Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E
|
State of Israel מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (Hebrew) |
|
|---|---|
|
Flag
Emblem |
|
| Anthem: הַתִּקְוָה (Hatīkvāh; «The Hope») | |
|
Israel within internationally recognized borders shown in dark green; Israeli-occupied territories shown in light green |
|
| Capital
and largest city |
Jerusalem (limited recognition)[fn 1][fn 2] 31°47′N 35°13′E / 31.783°N 35.217°E |
| Official language | Hebrew |
| Recognized language | Arabic[fn 3] |
| Ethnic groups
(2022)[11] |
|
| Religion
(2022)[11] |
|
| Demonym(s) | Israeli |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary republic |
|
• President |
Isaac Herzog |
|
• Prime Minister |
Benjamin Netanyahu |
|
• Knesset Speaker |
Amir Ohana |
|
• Chief Justice |
Esther Hayut |
| Legislature | Knesset |
| Independence out of British Palestine | |
|
• Declaration |
14 May 1948 |
|
• Admission to the United Nations |
11 May 1949 |
|
• Basic Laws |
1958–2018 |
| Area | |
|
• Total |
20,770–22,072 km2 (8,019–8,522 sq mi)[a] (149th) |
|
• Water (%) |
2.71 (as of 2015)[12] |
| Population | |
|
• 2023 estimate |
9,705,920[13][fn 4] (91st) |
|
• 2008 census |
7,412,200[14][fn 4] |
|
• Density |
440/km2 (1,139.6/sq mi) (29th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2023 estimate |
|
• Total |
 $533.9 billion[15] (48th) |
|
• Per capita |
$55,540[15] (29th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2023 estimate |
|
• Total |
$539.2 billion[15] (29th) |
|
• Per capita |
$55,535[15] (13rd) |
| Gini (2018) | 34.8[fn 4][16] medium |
| HDI (2021) | 0.919[17] very high · 22nd |
| Currency | New shekel (₪) (ILS) |
| Time zone | UTC+2:00 (IST) |
|
• Summer (DST) |
UTC+3:00 (IDT) |
| Date format |
|
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +972 |
| ISO 3166 code | IL |
| Internet TLD | .il |
|
Israel (; Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל Yīsrāʾēl [jisʁaˈʔel]; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل ʾIsrāʾīl), officially the State of Israel (מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl [mediˈnat jisʁaˈʔel]; دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل Dawlat Isrāʾīl), is a country in Western Asia. Situated in the Southern Levant, it is bordered by Lebanon to the north, by Syria to the northeast, by Jordan to the east, by the Red Sea to the south, by Egypt to the southwest, by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and by the Palestinian territories — the West Bank along the east and the Gaza Strip along the southwest. Tel Aviv is the economic and technological center of the country, while its seat of government is in its proclaimed capital of Jerusalem, although Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem is unrecognized internationally.[18][fn 5]
Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories are part of the Abrahamic faith tradition’s Holy Land, an area where, in the Iron Age, Canaanite and Israelite civilization emerged. In the early first millennium BCE the kingdoms of Israel and Judah developed, before falling to the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires, respectively.[19][20] During the classical era, the region was ruled by the Achaemenid, Macedonian, Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires. In the 2nd century BCE, an independent Hasmonean kingdom emerged, before Rome conquered the area a century later. In the 7th century, the Muslim conquest of the Levant established caliphal rule. The First Crusade of the 11th century brought the founding of Crusader states, the last ending in the 13th century at the hands of the Mamluks, who lost the area to the Ottoman Empire at the onset of the 16th century. In late 19th century, Jews began immigrating to the area as part of the Zionist movement. After World War I, the allied powers assigned the Mandate for Palestine to Britain, which during the war made a declaration of support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Following World War II and the Holocaust, the newly formed United Nations adopted the Partition Plan for Palestine, recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states, and placing Jerusalem under international control. In the final months of the British Mandate, a civil war broke out between the Palestinian Arabs and the Yishuv, beginning the first stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The British terminated the Mandate on 14 May 1948, and Israel declared independence that day.
Upon its independence, Israel became almost immediately embroiled in conflict with its five neighboring Arab states, whose armies began entering the area of the former Mandatory Palestine on 15 May, starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Early the next year, the 1949 Armistice Agreements left Israel in control of over one-third more territory than the partition plan had called for, with no independent Arab state created. During both stages of the 1948 Palestine war, over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were expelled from or fled Israeli territory to the West Bank, Gaza, and the neighboring Arab countries, with fewer than 150,000 Palestinian Arabs remaining within Israel. During and immediately after the war, around 260,000 Jews emigrated or fled from the Arab world to Israel.[21][fn 6] The 1967 Six-Day War resulted in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, along with the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and the Syrian Golan Heights. Israel has since effectively annexed both East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, and has established settlements across the Israeli-occupied territories, actions the international community has rejected as illegal under international law. Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt, returning the Sinai Peninsula, and with Jordan, and more recently normalized relations with several Arab countries, though efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not succeeded. Israel’s practices in its occupation of the Palestinian territories have drawn international condemnation for violating the human rights of the Palestinians.[22]
The country has a parliamentary system, proportional representation, and universal suffrage. The prime minister serves as head of government, and is elected by the Knesset, Israel’s unicameral legislature.[23] Israel is a developed country and an OECD member,[24] with a population of over 9 million people as of 2021.[25] It has the world’s 28th-largest economy by nominal GDP,[15] and ranks twenty-second in the Human Development Index.[15][26]
Etymology
Under the British Mandate (1920–1948), the whole region was known as ‘Palestine’ (Hebrew: פלשתינה [א״י], lit. ‘Palestine [Eretz Israel]’).[27] Upon independence in 1948, the country formally adopted the name ‘State of Israel’ (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, 
Medīnat Yisrā’el [mediˈnat jisʁaˈʔel]; Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]) after other proposed historical and religious names including ‘Land of Israel’ (Eretz Israel), Ever (from ancestor Eber), Zion, and Judea, were considered but rejected,[28] while the name ‘Israel’ was suggested by Ben-Gurion and passed by a vote of 6–3.[29] 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.[30]
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 people respectively.[31] The name ‘Israel’ (Hebrew: Yisraʾel, Isrāʾīl; Septuagint Greek: Ἰσραήλ, Israēl, ‘El (God) persists/rules’, though after Hosea 12:4 often interpreted as ‘struggle with God’)[32][33][34][35] in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was given the name after he successfully wrestled with the angel of the Lord.[36] 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, lasting 430 years,[37] until Moses, a great-great-grandson of Jacob,[38] led the Israelites back into Canaan during the «Exodus». The earliest known archaeological artefact to mention the word «Israel» as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt (dated to the late 13th century BCE).[39]
History
Early hominin expansion into the prehistoric Levant, where modern-day Israel is located, dates back at least 1.5 million years ago based on traces found at Ubeidiya in the Jordan Rift Valley,[40] while the Skhul and Qafzeh hominins, Homo sapiens fossils dating back 120,000 years, are some of the earliest traces of anatomically modern humans outside of Africa.[41] The Natufian culture emerged in the southern Levant by the 10th millennium BCE,[42] followed by the Ghassulian culture by around 4,500 BCE.[43]
Antiquity
The Canaanites are archaeologically attested in the Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 BCE).[44] During the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BCE), large parts of Canaan formed vassal states paying tribute to the New Kingdom of Egypt.[45] As a result of the Late Bronze Age collapse, Canaan fell into chaos, and Egyptian control over the region collapsed completely.[46][47] There is evidence that urban centers such as Hazor, Beit She’an, Megiddo, Ekron, Ashdod and Ashkelon were damaged or destroyed.[48]
A people named Israel appear for the first time in the Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian inscription which dates to about 1200 BCE.[49][50][51][52] Ancestors of the Israelites are thought to have included ancient Semitic-speaking peoples native to this area.[53]: 78–79 According to the modern archaeological account, the Israelites and their culture branched out of the Canaanite peoples and their cultures through the development of a distinct monolatristic—and later monotheistic—religion centered on Yahweh.[54][55][56] They spoke an archaic form of the Hebrew language, known as Biblical Hebrew.[57] Around the same time, the Philistines settled on the southern coastal plain.[58][59]
Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the narrative in the Torah concerning the patriarchs, The Exodus and the tales of conquest described in the Book of Joshua, and instead views the narrative as constituting the Israelites’ national myth.[60] However, some elements of these traditions do appear to have historical roots.[61][62][63]
There is debate about the earliest existence of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah and their extent and power. While it is unclear if there was ever a United Kingdom of Israel,[64][65] historians and archaeologists agree that the northern Kingdom of Israel existed by ca. 900 BCE[66]: 169–195 [67] and that the Kingdom of Judah existed by ca. 850 BCE.[68][69] The Kingdom of Israel was the more prosperous of the two kingdoms and soon developed into a regional power;[70] during the days of the Omride dynasty, it controlled Samaria, Galilee, the upper Jordan Valley, the Sharon and large parts of the Transjordan.[71] Samaria, the capital, was home to one of the largest Iron Age structures in the Levant.[72][73]
The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire.[19] The Kingdom of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem, later became a client state of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire. It is estimated that the region’s population was around 400,000 in the Iron Age II.[74] In 587/6 BCE, following a revolt in Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar II besieged and destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple,[75][76] dissolved the kingdom and exiled much of the Judean elite to Babylon, beginning the Babylonian captivity.[77] The defeat was also recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles.[78][79] After capturing Babylon in 539 BCE, Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, issued a proclamation allowing the exiled Judean population to return to Judah.[80][81] The returned Jewish population was permitted to self-govern and rebuild the Temple.
Classical antiquity
The construction of the Second Temple was completed circa 520 BCE.[80] The Persians ruled the region as the province of Yehud,[83] which had a population of around 30,000 people in the 5th to 4th centuries BCE.[66]: 308
In 332 BCE, Alexander the Great of Macedon conquered the region as part of his campaign against the Persian Empire. After his death, the area was controlled by the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires as a part of Coele-Syria. During that period, the region underwent a process of Hellenization, which heightened tensions between Greeks, Hellenized Jews, and observant Jews. Several centuries of religious tolerance under Hellenistic rule came to an end when Antiochus IV consecrated the temple, outlawed Jewish customs, and forcibly imposed Hellenistic standards on the Jews. As a result, the Maccabean Revolt erupted in 167 BCE, and eventually led to the establishment of the independent Hasmonean Kingdom of Judea, which exploited the Seleucid Empire’s weakening to expand over much of modern Israel and portions of Lebanon and Transjordan.[84][85][86]
The Roman Republic 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 led to the installation of Herod the Great as a dynastic vassal of Rome. In 6 CE, the area was fully annexed as the Roman province of Judaea, a period that heralded tensions with Roman rule, and led to a series of Jewish–Roman wars, resulting in widespread destruction. The First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE) resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple and a sizable portion of the population being killed or displaced.[87]
In 132–136 CE, the Bar Kokhba revolt occurred. A streak of initial victories enabled the Jews to establish an independent state for three years, but the Romans were later able to brutally suppress the revolt, which led to disastrous effects on Judea’s Jewish population.[87] As a result of this rebellion, Judea’s countryside was devastated and depopulated,[87][88][89][90] and Jewish presence in the region significantly dwindled.[91] Jerusalem was rebuilt as a Roman colony under the name of Aelia Capitolina, and the province of Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina.[92][93] Jews were expelled from the districts surrounding Jerusalem,[94][90] and joined communities in the diaspora.[95] Nevertheless, there was a continuous small Jewish presence and Galilee became its religious center.[96][97] Jewish communities also continued to reside in the southern Hebron Hills and on the coastal plain.[90] The Mishnah and part of the Talmud, central Jewish texts, were composed during the 2nd to 4th centuries CE.[98]
Late antiquity and the medieval period
With the transition of Roman rule into that of the Byzantine Empire under Emperor Constantine, Early Christianity displaced Roman Paganism as an external influence.[99] With the conversion of Constantine in the 4th century, the situation for the Jewish majority in Palestine «became more difficult».[95] Many Jews had emigrated to flourishing Diaspora communities,[100] while locally there was both Christian immigration and local conversion. By the middle of the 5th century, there was a Christian majority.[101][102] Towards the end of the 5th century, Samaritan revolts erupted, continuing until the late 6th century and resulting in a large decrease in the Samaritan population.[103] After the Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem and the short-lived Jewish revolt against Heraclius in 614 CE, the Byzantine Empire reconsolidated control of the area in 628.[104]
In 634–641 CE, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Levant.[105][106][107][108] Over the next six centuries, control of the region transferred between the Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid caliphates, and subsequently the Seljuks and Ayyubid dynasties.[109] The population of the area drastically decreased during the following several centuries, dropping from an estimated 1 million during Roman and Byzantine periods to about 300,000 by the early Ottoman period. Alongside this population decline, there was a steady process of Islamization brought on by non-Muslim emigration, Muslim immigration, and local conversion to Islam.[108][107][110][111] The end of the 11th century brought the Crusades, papally-sanctioned incursions of Christian crusaders intent on wresting Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim control and establishing Crusader States.[112] The Ayyubids pushed back the crusaders before Muslim rule was fully restored by the Mamluk sultans of Egypt in 1291.[113]
Modern period and the emergence of Zionism
In 1516, the region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and proceeded to be ruled as a part of Ottoman Syria for the next four centuries. In 1660, a Druze revolt led to the destruction of Safed and Tiberias.[114] In the late 18th century, local Arab Sheikh Zahir al-Umar created a de facto independent Emirate in the Galilee. Ottoman attempts to subdue the Sheikh failed, but after Zahir’s death the Ottomans regained control of the area. In 1799 governor Jazzar Pasha successfully repelled an assault on Acre by troops of Napoleon, prompting the French to abandon the Syrian campaign.[115] In 1834, a revolt by Palestinian Arab peasants broke out against Egyptian conscription and taxation policies under Muhammad Ali. Although the revolt was suppressed, Muhammad Ali’s army retreated and Ottoman rule was restored with British support in 1840.[116] Shortly after, the Tanzimat reforms were implemented across the Ottoman Empire.
Since the existence of the earliest Jewish diaspora, many Jews have aspired to return to «Zion» and the «Land of Israel»,[117] though the amount of effort that should be spent towards such an aim was a matter of dispute.[118] 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.[119] In the second half of the 18th century, Eastern European opponents of Hasidism, known as the Perushim, settled in Palestine.[120][121]
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.[122] Although the Zionist movement already existed in practice, Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl is credited with founding political Zionism,[123] a movement that 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.[124] In 1896, Herzl published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), offering his vision of a future Jewish state; the following year he presided over the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland.[125] The Second Aliyah (1904–14) began after the Kishinev pogrom; some 40,000 Jews settled in Palestine, although nearly half of them left eventually. Both the first and second waves of migrants were mainly Orthodox Jews,[126] although the Second Aliyah included socialist groups who established the kibbutz movement.[127] Though the immigrants of the Second Aliyah largely sought to create communal agricultural settlements, the period also saw the establishment of Tel Aviv in 1909. This period also saw the emergence of Jewish armed militias, the first being Bar-Giora, a guard founded in 1907. Two years later, larger Hashomer organization was founded as its replacement.
British Mandate
In 1917, during World War I, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent the Balfour Declaration to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, that stated that Britain intended for the creation of a Jewish «national home» in Palestine.[128][129]
In 1918, the Jewish Legion, a group primarily of Zionist volunteers, assisted in the British conquest of Palestine.[130] In 1920, after the Allies conquered the Levant during World War I, 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.[131][132][133] 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) as an outgrowth of Hashomer, from which the Irgun and Lehi paramilitaries later split off.[134] In 1922, the League of Nations granted Britain the Mandate for Palestine under terms which included the Balfour Declaration with its promise to the Jews, and with similar provisions regarding the Arab Palestinians.[135] The population of the area at this time was predominantly Arab and Muslim, with Jews accounting for about 11%,[136] and Arab Christians about 9.5% of the population.[137]
The Third (1919–23) and Fourth Aliyahs (1924–29) brought an additional 100,000 Jews to Palestine. 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, which was launched as a reaction to continued Jewish immigration and land purchases. Several hundred Jews and British security personnel were killed, while the British Mandate authorities alongside the Zionist militias of the Haganah and Irgun killed 5,032 Arabs and wounded 14,760,[138][139] resulting in over ten percent of the adult male Palestinian Arab population killed, wounded, imprisoned or exiled.[140] 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. By the end of World War II, the Jewish population of Palestine had increased to 31% of the total population.[141]
After World War II, the UK found itself facing a Jewish guerrilla campaign over Jewish immigration restrictions, 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.[142] 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 Haganah attempted to bring these refugees to Palestine in a programme called Aliyah Bet in which tens of thousands of Jewish refugees attempted to enter Palestine by ship. Most of the ships were intercepted by the Royal Navy and the refugees rounded up and placed in detention camps in Atlit and Cyprus by the British.[143][144]
UN Map, «Palestine plan of partition with economic union»
On 22 July 1946, Irgun bombed the British administrative headquarters for Palestine, which was housed in the southern wing[145] of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.[146][147][148] A total of 91 people of various nationalities were killed and 46 were injured.[149] The hotel was the site of the Secretariat of the Government of Palestine and the Headquarters of the British Armed Forces in Mandatory Palestine and Transjordan.[149][150] The attack initially had the approval of the Haganah. It was conceived as a response to Operation Agatha (a series of widespread raids, including one on the Jewish Agency, conducted by the British authorities) and was the deadliest directed at the British during the Mandate era.[149][150] The Jewish insurgency continued throughout the rest of 1946 and 1947 despite concerted efforts by the British military and Palestine Police Force to suppress it. British efforts to mediate a negotiated solution with Jewish and Arab representatives also failed as the Jews were unwilling to accept any solution that did not involve a Jewish state and suggested a partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, while the Arabs were adamant that a Jewish state in any part of Palestine was unacceptable and that the only solution was a unified Palestine under Arab rule. In February 1947, the British referred the Palestine issue to the newly formed United Nations. On 15 May 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations resolved that the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine be created «to prepare for consideration at the next regular session of the Assembly a report on the question of Palestine.»[151] In the Report of the Committee dated 3 September 1947 to the General Assembly,[152] 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.»[153] Meanwhile, the Jewish insurgency continued and peaked in July 1947, with a series of widespread guerrilla raids culminating in the Sergeants affair, in which the Irgun took two British sergeants hostage as attempted leverage against the planned execution of three Irgun operatives. Irgun killed the officers after the executions were carried out.
In September 1947, the British cabinet decided that the Mandate was no longer tenable, and to evacuate Palestine. According to Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones, four major factors led to the decision to evacuate Palestine: the inflexibility of Jewish and Arab negotiators who were unwilling to compromise on their core positions over the question of a Jewish state in Palestine, the economic pressure that stationing a large garrison in Palestine to deal with the Jewish insurgency and the possibility of a wider Jewish rebellion and the possibility of an Arab rebellion put on a British economy already strained by World War II, the «deadly blow to British patience and pride» caused by the hangings of the sergeants, and the mounting criticism the government faced in failing to find a new policy for Palestine in place of the White Paper of 1939.[154]
On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 (II) recommending the adoption and implementation of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union.[155] The plan attached to the resolution was essentially that proposed by the majority of the Committee in the report of 3 September. The Jewish Agency, which was the recognized representative of the Jewish community, accepted the plan, which assigned to Jews – a third of the population owning less than 7% of the land – 55–56% of Mandatory Palestine.[156][157][158][159] The Arab League and Arab Higher Committee of Palestine rejected it,[160] and indicated that they would reject any other plan of partition.[161][162] On 1 December 1947, the Arab Higher Committee proclaimed a three-day strike, and riots broke out in Jerusalem.[163] The situation spiraled into a civil war; just two weeks after the UN vote, Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones announced that the British Mandate would end on 15 May 1948, at which point the British would evacuate. As Arab militias and gangs attacked Jewish areas, they were faced mainly by the Haganah, as well as the smaller Irgun and Lehi. In April 1948, the Haganah moved onto the offensive.[164][165] During this period 250,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled, due to a number of factors.[166]
Early years of the State of Israel
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.»[167][168] The only reference in the text of the Declaration to the borders of the new state is the use of the term Eretz-Israel («Land of Israel»).[169] The following day, the armies of four Arab countries—Egypt, Syria, Transjordan and Iraq—entered into parts of what had been British Mandatory Palestine, launching the 1948 Arab–Israeli War;[170][171][172] contingents from Yemen, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Sudan joined the war.[173][174] 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».[175][159][176] According to Benny Morris, Jews were worried that the invading Arab armies held the intent to slaughter them.[177] The Arab league stated the invasion was to restore law and order and to prevent further bloodshed.[178]
After a year of fighting, a ceasefire was declared and temporary borders, known as the Green Line, were established.[179] Jordan annexed what became known as the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip. The UN estimated that more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled by or fled from advancing Israeli forces during the conflict—what would become known in Arabic as the Nakba («catastrophe»).[180] Some 156,000 remained and became Arab citizens of Israel.[181]
Israel was admitted as a member of the UN by majority vote on 11 May 1949.[182] An Israeli-Jordanian attempt at negotiating a peace agreement broke down after the British government, fearful of the Egyptian reaction to such a treaty, expressed their opposition to the Jordanian government.[183] In the early years of the state, the Labor Zionist movement led by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion dominated Israeli politics.[184][185]
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 (lit. «Institute for Immigration B») which organized illegal and clandestine immigration.[186] 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 was disbanded in 1953.[187] The immigration was in accordance with the One Million Plan. The immigrants came for differing reasons: some held Zionist beliefs or came for the promise of a better life in Israel, while others moved to escape persecution or were expelled.[188][189]
An influx of Holocaust survivors and Jews from Arab and Muslim countries to Israel during the first three years increased the number of Jews from 700,000 to 1,400,000. By 1958, the population of Israel rose to two million.[190] Between 1948 and 1970, approximately 1,150,000 Jewish refugees relocated to Israel.[191] Some new immigrants arrived as refugees with no possessions and were housed in temporary camps known as ma’abarot; by 1952, over 200,000 people were living in these tent cities.[192] Jews of European background were often treated more favorably than Jews from Middle Eastern and North African countries—housing units reserved for the latter were often re-designated for the former, with the result that Jews newly arrived from Arab lands generally ended up staying in transit camps for longer.[193][194] 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.[195]
Ongoing regional conflict
During the 1950s, Israel was frequently attacked by Palestinian fedayeen, nearly always against civilians,[196] mainly from the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip,[197] leading to several Israeli reprisal operations. In 1956, the United Kingdom and France aimed at regaining control of the Suez Canal, which the Egyptians had nationalized. 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.[198][199][200] Israel joined a secret alliance with the United Kingdom and France and overran the Sinai Peninsula but was pressured to withdraw by the UN in return for guarantees of Israeli shipping rights in the Red Sea via the Straits of Tiran and the Canal.[201][202][203] The war, known as the Suez Crisis, resulted in significant reduction of Israeli border infiltration.[204]
In the early 1960s, Israel captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and brought him to Israel for trial.[205] The trial had a major impact on public awareness of the Holocaust.[206] Eichmann remains the only person executed in Israel by conviction in an Israeli civilian court.[207] During the spring and summer of 1963 Israel was engaged in a diplomatic standoff with the United States due to the Israeli nuclear programme.[208][209]
Since 1964, Arab countries, concerned over Israeli plans to divert waters of the Jordan River into the coastal plain,[210] 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.[211][212][213] By 1966, Israeli-Arab relations had deteriorated to the point of actual battles taking place between Israeli and Arab forces.[214]
Territory held by Israel:
after the war
The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in 1982.
