter-attacked. [Albert of Aachen, Historia Ierosolimitana 7.23, ed. and transl. Susan B. Edgington (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007), 516 and 521.]
- ^ Joshua Prawer. The Jews of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. pp. 34–40.
- ^ Sefer HaCharedim Mitzvat Tshuva Chapter 3. Maimonides established a yearly holiday for himself and his sons, 6 Cheshvan, commemorating the day he went up to pray on the Temple Mount, and another, 9 Cheshvan, commemorating the day he merited to pray at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
- ^ Abraham P. Bloch (1987). "Sultan Saladin Opens Jerusalem to Jews". One a day: an anthology of Jewish historical anniversaries for every day of the year. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. p. 277. ISBN 978-0-88125-108-1. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
- ^ Benzion Dinur (1974). "From Bar Kochba's Revolt to the Turkish Conquest". In David Ben-Gurion (ed.). The Jews in their Land. Aldus Books. p. 217. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
- ^ Geoffrey Hindley (28 February 2007). Saladin: hero of Islam. Pen & Sword Military. p. xiii. ISBN 978-1-84415-499-9. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
- ^ Alex Carmel; Peter Schäfer; Yossi Ben-Artzi (1990). The Jewish settlement in Palestine, 634-1881. L. Reichert. p. 31. ISBN 978-3-88226-479-1. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
- ^ Samson ben Abraham of Sens, Jewish Encyclopedia.
- ^ Moshe Lichtman (September 2006). Eretz Yisrael in the Parshah: The Centrality of the Land of Israel in the Torah. Devora Publishing. p. 302. ISBN 978-1-932687-70-5. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
- ^ M. Sharon (2010). "Al Khalil". Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition. Koninklijke Brill NV.
- ^ International Dictionary of Historic Places: Middle East and Africa by Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, Sharon La Boda, pp. 336–339
- ^ Dan Bahat (1976). Twenty centuries of Jewish life in the Holy Land: the forgotten generations. Israel Economist. p. 48. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
- ^ Fannie Fern Andrews (February 1976). The Holy Land under mandate. Hyperion Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-88355-304-6. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
- ^ "The Covenant of the League of Nations". Article 22. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
- ^ "Mandate for Palestine," Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 11, p. 862, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972
- ^ The Jewish State, by Theodore Herzl, (Courier Corporation, 27 Apr 2012), page 157
- ^ Rosenzweig 1997, p. 1 "Zionism, the urge of the Jewish people to return to Palestine, is almost as ancient as the Jewish diaspora itself. Some Talmudic statements ... Almost a millennium later, the poet and philosopher Yehuda Halevi ... In the 19th century ..."
- ^ a b Geoffrey Wigoder, G.G. (ed.). "Return to Zion". The New Encyclopedia of Judaism (via Answers.Com). The Jerusalem Publishing House. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
{{cite journal}}
:|author=
has generic name (help); Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ "An invention called 'the Jewish people'". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
- ^ Gilbert 2005, p. 2. "Jews sought a new homeland here after their expulsions from Spain (1492) ..."
- ^ Eisen, Yosef (2004). Miraculous journey: a complete history of the Jewish people from creation to the present. Targum Press. p. 700. ISBN 1-56871-323-1.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Morgenstern, Arie (2006). Hastening redemption: Messianism and the resettlement of the land of Israel. USA: Oxford University Press. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-19-530578-4.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ "Jewish and Non-Jewish Population of Palestine-Israel (1517–2004)". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
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(help) - ^ Barnai, Jacob (1992). The Jews in Palestine in the Eighteenth Century: Under the Patronage of the Istanbul committee of Officials for Palestine. University Alabama Press. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-8173-0572-7.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ a b c d "Immigration to Israel". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 29 March 2012. The source provides information on the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Aliyot in their respective articles. The White Paper leading to Aliyah Bet is discussed "Aliyah During World War II and its Aftermath".
- ^ Kornberg 1993 "How did Theodor Herzl, an assimilated German nationalist in the 1880s, suddenly in the 1890s become the founder of Zionism?"
- ^ Herzl 1946, p. 11
- ^ "Chapter One: The Heralders of Zionism". Jewish Agency for Israel. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
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(help)[dead link] - ^ Stein 2003, p. 88. "As with the First Aliyah, most Second Aliyah migrants were non-Zionist orthodox Jews ..."