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.[215][216][217] Other Arab states mobilized their forces.[218] Israel reiterated that these actions were a casus belli and, on 5 June, launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt. Jordan, Syria and Iraq responded and attacked Israel. In a Six-Day War, Israel captured and occupied the West Bank from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria.[219] Jerusalem’s boundaries were enlarged, incorporating East Jerusalem, and the 1949 Green Line became the administrative boundary between Israel and the occupied territories.[citation needed]
Following the 1967 war and the «Three Nos» resolution of the Arab League, Israel faced attacks from the Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula during the 1967–1970 War of Attrition, 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».[220] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Palestinian groups launched a wave of attacks[221][222] against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,[223] 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 25 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 about 20 days.[224] 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.[225][better source needed] In July 1976, an airliner was hijacked during its flight from Israel to France by Palestinian guerrillas and landed at Entebbe International Airport, Uganda. Israeli commandos carried out an operation in which 102 out of 106 Israeli hostages were successfully rescued.
Peace process
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.[fn 7] 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.[227] In the two years that followed, Sadat and Begin signed the Camp David Accords (1978) and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty (1979).[228] In return, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and agreed to enter negotiations over an autonomy for Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.[228]
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.[230] The Basic Law: Jerusalem, 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.[231] In 1981 Israel effectively annexed the Golan Heights, although annexation was not recognized internationally.[232] The international community largely rejected these moves, with the UN Security Council declaring both the Jerusalem Law and the Golan Heights Law null and void.[233][234] Israel’s population diversity expanded in the 1980s and 1990s. Several waves of Ethiopian Jews immigrated to Israel since the 1980s, while between 1990 and 1994, immigration from the post-Soviet states increased Israel’s population by twelve percent.[235]
On 7 June 1981, during the Iran–Iraq War, the Israeli air force destroyed Iraq’s sole nuclear reactor under construction just outside Baghdad, in order to impede Iraq’s nuclear weapons programme. 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.[236] 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 and several Israeli generals as indirectly responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacre and hold Defense minister Ariel Sharon as bearing «personal responsibility» for the massacre.[237] Sharon was forced to resign as Defense Minister.[238] In 1985, Israel responded to a Palestinian terrorist attack in Cyprus by bombing the PLO headquarters in Tunisia. 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. The First Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule,[239] 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 organized and included economic and cultural measures aimed at disrupting the Israeli occupation. More than a thousand people were killed in the violence.[240] During the 1991 Gulf War, the PLO supported Saddam Hussein and Iraqi Scud missile attacks against Israel. Despite public outrage, Israel heeded American calls to refrain from hitting back and did not participate in that war.[241][242]
Oslo Accords
In 1992, Yitzhak Rabin became prime minister following an election in which his party called for compromise with Israel’s neighbours.[243][244] 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.[245] The PLO also recognized Israel’s right to exist and pledged an end to terrorism.[246][better source needed] In 1994, the Israel–Jordan peace treaty was signed, making Jordan the second Arab country to normalize relations with Israel.[247] Arab public support for the Accords was damaged by the continuation of Israeli settlements[248] and checkpoints, and the deterioration of economic conditions.[249] Israeli public support for the Accords waned as Israel was struck by Palestinian suicide attacks.[250] In November 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated as he left a peace rally by Yigal Amir, a far-right Jew who opposed the Accords.[251]
Under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of the 1990s, Israel withdrew from Hebron,[252] and signed the Wye River Memorandum, giving greater control to the Palestinian National Authority.[253] 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.[254] Each side blamed the other for the failure of the talks.
21st century
|
|
This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: the events of the last two decades outside of conflict is barely covered. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2023) |
In late 2000, after a controversial visit by Likud leader Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount, the Second Intifada began. It would continue for the next four and a half years. Suicide bombings were a recurrant feature of the Intifada, causing Israeli civilian life to become a battlefield.[255] Some commentators contend that the Intifada was pre-planned by Arafat due to the collapse of peace talks.[256][257][258][259] 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,[260] ending the Intifada.[261][262] Between 2000 and 2008, 1,063 Israelis, 5,517 Palestinians and 64 foreign citizens had been killed.[263]
In 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.[264][265] In 2007, the Israeli Air Force destroyed a nuclear reactor in Syria. In 2008, Israel entered another conflict as a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel collapsed. The 2008–2009 Gaza War lasted three weeks and ended after Israel announced a unilateral ceasefire.[266][267] 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.[268] In what Israel described as a response to more than a hundred Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israeli cities,[269] Israel began an operation in the Gaza Strip in 2012, lasting eight days.[270] Israel started another operation in Gaza following an escalation of rocket attacks by Hamas in July 2014.[271] In May 2021, another round of fighting took place in Gaza and Israel, lasting eleven days.[272]
By the 2010s, the increasing regional cooperation between Israel and Arab League countries have been established, culminating in the signing of the Abraham Accords. The Israeli security situation shifted from the traditional Arab–Israeli conflict towards the Iran–Israel proxy conflict and direct confrontation with Iran during the Syrian civil war.
Geography and environment
- v
- t
- e
Israel is located in the Levant area of the Fertile Crescent region. The country 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 (according to the demarcation lines of the 1949 Armistice Agreements and 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.[273] However Israel is so narrow (100 km at its widest, compared to 400 km from north to south) that the exclusive economic zone in the Mediterranean is double the land area of the country.[274] The total area under Israeli law, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, is 22,072 square kilometers (8,522 sq mi),[275] 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).[276]
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 most of the nation’s population.[277] 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.[278] Further south is the Arabah, ending with the Gulf of Eilat, part of the Red Sea. Makhtesh, or «erosion cirques» are unique to the Negev and the Sinai Peninsula, the largest being the Makhtesh Ramon at 38 km in length.[279] 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.[280] Israel contains four terrestrial ecoregions: Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests, Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests, Arabian Desert, and Mesopotamian shrub desert.[281] It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.14/10, ranking it 135th globally out of 172 countries.[282]
Tectonics and seismicity
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 entire Jordan Valley segment is thought to have ruptured repeatedly, for instance during the last two major earthquakes along this structure in 749 and 1033. The deficit in slip that has built up since the 1033 event is sufficient to cause an earthquake of Mw ~7.4.[283]
The most catastrophic known earthquakes occurred in 31 BCE, 363, 749, and 1033 CE, that is every ca. 400 years on average.[284] Destructive earthquakes leading to serious loss of life strike about every 80 years.[285] While stringent construction regulations are currently in place and recently built structures are earthquake-safe, as of 2007 the majority of the buildings in Israel were older than these regulations and many public buildings as well as 50,000 residential buildings did not meet the new standards and were «expected to collapse» if exposed to a strong earthquake.[285]
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 have 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 a desert climate with very hot, dry summers, and mild winters with few days of rain. The highest temperature in the world outside Africa and North America as of 2021, 54 °C (129 °F), was recorded in 1942 in the Tirat Zvi kibbutz in the northern Jordan River valley.[286][287]
At the other extreme, mountainous regions can be windy and cold, and areas at elevation of 750 metres (2,460 ft) or more (same elevation as Jerusalem) will usually receive at least one snowfall each year.[288] From May to September, rain in Israel is rare.[289][290] With scarce water resources, Israel has developed various water-saving technologies, including drip irrigation.[291][better source needed] 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.[292]
There are four different phytogeographic regions in Israel, due to the country’s location between the temperate and tropical zones, bordering the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the desert in the east. For this reason, the flora and fauna of Israel are extremely diverse. There are 2,867 known species of plants found in Israel. Of these, at least 253 species are introduced and non-native.[293] There are 380 Israeli nature reserves.[294]
The Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection has reported that climate change «will have a decisive impact on all areas of life, including: water, public health, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, coastal infrastructure, economics, nature, national security, and geostrategy», and will have the greatest effect on vulnerable populations such as the poor, the elderly, and the chronically ill.[295]
Demographics
As of 31 December 2022, Israel’s population was an estimated 9,656,000. In 2022, the civil government recorded 73.6% of the population as Jews, 21.1% of the population as Arabs, and 5.3% as «Others» (non-Arab Christians and people who have no religion listed).[11] 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,[296] but estimates run from 166,000 to 203,000.[297] By June 2012, approximately 60,000 African migrants had entered Israel.[298] About 93% of Israelis live in urban areas.[299] 90% of Palestinian Israelis reside in 139 densely populated towns and villages concentrated in the Galilee, Triangle and Negev regions, with the remaining 10% in mixed cities and neighbourhoods.[300][301][302][303][304] Data published by the OECD in 2016 estimated the average life expectancy of Israelis at 82.5 years, making it the 6th-highest in the world.[305] Israeli Arab life expectancy lags behind by 3 to 4 years,[306][307] still highest among Arabs or Muslims in the world.[308][309]
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 ancestry the right to Israeli citizenship.[310] Retention of Israel’s population since 1948 is about even or greater, when compared to other countries with mass immigration.[311] Jewish emigration from Israel (called yerida in Hebrew), primarily to the United States and Canada, is described by demographers as modest,[312] but is often cited by Israeli government ministries as a major threat to Israel’s future.[313][314]
Approximately 80% of Israeli Jews are born in Israel, 14% are immigrants from Europe and the Americas, and 6% are immigrants from Asia and Africa.[315] Jews from Europe and the former Soviet Union and their descendants born in Israel, 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,[316] form most of the rest of the Jewish population.[317][318] 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.[319] 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.[320][321][322]
The total number of Israeli settlers beyond the Green Line is over 600,000 (≈10% of the Jewish Israeli population).[323] In 2016, 399,300 Israelis lived in West Bank settlements,[324] including those that predated the establishment of the State of Israel and which were re-established after the Six-Day War, in cities such as Hebron and Gush Etzion bloc. In addition to the West Bank settlements, there were more than 200,000 Jews living in East Jerusalem,[325] and 22,000 in the Golan Heights.[324] Approximately 7,800 Israelis lived in settlements in the Gaza Strip, known as Gush Katif, until they were evacuated by the government as part of its 2005 disengagement plan.[326]
Israeli Arabs (including the Arab population of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights) comprise 21.1% of the population or 1,995,000 people.[327] In a 2017 telephone poll, 40% of Arab citizens of Israel identified as «Arab in Israel» or «Arab citizen of Israel», 15% identified as «Palestinian», 8.9% as «Palestinian in Israel» or «Palestinian citizen of Israel», and 8.7% as «Arab»; 60% of Israeli Arabs have a positive view of the state.[328][329] According to Sammy Smooha, «The identity of 83.0% of the Arabs in 2019 (up from 75.5% in 2017) has an Israeli component and 61.9% (unchanged from 60.3%) has a Palestinian component. However, when these two components were presented as competitors, 69.0% of the Arabs in 2019 chose exclusive or primary Palestinian identity, compared with 29.8% who chose exclusive or primary Israeli Arab identity.»[330]
Major urban areas
Israel has four major metropolitan areas: Gush Dan (Tel Aviv metropolitan area; population 3,854,000), Jerusalem metropolitan area (population 1,253,900), Haifa metropolitan area (population 924,400), and Beersheba metropolitan area (population 377,100).[331]
Israel’s largest municipality, in population and area, is Jerusalem with 966,210 residents in an area of 125 square kilometres (48 sq mi).[332] 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.[333] Tel Aviv and Haifa rank as Israel’s next most populous cities, with populations of 467,875 and 282,832, respectively.[332]
The (mainly Haredi) city of Bnei Brak is the most densely populated city in Israel and one of the 10 most densely populated cities in the world.[334]
Israel has 16 cities with populations over 100,000. In all, there are 77 Israeli localities granted «municipalities» (or «city») status by the Ministry of the Interior,[335] four of which are in the West Bank.[336] Two more cities are planned: Kasif, a planned city to be built in the Negev, and Harish, originally a small town that is being built into a large city since 2015.[337]
Largest cities in Israel Israel Central Bureau of Statistics[332] |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name | District | Pop. | Rank | Name | District | Pop. | ||
 Jerusalem  Tel Aviv |
1 | Jerusalem | Jerusalem | 966,210a | 11 | Ramat Gan | Tel Aviv | 169,706 |  Haifa  Rishon LeZion |
| 2 | Tel Aviv | Tel Aviv | 467,875 | 12 | Ashkelon | Southern | 149,160 | ||
| 3 | Haifa | Haifa | 282,832 | 13 | Rehovot | Central | 147,878 | ||
| 4 | Rishon LeZion | Central | 257,128 | 14 | Beit Shemesh | Jerusalem | 141,764 | ||
| 5 | Petah Tikva | Central | 252,270 | 15 | Bat Yam | Tel Aviv | 126,290 | ||
| 6 | Ashdod | Southern | 225,975 | 16 | Herzliya | Tel Aviv | 103,318 | ||
| 7 | Netanya | Central | 224,066 | 17 | Kfar Saba | Central | 101,801 | ||
| 8 | Bnei Brak | Tel Aviv | 212,395 | 18 | Hadera | Haifa | 100,631 | ||
| 9 | Beersheba | Southern | 211,251 | 19 | Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut | Central | 97,097 | ||
| 10 | Holon | Tel Aviv | 197,464 | 20 | Lod | Central | 82,629 |
^a This number includes East Jerusalem and West Bank areas, which had a total population of 573,330 inhabitants in 2019.[338] Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem is internationally unrecognized.
Language
Israel’s sole official language is Hebrew. Until 2018, Arabic was also one of two official languages of the State of Israel;[8] in 2018 it was downgraded to having a ‘special status in the state’ with its use by state institutions to be set in law.[9][10] Hebrew is the primary language of the state and is spoken every day by the majority of the population. Arabic is spoken by the Arab minority, with Hebrew taught in Arab schools.
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),[339][340] Russian and Amharic are widely spoken.[341] More than one million Russian-speaking immigrants arrived in Israel from the post-Soviet states between 1990 and 2004.[342] French is spoken by around 700,000 Israelis,[343] mostly originating from France and North Africa (see Maghrebi Jews). English was an official language during the Mandate period; it lost this status after the establishment of Israel, but retains a role comparable to that of an official language,[344][345][346] as may be seen in road signs and official documents. Many Israelis communicate reasonably well in English, as many television programmes are broadcast in English with subtitles and the language is taught from the early grades in elementary school. In addition, Israeli universities offer courses in the English language on various subjects.[347][better source needed]
Religion
Israel comprises a major part of the Holy Land, a region of significant importance to all Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Samaritanism, the Druze Faith and the Baháʼí Faith.
The religious affiliation of Israeli Jews varies widely: a social survey from 2016 made by Pew Research indicates that 49% self-identify as Hiloni (secular), 29% as Masorti (traditional), 13% as Dati (religious) and 9% as Haredi (ultra-Orthodox).[349] Haredi Jews are expected to represent more than 20% of Israel’s Jewish population by 2028.[350]
Muslims constitute Israel’s largest religious minority, making up about 17.6% of the population. About 2% of the population is Christian and 1.6% is Druze.[273] The Christian population is composed primarily of Arab Christians and Aramean Christians, but also includes post-Soviet immigrants, the foreign laborers of multinational origins, and followers of Messianic Judaism, considered by most Christians and Jews to be a form of Christianity.[351] Members of many other religious groups, including Buddhists and Hindus, maintain a presence in Israel, albeit in small numbers.[352] Out of more than one million immigrants from the former Soviet Union, about 300,000 are considered not Jewish by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.[353]
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 Old City that incorporates the Western Wall and the Temple Mount (Al-Aqsa Mosque compound) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.[354] 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 Baháʼí Faith and the Shrine of the Báb are located at the Baháʼí World Centre in Haifa; the leader of the faith is buried in Acre.[355][356][357] A few kilometres south of the Baháʼí World Centre is Mahmood Mosque affiliated with the reformist Ahmadiyya movement. Kababir, Haifa’s mixed neighbourhood of Jews and Ahmadi Arabs is one of a few of its kind in the country, others being Jaffa, Acre, other Haifa neighbourhoods, Harish and Upper Nazareth.[358][359]
Education
Education is highly valued in the Israeli culture and was viewed as a fundamental block of ancient Israelites.[360] Jewish communities in the Levant were the first to introduce compulsory education for which the organized community, not less than the parents was responsible.[361] Many international business leaders such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates have praised Israel for its high quality of education in helping spur Israel’s economic development and technological boom.[362][363][364] In 2015, the country ranked third among OECD members (after Canada and Japan) for the percentage of 25–64 year-olds that have attained tertiary education with 49% compared with the OECD average of 35%.[365] In 2012, the country ranked third in the world in the number of academic degrees per capita (20 percent of the population).[366]
Israel has a school life expectancy of 16 years and a literacy rate of 97.8%.[273] 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.[367] Education is compulsory in Israel for children between the ages of three and eighteen.[368] 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.[369]
Israel’s Jewish population maintains a relatively high level of educational attainment where just under half of all Israeli Jews (46%) hold post-secondary degrees. This figure has remained stable in their already high levels of educational attainment over recent generations.[370][371] Israeli Jews (among those ages 25 and older) have average of 11.6 years of schooling making them one of the most highly educated of all major religious groups in the world.[372][373] In Arab, Christian and Druze schools, the exam on Biblical studies is replaced by an exam on Muslim, Christian or Druze heritage.[374] Maariv described the Christian Arabs sectors as «the most successful in education system»,[375] since Christians fared the best in terms of education in comparison to any other religion in Israel.[376] Israeli children from Russian-speaking families have a higher bagrut pass rate at high-school level.[377] Amongst immigrant children born in the former Soviet Union, the bagrut pass rate is higher amongst those families from European FSU states at 62.6% and lower amongst those from Central Asian and Caucasian FSU states.[378] In 2014, 61.5% of all Israeli twelfth graders earned a matriculation certificate.[379]
Israel has a tradition of higher education where its quality university education has been largely responsible in spurring the nation’s modern economic development.[380] Israel has nine public universities that are subsidized by the state and 49 private colleges.[369][381][382] The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel’s second-oldest university after the Technion,[383][384] houses the National Library of Israel, the world’s largest repository of Judaica and Hebraica.[385] The Technion and the Hebrew University consistently ranked among world’s 100 top universities by the prestigious ARWU academic ranking.[386] Other major universities in the country include the Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Bar-Ilan University, the University of Haifa and the Open University of Israel. Ariel University, in the West Bank, is the newest university institution, upgraded from college status, and the first in over thirty years.
Government and politics
Political system of Israel
The Knesset chamber, home to the Israeli parliament
Israel is a parliamentary democracy with universal suffrage. 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.[387][388]
Israel is governed by a 120-member parliament, known as the Knesset. Membership of the Knesset is based on proportional representation of political parties,[389][better source needed] with a 3.25% electoral threshold, which in practice has resulted in coalition governments. Residents of Israeli settlements in the West Bank are eligible to vote[390] and after the 2015 election, 10 of the 120 MKs (8%) were settlers.[391] Parliamentary elections are scheduled every four years, but unstable coalitions or a no-confidence vote by the Knesset can dissolve a government earlier.[23] The first Arab-led party was established in 1988 and the main Arab bloc, the Joint List, holds about 10% of the parliament’s seats.[392]
The Basic Laws of Israel function as an uncodified constitution. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish and democratic state, and as the nation-state of the Jewish people.[393] In 2003, the Knesset began to draft an official constitution based on these laws.[273][394]
The president of Israel is head of state, with limited and largely ceremonial duties.[387]
Israel has no official religion,[395][396][397] 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.[398]
On 19 July 2018, the Knesset passed a Basic Law that characterizes the State of Israel as principally a «Nation State of the Jewish People», and Hebrew as its official language. The bill ascribes «special status» to the Arabic language. The same bill gives Jews a unique right to national self-determination, and views the developing of Jewish settlement in the country as «a national interest», empowering the government to «take steps to encourage, advance and implement this interest.»[399]
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.[400] 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.[401][better source needed]
Israel’s legal system combines three legal traditions: English common law, civil law, and Jewish law.[273] 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 with no role for juries.[402][better source needed] Marriage and divorce are under the jurisdiction of the religious courts: Jewish, Muslim, Druze, and Christian. The election of judges is carried out by a committee of two Knesset members, three Supreme Court justices, two Israeli Bar members and two ministers (one of which, Israel’s justice minister, is the committee’s chairman). The committee’s members of the Knesset are secretly elected by the Knesset, and one of them is traditionally a member of the opposition, the committee’s Supreme Court justices are chosen by tradition from all Supreme Court justices by seniority, the Israeli Bar members are elected by the bar, and the second minister is appointed by the Israeli cabinet. The current justice minister and committee’s chairman is Yariv Levin.[403] 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. As a result of «Enclave law», large portions of Israeli civil law are applied to Israeli settlements and Israeli residents in the occupied territories.[404]
Administrative divisions
- v
- t
- e
The State of Israel is divided into six main administrative districts, known as mehozot (Hebrew: מחוזות; singular: mahoz) – Center, Haifa, Jerusalem, North, South, 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 Northern districts are not recognized internationally as part of Israel. Districts are further divided into fifteen sub-districts known as nafot (Hebrew: נפות; singular: nafa), which are themselves partitioned into fifty natural regions.[405]
| District | Capital | Largest city | Population, 2021[324] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jews | Arabs | Total | note | |||
| Jerusalem | Jerusalem | 66% | 32% | 1,209,700 | a | |
| North | Nof HaGalil | Nazareth | 42% | 54% | 1,513,600 | |
| Haifa | Haifa | 67% | 25% | 1,092,700 | ||
| Center | Ramla | Rishon LeZion | 87% | 8% | 2,304,300 | |
| Tel Aviv | Tel Aviv | 92% | 2% | 1,481,400 | ||
| South | Beersheba | Ashdod | 71% | 22% | 1,386,000 | |
| Judea and Samaria Area | Ariel | Modi’in Illit | 98% | 0% | 465,400 | b |
- ^a Including 361,700 Arabs and 233,900 Jews in East Jerusalem, as of 2020.[325]
- ^b Israeli citizens only.
Israeli-occupied territories
| Area | Administered by | Recognition of governing authority | Sovereignty claimed by | Recognition of claim |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaza Strip | Palestinian National Authority (de jure) Controlled by Hamas (de facto) | Witnesses to the Oslo II Accord | State of Palestine | 137 UN member states |
| West Bank | Palestinian enclaves | Palestinian National Authority and Israeli military | ||
| Area C | Israeli enclave law (Israeli settlements) and Israeli military (Palestinians under Israeli occupation) | |||
| East Jerusalem | Israeli administration | Honduras, Guatemala, Nauru, and the United States | China, Russia | |
| West Jerusalem | Russia, Czech Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, Nauru, and the United States | United Nations as an international city along with East Jerusalem | Various UN member states and the European Union; joint sovereignty also widely supported | |
| Golan Heights | United States | Syria | All UN member states except the United States | |
| Israel (proper) | 163 UN member states | Israel | 163 UN member states |
Map of Israel showing the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights
In 1967, as a result of the Six-Day War, Israel captured and occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Israel also captured the Sinai Peninsula, but returned it to Egypt as part of the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty.[228] Between 1982 and 2000, Israel occupied part of southern Lebanon, in what was known as the Security Belt. Since Israel’s capture of these territories, Israeli settlements and military installations have been built within each of them, except Lebanon.
The Golan Heights and East Jerusalem have been fully incorporated into Israel under Israeli law, but not under international law. Israel has applied civilian law to both areas and granted their inhabitants permanent residency status and the ability to apply for citizenship. 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.[406][407] 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.
The West Bank excluding East Jerusalem is known in Israeli law as the Judea and Samaria Area; the almost 400,000 Israeli settlers residing in the area are considered part of Israel’s population, have Knesset representation, a large part of Israel’s civil and criminal laws applied to them, and their output is considered part of Israel’s economy.[408][fn 4] The land itself is not considered part of Israel under Israeli law, as Israel has consciously refrained from annexing the territory, without ever relinquishing its legal claim to the land or defining a border with the area.[408] There is no border between Israel-proper and the West Bank for Israeli vehicles. Israeli political opposition to annexation is primarily due to the perceived «demographic threat» of incorporating the West Bank’s Palestinian population into Israel.[408] Outside of the Israeli settlements, the West Bank remains under direct Israeli military rule, and Palestinians in the area cannot become Israeli citizens. The international community maintains that Israel does not have sovereignty in the West Bank, and considers Israel’s control of the area to be the longest military occupation is modern history.[411] The West Bank was occupied and annexed by Jordan in 1950, following the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Only Britain recognized this annexation and Jordan has since ceded its claim to the territory to the PLO. The population are mainly Palestinians, including refugees of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.[412] 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 during the Second Intifada, the Israeli government started to construct the Israeli West Bank barrier.[413] When completed, approximately 13% of the barrier will be constructed on the Green Line or in Israel with 87% inside the West Bank.[414][415]
The Gaza Strip is considered to be a «foreign territory» under Israeli law; however, since Israel operates a land, air, and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip, together with Egypt, the international community considers Israel to be the occupying power. 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, however, it continues to maintain control of its airspace and waters. The international community, including numerous international humanitarian organizations and various bodies of the UN, consider Gaza to remain occupied.[416][417][418][419][420] Following the 2007 Battle of Gaza, when Hamas assumed power in the Gaza Strip,[421] 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.[421] 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).[422] The application of democracy to its Palestinian citizens, and the selective application of Israeli democracy in the Israeli-controlled Palestinian territories, has been criticized.[423][424]
International opinion
The International Court of Justice, principal judicial organ of the UN, said, 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, and further found that the construction of the wall within the occupied Palestinian territory to violate international law.[425] Most negotiations relating to the territories have been on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 242, which emphasizes «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».[426][427][428] Israel has been criticized for engaging in systematic and widespread violations of human rights in the occupied territories, including the occupation itself,[429] and war crimes against civilians.[430][431][432][433] The allegations include violations of international humanitarian law[434] by the UN Human Rights Council,[435] The U.S. State Department has called reports of abuses of significant human rights of Palestinians ‘credible’ both within Israel[436] and the occupied territories.[437] Amnesty International and other NGOs have documented mass arbitrary arrests, torture, unlawful killings, systemic abuses and impunity[438][439][440][441][442][443] in tandem with a denial of the right to Palestinian self-determination.[444][445][446][447][448] In response to such allegations, Prime Minister Netanyahu has defended the country’s security forces for protecting the innocent from terrorists[449] and expressed contempt for what he describes as a lack of concern about the human rights violations committed by «criminal killers».[450] Some observers, such as Israeli officials, scholars,[451] United States Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley[452][453] and UN secretary-generals Ban Ki-moon[454] and Kofi Annan,[455] also assert that the UN is disproportionately concerned with Israeli misconduct.[excessive detail?]
The international community widely regards Israeli settlements in the occupied territories illegal under international law.[456] United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, passed on 23 December 2016 in a 14–0 vote by members of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) with the United States abstaining. The resolution states that Israel’s settlement activity constitutes a «flagrant violation» of international law, has «no legal validity» and demands that Israel stop such activity and fulfill its obligations as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention.[457] A United Nations special rapporteur concluded that settlement program was a war crime under the Rome Statute,[458] and Amnesty International found that the settlement program constitutes an illegal transfer of civilians into occupied territory as well as amounting to «pillage», which is prohibited by both the Hague Conventions and the Geneva Conventions as well as being a war crime under the Rome Statute.[459]
Apartheid accusations
Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians within the occupied territories has drawn accusations that it is guilty of the crime of apartheid by Israeli human rights groups Yesh Din and B’tselem, and other international organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, with the criticism extending to its treatment of Palestinians within Israel as well.[460][461] Amnesty’s report was criticized by politicians and government representatives from Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Germany, while it was welcomed by Palestinians, representatives from other states, and organizations such as the Arab League.[462][463][464][465][466][467] A 2021 survey of academic experts on the Middle East found an increase from 59%[468] to 65% of these scholars describing Israel as a «one-state reality akin to apartheid».[469] In 2022, Michael Lynk, a Canadian law professor appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council said that the situation met the legal definition of apartheid.[470] Subsequent reports from his successor, Francesca Albanese and from Permanent United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Israel Palestine conflict chair Navi Pillay echoed this opinion.[471][472] The crime of apartheid is a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute and the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.[473][474]
Foreign relations
Diplomatic relations
Diplomatic relations suspended
Former diplomatic relations
No diplomatic relations, but former trade relations
No diplomatic relations
Israel maintains diplomatic relations with 164 member states of the United Nations, as well as with the Holy See, Kosovo, the Cook Islands and Niue. It has 107 diplomatic missions around the world;[475] countries with whom they have no diplomatic relations include most Muslim countries.[476] Six out of twenty-two nations in the Arab League have normalized relations with Israel. Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties in 1979 and 1994, respectively, but Israel remains formally in a state of war with Syria, a status that dates back uninterrupted to 1948. It has been in a similarly formal state of war with Lebanon since the end of the Lebanese Civil War in 2000, with the Israel–Lebanon border remaining unagreed by treaty.
In late 2020, Israel normalized relations with four more Arab countries: the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in September (known as the Abraham Accords),[477] Sudan in October,[478] and Morocco in December.[479] Despite the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, Israel is still widely considered an enemy country among Egyptians.[480] Iran had diplomatic relations with Israel under the Pahlavi dynasty[481] but withdrew its recognition of Israel during the Islamic Revolution.[482] Israeli citizens may not visit Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen (countries Israel fought in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War that Israel does not have a peace treaty with) without permission from the Ministry of the Interior.[483] As a result of the 2008–09 Gaza War, Mauritania, Qatar, Bolivia, and Venezuela suspended political and economic ties with Israel,[484] though Bolivia renewed ties in 2019.[485] China maintains good ties with both Israel and the Arab world.[486]
The United States and the Soviet Union were the first two countries to recognize the State of Israel, having declared recognition roughly simultaneously.[487] Diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union were broken in 1967, following the Six-Day War, and renewed in October 1991.[488] The United States regards Israel as its «most reliable partner in the Middle East»,[489] based on «common democratic values, religious affinities, and security interests».[490] 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),[491] more than any other country for that period until 2003.[491][492][493] Most surveyed Americans have also held consistently favorable views of Israel.[494][495] The United Kingdom is seen as having a «natural» relationship with Israel on account of the Mandate for Palestine.[496] Relations between the two countries were also made stronger by former prime minister Tony Blair’s efforts for a two state resolution. By 2007, Germany had paid 25 billion euros in reparations to the Israeli state and individual Israeli Holocaust survivors.[497] Israel is included in the European Union’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), which aims at bringing the EU and its neighbours closer.[498]
Although Turkey and Israel did not establish full diplomatic relations until 1991,[499] Turkey has cooperated with the Jewish state since its recognition of Israel in 1949. Turkey’s ties to other Muslim-majority nations in the region have at times resulted in pressure from Arab and Muslim states to temper its relationship with Israel.[500] Relations between Turkey and Israel took a downturn after the 2008–09 Gaza War and Israel’s raid of the Gaza flotilla.[501] Relations between Greece and Israel have improved since 1995 due to the decline of Israeli–Turkish relations.[502] 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 an important factor for Greece, given its strong links with Cyprus.[503] Cooperation in the world’s longest subsea electric power cable, the EuroAsia Interconnector, has strengthened relations between Cyprus and Israel.[504]
Azerbaijan is one of the few majority Muslim countries to develop strategic and economic relations with Israel.[505] Azerbaijan supplies the country with a substantial amount of its oil needs, and Israel is a critical arms supplier for Azerbaijan.[505] Kazakhstan also has an economic and strategic partnership with Israel.[506] India established full diplomatic ties with Israel in 1992 and has fostered a strong military, technological and cultural partnership with the country since then.[507] A 2009 survey done on behalf of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs listed India as more pro-Israel than 12 other countries surveyed.[508][509] India is the largest customer of the Israeli military equipment and Israel is the second-largest military partner of India after Russia.[510] Ethiopia is Israel’s main ally in Africa due to common political, religious and security interests.[511] Israel provides expertise to Ethiopia on irrigation projects and thousands of Ethiopian Jews live in Israel.
Foreign aid
Israel has a history of providing emergency foreign aid and humanitarian response teams to disasters across the world.[512] In 1955 Israel began its foreign aid programme in Burma. The programme’s focus subsequently shifted to Africa.[513] Israel’s humanitarian efforts officially began in 1957, with the establishment of Mashav, the Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation.[514] In this early period, whilst Israel’s aid represented only a small percentage of total aid to Africa, its programme was effective in creating goodwill throughout the continent; however, following the 1967 war relations soured.[515] Israel’s foreign aid programme subsequently shifted its focus to Latin America.[513] Since the late 1970s Israel’s foreign aid has gradually decreased, although in recent years Israel has tried to reestablish its aid to Africa.[516] There are additional Israeli humanitarian and emergency response groups that work with the Israel government, including IsraAid, a joint programme run by 14 Israeli organizations and North American Jewish groups,[517] ZAKA,[518] The Fast Israeli Rescue and Search Team (FIRST),[519] Israeli Flying Aid (IFA),[520] Save a Child’s Heart (SACH)[521] and Latet.[522] Between 1985 and 2015, Israel sent 24 delegations of IDF search and rescue unit, the Home Front Command, to 22 countries.[523] Currently Israeli foreign aid ranks low among OECD nations, spending less than 0.1% of its GNI on development assistance.[524] The UN has set a target of 0.7%. In 2015 six nations reached the UN target.[525] The country ranked 38th in the 2018 World Giving Index.[526]
Military
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) 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 consists 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.[527] The IDF also draws upon the resources of the Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman), which works with Mossad and Shabak.[528] 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.[529]
Most Israelis are drafted into the military at the age of 18. Men serve two years and eight months and women two years.[530] 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.[531][532] An alternative for those who receive exemptions on various grounds is Sherut Leumi, or national service, which involves a programme of service in hospitals, schools and other social welfare frameworks.[533] A small minority of Israeli Arabs also volunteer to serve in the army.[534] As a result of its conscription programme, the IDF maintains approximately 176,500 active troops and an additional 465,000 reservists, giving Israel one of the world’s highest percentage of citizens with military training.[535]
The nation’s military relies heavily on high-tech weapons systems designed and manufactured in Israel as well as some foreign imports. The Arrow missile is one of the world’s few operational anti-ballistic missile systems.[536] The Python air-to-air missile series is often considered one of the most crucial weapons in its military history.[537] Israel’s Spike missile is one of the most widely exported anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) in the world.[538] 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.[539][540] Since the Yom Kippur War, Israel has developed a network of reconnaissance satellites.[541] The success of the Ofeq programme has made Israel one of seven countries capable of launching such satellites.[542]
Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons[543] and per a 1993 report, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.[544][needs update] Israel has not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons[545] and maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity toward its nuclear capabilities.[546] The Israeli Navy’s Dolphin submarines are believed to be armed with nuclear Popeye Turbo missiles, offering second-strike capability.[547] 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.[548]
Since Israel’s establishment, military expenditure constituted a significant portion of the country’s gross domestic product, with peak of 30.3% of GDP spent on defense in 1975.[549] In 2021, Israel ranked 15th in the world by total military expenditure, with $24.3 billion, and 6th by defense spending as a percentage of GDP, with 5.2%.[550] Since 1974, the United States has been a particularly notable contributor of military aid to Israel.[551] Under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2016, the U.S. is expected to provide the country with $3.8 billion per year, or around 20% of Israel’s defense budget, from 2018 to 2028.[552] Israel ranked 8th globally for arms exports in 2021.[553] The majority of Israel’s arms exports are unreported for security reasons.[554] Israel is consistently rated low in the Global Peace Index, ranking 134th out of 163 nations for peacefulness in 2022.[555]
Economy
Israel is considered the most advanced country in Western Asia and the Middle East in economic and industrial development.[556][557] In recent years Israel has had the highest growth rate in the Western world along with Ireland.[558] In 2023, the IMF estimated Israel’s GDP at 564 billion dollars and Israel’s GDP per capita at 58,270, a figure comparable to other highly developed and rich countries.[559] Israel has the highest average wealth per adult in the Middle East.[560] The Economist ranked Israel as the 4th most successful economy among the developed countries for 2022.[561] It has the highest number of billionaires in the Middle East ranked 18th.[562] 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.[362] In 2010, it joined the OECD.[24][563] The country is ranked 20th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report[564] and 35th on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index.[565] Israel was also ranked fifth in the world by share of people in high-skilled employment.[566] Israeli economic data covers the economic territory of Israel, including the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.[409]
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 $96.5 billion in 2020, include raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, and consumer goods.[273] Leading exports include machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, and textiles and apparel; in 2020, Israeli exports reached $114 billion.[273] The Bank of Israel holds $201 billion of foreign-exchange reserves, the 17th highest in the world.[273] 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 lender in terms of net external debt (assets vs. liabilities abroad), which in 2015 stood at a surplus of $69 billion.[567][better source needed]
Israel has the second-largest number of startup companies in the world after the United States,[568] and the third-largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies after the U.S. and China.[569] It is the world leader for number of start-ups per capita.[570] Intel[571] and Microsoft[572] built their first overseas research and development facilities in Israel, and other high-tech multi-national corporations, such as IBM, Google, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, Facebook and Motorola have opened research and development centres in the country. In 2007, American investor Warren Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway bought the Israeli company Iscar for $4 billion, its first acquisition outside the United States.[573]
The days which are allocated to working times 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 until 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.[574]
Science and technology
Matam high-tech park in Haifa
Israel’s development of cutting-edge technologies in software, communications and the life sciences have evoked comparisons with Silicon Valley.[575][576] Israel is first in the world in expenditure on research and development as a percentage of GDP.[577] It is ranked sixteenth in the Global Innovation Index in 2022, down from tenth in 2019 and fifth in the 2019 Bloomberg Innovation Index.[578][579][580][581][582][583] Israel has 140 scientists, technicians, and engineers per 10,000 employees, the highest number in the world, for comparison the U.S. has 85 per 100,000.[584][585][586] Israel has produced six Nobel Prize-winning scientists since 2004[587] and has been frequently ranked as one of the countries with the highest ratios of scientific papers per capita in the world.[588][589][590] Israel has led the world in stem-cell research papers per capita since 2000.[591] Israeli universities are ranked among the top 50 world universities in computer science (Technion and Tel Aviv University), mathematics (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and chemistry (Weizmann Institute of Science).[386]
In 2012, Israel was ranked ninth in the world by the Futron’s Space Competitiveness Index.[592] The Israel Space Agency coordinates all Israeli space research programmes with scientific and commercial goals, and have indigenously designed and built at least 13 commercial, research and spy satellites.[593] Some of Israel’s satellites are ranked among the world’s most advanced space systems.[594] Shavit is a space launch vehicle produced by Israel to launch small satellites into low Earth orbit.[595] It was first launched in 1988, making Israel the eighth nation to have a space launch capability. In 2003, Ilan Ramon became Israel’s first astronaut, serving as payload specialist of STS-107, the fatal mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia.[596]
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 Sorek desalination plant is the largest seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination facility in the world.[597] By 2014, Israel’s desalination programmes provided roughly 35% of Israel’s drinking water and it is expected to supply 40% by 2015 and 70% by 2050.[598] As of 2015, more than 50 percent of the water for Israeli households, agriculture and industry is artificially produced.[599] The country hosts an annual Water Technology and Environmental Control Exhibition & Conference (WATEC) that attracts thousands of people from across the world.[600][601] In 2011, Israel’s water technology industry was worth around $2 billion a year with annual exports of products and services in the tens of millions of dollars. As a result of innovations in reverse osmosis technology, Israel is set to become a net exporter of water in the coming years.[602]
Israel has embraced solar energy; its engineers are on the cutting edge of solar energy technology[604] and its solar companies work on projects around the world.[605][606] Over 90% of Israeli homes use solar energy for hot water, the highest per capita in the world.[292][607] According to government figures, the country saves 8% of its electricity consumption per year because of its solar energy use in heating.[608] 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.[604][605][606] Israel had a modern electric car infrastructure involving a countrywide network of charging 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.[609][610][611] The Israeli model was being studied by several countries and being implemented in Denmark and Australia.[612] However, Israel’s trailblazing electric car company Better Place shut down in 2013.[613]
Energy
Israel began producing natural gas from its own offshore gas fields in 2004. Between 2005 and 2012, Israel had imported gas from Egypt via the al-Arish–Ashkelon pipeline, which was terminated due to Egyptian Crisis of 2011–14. In 2009, a natural gas reserve, Tamar, was found near the coast of Israel. A second natural gas reserve, Leviathan, was discovered in 2010.[614] The natural gas reserves in these two fields (Leviathan has around 19 trillion cubic feet) could make Israel energy secure for more than 50 years. In 2013, Israel began commercial production of natural gas from the Tamar field. As of 2014, Israel produced over 7.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas a year.[615] Israel had 199 billion cubic meters (bcm) of proven reserves of natural gas as of the start of 2016.[616] The Leviathan gas field started production in 2019.[617]
Ketura Sun is Israel’s first commercial solar field. Built in early 2011 by the Arava Power Company on Kibbutz Ketura, Ketura Sun covers twenty acres and is expected to produce green energy amounting to 4.95 megawatts (MW). The field consists of 18,500 photovoltaic panels made by Suntech, which will produce about 9 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity per year.[618] In the next twenty years, the field will spare the production of some 125,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.[619] The field was inaugurated on 15 June 2011.[620] On 22 May 2012 Arava Power Company announced that it had reached financial close on an additional 58.5 MW for 8 projects to be built in the Arava and the Negev valued at 780 million NIS or approximately $204 million.[621]
Transport
Israel has a modern transport system. The country has 19,224 kilometres (11,945 mi) of paved roads,[622] and 3 million motor vehicles.[623] The number of motor vehicles per 1,000 persons is 365, relatively low with respect to developed countries.[623] Israel has 5,715 buses on scheduled routes,[624] operated by several carriers, the largest and oldest of which is Egged, serving most of the country.[625] Railways stretch across 1,277 kilometres (793 mi) and are operated solely by government-owned Israel Railways.[626] 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 53 million in 2015; railways are also transporting 7.5 million tons of cargo, per year.[626]
Israel is served by two international airports, Ben Gurion Airport, the country’s main hub for international air travel near Tel Aviv, and Ramon Airport, which serves the southernmost port city of Eilat. Ben Gurion, Israel’s largest airport, handled over 15 million passengers in 2015.[627] The country has three main ports: the Port of Haifa, the country’s oldest and largest, on the Mediterranean coast, Ashdod Port; and the smaller Port of Eilat on the Red Sea.
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.[629] In 2017, a record of 3.6 million tourists visited Israel, yielding a 25 percent growth since 2016 and contributed NIS 20 billion to the Israeli economy.[630][631][632][633]
Real estate
Housing prices in Israel are listed in the top third,[634] with an average of 150 salaries required to buy an apartment.[635] As of 2022, there are about 2.7 million properties in Israel, with an annual increase of more than 50,000.[636] However, the demand for housing exceeds supply, with a shortage of about 200,000 apartments as of 2021,[637] and thus rising house prices. As a result, by 2021 housing prices rose by 5.6%.[638] High prices do not stop Israelis from buying properties. In 2021, Israelis took a record of NIS 116.1 billion in mortgages, an increase of 50% from 2020.[639]
Culture
Israel’s diverse culture stems from the diversity of its population. Jews from diaspora communities around the world brought their cultural and religious traditions back with them, creating a melting pot of Jewish customs and beliefs.[640] Arab influences are present in many cultural spheres,[641][642] such as architecture,[643] music,[644] and cuisine.[645] 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.[646]
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.[647] In 2016, 89 percent of the 7,300 books transferred to the library were in Hebrew.[648]
In 1966, Shmuel Yosef Agnon shared the Nobel Prize in Literature with German Jewish author Nelly Sachs.[649] Leading Israeli poets have been Yehuda Amichai, Nathan Alterman, Leah Goldberg, and Rachel Bluwstein.[citation needed] Internationally famous contemporary Israeli novelists include Amos Oz, Etgar Keret and David Grossman.[citation needed] The Israeli-Arab satirist Sayed Kashua (who writes in Hebrew) is also internationally known.[citation needed] Israel has also been the home of Emile Habibi, whose novel The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist, and other writings, won him the Israel prize for Arabic literature.[650][651]
Music and dance
Israeli music contains musical influences from all over the world; Mizrahi and Sephardic music, Hasidic melodies, Greek music, jazz, and pop rock are all part of the music scene.[652][653] Among Israel’s world-renowned[654][655] 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.[656] 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 four times and hosting it twice.[657][658] Eilat has hosted its own international music festival, the Red Sea Jazz Festival, every summer since 1987.[659] 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.[660]
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.[661] Palestinian Israeli filmmakers have made a number of films dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict and the status of Palestinians within Israel, such as Mohammed Bakri’s 2002 film Jenin, Jenin and The Syrian Bride.[citation needed]
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.[662]
Media
The 2017 Freedom of the Press annual report by Freedom House ranked Israel as the Middle East and North Africa’s most free country, and 64th globally.[663] In the 2017 Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, Israel (including «Israel extraterritorial» since 2013 ranking)[664] was placed 91st of 180 countries, first in the Middle East and North Africa region.[665] Reporters Without Borders noted that «Palestinian journalists are systematically subjected to violence as a result of their coverage of events in the West Bank».[666] More than fifty Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel since 2001.[667]
Museums
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem is one of Israel’s most important cultural institutions[668] and houses the Dead Sea Scrolls,[669] along with an extensive collection of Judaica and European art.[668] Israel’s national Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, is the world central archive of Holocaust-related information.[670] ANU — Museum of the Jewish People on the campus of Tel Aviv University, is an interactive museum devoted to the history of Jewish communities around the world.[671] Apart from the major museums in large cities, there are high-quality art spaces in many towns and kibbutzim. Mishkan LeOmanut in kibbutz Ein Harod Meuhad is the largest art museum in the north of the country.[672]
Israel has the highest number of museums per capita in the world.[673] 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.[674] A cast of the skull is on display at the Israel Museum.[675]
Cuisine
Israeli cuisine includes local dishes as well as Jewish cuisine brought to the country by immigrants from the diaspora. Since the establishment of the state in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, an Israeli fusion cuisine has developed.[676] Israeli cuisine has adopted, and continues to adapt, elements of the Mizrahi, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi styles of cooking. It incorporates many foods traditionally eaten in the Levantine, Arab, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, such as falafel, hummus, shakshouka, couscous, and za’atar. Schnitzel, pizza, hamburgers, French fries, rice and salad are also common in Israel.[citation needed]
Roughly half of the Israeli-Jewish population attests to keeping kosher at home.[677][678] Kosher restaurants, though rare in the 1960s, make up around a quarter of the total as of 2015, perhaps reflecting the largely secular values of those who dine out.[676] Hotel restaurants are much more likely to serve kosher food.[676] The non-kosher retail market was traditionally sparse, but grew rapidly and considerably following the influx of immigrants from the post-Soviet states during the 1990s.[679] Together with non-kosher fish, rabbits and ostriches, pork—often called «white meat» in Israel[679]—is produced and consumed, though it is forbidden by both Judaism and Islam.[680]
Sports
The most popular spectator sports in Israel are association football and basketball.[681] The Israeli Premier League is the country’s premier football league, and the Israeli Basketball Premier League is the premier basketball league.[682] Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem are the largest football 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. Israel hosted and won the 1964 AFC Asian Cup; in 1970 the Israel national football team qualified for the FIFA World Cup, the only time it participated in the World Cup. The 1974 Asian Games, held in Tehran, were the last Asian Games in which Israel participated, plagued by the Arab countries that refused to compete with Israel. Israel was excluded from the 1978 Asian Games and since then has not competed in Asian sport events.[683] In 1994, UEFA agreed to admit Israel, and its football teams now compete in Europe.[citation needed] Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. has won the European championship in basketball six times.[684] In 2016, the country was chosen as a host for the EuroBasket 2017.