- ^ Romano 2003, p. 30
- ^ Macintyre, Donald (26 May 2005). "The birth of modern Israel: A scrap of paper that changed history". The Independent. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Yapp, M.E. (1987). The Making of the Modern Near East 1792–1923. Harlow, England: Longman. p. 290. ISBN 0-582-49380-3.
- ^ Schechtman, Joseph B. (2007). "Jewish Legion". Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 11. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA. p. 304. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- ^ Scharfstein 1996, p. 269. "During the First and Second Aliyot, there were many Arab attacks against Jewish settlements ... In 1920, Hashomer was disbanded and Haganah ("The Defense") was established."
- ^ "League of Nations: The Mandate for Palestine, July 24, 1922". Modern History Sourcebook. Fordham University. 24 July 1922. Retrieved 27 August 2007.
- ^ Shaw, J. V. W. (January 1991) [1946]. "Chapter VI: Population". A Survey of Palestine. Vol. Volume I: Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry (Reprint ed.). Washington, D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-88728-213-3. OCLC 22345421.
{{cite book}}
:|volume=
has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|laysummary=
ignored (help) - ^ "Report to the League of Nations on Palestine and Transjordan, 1937". British Government. 1937. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
- ^ Hughes, M (2009). "The banality of brutality: British armed forces and the repression of the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936–39". English Historical Review. CXXIV (507): 314–354. doi:10.1093/ehr/cep002.
- ^ Khalidi, Walid (1987). From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem Until 1948. Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 978-0-88728-155-6
- ^ "The Population of Palestine Prior to 1948". MidEastWeb. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
- ^ http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/declaration%20of%20establishment%20of%20state%20of%20israel.aspx Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- ^ Fraser 2004, p. 27
- ^ Hoffman, Bruce (1999). Inside Terrorism. Columbia University Press. pp. 48–52.
- ^ "A/RES/106 (S-1)". General Assembly resolution. United Nations. 15 May 1947. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ "A/364". Special Committee on Palestine. United Nations. 3 September 1947. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ "Background Paper No. 47 (ST/DPI/SER.A/47)". United Nations. 20 April 1949. Retrieved 31 July 2007.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - ^ "A/RES/181(II) of 29 November 1947". United Nations. 1947. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
- ^ Benny Morris (2008). 1948: a history of the first Arab-Israeli war. Yale University Press. pp. 66, 67, 72. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
p.66, at 1946 "The League demanded independence for Palestine as a "unitary" state, with an Arab majority and minority rights for the Jews." ; p.67, at 1947 "The League's Political Committee met in Sofar, Lebanon, on 16–19 September, and urged the Palestine Arabs to fight partition, which it called "aggression," "without mercy." The League promised them, in line with Bludan, assistance "in manpower, money and equipment" should the United Nations endorse partition." ; p. 72, at Dec 1947 "The League vowed, in very general language, "to try to stymie the partition plan and prevent the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine
- ^ Bregman 2002, pp. 40–41
- ^ Gelber, Yoav (2006). Palestine 1948. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-902210-67-4.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Tal, David (2003). War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy. Routledge. p. 471. ISBN 978-0-7146-5275-7.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Morris, Benny (2008). 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-15112-8.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ "Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 14 May 1948.
- ^ Clifford, Clark, "Counsel to the President: A Memoir", 1991, p. 20.
- ^ Jacobs, Frank (7 August 2012). "The Elephant in the Map Room". Borderlines. The New York Times. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
- ^ "The Kibbutz & Moshav: History & Overview". Jewish Virtual Library. Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
- ^ Karsh, Efraim (2002). The Arab–Israeli conflict: The Palestine War 1948. Osprey Publishing. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-84176-372-9.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Ben-Sasson 1985, p. 1058
- ^ Morris, 2008, p. 205[title missing]
- ^ Rabinovich, Itamar (2007). Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present. Brandeis. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-87451-962-4.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help); Unknown parameter|coauthor=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ David Tal (24 June 2004). War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy. Routledge. p. 469. ISBN 978-1-135-77513-1.
some of the Arab armies invaded Palestine in order to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, Transjordan...
- ^ Benny Morris (1 April 2009). 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. Yale University Press. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-300-15112-1.
The Arab war aim, in both stages of the hostilities, was, at a minimum, to abort the emergence of a Jewish state or to destroy it at inception. The Arab states hoped to accomplish this by conquering all or large parts of the territory allotted to the Jews by the United Nations. And some Arab leaders spoke of driving the Jews into the sea19 and ridding Palestine "of the Zionist plague."20 The struggle, as the Arabs saw it, was about the fate of Palestine/ the Land of Israel, all of it, not over this or that part of the country. But, in public, official Arab spokesmen often said that the aim of the May 1948 invasion was to "save" Palestine or "save the Palestinians," definitions more agreeable to Western ears.
- ^ Benny Morris (1 April 2009). 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. Yale University Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-300-15112-1.
A week before the armies marched, Azzam told Kirkbride: "It does not matter how many [ Jews] there are. We will sweep them into the sea." ... Ahmed Shukeiry, one of Haj Amin al-Husseini's aides (and, later, the founding chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization), simply described the aim as "the elimination of the Jewish state." ...al-Quwwatli told his people: "Our army has entered ... we shall win and we shall eradicate Zionism)
- ^ Benny Morris (1 April 2009). 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. Yale University Press. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-300-15112-1.
the Jews felt that the Arabs aimed to reenact the Holocaust and that they faced certain personal and collective slaughter should they lose
- ^ "PDF copy of Cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to the Secretary-General of the United Nations: S/745: 15 May 1948". Un.org. 9 September 2002. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
- ^ Karsh, Efraim (2002). The Arab–Israeli conflict: The Palestine War 1948. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-372-9.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Morris, Benny. The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. p. 602. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ "Two Hundred and Seventh Plenary Meeting". The United Nations. 11 May 1949. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Lustick 1988, pp. 37–39
- ^ "Israel (Labor Zionism)". Country Studies. Library of Congress. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
- ^ Anita Shapira (1992). Land and Power. Stanford University Press. pp. 416, 419.
- ^ Segev, Tom. 1949: The First Israelis. "The First Million". Trans. Arlen N. Weinstein. New York: The Free Press, 1986. Print. p 105-107
- ^ a b "Population, by Religion and Population Group" (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2006. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Shulewitz, Malka Hillel (2001). The Forgotten Millions: The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands. Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-4764-7.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Bard, Mitchell (2003). The Founding of the State of Israel. Greenhaven Press. p. 15.
- ^ Laskier, Michael "Egyptian Jewry under the Nasser Regime, 1956–70" pages 573–619 from Middle Eastern Studies, Volume 31, Issue # 3, July 1995 page 579.
- ^ Hakohen, Devorah (2003). Immigrants in Turmoil: Mass Immigration to Israel and Its Repercussions in the 1950s and After. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-2969-6.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help); for ma'abarot population, see p. 269. - ^ Shindler 2002, pp. 49–50
- ^ Kameel B. Nasr (1 December 1996). Arab and Israeli Terrorism: The Causes and Effects of Political Violence, 1936-1993. McFarland. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-0-7864-3105-2.
Fedayeen to attack...almost always against civilians
- ^ Gilbert 2005, p. 58
- ^ Isaac Alteras (1993). Eisenhower and Israel: U.S.-Israeli Relations, 1953-1960. University Press of Florida. pp. 192–. ISBN 978-0-8130-1205-6.
the removal of the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba. The blockade closed Israel's sea lane to East Africa and the Far East, hindering the development of Israel's southern port of Eilat and its hinterland, the Nege. Another important objective of the Israeli war plan was the elimination of the terrorist bases in the Gaza Strip, from which daily fedayeen incursions into Israel made life unbearable for its southern population. And last but not least, the concentration of the Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula, armed with the newly acquired weapons from the Soviet bloc, prepared for an attack on Israel. Here, Ben-Gurion believed, was a time bomb that had to be defused before it was too late. Reaching the Suez Canal did not figure at all in Israel's war objectives.
- ^ Dominic Joseph Caraccilo (January 2011). Beyond Guns and Steel: A War Termination Strategy. ABC-CLIO. pp. 113–. ISBN 978-0-313-39149-1.