Israel has won nine Olympic medals since its first win in 1992, including a gold medal in windsurfing at the 2004 Summer Olympics.[685] Israel has won over 100 gold medals in the Paralympic Games and is ranked 20th in the all-time medal count. The 1968 Summer Paralympics were hosted by Israel.[686] The Maccabiah Games, an Olympic-style event for Jewish and Israeli athletes, was inaugurated in the 1930s, and has been held every four years since then. Israeli tennis champion Shahar Pe’er ranked 11th in the world on 31 January 2011.[687] 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 around the world.[688]
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.[689] 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.[690] 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.[691][692] The Israeli chess team won the silver medal at the 2008 Chess Olympiad[693] and the bronze, coming in third among 148 teams, at the 2010 Olympiad. Israeli grandmaster Boris Gelfand won the Chess World Cup 2009[694] and the 2011 Candidates Tournament for the right to challenge the world champion. He lost the World Chess Championship 2012 to reigning world champion Anand after a speed-chess tie breaker.
See also
- Index of Israel-related articles
- Outline of Israel
References
Notes
- ^ Recognition by other UN member states: Russia (West Jerusalem),[1] the Czech Republic (West Jerusalem),[2] Honduras,[3] Guatemala,[4] Nauru,[5] and the United States.[6]
- ^ Jerusalem is Israel’s largest city if including East Jerusalem, which is widely recognized as occupied territory.[7]
- ^ Arabic had previously been an official language of the State of Israel.[8][better source needed] In 2018 its classification was changed to a ‘special status in the state’ with its use by state institutions to be set in law.[9][10]
- ^ a b c d Israeli population and economic data covers the economic territory of Israel, including the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.[409][410]
- ^ 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 (see Kellerman 1993, p. 140). See Status of Jerusalem for more information.
- ^ Tens of thousands of Jews in Arab countries left their homes because of the 1948 war as well, pushed by a combination of anti-Semitic feeling and legislation, religious feeling, Zionist activity, economic factors, the end of colonial rule, and other reasons.The decision to leave varied by circumstance, as well as by country and social class. Approximately 260,000 Jews from the Arab world moved to Israel during and immediately after the war.[21]
- ^ «In hindsight we can say that 1977 was a turning point …»[226]
Citations
- ^ «Foreign Ministry statement regarding Palestinian-Israeli settlement». www.mid.ru. 6 April 2017.
- ^ «Czech Republic announces it recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital». The Jerusalem Post. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
The Czech Republic currently, before the peace between Israel and Palestine is signed, recognizes Jerusalem to be in fact the capital of Israel in the borders of the demarcation line from 1967.» The Ministry also said that it would only consider relocating its embassy based on «results of negotiations.
- ^ «Honduras recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital». The Times of Israel. 29 August 2019.
- ^ «Guatemala se suma a EEUU y también trasladará su embajada en Israel a Jerusalén» [Guatemala joins US, will also move embassy to Jerusalem]. Infobae (in Spanish). 24 December 2017. Guatemala’s embassy was located in Jerusalem until the 1980s, when it was moved to Tel Aviv.
- ^ «Nauru recognizes J’lem as capital of Israel». Israel National News. 29 August 2019.
- ^ «Trump Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital and Orders U.S. Embassy to Move». The New York Times. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- ^ The Legal Status of East Jerusalem (PDF), Norwegian Refugee Council, December 2013, pp. 8, 29
- ^ a b «Arabic in Israel: an official language and a cultural bridge». Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 18 December 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ a b «Israel Passes ‘National Home’ Law, Drawing Ire of Arabs». The New York Times. 19 July 2018.
- ^ a b Lubell, Maayan (19 July 2018). «Israel adopts divisive Jewish nation-state law». Reuters.
- ^ a b c Population of Israel on the Eve of 2023 (Report). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 29 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
- ^ «Surface water and surface water change». Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Retrieved 11 October 2020.
- ^ «Home page». Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
- ^ Population Census 2008 (PDF) (Report). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f «World Economic Outlook Database». International Monetary Fund. April 2023. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
- ^ «Income inequality». data.oecd.org. OECD. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
- ^ «Human Development Report 2021/2022» (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
- ^ Akram, Susan M., Michael Dumper, Michael Lynk, and Iain Scobbie, eds. 2010. International Law and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Rights-Based Approach to Middle East Peace. Routledge. p. 119: «UN General Assembly Resolution 181 recommended the creation of an international zone, or corpus separatum, in Jerusalem to be administered by the UN for a 10-year period, after which there would be a referendum to determine its future. This approach applies equally to West and East Jerusalem and is not affected by the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. To a large extent it is this approach that still guides the diplomatic behaviour of states and thus has greater force in international law.»
- ^ a b Broshi, Maguen (2001). Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-84127-201-6.
- ^ Faust, Avraham (29 August 2012). Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period. Society of Biblical Literature. p. 1. doi:10.2307/j.ctt5vjz28. ISBN 978-1-58983-641-9.
- ^ a b Fischbach 2008, p. 26–27.
- ^ Totten, S. (2017). Last Lectures on the Prevention and Intervention of Genocide. Routledge Studies in Genocide and Crimes against Humanity. Taylor & Francis. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-315-40976-4. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
- ^ a b «How Israel’s electoral system works — CNN.com». CNN International. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ a b «Israel’s accession to the OECD». Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ T. O. I. staff. «Israel’s population rises to over 9.3 million on Rosh Hashanah eve». Times of Israel. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ «Human Development Reports: Israel». United Nations. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
- ^ Noah Rayman (29 September 2014). «Mandatory Palestine: What It Was and Why It Matters». TIME. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
- ^ «Popular Opinion». The Palestine Post. Jerusalem. 7 December 1947. p. 1. Archived from the original on 15 August 2012.
- ^ One Day that Shook the world Archived 12 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine The Jerusalem Post, 30 April 1998, by Elli Wohlgelernter
- ^ «On the Move». Time. New York. 31 May 1948. Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. 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.
- ^ William G. Dever, Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005 p. 186.
- ^ Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ‘Israel,’ in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E–J,Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995 p. 907.
- ^ R.L. Ottley, The Religion of Israel: A Historical Sketch, Cambridge University Press, 2013 pp. 31–32 note 5.
- ^ Wells, John C. (1990). Longman pronunciation dictionary. Harlow, England: Longman. p. 381. ISBN 978-0-582-05383-0. 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 12:40–41
- ^ 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.»
- ^ Tchernov, Eitan (1988). «The Age of ‘Ubeidiya Formation (Jordan Valley, Israel) and the Earliest Hominids in the Levant». Paléorient. 14 (2): 63–65. doi:10.3406/paleo.1988.4455.
- ^ Rincon, Paul (14 October 2015). «Fossil teeth place humans in Asia ‘20,000 years early’«. BBC News. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ Bar-Yosef, Ofer (7 December 1998). «The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture» (PDF). Evolutionary Anthropology. 6 (5): 159–177. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::AID-EVAN4>3.0.CO;2-7. S2CID 35814375. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ Steiglitz, Robert (1992). «Migrations in the Ancient Near East». Anthropological Science. 3 (101): 263. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
- ^ Jonathan M Golden,Ancient Canaan and Israel: An Introduction, OUP, 2009 pp. 3–4.
- ^ Braunstein, Susan L. (2011). «The Meaning of Egyptian-Style Objects in the Late Bronze Cemeteries of Tell el-Farʿah (South)». Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 364 (364): 1–36. doi:10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0001. JSTOR 10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0001. S2CID 164054005.
- ^ Dever, William G. Beyond the Texts, Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2017, pp. 89–93
- ^ S. Richard, «Archaeological sources for the history of Palestine: The Early Bronze Age: The rise and collapse of urbanism», The Biblical Archaeologist (1987)
- ^ Knapp, A. Bernard; Manning, Sturt W. (1 January 2016). «Crisis in Context: The End of the Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean». American Journal of Archaeology. 120 (1): 130. doi:10.3764/aja.120.1.0099. ISSN 0002-9114. S2CID 191385013.
- ^ K.L. Noll, Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: A Textbook on History and Religion, A&C Black, 2012, rev.ed. pp. 137ff.
- ^ Thomas L. Thompson, Early History of the Israelite People: From the Written & Archaeological Sources, Brill, 2000 pp. 275–276: ‘They are rather a very specific group among the population of Palestine which bears a name that occurs here for the first time that at a much later stage in Palestine’s history bears a substantially different signification.’
- ^ The personal name «Israel» appears much earlier, in material from Ebla. Hasel, Michael G. (1 January 1994). «Israel in the Merneptah Stela». Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 296 (296): 45–61. doi:10.2307/1357179. JSTOR 1357179. S2CID 164052192.; Bertman, Stephen (14 July 2005). Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. OUP. ISBN 978-0-19-518364-1. and Meindert Dijkstra (2010). «Origins of Israel between history and ideology». In Becking, Bob; Grabbe, Lester (eds.). Between Evidence and Ideology Essays on the History of Ancient Israel read at the Joint Meeting of the Society for Old Testament Study and the Oud Testamentisch Werkgezelschap Lincoln, July 2009. Brill. p. 47. ISBN 978-90-04-18737-5.
As a West Semitic personal name it existed long before it became a tribal or a geographical name. This is not without significance, though is it rarely mentioned. We learn of a maryanu named ysr»il (*Yi¡sr—a»ilu) from Ugarit living in the same period, but the name was already used a thousand years before in Ebla. The word Israel originated as a West Semitic personal name. One of the many names that developed into the name of the ancestor of a clan, of a tribe and finally of a people and a nation.
- ^ Lemche, Niels Peter (1998). The Israelites in History and Tradition. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-664-22727-2.
- ^ Miller, James Maxwell; Hayes, John Haralson (1986). A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-21262-9.
- ^ Mark Smith in «The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel» states «Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (c. 1200–1000 BCE). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture… In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. Given the information available, one cannot maintain a radical cultural separation between Canaanites and Israelites for the Iron I period.» (pp. 6–7). Smith, Mark (2002) «The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel» (Eerdman’s)
- ^ Rendsberg, Gary (2008). «Israel without the Bible». In Frederick E. Greenspahn. The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship. NYU Press, pp. 3–5
- ^ Gnuse, Robert Karl (1997). No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel. England: Sheffield Academic Press Ltd. pp. 28, 31. ISBN 1-85075-657-0.
- ^ Steiner, Richard C. (1997), «Ancient Hebrew», in Hetzron, Robert (ed.), The Semitic Languages, Routledge, pp. 145–173, ISBN 978-0-415-05767-7
- ^ Killebrew 2005, p. 230.
- ^ Shahin 2005, p. 6.
- ^ Dever, William (2001). What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It?. Eerdmans. pp. 98–99. ISBN 978-3-927120-37-2.
After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible «historical figures» […] archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit.
- ^ Faust 2015, p.476: «While there is a consensus among scholars that the Exodus did not take place in the manner described in the Bible, surprisingly most scholars agree that the narrative has a historical core, and that some of the highland settlers came, one way or another, from Egypt..».
- ^ Redmount 2001, p. 61: «A few authorities have concluded that the core events of the Exodus saga are entirely literary fabrications. But most biblical scholars still subscribe to some variation of the Documentary Hypothesis, and support the basic historicity of the biblical narrative.»
- ^ Dever, William (2001). What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It?. Eerdmans. pp. 98–99. ISBN 3-927120-37-5.
After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible «historical figures» […] archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit.
- ^ Lipschits, Oded (2014). «The History of Israel in the Biblical Period». In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (eds.). The Jewish Study Bible (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-997846-5.
- ^ Kuhrt, Amiele (1995). The Ancient Near East. Routledge. p. 438. ISBN 978-0-415-16762-8.
- ^ a b Finkelstein, Israel; Silberman, Neil Asher (2001). The Bible unearthed : archaeology’s new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its stories (1st Touchstone ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-86912-4.
- ^ Wright, Jacob L. (July 2014). «David, King of Judah (Not Israel)». The Bible and Interpretation. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- ^ Finkelstein, Israel, (2020). «Saul and Highlands of Benjamin Update: The Role of Jerusalem», in Joachim J. Krause, Omer Sergi, and Kristin Weingart (eds.), Saul, Benjamin, and the Emergence of Monarchy in Israel: Biblical and Archaeological Perspectives, SBL Press, Atlanta, GA, p. 48, footnote 57: «…They became territorial kingdoms later, Israel in the first half of the ninth century BCE and Judah in its second half…»
- ^ The Pitcher Is Broken: Memorial Essays for Gosta W. Ahlstrom, Steven W. Holloway, Lowell K. Handy, Continuum, 1 May 1995 Quote: «For Israel, the description of the battle of Qarqar in the Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III (mid-ninth century) and for Judah, a Tiglath-pileser III text mentioning (Jeho-) Ahaz of Judah (IIR67 = K. 3751), dated 734–733, are the earliest published to date.»
- ^ Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, pp. 146–7:Put simply, while Judah was still economically marginal and backward, Israel was booming. … In the next chapter we will see how the northern kingdom suddenly appeared on the ancient Near Eastern stage as a major regional power
- ^ Israel., Finkelstein. The forgotten kingdom : the archaeology and history of Northern Israel. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-58983-910-6. OCLC 949151323.
- ^ Finkelstein, Israel (2013). The Forgotten Kingdom: the archaeology and history of Northern Israel. pp. 65–66, 73, 78, 87–94. ISBN 978-1-58983-911-3. OCLC 880456140.
- ^ Finkelstein, Israel (1 November 2011). «Observations on the Layout of Iron Age Samaria». Tel Aviv. 38 (2): 194–207. doi:10.1179/033443511×13099584885303. ISSN 0334-4355. S2CID 128814117.
- ^ Broshi, M., & Finkelstein, I. (1992). «The Population of Palestine in Iron Age II». Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 287(1), 47–60.
- ^ Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 307: «Intensive excavations throughout Jerusalem have shown that the city was indeed systematically destroyed by the Babylonians. The conflagration seems to have been general. When activity on the ridge of the City of David resumed in the Persian period, the-new suburbs on the western hill that had flourished since at least the time of Hezekiah were not reoccupied.»
- ^ Lipschits, Oded (1999). «The History of the Benjamin Region under Babylonian Rule». Tel Aviv. 26 (2): 155–190. doi:10.1179/tav.1999.1999.2.155. ISSN 0334-4355.
- ^ Wheeler, P. (2017). «Review of the book Song of Exile: The Enduring Mystery of Psalm 137, by David W. Stowe». The Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 79 (4): 696–697. doi:10.1353/cbq.2017.0092. S2CID 171830838.
- ^ «British Museum – Cuneiform tablet with part of the Babylonian Chronicle (605–594 BCE)». Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
- ^ «ABC 5 (Jerusalem Chronicle) – Livius». www.livius.org. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ a b «Second Temple Period (538 BCE to 70 CE) Persian Rule». Biu.ac.il. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ Harper’s Bible Dictionary, ed. by Achtemeier, etc., Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1985, p. 103
- ^ Judaism in late antiquity, Jacob Neusner, Bertold Spuler, Hady R Idris, Brill, 2001, p. 155
- ^ Grabbe, Lester L. (2004). A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud – A History of the Persian Province of Judah v. 1. T & T Clark. p. 355. ISBN 978-0-567-08998-4.
- ^ Helyer, Larry R.; McDonald, Lee Martin (2013). «The Hasmoneans and the Hasmonean Era». In Green, Joel B.; McDonald, Lee Martin (eds.). The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts. Baker Academic. pp. 45–47. ISBN 978-0-8010-9861-1. OCLC 961153992.
The ensuing power struggle left Hyrcanus with a free hand in Judea, and he quickly reasserted Jewish sovereignty… Hyrcanus then engaged in a series of military campaigns aimed at territorial expansion. He first conquered areas in the Transjordan. He then turned his attention to Samaria, which had long separated Judea from the northern Jewish settlements in Lower Galilee. In the south, Adora and Marisa were conquered; (Aristobulus’) primary accomplishment was annexing and Judaizing the region of Iturea, located between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains
- ^ Ben-Sasson, H.H. (1976). A History of the Jewish People. Harvard University Press. p. 226. ISBN 0-674-39731-2.
The expansion of Hasmonean Judea took place gradually. Under Jonathan, Judea annexed southern Samaria and began to expand in the direction of the coast plain… The main ethnic changes were the work of John Hyrcanus… it was in his days and those of his son Aristobulus that the annexation of Idumea, Samaria and Galilee and the consolidation of Jewish settlement in Trans-Jordan was completed. Alexander Jannai, continuing the work of his predecessors, expanded Judean rule to the entire coastal plain, from the Carmel to the Egyptian border… and to additional areas in Trans-Jordan, including some of the Greek cities there.
- ^ Ben-Eliyahu, Eyal (30 April 2019). Identity and Territory: Jewish Perceptions of Space in Antiquity. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-520-29360-1. OCLC 1103519319.
From the beginning of the Second Temple period until the Muslim conquest—the land was part of imperial space. This was true from the early Persian period, as well as the time of Ptolemy and the Seleucids. The only exception was the Hasmonean Kingdom, with its sovereign Jewish rule—first over Judah and later, in Alexander Jannaeus’s prime, extending to the coast, the north, and the eastern banks of the Jordan.
- ^ a b c Schwartz, Seth (2014). The ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad. Cambridge. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-1-107-04127-1. OCLC 863044259.
The year 70 ce marked transformations in demography, politics, Jewish civic status, Palestinian and more general Jewish economic and social structures, Jewish religious life beyond the sacrificial cult, and even Roman politics and the topography of the city of Rome itself. […] The Revolt’s failure had, to begin with, a demographic impact on the Jews of Palestine; many died in battle and as a result of siege conditions, not only in Jerusalem. […] As indicated above, the figures for captives are conceivably more reliable. If 97,000 is roughly correct as a total for the war, it would mean that a huge percentage of the population was removed from the country, or at the very least displaced from their homes. Nevertheless, only sixty years later, there was a large enough population in the Judaean countryside to stage a massively disruptive second rebellion; this one appears to have ended, in 135, with devastation and depopulation of the district.
- ^ Werner Eck, «Sklaven und Freigelassene von Römern in Iudaea und den angrenzenden Provinzen,» Novum Testamentum 55 (2013): 1–21
- ^ Raviv, Dvir; Ben David, Chaim (2021). «Cassius Dio’s figures for the demographic consequences of the Bar Kokhba War: Exaggeration or reliable account?». Journal of Roman Archaeology. 34 (2): 585–607. doi:10.1017/S1047759421000271. ISSN 1047-7594. S2CID 245512193.
Scholars have long doubted the historical accuracy of Cassius Dio’s account of the consequences of the Bar Kokhba War (Roman History 69.14). According to this text, considered the most reliable literary source for the Second Jewish Revolt, the war encompassed all of Judea: the Romans destroyed 985 villages and 50 fortresses, and killed 580,000 rebels. This article reassesses Cassius Dio’s figures by drawing on new evidence from excavations and surveys in Judea, Transjordan, and the Galilee. Three research methods are combined: an ethno-archaeological comparison with the settlement picture in the Ottoman Period, comparison with similar settlement studies in the Galilee, and an evaluation of settled sites from the Middle Roman Period (70–136CE). The study demonstrates the potential contribution of the archaeological record to this issue and supports the view of Cassius Dio’s demographic data as a reliable account, which he based on contemporaneous documentation.
- ^ a b c Mor, Menahem (18 April 2016). The Second Jewish Revolt. BRILL. pp. 483–484. doi:10.1163/9789004314634. ISBN 978-90-04-31463-4.
Land confiscation in Judaea was part of the suppression of the revolt policy of the Romans and punishment for the rebels. But the very claim that the sikarikon laws were annulled for settlement purposes seems to indicate that Jews continued to reside in Judaea even after the Second Revolt. There is no doubt that this area suffered the severest damage from the suppression of the revolt. Settlements in Judaea, such as Herodion and Bethar, had already been destroyed during the course of the revolt, and Jews were expelled from the districts of Gophna, Herodion, and Aqraba. However, it should not be claimed that the region of Judaea was completely destroyed. Jews continued to live in areas such as Lod (Lydda), south of the Hebron Mountain, and the coastal regions. In other areas of the Land of Israel that did not have any direct connection with the Second Revolt, no settlement changes can be identified as resulting from it.
- ^ Oppenheimer, A’haron and Oppenheimer, Nili. Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society. Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 2.
- ^ H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-674-39731-2, page 334: «In an effort to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria-Palestina, a name that became common in non-Jewish literature.»
- ^ Ariel Lewin. The archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine. Getty Publications, 2005 p. 33. «It seems clear that by choosing a seemingly neutral name – one juxtaposing that of a neighboring province with the revived name of an ancient geographical entity (Palestine), already known from the writings of Herodotus – Hadrian was intending to suppress any connection between the Jewish people and that land.» ISBN 0-89236-800-4
- ^ Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History. 4:6.3-4
- ^ a b Edward Kessler (2010). An Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations. Cambridge University Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-521-70562-2.
Jews probably remained in the majority in Palestine until some time after the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century. […] In Babylonia, there had been for many centuries a Jewish community which would have been further strengthened by those fleeing the aftermath of the Roman revolts.
- ^ Cohn-Sherbok, Dan (1996). Atlas of Jewish History. Routledge. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-415-08800-8.
- ^ Lehmann, Clayton Miles (18 January 2007). «Palestine». Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces. University of South Dakota. Archived from the original on 7 April 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ Moscovitz, Leib (2017). «Palestinian Talmud/Yerushalmi». Oxford Bibliographies Online. doi:10.1093/OBO/9780199840731-0151. ISBN 978-0-19-984073-1. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- ^ The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey 2018
- ^ Ehrlich, Michael (2022). The Islamization of the Holy Land, 634–1800. Leeds, UK: Arc Humanities Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-1-64189-222-3. OCLC 1302180905.
The Jewish community strove to recover from the catastrophic results of the Bar Kokhva revolt (132–135 CE). Although some of these attempts were relatively successful, the Jews never fully recovered. During the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, many Jews emigrated to thriving centres in the diaspora, especially Iraq, whereas some converted to Christianity and others continued to live in the Holy Land, especially in Galilee and the coastal plain. During the Byzantine period, the three provinces of Palestine included more than thirty cities, namely, settlements with a bishop see. After the Muslim conquest in the 630s, most of these cities declined and eventually disappeared. As a result, in many cases the local ecclesiastical administration weakened, while in others it simply ceased to exist. Consequently, many local Christians converted to Islam. Thus, almost twelve centuries later, when the army led by Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in the Holy Land, most of the local population was Muslim.
- ^ David Goodblatt (2006). «The Political and Social History of the Jewish Community in the Land of Israel, c. 235–638». In Steven Katz (ed.). The Cambridge History of Judaism. Vol. IV. pp. 404–430. ISBN 978-0-521-77248-8.
Few would disagree that, in the century and a half before our period begins, the Jewish population of Judah () suffered a serious blow from which it never recovered. The destruction of the Jewish metropolis of Jerusalem and its environs and the eventual refounding of the city… had lasting repercussions. […] However, in other parts of Palestine the Jewish population remained strong […] What does seem clear is a different kind of change. Immigration of Christians and the conversion of pagans, Samaritans and Jews eventually produced a Christian majority
- ^ Bar, Doron (2003). «The Christianisation of Rural Palestine during Late Antiquity». The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 54 (3): 401–421. doi:10.1017/s0022046903007309. ISSN 0022-0469.