The escalation continued with the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran, and Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal in July 1956. On October 14, Nasser made clear his intent:"I am not solely fighting against Israel itself. My task is to deliver the Arab world from destruction through Israel's intrigue, which has its roots abroad. Our hatred is very strong. There is no sense in talking about peace with Israel. There is not even the smallest place for negotiations." Less than two weeks later, on October 25, Egypt signed a tripartite agreement with Syria and Jordan placing Nasser in command of all three armies. The continued blockade of the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, combined with the increased fedayeen attacks and the bellicosity of recent Arab statements, prompted Israel, with the backing of Britain and France, to attack Egypt on October 29, 1956.
- ^ Alan Dowty (20 June 2005). Israel/Palestine. Polity. pp. 102–. ISBN 978-0-7456-3202-5.
Gamal Abdel Nasser, who declared in one speech that "Egypt has decided to dispatch her heroes, the disciples of Pharaoh and the sons of Islam and they will cleanse the land of Palestine....There will be no peace on Israel's border because we demand vengeance, and vengeance is Israel's death."...The level of violence against Israelis, soldiers and civilians alike, seemed to be rising inexorably.
- ^ "The Jewish Virtual Library, The Sinai-Suez Campaign: Background & Overview".
In 1955, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser began to import arms from the Soviet Bloc to build his arsenal for the confrontation with Israel. In the short-term, however, he employed a new tactic to prosecute Egypt's war with Israel. He announced it on August 31, 1955: Egypt has decided to dispatch her heroes, the disciples of Pharaoh and the sons of Islam and they will cleanse the land of Palestine....There will be no peace on Israel's border because we demand vengeance, and vengeance is Israel's death. These "heroes" were Arab terrorists, or fedayeen, trained and equipped by Egyptian Intelligence to engage in hostile action on the border and infiltrate Israel to commit acts of sabotage and murder.
- ^ Schoenherr, Steven (15 December 2005). "The Suez Crisis". Retrieved 31 May 2013.
- ^ Gorst, Anthony (1997). The Suez Crisis. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-11449-3.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help); Unknown parameter|coauthor=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Benny Morris (25 May 2011). Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1998. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 300, 301. ISBN 978-0-307-78805-4.
(p. 300) In exchange (for Israeli withdrawal) the United states had indirectly promised to guarantee Israel's right of passage through the straits (to the Red sea) and its right to self defense if the Egyptian closed them....(p 301) The 1956 war resulted in a significant reduction of...Israeli border tension. Egypt refrained from reactivating the Fedaeen, and...Egypt and Jordan made great effort to curb infiltration
- ^ "National insurance institute of Israel, Hostile Action Casualties" (in Hebrew).
list of people who were kiled in hostile action: 53 In 1956,19 in 1957, 15 in 1958
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|quote=
- ^ "jewish virtual library, Terrorism Against Israel: Number of Fatalities".
53 at 1956, 19 at 1957, 15 at 1958
- ^ "Jewish virtual library,MYTH "Israel's military strike in 1956 was unprovoked."".
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Abba Eban explained ... As a result of these actions of Egyptian hostility within Israel, 364 Israelis were wounded and 101 killed. In 1956 alone, as a result of this aspect of Egyptian aggression, 28 Israelis were killed and 127 wounded.
- ^ Segev 2007, pp. 155–157
- ^ "Adolf Eichmann". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 18 September 2007.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - ^ Cole 2003, p. 27. "... the Eichmann trial, which did so much to raise public awareness of the Holocaust ..."
- ^ Shlomo Shpiro (2006). "No place to hide: Intelligence and civil liberties in Israel". Cambridge Review of International Affairs. 19 (44): 629–648. doi:10.1080/09557570601003361.
- ^ "The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East", by Richard B. Parker (1993 Indiana University Press) pp. 38
- ^ Maoz, Moshe (1995). Syria and Israel: From War to Peacemaking. USA: Oxford University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-19-828018-7.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ "On This Day 5 Jun". BBC. 5 June 1967. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
- ^ Segev 2007, p. 178
- ^ Segev 2007, p. 289
- ^ Smith 2006, p. 126. "Nasser, the Egyptian president, decided to mass troops in the Sinai ... casus belli by Israel."