The dominant view of the history of Palestine during the Byzantine period links the early phases of the consecration of the land during the fourth century and the substantial external financial investment that accompanied the building of churches on holy sites on the one hand with the Christianisation of the population on the other. Churches were erected primarily at the holy sites, 12 while at the same time Palestine’s position and unique status as the Christian ‘Holy Land’ became more firmly rooted. All this, coupled with immigration and conversion, allegedly meant that the Christianisation of Palestine took place much more rapidly than that of other areas of the Roman empire, brought in its wake the annihilation of the pagan cults and meant that by the middle of the fifth century there was a clear Christian majority.
- ^ Kohen, Elli (2007). History of the Byzantine Jews: A Microcosmos in the Thousand Year Empire. University Press of America. pp. 26–31. ISBN 978-0-7618-3623-0.
- ^ «Roman Palestine». www.britannica.com. Encyclopedia Britannica.
- ^ Ehrlich, Michael (2022). The Islamization of the Holy Land, 634–1800. Leeds, UK: Arc Humanities Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-1-64189-222-3. OCLC 1302180905.
The Jewish community strove to recover from the catastrophic results of the Bar Kokhva revolt (132–135 CE). Although some of these attempts were relatively successful, the Jews never fully recovered. During the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, many Jews emigrated to thriving centres in the diaspora, especially Iraq, whereas some converted to Christianity and others continued to live in the Holy Land, especially in Galilee and the coastal plain. During the Byzantine period, the three provinces of Palestine included more than thirty cities, namely, settlements with a bishop see. After the Muslim conquest in the 630s, most of these cities declined and eventually disappeared. As a result, in many cases the local ecclesiastical administration weakened, while in others it simply ceased to exist. Consequently, many local Christians converted to Islam. Thus, almost twelve centuries later, when the army led by Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in the Holy Land, most of the local population was Muslim.
- ^ Ellenblum, Ronnie (2010). Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-58534-0. OCLC 958547332.
From the data given above it can be concluded that the Muslim population of Central Samaria, during the early Muslim period, was not an autochthonous population which had converted to Christianity. They arrived there either by way of migration or as a result of a process of sedentarization of the nomads who had filled the vacuum created by the departing Samaritans at the end of the Byzantine period […] To sum up: in the only rural region in Palestine in which, according to all the written and archeological sources, the process of Islamization was completed already in the twelfth century, there occurred events consistent with the model propounded by Levtzion and Vryonis: the region was abandoned by its original sedentary population and the subsequent vacuum was apparently filled by nomads who, at a later stage, gradually became sedentarized
- ^ a b לוי-רובין, מילכה; Levy-Rubin, Milka (2006). «The Influence of the Muslim Conquest on the Settlement Pattern of Palestine during the Early Muslim Period / הכיבוש כמעצב מפת היישוב של ארץ-ישראל בתקופה המוסלמית הקדומה». Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and Its Yishuv / קתדרה: לתולדות ארץ ישראל ויישובה (121): 53–78. ISSN 0334-4657. JSTOR 23407269.
- ^ a b Ellenblum, Ronnie (2010). Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-58534-0. OCLC 958547332.
From the data given above it can be concluded that the Muslim population of Central Samaria, during the early Muslim period, was not an autochthonous population which had converted to Christianity. They arrived there either by way of migration or as a result of a process of sedentarization of the nomads who had filled the vacuum created by the departing Samaritans at the end of the Byzantine period […] To sum up: in the only rural region in Palestine in which, according to all the written and archeological sources, the process of Islamization was completed already in the twelfth century, there occurred events consistent with the model propounded by Levtzion and Vryonis: the region was abandoned by its original sedentary population and the subsequent vacuum was apparently filled by nomads who, at a later stage, gradually became sedentarized
- ^ Gil, Moshe (1997). A History of Palestine, 634–1099. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-59984-9.
- ^ Broshi, Magen (1979). «The Population of Western Palestine in the Roman-Byzantine Period». Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 236 (236): 1–10. doi:10.2307/1356664. ISSN 0003-097X. JSTOR 1356664. S2CID 24341643.
- ^ Broshi, M., & Finkelstein, I. (1992). «The Population of Palestine in Iron Age II». Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 287(1), 47–60.
- ^ «crusades». Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ 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.
- ^ Joel Rappel, History of Eretz Israel from Prehistory up to 1882 (1980), vol. 2, p. 531. «In 1662 Sabbathai Sevi arrived to Jerusalem. It was the time when the Jewish settlements of Galilee were destroyed by the Druze: Tiberias was completely desolate and only a few of former Safed residents had returned….»
- ^ «Palestine – Ottoman rule». www.britannica.com. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
- ^ Macalister and Masterman, 1906, p. 40
- ^ 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 …»
- ^ «An invention called ‘the Jewish people’«. Haaretz. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
- ^ Eisen, Yosef (2004). Miraculous journey: a complete history of the Jewish people from creation to the present. Targum Press. p. 700. ISBN 978-1-56871-323-6.
- ^ Morgenstern, Arie (2006). Hastening redemption: Messianism and the resettlement of the land of Israel. Oxford University Press. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-19-530578-4.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Halpern, Ben (1998). Zionism and the creation of a new society. Reinharz, Jehuda. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 0-585-18273-6. OCLC 44960036.
- ^ 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 Jewish Agency for Israel1. 21 July 2005. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ^ 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 978-0-582-49380-3.
- ^ Schechtman, Joseph B. (2007). «Jewish Legion». Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 11. Detroit: Macmillan Reference. p. 304. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
- ^ 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.
- ^ «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
- ^ 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. 24 July 1922. Retrieved 27 August 2007.
- ^ Shaw, J. V. W. (1991) [1946]. «Chapter VI: Population». A Survey of Palestine. Vol. I: Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry (Reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Institute for Palestine Studies. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-88728-213-3. OCLC 22345421.
- ^ «Report to the League of Nations on Palestine and Transjordan, 1937». British Government. 1937. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
- ^ Walter Laqueur (2009). A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-53085-1. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
- ^ Hughes, M (2009). «The banality of brutality: British armed forces and the repression of the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936–39» (PDF). English Historical Review. CXXIV (507): 314–354. doi:10.1093/ehr/cep002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 February 2016.
- ^ 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
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, Village Statistics, 1945.
- ^ Fraser 2004, p. 27
- ^ Motti Golani (2013). Palestine Between Politics and Terror, 1945–1947. UPNE. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-61168-388-2.
- ^ Cohen, Michael J (2014). Britain’s Moment in Palestine:Retrospect and Perspectives, 1917–1948 (First ed.). Abingdon and New York: Routledge. p. 474. ISBN 978-0-415-72985-7.
- ^ The Terrorism Ahead: Confronting Transnational Violence in the Twenty-First | By Paul J. Smith | M.E. Sharpe, 2007 | p. 27
- ^ Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Harvey W. Kushner, Sage, 2003 p. 181
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica article on the Irgun Zvai Leumi
- ^ The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945–1951: Arab Nationalism, the United States, and Postwar Imperialism. William Roger Louis, Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 430
- ^ a b c Clarke, Thurston. By Blood and Fire, G.P. Puttnam’s Sons, New York, 1981
- ^ a b Bethell, Nicholas (1979). The Palestine Triangle. Andre Deutsch.
- ^ «A/RES/106 (S-1)». General Assembly resolution. United Nations. 15 May 1947. Archived from the original on 6 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ «A/364». Special Committee on Palestine. United Nations. 3 September 1947. Archived from the original on 10 June 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ «Background Paper No. 47 (ST/DPI/SER.A/47)». United Nations. 20 April 1949. Archived from the original on 3 January 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2007.
- ^ Hoffman, Bruce: Anonymous Soldiers (2015)
- ^ «Resolution 181 (II). Future government of Palestine». United Nations. 29 November 1947. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
- ^ Nathan Thrall, The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine, Henry Holt and Company 2017 ISBN 978-1-627-79710-8 pp. 41,227 n.9.
- ^ ‘As to territorial boundaries, under the plan the Jewish State was allotted approximately 57 percent of the total area of Palestine even though the Jewish population comprised only 33 percent of the country . In addition, according to British records relied upon by the ad hoc committee, the Jewish population possessed registered ownership of only 5.6 percent of Palestine, and was eclipsed by the Arabs in land ownership in every one of Palestine’s 16 sub-districts- Moreover, the quality of the land granted to the proposed Jewish state was highly skewed in its favour. UNSCOP reported that under its majority plan «[t]he Jews will have the more economically developed part of the country embracing practically the whole of the citrus-producing area»—Palestine’s staple export crop—even though approximately half of the citrus-bearing land was owned by the Arabs. In addition, according to updated British records submitted to the ad hoc committee’s two sub-committees, «of the irrigated, cultivable areas» of the country, 84 per cent would be in the Jewish State and 16 per cent would be in the Arab State».’ Ardi Imseis, ‘The United Nations Plan of Partition for Palestine Revisited: On the Origins of Palestine’s International Legal Subalternality,’ Stanford Journal of International Law vol.57 no 1 Winter 2021 pp1-54 Pp.13–14.
- ^ Morris 2008, p. 75: «The night of 29–30 November passed in the Yishuv’s settlements in noisy public rejoicing. Most had sat glued to their radio sets broadcasting live from Flushing Meadow. A collective cry of joy went up when the two-thirds mark was achieved: a state had been sanctioned by the international community.»
- ^ a b Morris 2008, p. 396: «The immediate trigger of the 1948 War was the November 1947 UN partition resolution. The Zionist movement, except for its fringes, accepted the proposal.»
- ^ ‘Although the Zionists had coveted the whole of Palestine, the Jewish Agency
leadership pragmatically, if grudgingly, accepted Resolution 181(II). Although
they were of the view that the Jewish national home promised in the Mandate was
equivalent to a Jewish state, they well understood that such a claim could not be
maintained under prevailing international law..Based on its own terms, it is impossible to escape the conclusion that the partition plan privileged European interests over those of Palestine’s indigenous people and, as such, was an embodiment of the Eurocentricity of the international system that was allegedly a thing of the past. For this reason, the Arabs took a more principled position in line with prevailing international law, rejecting partition outright . .This rejection has disingenuously been presented in some of the literature as indicative of political intransigence,69 and even hostility towards the Jews as Jews’Imseis pp.14–15. - ^ Morris 2008, 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 December 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.
- ^ Morris 2008, p. 77–78.
- ^ Tal, David (2003). War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy. Routledge. p. 471. ISBN 978-0-7146-5275-7.
- ^ Morris 2008.
- ^ «Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel». Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 14 May 1948. Archived from the original on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
- ^ 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 entry into (the) war of the Arab countries poses a complex legal problem. The crossing of the borders can constitute an act of aggression or a threat against peace, justifying a condemnation and an intervention by the United Nations, but if the armies penetrate only the Arab part of the partition plan, they can be considered as called on (to do so) by the population and at this stage their intervention would not in itself be a threat against the peace. That would only start were the Jewish part attacked. Now, the Arab armies do directly threaten Jewish territory at certain points while in others the Jews have already largely taken up positions in Arab territory. (‘L’entrée en guerre des pays arabes pose un problem juridique complexe. Le franchissement des frontières peut constituer un acte d’aggression ou une menace contre la paix, justifiant une condannation et une intervention des Nations unies, mais si les armées pénètrent seulement dans la partie arabe du plan de partage, elles peuvent être considérées comme appelées par la population et à ce stade leur intervention ne serait pas par elle-même une menace contre la paix. Elle ne commencerait qu’avec l’attaque de la partie juive. Or, en certains points, les armées arabes menacent directement le territoire juif et dans d’autres les Juifs se sont déjà largement installés en territoire arabe.’ Henry Laurens, La Question de Palestine, Fayard Paris 2007 vol.3 p.104
- ^ Karsh, Efraim (2002). The Arab–Israeli conflict: The Palestine War 1948. Osprey Publishing. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-84176-372-9.
- ^ Ben-Sasson 1985, p. 1058
- ^ Morris 2008, p. 205.
- ^ Rabinovich, Itamar; Reinharz, Jehuda (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.
- ^ David Tal (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…
- ^ Morris 2008, p. 187: «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»»
- ^ Morris 2008, p. 198: «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. Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
- ^ Karsh, Efraim (2002). The Arab–Israeli conflict: The Palestine War 1948. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-372-9.
- ^ Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. p. 602. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
- ^ «עיצוב יחסי יהודים — ערבים בעשור הראשון». lib.cet.ac.il.
- ^ «Two Hundred and Seventh Plenary Meeting». The United Nations. 11 May 1949. Archived from the original on 12 September 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
- ^ William Roger Louis (1984). The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945–1951: Arab Nationalism, the United States, and Postwar Imperialism. Clarendon Press. p. 579. ISBN 978-0-19-822960-5.
«The transcript makes it clear that British policy acted as a brake on Jordan. «King Abdullah was personally anxious to come to agreement with Israel», Kirkbride stated, «and in fact it was our restraining influence which had so far prevented him from doing so». Knox Helm confirmed that the Israelis hoped to have a settlement with Jordan, and that they now genuinely wished to live peacefully within their frontiers, if only for economic reasons».
- ^ Lustick 1988, pp. 37–39
- ^ «Israel (Labor Zionism)». Country Studies. 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. pp. 105–107
- ^ Shulewitz, Malka Hillel (2001). The Forgotten Millions: The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands. Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-4764-7.
- ^ Laskier, Michael «Egyptian Jewry under the Nasser Regime, 1956–70» pp. 573–619 from Middle Eastern Studies, Volume 31, Issue # 3, July 1995 p. 579.
- ^ «Population, by Religion». Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- ^ Bard, Mitchell (2003). The Founding of the State of Israel. Greenhaven Press. p. 15.
- ^ 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.; for ma’abarot population, see p. 269.
- ^ Clive Jones, Emma Murphy, Israel: Challenges to Identity, Democracy, and the State, Routledge 2002 p. 37: «Housing units earmarked for the Oriental Jews were often reallocated to European Jewish immigrants; Consigning Oriental Jews to the privations of ma’aborot (transit camps) for longer periods.»
- ^ Segev 2007, pp. 155–157
- ^ Shindler 2002, pp. 49–50
- ^ Kameel B. Nasr (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 (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 (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.
- ^ «Suez Crisis: Key players». 21 July 2006. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
- ^ Schoenherr, Steven (15 December 2005). «The Suez Crisis». Retrieved 31 May 2013.
- ^ Gorst, Anthony; Johnman, Lewis (1997). The Suez Crisis. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-11449-3.
- ^ 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
- ^ Bascomb 2009, p. 219–229.
- ^ 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. S2CID 144734253.
- ^ Cohen, Avner (3 May 2019). «How a Standoff with the U.S. Almost Blew up Israel’s Nuclear Program». Haaretz.
- ^ «The Battle of the Letters, 1963: John F. Kennedy, David Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol, and the U.S. Inspections of Dimona | National Security Archive». 29 April 2019.
- ^ «The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East», by Richard B. Parker (1993 Indiana University Press) p. 38
- ^ Gilbert 2005, p. 1
- ^ Maoz, Moshe (1995). Syria and Israel: From War to Peacemaking. Oxford University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-19-828018-7.
- ^ «On This Day 5 Jun». BBC. 5 June 1967. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
- ^ Segev 2007, p. 178
- ^ Gat, Moshe (2003). Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964–1967: The Coming of the Six-Day War. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-275-97514-2.
- ^ John Quigley, The Six-Day War and Israeli Self-Defense: Questioning the Legal Basis for Preventive War, Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 32.
- ^ Samir A. Mutawi (2002). Jordan in the 1967 War. Cambridge University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-521-52858-0.
Although Eshkol denounced the Egyptians, his response to this development was a model of moderation. His speech on 21 May demanded that Nasser withdraw his forces from Sinai but made no mention of the removal of UNEF from the Straits nor of what Israel would do if they were closed to Israeli shipping. The next day Nasser announced to an astonished world that henceforth the Straits were, indeed, closed to all Israeli ships
- ^ 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.
- ^ Silke, Andrew (2004). Research on Terrorism: Trends, Achievements and Failures. Routledge. p. 149 (256 pp.). ISBN 978-0-7146-8273-0. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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. BBC News. 6 October 1973. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
- ^ «Agranat Commission». Knesset. 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
- ^ Bregman 2002, pp. 169–170.
- ^ Bregman 2002, pp. 171–174.
- ^ a b c Bregman 2002, pp. 186–187.
- ^ «Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel». Knesset. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- ^ Cleveland, William L. (1999). A history of the modern Middle East. Westview Press. p. 356. ISBN 978-0-8133-3489-9.
- ^ Lustick, Ian (1997). «Has Israel Annexed East Jerusalem?». Middle East Policy. V (1): 34–45. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4967.1997.tb00247.x. ISSN 1061-1924. OCLC 4651987544. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ^ «Golan Heights profile». BBC News. 27 November 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
- ^ Hillier, T. (1998). Sourcebook on Public International Law. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-35366-7. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ Monacella, R.; Ware, S.A. (2007). Fluctuating Borders: Speculations about Memory and Emergence. RMIT University Press. ISBN 978-1-921166-48-8. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ 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. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.385.2596. doi:10.1162/003355301753265606. hdl:10419/102605.
- ^ Bregman 2002, p. 199.
- ^ Schiff, Ze’ev; Ehud, Yaari (1984). Israel’s Lebanon War. Simon & Schuster. p. 284. ISBN 978-0-671-47991-6.
- ^ Silver, Eric (1984). Begin: The Haunted Prophet. Random House. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-394-52826-7.
- ^ Tessler, Mark A. (1994). A History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Indiana University Press. p. 677. ISBN 978-0-253-20873-6.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Mowlana, Gerbner & Schiller 1992, p. 111
- ^ Bregman 2002, p. 236.
- ^ «From the End of the Cold War to 2001». Boston College. Archived from the original on 27 August 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «The Oslo Accords, 1993». U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ^ «Israel–PLO Recognition – Exchange of Letters between PM Rabin and Chairman Arafat – Sept 9, 1993». Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
- ^ 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. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Kurtzer, Daniel; Lasensky, Scott (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.
- ^ Cleveland, William L. (1999). A history of the modern Middle East. Westview Press. p. 494. ISBN 978-0-8133-3489-9.
- ^ «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.
- ^ Gelvin 2005, p. 240
- ^ Sela-Shayovitz, R. (2007). Suicide bombers in Israel: Their motivations, characteristics, and prior activity in terrorist organizations. International Journal of Conflict and Violence (IJCV), 1(2), 163. «The period of the second Intifada significantly differs from other historical periods in Israeli history, because it has been characterized by intensive and numerous suicide attacks that have made civilian life into a battlefront.»
- ^ Gross, Tom (16 January 2014). «The big myth: that he caused the Second Intifada». The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ Hong, Nicole (23 February 2015). «Jury Finds Palestinian Authority, PLO Liable for Terrorist Attacks in Israel a Decade Ago». The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ^ 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. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. 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.; 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. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. 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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2012. 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.
- ^ «Fatalities before Operation «Cast Lead»«. B’Tselem. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- ^ «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.
- ^ Koutsoukis, Jason (5 January 2009). «Battleground Gaza: Israeli ground forces invade the strip». Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
- ^ 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.
- ^ «Israel and Hamas agree Gaza truce, Biden pledges assistance». Reuters. 21 May 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h «Israel». The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ^ 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. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
- ^ «The Coastal Plain». Israel Ministry of Tourism. Archived from the original on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
- ^ The Living Dead Sea. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1999. ISBN 978-0-8264-0406-0. Retrieved 20 July 2007.
- ^ Makhteshim Country. UNESCO. 2001. ISBN 978-954-642-135-7. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
- ^ Rinat, Zafrir (29 May 2008). «More endangered than rain forests?». Haaretz. Tel Aviv. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Dinerstein, Eric; Olson, David; Joshi, Anup; Vynne, Carly; Burgess, Neil D.; Wikramanayake, Eric; Hahn, Nathan; Palminteri, Suzanne; Hedao, Prashant; Noss, Reed; Hansen, Matt; Locke, Harvey; Ellis, Erle C; Jones, Benjamin; Barber, Charles Victor; Hayes, Randy; Kormos, Cyril; Martin, Vance; Crist, Eileen; Sechrest, Wes; Price, Lori; Baillie, Jonathan E. M.; Weeden, Don; Suckling, Kierán; Davis, Crystal; Sizer, Nigel; Moore, Rebecca; Thau, David; Birch, Tanya; Potapov, Peter; Turubanova, Svetlana; Tyukavina, Alexandra; de Souza, Nadia; Pintea, Lilian; Brito, José C.; Llewellyn, Othman A.; Miller, Anthony G.; Patzelt, Annette; Ghazanfar, Shahina A.; Timberlake, Jonathan; Klöser, Heinz; Shennan-Farpón, Yara; Kindt, Roeland; Lillesø, Jens-Peter Barnekow; van Breugel, Paulo; Graudal, Lars; Voge, Maianna; Al-Shammari, Khalaf F.; Saleem, Muhammad (2017). «An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm». BioScience. 67 (6): 534–545. doi:10.1093/biosci/bix014. ISSN 0006-3568. PMC 5451287. PMID 28608869.
- ^ Grantham, H. S.; Duncan, A.; Evans, T. D.; Jones, K. R.; Beyer, H. L.; Schuster, R.; Walston, J.; Ray, J. C.; Robinson, J. G.; Callow, M.; Clements, T.; Costa, H. M.; DeGemmis, A.; Elsen, P. R.; Ervin, J.; Franco, P.; Goldman, E.; Goetz, S.; Hansen, A.; Hofsvang, E.; Jantz, P.; Jupiter, S.; Kang, A.; Langhammer, P.; Laurance, W. F.; Lieberman, S.; Linkie, M.; Malhi, Y.; Maxwell, S.; Mendez, M.; Mittermeier, R.; Murray, N. J.; Possingham, H.; Radachowsky, J.; Saatchi, S.; Samper, C.; Silverman, J.; Shapiro, A.; Strassburg, B.; Stevens, T.; Stokes, E.; Taylor, R.; Tear, T.; Tizard, R.; Venter, O.; Visconti, P.; Wang, S.; Watson, J. E. M. (2020). «Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity – Supplementary Material». Nature Communications. 11 (1): 5978. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.5978G. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 7723057. PMID 33293507.
- ^ Ferry M.; Meghraoui M.; Karaki A.A.; Al-Taj M.; Amoush H.; Al-Dhaisat S.; Barjous M. (2008). «A 48-kyr-long slip rate history for the Jordan Valley segment of the Dead Sea Fault». Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 260 (3–4): 394–406. Bibcode:2007E&PSL.260..394F. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2007.05.049.
- ^ American Friends of the Tel Aviv University, Earthquake Experts at Tel Aviv University Turn to History for Guidance (4 October 2007). Quote: The major ones were recorded along the Jordan Valley in the years 31 B.C.E., 363 C.E., 749 C.E., and 1033 C.E. «So roughly, we are talking about an interval of every 400 years. If we follow the patterns of nature, a major quake should be expected any time because almost a whole millennium has passed since the last strong earthquake of 1033.» (Tel Aviv University Associate Professor Dr. Shmuel (Shmulik) Marco). [1] Archived 11 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Zafrir Renat, Israel Is Due, and Ill Prepared, for Major Earthquake, Haaretz, 15 January 2010. «On average, a destructive earthquake takes place in Israel once every 80 years, causing serious casualties and damage.» [2]
- ^ Watzman, Haim (8 February 1997). «Left for dead». New Scientist. London. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «WMO Region 6: Highest Temperature». World Meteorological Organization. Archived from the original on 12 September 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
- ^ Goldreich 2003, p. 85
- ^ «Average Weather for Tel Aviv-Yafo». The Weather Channel. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
- ^ «Average Weather for Jerusalem». The Weather Channel. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
- ^ Sitton, Dov (20 September 2003). «Development of Limited Water Resources – Historical and Technological Aspects». Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 7 November 2007.