- ^ Bennet, James (13 March 2005). "The Interregnum". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
{{cite news}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ "Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs – The Palestinian National Covenant- July 1968". Mfa.gov.il. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
- ^ Silke, Andrew (2004). Research on Terrorism: Trends, Achievements and Failures. Routledge. p. 149 (256 pages). ISBN 978-0-7146-8273-0. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Gilbert, Martin (2002). The Routledge Atlas of the Arab–Israeli Conflict: The Complete History of the Struggle and the Efforts to Resolve It. Routledge. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-415-28116-4. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Andrews, Edmund; Kifner, John (27 January 2008). "George Habash, Palestinian Terrorism Tactician, Dies at 82". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
- ^ "1973: Arab states attack Israeli forces". On This Day. The BBC. 6 October 1973. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
- ^ "Agranat Commission". Knesset. 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - ^ Bregman 2002, pp. 169–170 "In hindsight we can say that 1977 was a turning point ..."
- ^ Bregman 2002, pp. 171–174
- ^ Bregman 2002, pp. 186–187
- ^ Bregman 2002, pp. 186
- ^ Cleveland, William L. (1999). A history of the modern Middle East. Westview Press. p. 356. ISBN 978-0-8133-3489-9.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Lustick, Ian (1997). "Has Israel Annexed East Jerusalem?" (PDF). Middle East Policy. V (1). Washington, D.C.: Wiley-Blackwell: 34–45. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4967.1997.tb00247.x. ISSN 1061-1924. OCLC 4651987544. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
{{cite journal}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ See for example UN General Assembly resolution 63/30, passed 163 for, 6 against "Resolution adopted by the General Assembly". 23 January 2009.
- ^ a b BBC News. Regions and territories: The Golan Heights.
- ^ Bregman 2002, p. 199
- ^ Friedberg, Rachel M. (November 2001). "The Impact of Mass Migration on the Israeli Labor Market" (PDF). The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 116 (4): 1373–1408. doi:10.1162/003355301753265606.
{{cite journal}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Tessler, Mark A. (1994). A History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Indiana University Press. p. 677. ISBN 978-0-253-20873-6.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Stone & Zenner 1994, p. 246. "Toward the end of 1991 ... were the result of internal Palestinian terror."
- ^ Haberman, Clyde (9 December 1991). "After 4 Years, Intifada Still Smolders". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
{{cite news}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Mowlana, Gerbner & Schiller 1992, p. 111
- ^ Bregman 2002, p. 236
- ^ "From the End of the Cold War to 2001". Boston College. Retrieved 20 March 2012.[dead link]
- ^ "The Oslo Accords, 1993". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - ^ "Israel-PLO Recognition – Exchange of Letters between PM Rabin and Chairman Arafat – Sept 9- 1993". Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - ^ Harkavy & Neuman 2001, p. 270. "Even though Jordan in 1994 became the second country, after Egypt to sign a peace treaty with Israel ..."
- ^ "Sources of Population Growth: Total Israeli Population and Settler Population, 1991–2003". Settlements information. Foundation for Middle East Peace. Retrieved 20 March 2012.[dead link]
- ^ Kurtzer, Daniel (2008). Negotiating Arab-Israeli peace: American leadership in the Middle East. United States Institute of Peace Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-60127-030-6.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Cleveland, William L. (1999). A history of the modern Middle East. Westview Press. p. 494. ISBN 978-0-8133-3489-9.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ "Israel marks Rabin assassination". BBC News. 12 November 2005.
- ^ Bregman 2002, p. 257
- ^ "The Wye River Memorandum". U.S. Department of State. 23 October 1998. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
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(help)[dead link] - ^ Gelvin 2005, p. 240
- ^ Decoding the Conflict Between Israel and the Palestinians, Charles River Editors, Chapter 17
- ^ http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/114827/the-big-myth-he-caused-second-intifada; http://www.wsj.com/articles/jury-finds-palestinian-authority-plo-liable-for-terrorist-attacks-in-israel-a-decade-ago-1424715529; http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=5875
- ^ Khaled Abu Toameh. "How the war began". Retrieved 29 March 2006.
- ^ Ain, Stewart (20 December 2000). "PA: Intifada Was Planned". The Jewish Week. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007.