- ^ a b Grossman, Gershon; Ayalon, Ofira; Baron, Yifaat; Kauffman, Debby. «Solar energy for the production of heat Summary and recommendations of the 4th assembly of the energy forum at SNI». Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ «Flora of Israel Online». Flora.huji.ac.il. Archived from the original on 30 April 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
- ^ «National Parks and Nature Reserves, Israel». Israel Ministry of Tourism. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
- ^ «Climate Change Trends and Impact in Israel». Ministry of Environmental Protection. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
- ^ «ISRAEL: Crackdown on illegal migrants and visa violators». IRIN. 14 July 2009.
- ^ Adriana Kemp, «Labour migration and racialisation: labour market mechanisms and labour migration control policies in Israel», Social Identities 10:2, 267–292, 2004
- ^ «Israel rounds up African migrants for deportation». Reuters. 11 June 2012.
- ^ «Urban population (% of total population) – Israel». data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
- ^ Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domnination and Crime Against Humanity, Amnesty International 2022 p.16:’Today, Palestinian citizens and permanent residents of Israel comprise some 21% of Israel’s population and number approximately 1.9 million. Some 90% of Palestinians with Israeli citizenship live in 139 densely populated towns and villages in the Galilee and Triangle regions in northern Israel and the Negev/Naqab region in the south, as a result of deliberate segregation policies. The vast majority of the remaining 10% live in «mixed cities».’
- ^ ‘A Threshold Crossed,’ Human Rights Watch 27 April 2021 pp.7,57–63:’ This policy, which aims to maximize Jewish Israeli control over land, concentrates the majority of Palestinians who live outside Israel’s major, predominantly Jewish cities into dense, under-served enclaves and restricts their access to land and housing, while nurturing the growth of nearby Jewish communities.’
- ^ Nimer Sultany, ‘The Making of an Underclass: The Palestinian Citizens of Israel,’ Israel Studies Review Vol. 27, No. 2, (Winter 2012), pp. 190–200 pp.191,194.’the Palestinian Israeli population grew from 156,000 in 1948 to 1.4 million in 2012. Their villages became overcrowded as their land reserves steadily decreased. The lands were transferred from Palestinian private hands to state control. . .While the state has established hundreds of Jewish communities, it has not established any new Palestinian communities since 1948—except in the forced concentration of the Bedouin communities in poor towns.’
- ^ Gershon Shafir, From Overt to Veiled Segregation: Israel’s Palestinian Arab Citizens in the Galilee, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Volume 50 Issue 1 February 2018, pp.1–22 pp.4,7 doi:10.1017/S0020743817000915: ‘ With about 90 percent of Israel’s Palestinian citizens living in Arab-only towns and villages, they suffer from the hypersegregation typical of African American urban neighborhoods and its attendant deleterious consequences. This remarkable similarity, however, has different origins…Palestinian residents in old mixed cities are congregated into distinct neighborhoods, whereas in new mixed cities they form distinct enclaves, distinguished by strong family and communal ties’
- ^ «Can Jews and Palestinians live peacefully in Israel? The data on mixed neighborhoods says yes». The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ «Health status – Life expectancy at birth – OECD Data». theOECD.
- ^ «Arab and Jewish medics together on frontline of Israel’s virus fight». France 24. Agence France Presse. 29 March 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
- ^ Dov Chernichovsky, Bishara Bisharat, Liora Bowers, Aviv Brill, and Chen Sharony, «The Health of the Arab Israeli Population». Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel December 2017 pp.1–50, 13 (2015)
- ^ «Saudi writer: ‘Why is life expectancy in Israel better?’«. BBC News. 9 October 2012.
- ^ «Taub Center report shows discrepancy in Jewish, Arab life expectancy». Ynetnews. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ Omer-Man, Michael (7 August 2011). «This Week in History: Jewish right to aliya becomes law». The Jerusalem Post.
- ^ DellaPergola, Sergio (2000) [2000]. «Still Moving: Recent Jewish Migration in Comparative Perspective». In Daniel J. Elazar; Morton Weinfeld (eds.). The Global Context of Migration to Israel. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. pp. 13–60. ISBN 978-1-56000-428-8.
- ^ Herman, Pini (1 September 1983). «The Myth of the Israeli Expatriate». Moment Magazine. Vol. 8, no. 8. pp. 62–63.
- ^ Gould, Eric D.; Moav, Omer (2007). «Israel’s Brain Drain». Israel Economic Review. 5 (1): 1–22. SSRN 2180400.
- ^ Rettig Gur, Haviv (6 April 2008). «Officials to US to bring Israelis home». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Jews, by Continent of Origin, Continent of Birth and Period of Immigration» (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 15 September 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ Goldberg, Harvey E. (2008). «From Sephardi to Mizrahi and Back Again: Changing Meanings of «Sephardi» in Its Social Environments». Jewish Social Studies. 15 (1): 165–188. doi:10.18647/2793/JJS-2008.
- ^ «The myth of the Mizrahim». The Guardian. London. 3 April 2009.
- ^ «Missing Mizrahim». 31 August 2009.
- ^ Okun, Barbara S.; Khait-Marelly, Orna (2006). «Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Behavior of Adult Multiethnics: Jews in Israel» (PDF). Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ DellaPergola, Sergio (2011). «Jewish Demographic Policies» (PDF). The Jewish People Policy Institute.
- ^ «Israel (people)». Encyclopedia.com. 2007.
- ^ Yoram Ettinger (5 April 2013). «Defying demographic projections». Israel Hayom. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
- ^ Gorenberg, Gershom (26 June 2017). «Settlements: The Real Story». The American Prospect. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
- ^ a b c «Localities and Population, by Population Group, District, Sub-District and Natural Region» (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 15 September 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ a b Yaniv, Omer; Haddad, Netta; Assaf-Shapira, Yair (2022). Jerusalem Facts and Trends 2022 (PDF) (Report). Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research. p. 25. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ «Settlements in the Gaza Strip». Settlement Information. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2007.
- ^ «Population of Israel on the Eve of 2022». Cbs.gov.il. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
- ^ Citizenship, Identity and Political Participation: Measuring the Attitudes of the Arab Citizens in Israel (Report). Konrad Adenauer Foundation. December 2017. pp. 22, 25, 28.
(p.28) «The positions of the participants in the focus groups reflect the strength of Palestinian-Arab identity among Arab citizens and the fact that they do not see a contradiction between Palestinian-Arab national identity and Israeli civic identity. The designation «Israeli-Arab» aroused great opposition in the focus groups, as did Israel’s Independence Day. A comparison of views expressed in the focus groups with the general results of the survey points to differences between collective positions and memory and individual feelings and attitudes. The collective position presented in the focus group discussions finds expression in the public sphere and emphasizes the Palestinian national identity. Conversely, the responses of the survey participants reveal individual attitudes that assign a broader (albeit secondary, identity) dimension to the component of Israeli civic identity»; quote (p.25): «Amongst the participants there was consensus that Palestinian identity occupies a central place in their consciousness. The definition «Palestinian» has national and emotional importance, as it embodies the heritage of Arab citizens and their culture. This was expressed explicitly in the words of the participants: «We are Palestinian Arabs and we say this with pride;»»We are Palestinian citizens of Israel. The emphasis is on the word ‘Palestinians'»; «I am first and foremost a Palestinian and nothing more.» The designation «Arab citizens of Israel» was acceptable to them on the basis of the understanding that it is impossible to live without citizenship, and as long as Israeli citizenship does not harm the national consciousness. Conversely, the participants spoke out against the designation «Arab-Israeli» and made statements such as «I am an Arab, I belong to a larger culture than the State of Israel»; «We are not the Arabs of Israel, I am an Arab who does not belong to the State of Israel. My roots and my Arabness existed before them.» «[Arab-Israeli] is an inappropriate expression because our ancestors were here before ’48.»
- ^ Lynfield, Ben (27 September 2017). «Survey: 60% of Arab Israelis have positive view of state». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
- ^ Smooha, Sammy (2020). Still Playing by the Rules: Index of Arab-Jewish Relations in Israel 2019. University of Haifa. p. 88. ISBN 978-965-599-346-2.
- ^ «Localities, Population and Density per Sq. Km., by Metropolitan Area and Selected Localities». Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
- ^ a b c «Regional Statistics». Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
- ^ Roberts 1990, p. 60 Although East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been brought directly under Israeli law, by acts that amount to annexation, both of these areas continue to be viewed by the international community as occupied, and their status as regards the applicability of international rules is in most respects identical to that of the West Bank and Gaza.
- ^ «Population Density by City».
- ^ 2.22 Localities and Population, by Municipal Status and District, 2018
- ^ «List of Cities in Israel».
- ^ «New town Harish harbors hopes of being more than another Pleasantville». The Times of Israel. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
- ^ Choshen, Maya (2021). «Population of Jerusalem, by Age, Religion and Geographical Spreading, 2019» (PDF). Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- ^ Israel Central Bureau of Statistics: The Ethiopian Community in Israel
- ^ «Israel may admit 3,000 Ethiopia migrants if Jews». Reuters. 16 July 2009.
- ^ Meyer, Bill (17 August 2008). «Israel’s welcome for Ethiopian Jews wears thin». The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
- ^ «Study: Soviet immigrants outperform Israeli students». Haaretz. 10 February 2008.
- ^ «French radio station RFI makes aliyah». Ynetnews. 5 December 2011.
- ^ Spolsky, Bernard (1999). Round Table on Language and Linguistics. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. pp. 169–170. ISBN 978-0-87840-132-1.
In 1948, the newly independent state of Israel took over the old British regulations that had set English, Arabic, and Hebrew as official languages for Mandatory Palestine but, as mentioned, dropped English from the list. In spite of this, official language use has maintained a de facto role for English, after Hebrew but before Arabic.
- ^ Bat-Zeev Shyldkrot, Hava (2004). «Part I: Language and Discourse». In Diskin Ravid, Dorit; Bat-Zeev Shyldkrot, Hava (eds.). Perspectives on Language and Development: Essays in Honor of Ruth A. Berman. Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-4020-7911-5.
English is not considered official but it plays a dominant role in the educational and public life of Israeli society. … It is the language most widely used in commerce, business, formal papers, academia, and public interactions, public signs, road directions, names of buildings, etc. English behaves ‘as if’ it were the second and official language in Israel.
- ^ Shohamy, Elana (2006). Language Policy: Hidden Agendas and New Approaches. Routledge. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-0-415-32864-7.
In terms of English, there is no connection between the declared policies and statements and de facto practices. While English is not declared anywhere as an official language, the reality is that it has a very high and unique status in Israel. It is the main language of the academy, commerce, business, and the public space.
- ^ «English programs at Israeli universities and colleges». Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- ^ «Population in Israel and in Jerusalem, by Religion, 1988 — 2016» (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
- ^ Starr, Kelsey Jo; Masci, David (8 March 2016). «In Israel, Jews are united by homeland but divided into very different groups». Pew Research Center. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- ^ «At the edge of the abyss». Haaretz. 24 November 2009.
- ^ Bassok, Moti (25 December 2006). «Israel’s Christian population numbers 148,000 as of Christmas Eve». Haaretz. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
- ^ «National Population Estimates» (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. p. 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
- ^ «Israel’s disputatious Avigdor Lieberman: Can the coalition hold together?». The Economist. 11 March 2010. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ Levine, Lee I. (1999). Jerusalem: its sanctity and centrality to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 516. ISBN 978-0-8264-1024-5.
- ^ Hebrew Phrasebook. Lonely Planet Publications. 1999. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-86442-528-7.
- ^ «The Baháʼí World Centre: Focal Point for a Global Community». The Baháʼí International Community. Archived from the original on 29 June 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
- ^ «Teaching the Faith in Israel». Baháʼí Library Online. 23 June 1995. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
- ^ «Kababir and Central Carmel – Multiculturalism on the Carmel». Retrieved 8 January 2015.
- ^ «Visit Haifa». Retrieved 8 January 2015.
- ^ «Education in Ancient Israel». American Bible Society. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- ^ Moaz, Asher (2006). «Religious Education in Israel». University of Detroit Mercy Law Review. 83 (5): 679–728.
- ^ a b David Adler (10 March 2014). «Ambitious Israeli students look to top institutions abroad». ICEF. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
- ^ Karin Kloosterman (30 October 2005). «Bill Gates – Israel is a high tech superpower». Israel21. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- ^ Gary Shapiro (11 July 2013). «What Are The Secrets Behind Israel’s Growing Innovative Edge?». Forbes. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- ^ Education at a Glance: Israel (Report). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 15 September 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ^ «Israel: IT Workforce». Information Technology Landscape in Nations Around the World. Archived from the original on 13 September 2006. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
- ^ Israeli Schools: Religious and Secular Problems. Education Resources Information Center. 10 October 1984. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Kashti, Or; Ilan, Shahar (18 July 2007). «Knesset raises school dropout age to 18». Haaretz. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ a b Shetreet, Ida Ben; Woolf, Laura L. (2010). «Education» (PDF). Publications Department. Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
- ^ «Religion and Education Around the World». 13 December 2016.
- ^ «6. Jewish educational attainment». 13 December 2016.
- ^ «How Religious Groups Differ in Educational Attainment». 13 December 2016.
- ^ «Jews at top of class in first-ever global study of religion and education». 13 December 2016.
- ^ «The Israeli Matriculation Certificate». United States-Israel Educational Foundation via the University of Szeged University Library. January 1996. Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2007.
- ^ «המגזר הערבי נוצרי הכי מצליח במערכת החינוך)». Retrieved 30 October 2014.
- ^ Druckman, Yaron (23 December 2012). «Christians in Israel: Strong in education». Ynetnews. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
- ^ Konstantinov, Viacheslav (2015). «Patterns of Integration into Israeli Society among Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union over the Past Two Decades». Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
- ^ «עולים מחבר העמים מצליחים יותר בבגרויות». וואלה! חדשות. 10 February 2008.
- ^ «Students in Grade 12 – Matriculation Examinees and Those Entitled to a Certificate». Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- ^ Silver, Stefan (11 May 2017). «Israel’s educational tradition drives economic growth». Kehlia News Israel.
- ^ «Higher Education in Israel». Embassy of Israel In India. Archived from the original on 25 July 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
- ^ Paraszczuk, Joanna (17 July 2012). «Ariel gets university status, despite opposition». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ «About Technion». Technion. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ «Israel». Monash University. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ «History of the Library». National Library of Israel. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ a b «Israel». Academic Ranking of World Universities. 2016. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
- ^ a b «Field Listing — Executive Branch». The World Factbook. 19 June 2007. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2007.
- ^ In 1996, direct elections for the prime minister were inaugurated, but the system was declared unsatisfactory and the old one reinstated. See «Israel’s election process explained». BBC News. 23 January 2003. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
- ^ «The Electoral System in Israel». The Knesset. Retrieved 8 August 2007.
- ^ Jewish settlers can vote in Israeli elections, though West Bank is officially not Israel, Fox News, February 2015: «When Israelis go to the polls next month, tens of thousands of Jewish settlers in the West Bank will also be casting votes, even though they do not live on what is sovereign Israeli territory. This exception in a country that doesn’t allow absentee voting for citizens living abroad is a telling reflection of Israel’s somewhat ambiguous and highly contentious claim to the territory, which has been under military occupation for almost a half century.»
- ^ The Social Composition of the 20th Knesset, Israeli Democracy Institute, 30 March 2015
- ^ Halbfinger, David M.; McCann, Allison (28 February 2020). «As Israel Votes Again (and Again), Arabs See an Opportunity». The New York Times. Archived from the original on 6 January 2022.
- ^ «Israel». Freedom in the World. Freedom House. 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
- ^ Mazie 2006, p. 34
- ^ Charbit, Denis (2014). «Israel’s Self-Restrained Secularism from the 1947 Status Quo Letter to the Present». In Berlinerblau, Jacques; Fainberg, Sarah; Nou, Aurora (eds.). Secularism on the Edge: Rethinking Church-State Relations in the United States, France, and Israel. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 167–169. ISBN 978-1-137-38115-6.
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.
- ^ Sharot, Stephen (2007). «Judaism in Israel: Public Religion, Neo-Traditionalism, Messianism, and Ethno-Religious Conflict». In Beckford, James A.; Demerath, Jay (eds.). The Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. pp. 671–672. ISBN 978-1-4129-1195-5.
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 978-0-7735-2993-9.
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): 185–208. doi:10.2307/840166. JSTOR 840166.
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
- ^ «Jewish nation state: Israel approves controversial bill». BBC. 19 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
- ^ «Israel’s high court unique in region». Boston Herald. 9 September 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
- ^ «Israel and the International Criminal Court». Office of the Legal Adviser to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 30 June 2002. Archived from the original on 16 May 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2007.
- ^ «The Judiciary: The Court System». Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1 August 2005. Retrieved 5 August 2007.
- ^ Ministry of Justice.
- ^ Orna Ben-Naftali; Michael Sfard; Hedi Viterbo (2018). The ABC of the OPT: A Legal Lexicon of the Israeli Control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Cambridge University Press. pp. 52–. ISBN 978-1-107-15652-4.
- ^ «Introduction to the Tables: Geophysical Characteristics». Central Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original (doc) on 21 February 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2007.
- ^ «Resolution 497 (1981)». United Nations. 1981. Archived from the original on 12 June 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «East Jerusalem: UNSC Res. 478». UN. 1980. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
- ^ a b c Gilead Sher, The Application of Israeli Law to the West Bank: De Facto Annexation?, INSS Insight No. 638, 4 December 2014
- ^ a b OECD 2011.
- ^ Quarterly Economic and Social Monitor Archived 9 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Volume 26, October 2011, p. 57: «When Israel bid in March 2010 for membership in the ‘Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’… some members questioned the accuracy of Israeli statistics, as the Israeli figures (relating to gross domestic product, spending and number of the population) cover geographical areas that the Organization does not recognize as part of the Israeli territory. These areas include East Jerusalem, Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Golan Heights.»
- ^ 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 978-0-520-24194-7.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. Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2015.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 978-0-393-33844-7.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): 207–236. doi:10.1017/S1816383112000446. S2CID 32105258.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 (opinion).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 978-0-19-968542-4.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.
* Azarova, Valentina. 2017, Israel’s Unlawfully Prolonged Occupation: Consequences under an Integrated Legal Framework, European Council on Foreign Affairs Policy Brief: «June 2017 marks 50 years of Israel’s belligerent occupation of Palestinian territory, making it the longest occupation in modern history.» - ^ «UNRWA in Figures: Figures as of 30 June 2009» (PDF). United Nations. June 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2007.
- ^ «Questions and Answers». Israel’s Security Fence. 22 February 2004. Archived from the original on 3 October 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2007.
- ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. «Refworld | West Bank Barrier Route Projections, July 2008». Unhcr.org. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ «Under the Guise of Security: Routing the Separation Barrier to Enable Israeli Settlement Expansion in the West Bank». Publications. B’Tselem. December 2005. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Situation Report on the Humanitarian Situation in the Gaza Strip». Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 23 January 2009. Archived from the original on 12 June 2012.
- ^ «The occupied Palestinian territories: Dignity Denied». International Committee of the Red Cross. 13 December 2007.
- ^ «World Report 2013: Israel/Palestine». Israel/Palestine. Human Rights Watch. 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ «Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories: Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict» (PDF). United Nations Human Rights Council. 15 September 2009. p. 85.
- ^ «Israel/Occupied Territories: Road to nowhere». Amnesty International. 1 December 2006.
- ^ a b «The scope of Israeli control in the Gaza Strip». B’Tselem. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Agreed documents on movement and access from and to Gaza». Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 15 November 2005. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ^ Jerome Slater (1 October 2020). Mythologies Without End: The US, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1917–2020. Oxford University Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-19-045909-3.
It is now clear that Israel is a true democracy in its broadest sense only for its Jewish citizens. The Arab-Israeli (or, as some prefer, the Palestinian-Israeli) peoples, roughly 20 percent of the total population of Israel its pre-1967 boundaries, are citizens and have voting rights, but they face political, economic, and social discrimination. And, of course, Israeli democracy is inapplicable to the nearly 4 million Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza, conquered by Israel in June 1967, who are occupied, repressed, and in many ways, directly and indirectly, effectively ruled by Israel.
- ^ Ben White (15 January 2012). Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy. Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-3228-4.
- ^ «Arabs will ask U.N. to seek razing of Israeli wall». NBC News. 9 July 2004. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ «Olmert: Willing to trade land for peace». Ynetnews. 16 December 2006. Retrieved 26 September 2007.
- ^ «Syria ready to discuss land for peace». The Jerusalem Post. 12 June 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Egypt: Israel must accept the land-for-peace formula». The Jerusalem Post. 15 March 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «A/RES/36/147. Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories». Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ Rudoren, Jodi; Sengupta, Somini (22 June 2015). «U.N. Report on Gaza Finds Evidence of War Crimes by Israel and by Palestinian Militants». The New York Times. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ «Human Rights Council establishes Independent, International Commission of Inquiry for the Occupied Palestinian Territory». Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ «UN condemns Israel’s West Bank settlement plans». BBC News. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ «The Avalon Project : United Nations Security Council Resolution 605». avalon.law.yale.edu. 22 December 1987. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ «Faced with Israeli denial of access to Occupied Palestinian Territory, UN expert resigns». 4 January 2016. Archived from the original on 5 December 2016.
- ^ «Human Rights Council adopts six resolutions and closes its thirty-first regular session». Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ ‘Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings; arbitrary detention, often extraterritorial detention of Palestinians from the occupied territories in Israel; restrictions on Palestinians residing in Jerusalem including arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, and home; substantial interference with the freedom of association; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; harassment of nongovernmental organizations; significant restrictions on freedom of movement within the country; violence against asylum seekers and irregular migrants; violence or threats of violence against national, racial, or ethnic minority groups; and labor rights abuses against foreign workers and Palestinians from the West Bank.’ Israel 2021 Human Rights Report, United States Department of State 17 April 2021.
- ^ ‘With respect to Israeli security forces in the West Bank: credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings due to unnecessary or disproportionate use of force by Israeli officials; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by Israeli officials; arbitrary arrest or detention; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; restrictions on free expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, unjustified arrests and prosecutions against journalists, and censorship; restrictions on internet freedom; restrictions on Palestinians residing in Jerusalem, including arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, and home; substantial interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including harassment of nongovernmental organizations; and restrictions on freedom of movement and residence.’2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Israel, West Bank and Gaza, United States Department of State 12 April 2022
- ^ Heyer, Julia Amalia (7 October 2014). «Kids Behind Bars: Israel’s Arbitrary Arrests of Palestinian Minors». Der Spiegel. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ «Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories 2016/2017». Amnesty International. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ «Eight hundred dead Palestinians. But Israel has impunity». The Independent. 26 July 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ Isfahan, Ali (11 August 2014). «Why Israel’s Impunity Goes Unpunished by International Authorities». Foreign Policy Journal. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ «How impunity defines Israel and victimises Palestinians». Al Jazeera. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ Barghouti, Marwan (16 April 2017). «Why We Are on Hunger Strike in Israel’s Prisons». The New York Times. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ Dorfman, Zach. «George Mitchell wrote ‘A Path to Peace’ about Israel and Palestine. Is there one?». Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ^ «Outrage over Maimane’s visit to Israel». Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ^ «The subordination of Palestinian rights must stop». The National. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ^ «Palestine-Israel Journal: Settlements and the Palestinian Right to Self-Determination». www.pij.org. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ^ Hammond, Jeremy R. «The Rejection of Palestinian Self Determination» (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ^ «Top US senator clashes with Netanyahu over Israeli rights record». Politico. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ «Allegations of Israeli Human Rights Violations Closely Scrutinized, Says U.S. State Department». Haaretz. 6 May 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ Gilboa, Eytan (1 October 2006). «Public Diplomacy: The Missing Component in Israel’s Foreign Policy». Israel Affairs. 12 (4): 715–747. doi:10.1080/13533310600890067. ISSN 1353-7121. S2CID 143245560.
- ^ Nikki Haley urges UN to shift its criticism from Israel to Iran, 20 April 2017, Times of Israel
- ^ U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley: ‘The Days of Israel-Bashing Are Over’, 28 March 2017, National Review
- ^ «Ban Ki-moon recognizes bias against Israel in last Security Council speech». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
- ^ «Annan: Solution for refugees in Palestinian state». Ynetnews. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
- ^ Barak-Erez, Daphne (1 July 2006). «Israel: The security barrier—between international law, constitutional law, and domestic judicial review». International Journal of Constitutional Law. 4 (3): 548. doi:10.1093/icon/mol021.
The real controversy hovering over all the litigation on the security barrier concerns the fate of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Since 1967, Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. This policy has also been justified in terms of security interests, taking into consideration the dangerous geographic circumstances of Israel before 1967 (where Israeli areas on the Mediterranean coast were potentially threatened by Jordanian control of the West Bank ridge). The international community, for its part, has viewed this policy as patently illegal, based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibit moving populations to or from territories under occupation.
- ^ «Choosing not to veto, Obama lets anti-settlement resolution pass at UN Security Council». The Times of Israel. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
- ^ Nebehay, Stephanie (9 July 2021). «Israeli settlements amount to war crime — U.N. rights expert». Reuters. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
- ^ «Chapter 3: Israeli Settlements and International Law». Amnesty International. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
- ^ Rosenfeld, Arno (27 April 2021). «Israel is committing ‘crime of apartheid,’ Human Rights Watch says». The Forward. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ Berger, Miriam (1 February 2022). «Amnesty International, joining other human rights groups, says Israel is ‘committing the crime of apartheid’«. The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ «U.S. State Department Rejects Amnesty’s Apartheid Claim Against Israel». Haaretz. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ «Germany rejects use of word ‘apartheid’ in connection with Israel». Reuters. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ «Israel not apartheid state, but must uphold int’l law, UK says». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ «Arab League, OIC welcome Amnesty’s report on Israel’s ‘apartheid’ against Palestinians». Arab News. 3 February 2022.
- ^ «Israeli policies against Palestinians amount to apartheid – Amnesty». BBC News. 1 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ «Netherlands rejects Amnesty report accusing Israel of apartheid». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ^ «Here’s how experts on the Middle East see the region’s key issues, our new survey finds». The Washington Post. 16 February 2021.
- ^ «Academic experts believe that Middle East politics are actually getting worse». The Washington Post. 17 September 2021.
- ^ Kingsley, Patrick (23 March 2022). «U.N. Investigator Accuses Israel of Apartheid, Citing Permanence of Occupation». The New York Times.
- ^ Staff, The New Arab (19 October 2022). «UN report urges plan to ‘end Israeli colonialism, apartheid’«. www.newarab.com/.
- ^ Tress, Luke. «UN commission says it will investigate ‘apartheid’ charges against Israel». www.timesofisrael.com.
- ^ Shakir, Omar (27 April 2021). «A Threshold Crossed». Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
- ^ «Israel committing crimes of apartheid and persecution — HRW». BBC News. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
- ^ «Israel’s Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations». Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
- ^ Mohammed Mostafa Kamal (21 July 2012). «Why Doesn’t the Muslim World Recognize Israel?». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ Liebermann, Oren (16 September 2020). «Two Gulf nations recognized Israel at the White House. Here’s what’s in it for all sides». CNN.
- ^ Hansler, Jennifer (23 October 2020). «Trump announces that Israel and Sudan have agreed to normalize relations». CNN. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- ^ «Morocco latest country to normalise ties with Israel in US-brokered deal». BBC News. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- ^ «Massive Israel protests hit universities» (Egyptian Mail, 16 March 2010) «According to most Egyptians, almost 31 years after a peace treaty was signed between Egypt and Israel, having normal ties between the two countries is still a potent accusation and Israel is largely considered to be an enemy country»
- ^ Abadi 2004, pp. 37–39, 47
- ^ Abadi 2004, pp. 47–49
- ^ הוראות הדין הישראלי (in Hebrew). Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2004. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 9 August 2007.
- ^ «Qatar, Mauritania cut Israel ties». Al Jazeera English. 17 January 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Flores, Paola (29 November 2019). «Bolivia to renew Israel ties after rupture under Morales». ABC News. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- ^ Kuo, Mercy A. (17 July 2018). «Israel-China Relations: Innovation, Infrastructure, Investment». The Diplomat.
- ^ Brown, Philip Marshall (1948). «The Recognition of Israel». The American Journal of International Law. 42 (3): 620–627. doi:10.2307/2193961. JSTOR 2193961. S2CID 147342045.
- ^ Yaakov, Saar (18 October 2017). «There Were Times (Hayu Zemanim)» (in Hebrew). Israel Hayom. p. 30.
- ^ «U.S. Relations With Israel Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Fact Sheet March 10, 2014». U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
- ^ «Israel: Background and Relations with the United States Updated» (PDF). Defense Technical Information Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ^ a b «U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants» (PDF).
- ^ «U.S. Government Foreign Grants and Credits by Type and Country: 2000 to 2010» (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2011.
- ^ «Foreign Aid». Archived from the original on 25 December 2007.
- ^ «Americans Still Pro-Israel, Though Palestinians Gain Support». Gallup, Inc. 17 March 2022.
- ^ «Friend or Enemy — Israel». YouGov. 2 February 2022.
- ^ «The bilateral relationship». UK in Israel. Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Congressional Research Service: Germany’s Relations with Israel: Background and Implications for German Middle East Policy, Jan 19, 2007. (p. CRS-2)» (PDF). Retrieved 29 September 2010.
- ^ Eric Maurice (5 March 2015). «EU to Revise Relations with Turbulent Neighbourhood». EUobserver. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ Abadi 2004, p. 3. «However, it was not until 1991 that the two countries established full diplomatic relations.»
- ^ Abadi 2004, pp. 4–6
- ^ Uzer, Umut (26 March 2013). «Turkish-Israeli Relations: Their Rise and Fall». Middle East Policy. XX (1): 97–110. doi:10.1111/mepo.12007. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- ^ «Israel woos Greece after rift with Turkey». BBC News. 16 October 2010.
- ^ «Turkey, Greece discuss exploration off Cyprus». Haaretz. Associated Press. 26 September 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
- ^ Benari, Elad (5 March 2012). «Israel, Cyprus Sign Deal for Underwater Electricity Cable». Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- ^ a b «In Muslim Azerbaijan, Self-Interest Prompts Support for Israel on Gaza». Eurasianet. 7 August 2014.
- ^ «The Israel-Kazakhstan Partnership». The Diplomat. 19 July 2016. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022.
- ^ Kumar, Dinesh. «India and Israel: Dawn of a New Era» (PDF). Jerusalem Institute for Western Defense. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
- ^ Eichner, Itamar (4 March 2009). «From India with love». Ynetnews. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Nitin Gadkari to visit Israel tomorrow». World Snap. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
- ^ «India to hold wide-ranging strategic talks with US, Israel». The Times of India. 19 January 2010. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Iran and Israel in Africa: A search for allies in a hostile world». The Economist. 4 February 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Pfeffer, Anshel (28 April 2015). «The Downsides of Israel’s Missions of Mercy Abroad». Haaretz. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
And even when no Israelis are involved, few countries are as fast as Israel in mobilizing entire delegations to rush to the other side of the world. It has been proved time and again in recent years, after the earthquake in Haiti, the typhoon in the Philippines and the quake/tsunami/nuclear disaster in Japan. For a country of Israel’s size and resources, without conveniently located aircraft carriers and overseas bases, it is quite an impressive achievement.
- ^ a b Deon Geldenhuys (1990). Isolated States: A Comparative Analysis. Cambridge University Press. p. 428. ISBN 978-0-521-40268-2.
israel international aid africa 1970.
- ^ «About MASHAV». Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
- ^ Tareq Y. Ismael (1986). International Relations of the Contemporary Middle East: A Study in World Politics. Syracuse University Press. p. 249. ISBN 978-0-8156-2382-3.
Israel foreign aid 1958 burundi.
- ^ Haim Yacobi (2016). Israel and Africa: A Genealogy of Moral Geography. Routledge. pp. 111–112.
- ^ Haim Yacobi, Israel and Africa: A Genealogy of Moral Geography, Routledge, 2015 p. 113.
- ^ Ki-moon, Ban (1 December 2016). «Secretary-General’s remarks at reception in honour of ZAKA International Rescue Unit [as prepared for delivery]». United Nations. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
- ^ Ueriel Hellman,»Israeli aid effort helps Haitians – and Israel’s image», Jewish Telegraphic Agency 19 January 2010
- ^ «Israel’s ‘superwoman’ takes flight to help others – ISRAEL21c». Israel21c. 12 March 2006.
- ^ «Wolfson cardiac surgeons save lives of more Gazan children». The Jerusalem Post.
- ^ «Earthquake in Haiti – Latet Organization deploys for immediate relief to victims». ReliefWeb.
- ^ «When catastrophe strikes the IDF is there to help». Israel Today. 20 May 2015. Archived from the original on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
- ^ «Israel’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) — OECD». www.oecd.org. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
- ^ Ben Quinn (2017). «UK among six countries to hit 0.7% UN aid spending target». theguardian.
- ^ World Giving Index (PDF) (Report). Charities Aid Foundation. October 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
- ^ «History: 1948». Israel Defense Forces. 2007. Archived from the original on 12 April 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2007.
- ^ Henderson 2003, p. 97
- ^ «The State: Israel Defense Forces (IDF)». Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 13 March 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2007.
- ^ «The Israel Defense Forces». Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 21 October 2006.
- ^ Stendel 1997, pp. 191–192
- ^ Shtrasler, Nehemia (16 May 2007). «Cool law, for wrong population». Haaretz. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
- ^ «Sherut Leumi (National Service)». Nefesh B’Nefesh. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Israel’s Arab soldiers who fight for the Jewish state». BBC News. 8 November 2016.
- ^ IISS 2018, pp. 339–340
- ^ Katz, Yaakov (30 March 2007). «Arrow can fully protect against Iran». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Israeli Mirage III and Nesher Aces, By Shlomo Aloni, (Osprey 2004), p. 60
- ^ Spike Anti-Tank Missile, Israel army-technology.com
- ^ Robert Johnson (19 November 2012). «How Israel Developed Such A Shockingly Effective Rocket Defense System». Business Insider. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
- ^ Sarah Tory (19 November 2012). «A Missile-Defense System That Actually Works?». Slate. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
- ^ Zorn, E.L. (8 May 2007). «Israel’s Quest for Satellite Intelligence». Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 26 April 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
- ^ Katz, Yaakov (11 June 2007). «Analysis: Eyes in the sky». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ ElBaradei, Mohamed (27 July 2004). «Transcript of the Director General’s Interview with Al-Ahram News». International Atomic Energy Agency. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Assessing the Risks» (PDF). Office of Technology Assessment. August 1993. pp. 65, 84. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
- ^ «Background Information». 2005 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). United Nations. 27 May 2005. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
- ^ Ziv, Guy, «To Disclose or Not to Disclose: The Impact of Nuclear Ambiguity on Israeli Security», Israel Studies Forum, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Winter 2007): 76–94
- ^ «Popeye Turbo». Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ^ «Glossary». Israel Homeowner. Archived from the original on 17 May 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Defence Expenditure in Israel, 1950–2015 (PDF) (Report). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 29 May 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- ^ Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2021 (PDF) (Report). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. April 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ Sharp, Jeremy M. (22 December 2016). U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel (PDF) (Report). Congressional Research Service. p. 36. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 July 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- ^ Lake, Eli (15 September 2016). «The U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Misunderstanding». Bloomberg. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ «Top List TIV Tables». Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
- ^ Israel reveals more than $7 billion in arms sales, but few names By Gili Cohen | 9 January 2014, Haaretz
- ^ Global Peace Index 2022 (PDF) (Report). Institute for Economics and Peace. June 2022. p. 11. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ Chua, Amy (2003). World On Fire. Knopf Doubleday Publishing. pp. 219–220. ISBN 978-0-385-72186-8.
- ^ Bramwell, Martyn (2000). Northern and Western Asia. ISBN 978-0-8225-2915-6.
- ^ «Israel ranked 4th-best-performing economy among OECD countries in 2022 | The Times of Israel». www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
- ^ «IMF data mapper Israel 2023».
- ^ «Global wealth report». credit-suisse.com. Credit Suisse. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
- ^ «Israel ranked 4th-best-performing economy among OECD countries in 2022 | The Times of Israel». www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
- ^ Chang, Richard J. «The Countries With The Most Billionaires 2022». Forbes. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- ^ «List of OECD Member countries — Ratification of the Convention on the OECD». Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ «The Global Competitiveness Report 2019» (PDF). Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ «Rankings». World Bank. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ «Global Human Capital Report 2017». World Economic Forum. 13 September 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
- ^ «Israel’s International Investment Position (IIP), June 2015» (Press release). Bank of Israel. 20 September 2015. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
- ^ Bounfour, Ahmed; Edvinsson, Leif (2005). Intellectual Capital for Communities: Nations, Regions, and Cities. Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 47 (368 pages). ISBN 978-0-7506-7773-8.
- ^ Richard Behar (11 May 2016). «Inside Israel’s Secret Startup Machine». Forbes. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
- ^ «The Israeli technological Eco-system». Deloitte Israel. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
- ^ Krawitz, Avi (27 February 2007). «Intel to expand Jerusalem R&D». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Microsoft Israel R&D center: Leadership». Microsoft. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
Avi returned to Israel in 1991, and established the first Microsoft R&D Center outside the US …
- ^ «Berkshire Announces Acquisition». The New York Times. 6 May 2006. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ^ Koren, Orah (26 June 2012). «Instead of 4 work days: 6 optional days to be considered half day-outs». The Marker. Retrieved 26 June 2012. (in Hebrew)
- ^ «Israel keen on IT tie-ups». Business Line. Chennai, India. 10 January 2001. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
- ^ «Israel’s technology industry: Punching above its weight». The Economist. 10 November 2005. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Research and development (R&D) – Gross domestic spending on R&D – OECD Data». data.oecd.org. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
- ^ WIPO (2022). Global Innovation Index 2022, 15th Edition. www.wipo.int. Global Innovation Index. World Intellectual Property Organization. doi:10.34667/tind.46596. ISBN 9789280534320. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ «Release of the Global Innovation Index 2020: Who Will Finance Innovation?». World Intellectual Property Organization. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ «Global Innovation Index 2019». World Intellectual Property Organization. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ «RTD – Item». ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ «Global Innovation Index». INSEAD Knowledge. 28 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ «These Are the World’s Most Innovative Countries». Bloomberg.com. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
- ^ Shteinbuk, Eduard (22 July 2011). «R&D and Innovation as a Growth Engine» (PDF). National Research University – Higher School of Economics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ «InvestinIsrael» (PDF).
- ^ «Investing in Israel». New York Jewish Times. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
- ^ Haviv Rettig Gur (9 October 2013). «Tiny Israel a Nobel heavyweight, especially in chemistry». The Times of Israel. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
- ^ Heylin, Michael (27 November 2006). «Globalization of Science Rolls On» (PDF). Chemical & Engineering News. pp. 29–31. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
- ^ Gordon, Evelyn (24 August 2006). «Kicking the global oil habit». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Yarden Skop (2 September 2013). «Israel’s scientific fall from grace: Study shows drastic decline in publications per capita». Haaretz.
- ^ Stafford, Ned (21 March 2006). «Stem cell density highest in Israel». The Scientist. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
- ^ «Futron Releases 2012 Space Competitiveness Index». Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ O’Sullivan, Arieh (9 July 2012). «Israel’s domestic satellite industry saved». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
The Amos 6 will be IAI’s 14th satellite
- ^ Tran, Mark (21 January 2008). «Israel launches new satellite to spy on Iran». The Guardian. London. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Space launch systems – Shavit». Deagel. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
- ^ e-Teacher (9 February 2010). «Learning Hebrew Online – Colonel Ilan Ramon». The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ Talbot, David (2015). «Megascale Desalination». MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
- ^ Federman, Josef (30 May 2014). «Israel solves water woes with desalination». Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2 June 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
- ^ Kershner, Isabel (29 May 2015). «Aided by the Sea, Israel Overcomes an Old Foe: Drought». The New York Times. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
- ^ «What You Israelis Have Done With Water Tech is Simply Amazing». Arutz Sheva. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
- ^ «Ashkelon, Israel». water-technology.net.
- ^ Rabinovitch, Ari (6 December 2011). «Desalination plant could make Israel water exporter». Reuters. Jerusalem.
- ^ Lettice, John (25 January 2008). «Giant solar plants in Negev could power Israel’s future». The Register.
- ^ a b Gradstein, Linda (22 October 2007). «Israel Pushes Solar Energy Technology». NPR.
- ^ a b Parry, Tom (15 August 2007). «Looking to the sun». Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 24 September 2008.
- ^ a b Sandler, Neal (26 March 2008). «At the Zenith of Solar Energy». Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ Del Chiaro, Bernadette; Telleen-Lawton, Timothy. «Solar Water Heating: How California Can Reduce Its Dependence on Natural Gas» (PDF). Environment California. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Berner, Joachim (January 2008). «Solar, what else?!» (PDF). Sun & Wind Energy. Israel Special. p. 88. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ^ «Will Israel’s Electric Cars Change the World?». Time. 26 April 2011. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
- ^ «Electric cars are all the rage in Israel». Financial Times. 17 September 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
- ^ «Israel to keep electric car recharging fees low». Haaretz. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
- ^ «Baby you can drive my electric car». Jpost. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
- ^ «Electric Car Company Folds After Taking $850 Million From GE And Others». Business Insider. 26 May 2013.
- ^ Wainer, David; Ben-David, Calev (22 April 2010). «Israel Billionaire Tshuva Strikes Gas, Fueling Expansion in Energy, Hotels». Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 12 January 2011.
- ^ «The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency». www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
- ^ «The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency». www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013.
- ^ Cohen, Tova; Ari, Rabinovitch (31 December 2019). «Israel gets first gas from Leviathan with exports to follow». Reuters. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
- ^ «Ketura Sun Technical Figures». Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
- ^ «Ketura Sun Environmental Figures». Retrieved 26 June 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ «Arava Power Company». Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
- ^ Roca, Marc (22 May 2012), «Arava Closes Funding For $204 Million Israeli Solar Plants», Bloomberg, retrieved 3 June 2012
- ^ «Roads, by Length and Area». Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
- ^ a b «3.09 Million Motor Vehicles in Israel in 2015». Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
- ^ «Bus Services on Scheduled Routes» (PDF). Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
- ^ Stub, Zev. «Egged’s monopoly ends, Superbus taking over Jerusalem lines in late 2021». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ a b «Railway Services». Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
- ^ «Statistics». Israel Airports Authority. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
- ^ Surkes, Sue (7 December 2022). «New nature chief aims for tourists to see more of Israel’s national parks, reserves». The Times of Israel. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ Burstein, Nathan (14 August 2007). «Tourist visits above pre-war level». The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Yan (3 January 2018). «Israel sees record 3.6 mln inbound tourists in 2017». Xinhua. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018.
- ^ Amir, Rebecca Stadlen (3 January 2018). «Israel sets new record with 3.6 million tourists in 2017». Israel21.
- ^ Raz-Chaimovich, Michal (27 December 2017). «Record 3.6m tourists visit Israel in 2017». Globes.
- ^ «Israel Sees Record 3.6 Million Tourists in 2017». Atlanta Jewish Times. 4 January 2018. Archived from the original on 11 January 2018.
- ^ «Housing prices». OECD.
- ^ «Average salary in Israel» (PDF). Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
- ^ «Dwellings and Buildings in Israel» (PDF). Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
- ^ Tsion, Hila (23 June 2021). «Housing crisis: about 200,000 apartments are missing». Ynet (in Hebrew).
- ^ «Israeli housing prices show largest increase in the world». israel21c.org. 15 September 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- ^ «Report on housing loans». Bank of Israel. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
- ^ «Asian Studies: Israel as a ‘Melting Pot’«. National Research University Higher School of Economics. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
- ^ Mendel, Yonatan; Ranta, Ronald (2016). From the Arab Other to the Israeli Self: Palestinian Culture in the Making of Israeli National Identity. Routled. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-317-13171-7.
early settlers found it useful and suitable to imitate, adopt, adapt and later appropriate local customs, traditions, symbols and words. This was the principal process that we have unearthed in the book, and which changed in style, volume and recognition with time and with the shifting political environment in Palestine/Israel, yet was kept in the DNA of what Jewish-Israelis perceive as ‘Israeliness’. It was an ongoing love-hate tango with the Arab-Palestinian ‘other’, which on the one hand represented the opposite of the ‘self’, and on the other hand, its presence was a mandatory ingredient in the creation of many of the customs, traditions and practices considered as local and as Israeli […] the line of thinking according to which the Arab-Palestinian influence on Hebrew culture has been dramatically reduced following the creation of Israel as an independent state in 1948, is simply inaccurate and does not reflect the reality of Jewish-Arab-Palestinian relations. Not only were the early relations between settlers and Arab-Palestinians important – we would say essential – to our understanding of modern life in Israel and to Jewish-Israeli identity and culture, but the fascination leading to adaptation of Arab and Arab-Palestinian cultures did not end in 1948, it is in fact an ongoing process […] many of the customs and traditions, which Jewish-Israelis define as belonging to the Israeli way of life and that represent ‘Israeliness’, are based on those early relations and cultural appropriations.
- ^ Mendel, Yonatan; Ranta, Ronald (2016). From the Arab Other to the Israeli Self: Palestinian Culture in the Making of Israeli National Identity. Routledge. pp. 140–141. ISBN 978-1-317-13171-7.
Jewish-Israeli identity and culture […] have had a wide range of influences, among these were also Arab and Arab-Palestinian elements. When we looked at them in greater detail through Israeli food, Israeli dance, Israeli music, or Israeli symbols, we found – somewhere in their very root – also an Arab component. This is a unique influence not only because the Arab-Palestinian influence is common in different cultural fields, but because it seems that these influences are the least noted […] Arab and Arab-Palestinian influence is much more important in understanding Jewish-Israeli identity and culture than given credit or recognised, and that it had an effect – at times basic and at times more profound – on the deferent cultural fields that constitute what Jewish-Israelis perceive as ‘Israeliness’ and the Israeli way of life. We believe that due to political reasons, the Arab influence on Israeli culture has been underestimated and overlooked […] presentation of the Jewish and Arab identity and culture as two binaries is misleading. The two identities should be viewed more accurately as a scale with overlapping points, while acknowledging that – despite the conflict and at times because of the conflict – it is hard to admit that at the end of many Hebrew sentences sits an Arab smoking a ‘nargilah’ and that the Arab-Palestinian ‘Other’ is actually at the very heart of the Jewish-Israeli ‘Self’… Jewish-Israelis and Arab-Palestinians share a number of similarities and points of contact that allow for easier diffusion of culture and symbols. These include, for example the presence of large communities of Jews who have originated in Arab countries and the increasing visibility and involvement of Arab-Palestinians in Israeli politics, economy and society. It is therefore expected that this proximity will result in constant cultural diffusion.
- ^ Ran, Ami (25 August 1998). «Encounters: The Vernacular Paradox of Israeli Architecture». Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 6 September 2007.
- ^ Brinn, David (23 October 2005). «Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian DJs create bridge for peace». ISRAEL21c. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «The International Israeli Table». Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 26 June 2009.
- ^ «Jewish Festivals and Days of Remembrance in Israel». Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 14 August 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2007.
- ^ «Depositing Books to The Jewish National & University Library». Jewish National and University Library. Archived from the original on 29 May 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
- ^ «The Annual Israeli Book Week Report 2016». National Library of Israel. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ^ «The Nobel Prize in Literature 1966». Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
- ^ «Emile Habibi, Encyclopædia Britannica». Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ «Israel Prize Official Site – Recipients in 1992 (in Hebrew)».