- ^ Samuels, David (1 September 2005). "In a Ruined Country". The Atlantic. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
- ^ "West Bank barrier route disputed, Israeli missile kills 2". USA Today. 29 July 2004. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
- ^ Harel, Amos; Issacharoff, Avi (1 October 2010). "Years of rage". Haaretz. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ King, Laura (28 September 2004). "Losing Faith in the Intifada". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 August 2012.; Diehl, Jackson (27 September 2004). "From Jenin To Fallujah?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 August 2012.; Amidror, Yaakov. "Winning Counterinsurgency War: The Israeli Experience" (PDF). Strategic Perspectives. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 12 August 2012.; Pipes, Daniel (14 September 2008). "Must Counterinsurgency Wars Fail?". The Washington Times. Retrieved 12 August 2012.; Frisch, Hillel (12 January 2009). "The Need for a Decisive Israeli Victory Over Hamas". Perspectives Papers on Current Affairs. Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. Retrieved 12 August 2012.; Buchris, Ofek (9 March 2006). "The "Defensive Shield" Operation as a Turning Point in Israel's National Security Strategy". Strategy Research Project. United States Army War College. Retrieved 12 August 2012.; Krauthammer, Charles (18 June 2004). "Israel's Intifada Victory". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 August 2012.; Plocker, Sever (22 June 2008). "2nd Intifada forgotten". Ynetnews. Retrieved 12 August 2012.; Ya'alon, Moshe (January 2007). "Lessons from the Palestinian 'War' against Israel" (PDF). Policy Focus. Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Retrieved 12 August 2012.; Hendel, Yoaz (20 September 2010). "Letting the IDF win". Ynetnews. Retrieved 12 August 2012.; Zvi Shtauber; Yiftah Shapir (2006). The Middle East strategic balance, 2004–2005. Sussex Academic Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-84519-108-5. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
- ^ https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/victims.html#2000; The Psychology of Strategic Terrorism: Public and Government Responses to Attack, Shepherd, Ben, p. 172
- ^ B'Tselem – Statistics – Fatalities, B'Tselem.
- ^ "Security Council Calls for End to Hostilities between Hizbollah, Israel, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 1701 (2006)". United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. 11 August 2006.
Escalation of hostilities in Lebanon and in Israel since Hizbollah's attack on Israel on 12 July 2006 - ^ Harel, Amos (13 July 2006). "Hezbollah kills 8 soldiers, kidnaps two in offensive on northern border". Haaretz. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Walker, Peter (21 May 2008). "Olmert confirms peace talks with Syria". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
Israel and Syria are holding indirect peace talks, with Turkey acting as a mediator ...
{{cite news}}
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ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Koutsoukis, Jason (5 January 2009). "Battleground Gaza: Israeli ground forces invade the strip". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
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(help) - ^ Ravid, Barak (18 January 2009). "IDF begins Gaza troop withdrawal, hours after ending 3-week offensive". Haaretz. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Azoulay, Yuval (1 January 2009). "Two IDF soldiers, civilian lightly hurt as Gaza mortars hit Negev". Haaretz. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Lappin, Yaakov; Lazaroff, Tovah (12 November 2012). "Gaza groups pound Israel with over 100 rockets". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
- ^ Stephanie Nebehay (20 November 2012). "UN rights boss, Red Cross urge Israel, Hamas to spare civilians". Reuters. Retrieved 20 November 2012.; al-Mughrabi, Nidal (24 November 2012). "Hamas leader defiant as Israel eases Gaza curbs". Reuters. Retrieved 8 February 2013.; "Israeli air strike kills top Hamas commander Jabari". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
- ^ "Israel and Hamas Trade Attacks as Tension Rises". The New York Times. 8 July 2014.
- ^ Cohen, Gili (9 January 2012). "Israel Navy to devote majority of missile boats to secure offshore drilling rafts". Haaretz.
- ^ "Area of Districts, Sub-Districts, Natural Regions and Lakes". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ "Israel (Geography)". Country Studies. Library of Congress. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
- ^ "Geographic Regions". Retrieved 14 January 2008.
- ^ "Issue #130 November 2011 - Regions in Israel".[dead link]
- ^ "After 20 Years: A Taphonomic Re-evaluation of Nahal Hadera V, an Epipalaeolithic Site on the Israeli Coastal Plain" (PDF).
- ^ "The Living Dead Sea". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1 April 1999. ISBN 0-8264-0406-5. Retrieved 20 July 2007.
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(help) - ^ Makhteshim Country. UNESCO. ISBN 954-642-135-9. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
- ^ Jacobs 1998, p. 284[dead link]. "The extraordinary Makhtesh Ramon – the largest natural crater in the world ..."
- ^ "Makhtesh Ramon". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
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The compromise, therefore, was to choose constructive ambiguity: as surprising as it may seem, there is no law that declares Judaism the official religion of Israel. However, there is no other law that declares Israel's neutrality toward all confessions. Judaism is not recognized as the official religion of the state, and even though the Jewish, Muslim and Christian clergy receive their salaries from the state, this fact does not make Israel a neutral state. This apparent pluralism cannot dissimulate the fact that Israel displays a clear and undoubtedly hierarchical pluralism in religious matters. ... It is important to note that from a multicultural point of view, this self-restrained secularism allows Muslim law to be practiced in Israel for personal matters of the Muslim community. As surprising as it seems, if not paradoxical for a state in war, Israel is the only Western democratic country in which Sharia enjoys such an official status.
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It is true that Jewish Israelis, and secular Israelis in particular, conceive of religion as shaped by a state-sponsored religious establishment. There is no formal state religion in Israel, but the state gives its official recognition and financial support to particular religious communities, Jewish, Islamic and Christian, whose religious authorities and courts are empowered to deal with matters of personal status and family law, such as marriage, divorce, and alimony, that are binding on all members of the communities.
- ^ Jacoby, Tami Amanda (2005). Women in Zones of Conflict: Power and Resistance in Israel. Montreal, Quebec and Kingston, Ontario: McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 9780773529939.
Although there is no official religion in Israel, there is also no clear separation between religion and state. In Israeli public life, tensions frequently arise among different streams of Judaism: Ultra-Orthodox, National-Religious, Mesorati (Conservative), Reconstructionist Progressive (Reform), and varying combinations of traditionalism and non-observance. Despite this variety in religious observances in society, Orthodox Judaism prevails institutionally over the other streams. This boundary is an historical consequence of the unique evolution of the relationship between Israel nationalism and state building. ... Since the founding period, in order to defuse religious tensions, the State of Israel has adopted what is known as the 'status quo,' an unwritten agreement stipulating that no further changes would be made in the status of religion, and that conflict between the observant and non-observant sectors would be handled circumstantially. The 'status quo' has since pertained to the legal status of both religious and secular Jews in Israel. This situation was designed to appease the religious sector, and has been upheld indefinitely through the disproportionate power of religious political parties in all subsequent coalition governments. ... On one hand, the Declaration of Independence adopted in 1948 explicitly guarantees freedom of religion. On the other, it simultaneously prevents the separation of religion and state in Israel.
- ^ Englard, Izhak (Winter 1987). "Law and Religion in Israel". The American Journal of Comparative Law. 35 (1). American Society of Comparative Law: 185–208. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
The great political and ideological importance of religion in the state of Israel manifests itself in the manifold legal provisions concerned with religions phenomenon. ... It is not a system of separation between state and religion as practiced in the U.S.A and several other countries of the world. In Israel a number of religious bodies exercise official functions; the religious law is applied in limited areas
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(help) - Segev, Tom (2007). 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 9780805070576.
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(help) - Stein, Leslie (2003). The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-275-97141-4.
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(help) - Stendel, Ori (1997). The Arabs in Israel. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 1-898723-23-0.
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(help) - Stone, Russell A.; Zenner, Walter P. (1994). Critical Essays on Israeli Social Issues and Scholarship. SUNY Press. ISBN 0-7914-1959-2.
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(help)
External links
- Government
- Israel Government Portal
- Israel in Brief at the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Official website of the Israel Tourism Ministry
- Official website of the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
- Israel Official YouTube Channel, YouTube
- General information
- "Israel". The World Factbook (2024 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency.
- Country Guide: Israel at The Washington Post
- Israel at the Jewish Virtual Library
- Key Development Forecasts for Israel from International Futures
- Maps
Wikimedia Atlas of Israel
Geographic data related to Israel at OpenStreetMap
- Link directories
- Israel web resources provided by GovPubs at the University of Colorado Boulder Libraries
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