- ^ Broughton, Ellingham & Trillo 1999, pp. 365–369
- ^ «Israel». World Music. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Ben-Sasson 1985, p. 1095
- ^ Ewbank, Alison J.; Papageorgiou, Fouli T. (1997). Whose Master’s Voice?: The Development of Popular Music in Thirteen Cultures. Greenwood Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-313-27772-6.
- ^ Davis, Barry (5 February 2007). «Israel Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates 70th anniversary». Ministry of Foreign Affairs (from Israel21c). Archived from the original on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
- ^ «Israel». Eurovision Song Contest. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
- ^ «History». Eurovision Song Contest. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
- ^ «About the Red Sea Jazz Festival». Red Sea Jazz Festival. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Israeli Folk Music». World Music. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 3 January 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ Brown, Hannah (2 February 2010). «‘Ajami’ nominated for Oscar». The Jerusalem Post.
- ^ התיאטרון הלאומי הבימה (in Hebrew). Habima National Theatre. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
- ^ Freedom of the Press 2017 (PDF) (Report). Freedom House. April 2017. p. 26. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ Diab, Khaled (11 February 2013). «Preaching – and Practicing – Media Freedom in the Middle East». Haaretz. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ «2017 World Press Freedom Index». Reporters Without Borders. 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ «Israel». RSF. 1 January 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
- ^ Guyer, Jonathan (11 May 2022). «The killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, explained». Vox. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
- ^ a b «About the Museum». The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Archived from the original on 2 March 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
- ^ «Shrine of the Book». The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Archived from the original on 9 July 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
- ^ «About Yad Vashem». Yad Vashem. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Museum Information». Beth Hatefutsoth. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
- ^ «Mishkan LeOmanut». Haaretz. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
- ^ Ahituv, Netta (29 January 2013). «10 of Israel’s best museums». CNN. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ Rast, Walter E. (1992). Through the Ages in Palestinian Archaeology: An Introductory Handbook. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-56338-055-6. «Galilee man» (lowercase «m») in this source is a typo – ref. Solo Man, Peking Man and so forth.
- ^ «The Israel Museum Permanent Exhibitions: Archaeology Wing – The Dawn of Civilization». New York: The Ridgefield Foundation. 1995. Skull (cast) Zuttiyeh Cave Lower Palaeolithic. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
- ^ a b c Yael Raviv, Falafel Nation, University of Nebraska Press, 2015
- ^ Uzi Rebhun, Lilakh Lev Ari, American Israelis: Migration, Transnationalism, and Diasporic Identity, Brill, 2010 pp. 112–113.
- ^ Julia Bernstein, Food for Thought: Transnational Contested Identities and Food Practices of Russian-Speaking Jewish Migrants in Israel and Germany, Campus Verlag, 2010 pp. 227, 233–234.
- ^ a b Bernstein, pp. 231–233.
- ^ «Israel’s Pork Problem». Slate. New York. 8 August 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- ^ Torstrick 2004, p. 141
- ^ «Basketball Super League Profile». Winner Basketball Super League. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
- ^ «Israel Barred from Asian Games». Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 26 July 1976. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ «Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv – Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL». Archived from the original on 25 June 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
- ^ «Israel». International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Tel Aviv 1968». International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
- ^ «Shahar PEER». International Tennis Federation. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
- ^ Ellis, Judy (4 May 1998). «Choke! Gouge! Smash!». Time. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
- ^ «Pawn stars shine in new ‘national sport’«. Haaretz. 4 October 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- ^ «Chess in Schools in Israel: Progress report». FIDE. 28 May 2012. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- ^ Bekerman, Eitan (4 September 2006). «Chess masters set to blitz Rishon Letzion». Haaretz.
- ^ «World Team Championship in Beer Sheva, Israel». World Chess Federation. 1 November 2005. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
- ^ Tzahor, Uri (26 November 2008). «Israel takes silver medal in Chess Olympiad». Ynetnews.
- ^ Shvidler, Eli (15 December 2009). «Israeli grand master Boris Gelfand wins Chess World Cup». Haaretz.
Sources
- Abadi, Jacob (2004). Israel’s Quest for Recognition and Acceptance in Asia: Garrison State Diplomacy. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7146-5576-5.
- Barton, John; Bowden, Julie (2004). The Original Story: God, Israel and the World. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8028-2900-9.
- Bascomb, Neal (2009). Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World’s Most Notorious Nazi. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-618-85867-5.
- Ben-Sasson, Hayim (1985). A History of the Jewish People. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-39731-6.
- Bregman, Ahron (2002). A History of Israel. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-67631-8.
- Broughton, Simon; Ellingham, Mark; Trillo, Richard (1999). World Music: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-85828-635-8.
- Cole, Tim (2003). Holocaust City: The Making of a Jewish Ghetto. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-92968-4.
- Fischbach, Michael (2008). Jewish Property Claims Against Arab Countries. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-51781-2.
- Faust, Avraham (28 March 2015). «The Exodus Group». In Levy, Thomas E.; Schneider, Thomas; Propp, William H. C. (eds.). Israel’s Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective: Text, Archaeology, Culture, and Geoscience. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-04768-3.
- Finkelstein, Israel; Silberman, Neil Asher (6 March 2002). The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-2338-6.
- Fraser, T.G. (2004). The Arab-Israeli Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan Limited. ISBN 978-1-4039-1338-8. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
- Gelvin, James L. (2005). The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85289-0.
- Gilbert, Martin (2005). The Routledge Atlas Of The Arab–Israeli conflict (8th ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-35900-9.
- Goldreich, Yair (2003). The Climate of Israel: Observation, Research and Application. Springer. ISBN 978-0-306-47445-3.
- Harkavy, Robert E.; Neuman, Stephanie G. (2001). Warfare and the Third World. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-24012-7.
- Henderson, Robert D’A. (2003). Brassey’s International Intelligence Yearbook (2003 ed.). Brassey’s Inc. ISBN 978-1-57488-550-7.
- Herzl, Theodor (1946). The Jewish State. American Zionist Emergency Council. ISBN 978-0-486-25849-2.
- Jacobs, Daniel (1998). Israel and the Palestinian Territories: The Rough Guide (2nd revised ed.). Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-85828-248-0.
- Kellerman, Aharon (1993). Society and Settlement: Jewish Land of Israel in the Twentieth Century. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-1295-4.
- Killebrew, Ann E. (2005). Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, and Early Israel, 1300-1100 B.C.E. Atlanta, Georgia: Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 1-58983-097-0.
- Kornberg, Jacques (1993). Theodor Herzl: From Assimilation to Zionism. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-33203-5.
- Lustick, Ian (1988). For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel. Council on Foreign Relations Press. ISBN 978-0-87609-036-7.
- Mazie, Steven (2006). Israel’s Higher Law: Religion and Liberal Democracy in the Jewish State. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-1485-8.
- McNutt, Paula M. (1999). Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel. Westminster John Knox. ISBN 978-0-664-22265-9.
- Miller, Robert D. (2012) [First published 2005]. Chieftains of the Highland Clans. ISBN 978-1-62032-208-6.
- Morris, Benny (2008). 1948: A History of the First Arab–Israeli War. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14524-3.
- Mowlana, Hamid; Gerbner, George; Schiller, Herbert I. (1992). Triumph of the File: The Media’s War in the Persian Gulf — A Global Perspective. Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-1610-9.
- OECD (2011), Study on the Geographic Coverage of Israeli Data (PDF), OECD Statistics Directorate
- Redmount, Carol A. (7 June 2001). «The Literary and Historical Character of the Exodus Narrative». In Coogan, Michael D. (ed.). The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-988148-2.
- Roberts, Adam (1990). «Prolonged Military Occupation: The Israeli-Occupied Territories Since 1967». The American Journal of International Law. 84 (1): 44–103. doi:10.2307/2203016. JSTOR 2203016. S2CID 145514740.
- Romano, Amy (2003). A Historical Atlas of Israel. The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8239-3978-7.
- Rosenzweig, Rafael (1997). The Economic Consequences of Zionism. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-09147-4.
- Rummel, Rudolph J. (1997). Power Kills: Democracy As a Method of Nonviolence. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7658-0523-2.
- Scharfstein, Sol (1996). Understanding Jewish History. KTAV Publishing House. ISBN 978-0-88125-545-4.
- Segev, Tom (2007). 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-7057-6.
- Shahin, Mariam (2005). Palestine: A Guide. Interlink Books. ISBN 1-56656-557-X – via Internet Archive.
- Shindler, Colin (2002). The Land Beyond Promise: Israel, Likud and the Zionist Dream. I.B.Tauris Publishers. ISBN 978-1-86064-774-1.
- Skolnik, Fred (2007). Encyclopedia Judaica. Vol. 9 (2nd ed.). Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-02-865928-2.
- Smith, Derek (2006). Deterring America: Rogue States and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-86465-7.
- Stein, Leslie (2003). The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-275-97141-0.
- Stendel, Ori (1997). The Arabs in Israel. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-898723-23-3.
- Stone, Russell A.; Zenner, Walter P. (1994). Critical Essays on Israeli Social Issues and Scholarship. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-1959-5.
- Torstrick, Rebecca L. (2004). Culture and Customs of Israel. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-32091-0.
External links
- Government
- Official website of the Israel Prime Minister’s Office
- Official website of the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
- The Israel Collection at the National Library of Israel
- General information
- Israel at the Encyclopædia Britannica
- Israel at The World Factbook
- Israel at BBC News Online
- Israel at the OECD
- Israel web resources provided by GovPubs at the University of Colorado Boulder Libraries
- Israel at Curlie
- Maps
Jewish: from the Hebrew male personal name Yisrael ‘Fighter of God’. In the Bible this is a byname bestowed on Jacob after he had wrestled with the angel at the ford of Jabbok (Genesis 32:24u20138).
Simply so What are 2 definitions of Israel? 1 : jacob sense 2. 2 : the Jewish people. 3 : a people chosen by God.
What does God call Israel? God again calls Israel his chosen nation. “ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession” (Exodus 19:5.
also What does the Supplanter mean? 1 : to supersede (another) especially by force or treachery. 2a(1) obsolete : uproot. (2) : to eradicate and supply a substitute for efforts to supplant the vernacular. b : to take the place of and serve as a substitute for especially by reason of superior excellence or power.
What is Jesus real name?
Jesus’ name in Hebrew was “Yeshua” which translates to English as Joshua.
What is God’s real name? Yahweh, name for the God of the Israelites, representing the biblical pronunciation of “YHWH,” the Hebrew name revealed to Moses in the book of Exodus. The name YHWH, consisting of the sequence of consonants Yod, Heh, Waw, and Heh, is known as the tetragrammaton.
What are 3 other names for Israel?
Similarly, the land they left behind was often referred to as the “Land of Israel” (“Eretz Yisrael”) in addition to other names including Judah, and “Holy Land” (“Eretz HaKodesh”) . As for the modern State of Israel, its beginnings lie in the 19th century, when the Jewish nationalist movement Zionism took shape.
What does Supplanter mean biblically? Definitions of supplanter. one who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another. synonyms: usurper.
Who was named Israel in the Bible?
According to the Book of Genesis, the patriarch Jacob was given the name Israel (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל, Modern: Yīsraʾel, Tiberian: Yīsrāʾēl) after he wrestled with the angel (Genesis 32:28 and 35:10).
What does Supplanter mean in Hebrew? It comes from the Old Testament and means “supplanter,” which is often interpreted as someone who seizes, circumvents, or usurps.
Did Jesus have a wife?
Mary Magdalene as Jesus’s wife
One of these texts, known as the Gospel of Philip, referred to Mary Magdalene as Jesus’s companion and claimed that Jesus loved her more than the other disciples.
Does Jesus have a brother? The Brothers of Jesus (or adelphoi) are named in the New Testament as James (possibly James the Just), Joses (a form of Joseph), Simon, and Jude, and unnamed sisters are mentioned in Mark and Matthew.
What is Jesus actual birthday?
The Virgin Mary, pregnant with the son of God, would hence have given birth to Jesus nine months later on the winter solstice. From Rome, the Christ’s Nativity celebration spread to other Christian churches to the west and east, and soon most Christians were celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25.
What is God’s wife’s name?
God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar. God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshipped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar.
Who wrote Bible? According to both Jewish and Christian Dogma, the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (the first five books of the Bible and the entirety of the Torah) were all written by Moses in about 1,300 B.C. There are a few issues with this, however, such as the lack of evidence that Moses ever existed …
Who is Jesus’s dad? Summary of Jesus’ life
He was born to Joseph and Mary sometime between 6 bce and shortly before the death of Herod the Great (Matthew 2; Luke 1:5) in 4 bce. According to Matthew and Luke, however, Joseph was only legally his father.
What is Israel in Quran?
However, the Qur’an specifies that the Land of Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people, that God Himself gave that Land to them as heritage and ordered them to live therein.
What was Israel’s name before God changed it? On the way Jacob wrestled with a mysterious stranger, a divine being, who changed Jacob’s name to Israel.
Is Israel in Africa or Asia?
Israel stands at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. Geographically, it belongs to the Asian continent and is part of the Middle East region. In the west, Israel is bound by the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon and Syria border it to the north, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the southwest and the Red Sea to the south.
What is the Biblical name for James? In fact, the name James means the same exact thing as Jacob—“supplanter” or substitute—and comes from the original Hebrew word for Jacob. Because of its connection to Jacob, James is a Biblical name (two of Jesus’ apostles were named James).
What does Diego mean in the Bible?
Hebrew : Supplanter, substitute; the patron saint of Spain. Spanish : Supplanter.
Why is James called Supplanter? James is a classic, traditional and Biblical name (Saint James, of course, was one of Jesus’ 12 apostles) meaning “supplanter” or “replacer.” It’s derived from the Latin Jacomus which also means “may God protect.”
How old is Israel?
Israel celebrates 73 years of independence 14 April 2021.
Who are the true Israel? Only the “holy seed,” meaning the genetic lineage from Abraham down to the Babylonian exiles, is the true Israel, which bears no mixing or mingling (Ezra 9:2).
Can Israel be a girl name?
Israel – Girl’s name meaning, origin, and popularity | BabyCenter.
Israel is a name used 2,431 times in the Bible. It is included in 34 out of the 39 books in the Old Testament. And in 13 of the 27 New Testament books as well. Clearly it is an important name. But who, or what, is Israel? How come it is the most significant name in the Bible apart from God?
The primary thread throughout the Bible is the redemption of humanity. The first three chapters recount the creation and fall of humanity. The remainder of the Scripture primarily deals with the story of our restoration. And Israel is at the center of that story.
Meaning of Israel
Israel is the Hebrew name Yisra’el, meaning God contends, or one who struggles with God.
God gives this name to Abraham’s grandson Jacob after he spends a night wrestling with God (Genesis 32:28). Later, Israel is the name given to Jacob’s offspring and to the nation that they eventually form.
Significance of Israel: The People of God
But Israel is not just an extended family that became a nation. That would not make them special in any way. Many other nations have specific ethnic identity. And many of them could recount similar stories of prosperity and oppression.
What made Israel unique is that God was using them to further his plan of redemption for the human race. This plan started with an individual, with Abraham. God did not call Abraham because he was stronger, or smarter, or richer than other people in his world. What set Abraham apart from other people was that he responded to God; he believed him and was faithful to obey.
God furthered his plan of redemption by calling a people, the descendants of Abraham’s grandson, Jacob. When God called Israel, it was not because they were a strong people, or a wealthy people, or even a people that worshipped him. Israel was not even a nation. They were slaves in Egypt.
But God had a plan for Israel. He delivered them from Egyptian slavery. He made a covenant with them at Mt Sinai. A covenant in which he promised to be their God if they would only obey him. God brought them into a land that was already populated and enabled them to claim it as their own. God instructed them in how to worship, how to live in community, how to be a holy people.
And God did this, not because they were in any way worthy of it. They were far from worthy, as they proved time and time again. But because he had a plan.
God’s Purpose for Israel
So God had a plan for Israel. But what was that plan? What was his purpose in taking this slave people and making a nation out of them? And continuing to put up with their rebellious nature for hundreds of years?
I believe that if you go back to God’s encounter with Israel at Mt Sinai you will find an answer to that question. In Exodus 19:5-6 is found God’s invitation to Israel to join him: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’”
God’s purpose, if Israel agreed, was to make Israel into a kingdom of priests – a holy nation. As a kingdom of priests they would have the task of representing the nations to God. And God to the nations. They were a people that God intended to use to further his work in the redemption of humanity.
In general Israel failed as God’s representative to the world. They even failed in keeping God’s covenant. As a result God destroyed them as a nation, sending them into exile, before bringing some of them back to the land and seemingly starting over. Israel was a demonstration that no matter what God does for people, we will rebel against him.
What Israel Provided Us
While it might be tempting to see Israel as a failure, I do not believe that was the case. God knew their disobedience to the covenant and his purpose for them upfront. And through it all he worked to produce at least two important things out of Israel.
1. Jesus Christ
Most important was Jesus, who while fully divine, was also fully human. He was Jewish, and living under the covenant law of Israel. And he not only lived under it. He fulfilled it. After Jesus’ fulfilment of the law, believers could look back and see that the law pointed to Jesus all along.
All of Israel’s history was moving toward the coming of Jesus. The law and the prophets spoke of him (Acts 28:23), and he came to fulfill them (Luke 24:44). Jesus was the fulfilment of Israel’s purpose. Even though Israel as a nation would seem to have failed, God used them to bring Jesus into the world.
2. The Old Testament
Israel also produced what Christians today call the Old Testament. This record of Israel’s history, and God’s dealing with them is important for our understanding of God and redemption history.
It is a history with a few bright spots, but mostly it is a story of human failure. And, contrasted with the failure of humanity, we see God clearly portrayed as purposeful, patient, and just. Our understanding of who God is would be poorer if not for the messy history of Israel.
God’s Purpose for Israel Today
So if Jesus fulfilled Israel’s purpose, does God still have a further purpose for them? Or have they been set aside?
There is much heated debate over this issue. Clearly Israel still exists as a nation, and it would seem that God has been preserving some remnant of them over the past 2,000 years. The vast majority of the times the New Testament uses the name Israel is in regard to the physical descendants of Jacob.
But I believe there is more to Israel than that today. Looking at Ephesians 2:11-22 it is clear that Paul sees something more than just the status quo for Israel. Paul refers here to a new humanity that Christ has created via his death on the cross. Created out of both Jew and Gentile. Not containing both Jews and Gentiles. But one where that distinction does not exist.
Most commonly we call that new humanity the Church. But in Galatians 6:16 Paul seems to call them “the Israel of God.” I am convinced that the Church has not replaced Israel. I am also convinced that God does not have two distinct covenant people. Instead, Israel now includes people from all backgrounds. All united together in Christ; Israel fulfilled.
See “What Is Premillennialism?” to learn more about the differing views of Israel mentioned here.
What Is the Meaning of Israel?
So what does Israel mean in the Bible? It really depends on the context.
- It could refer to an individual; Abraham’s grandson.
- It could mean the descendants of Israel; the children of Israel.
- Frequently it refers to the nation of Israel; either the united kingdom or the northern kingdom.
- Probably the most common usage is to refer to God’s people; those that he established a covenant with at Sinai and their descendants.
- And, finally, we see it pointing toward the new humanity created in Christ; citizens of the kingdom of God.
But always the name points back to God and his purposes. Those identified with that name are God’s people, chosen for a purpose. And that is what Israel ultimately means: God’s people.
Ed Jarrettis a long time follower of Jesus and a member of Sylvan Way Baptist Church. He has been a Bible teacher for over 40 years and regularly blogs at A Clay Jar. You can also follow him on Twitteror Facebook. Ed is married, the father of two, and grandfather of two lovely girls. He is retired and currently enjoys his gardens and backpacking.
Photo Credit: Getty
The word “Israel” in Hebrew is spelled ישראל and pronounced “Yisra’el”. It is a combination of two Hebrew words: “yashar” which means “straight” or “upright”, and “el” which means “God”. Together, “Israel” means “one who struggles with God” or “God contends”. In the Hebrew Bible, Israel was the name given to Jacob after he wrestled with an angel of God (Genesis 32:28). Later, it became the name of the Israelite people and the modern State of Israel.
The Hebrew word “Israel” has multiple meanings in the Bible. It can mean “to retain God” or “to be a receptacle for God.” The biblical term Israel is used most commonly in reference to the nation of Israel. In the Old Testament, the name refers to a character who wrestled with an angel, and the name of the country derives from this story. Throughout the bible, the concept of Israel has been woven into many texts.
The name Israel has three meanings in the Bible: prince of God, struggling with God, and wrestler with God. The Hebrew word for Israel has three components, the Y, SR, and AL. The Y in Israel is pronounced as ‘Y’, while ‘SR’ is pronounced like ‘Sarah’. Interestingly, the Y in israel is a past-tense verb, and the A is a compound verb. The SR is closely related to the main characteristic of leadership, ‘to fight, wrestle, or struggle’.
The Hebrew word for Israel is Ysra’el, meaning “fighting with God.” Unlike the Arabic word for God, ‘Isra-el’ has a different meaning. ‘Ysra’ means ‘he wrestles with God.’ The ‘El’ refers to God. In the Bible, Jacob did not intend to egotistically name his altar; instead, YEHOVAH God told him to erect a second altar at Bethel and call it El-beth-el, hence Luz.
The Hebrew word Israel is pronounced as ‘Ysra’el’. Ysra is a prefix meaning ‘he’ and AL is ‘God’. Despite the fact that Israel means God, it is the name of a people who are traditionally descended from Jacob. The Jewish scriptures say that the Israelites took the name “Israel” after wrestling with an angel.
The name Israel is derived from the Hebrew word ‘isra’, which means “fights”. However, there is no conflict between ‘isra’ and ‘Israel’. In the Bible, the word ‘isra’ means “struggles’. This is the opposite of the Arabic term ‘isra’. In other words, the word ‘Israel’ name reflects a struggle between God and Jacob.
Among its many meanings, Israel is a creative and extroverted person. It is passionate and independent and has a strong sense of self-worth. It has a very strong moral compass, and a desire to be successful. It is an individual with unique ideas and a highly independent spirit, and is driven by a purpose. It is a good place to start a family.
Yisrael is a name in the Hebrew language that means “man.” The name of Israel can also mean ‘wrestled’ in Hebrew,’struggle’, or ‘fight’. The word ‘Israel’ has a double meaning in the Bible. It means’man’, ‘woman’, and ‘woman’. The noun Yisrael can be translated as’slave’, and it can have many other variants as well.
The name Israel is a combination of two words. It means “man” in the Bible. Its meaning in Hebrew is “man who wrestles with God.” Moreover, the name means “who struggles with God” in English. In the Old Testament, Israel is a nation in the Bible. Its history dates back to the time of Abraham. Its founder, Abraham, was a man of faith.
The Hebrew word Israel also means “man.” The Bible says it means “Israel.” Yisrael is short for Jacob, which is the first son of God. After Jacob’s birth, Yisrael was the first to be named after him. This was the name of his ancestor, Jacob. Its meaning was “man fighting with God”. It also meant a man who will rule. In other words, Israel is a man who will fight for his people.
In the Bible, the name Israel is used 78 times. It is the same as the ethnonym Israel, which occurs nine times. In the Hebrew, the name is spelled “Israel” or “Israelites” – and it has a number of meanings. Theologically, the name has many different meanings. Its theological significance bulges at the top of its figurative and symbolical sense.
The word “Israel” has several meanings in the Bible. It refers to a nation that was created by God. This nation had privileged access to God. The Hebrew language is full of metaphors and images. For example, the word “Israel” in the Bible is an omnipotent, all-powerful, and merciful God. It also has a special status in the world. The name of this country in the Old Testament is ‘Israel’.
Table of Contents
- What is the Hebrew meaning for the word Israel?
- What is asshur in the Bible?
- What does the name Assyria mean in Hebrew?
- What does the name arpachshad mean?
- What does meta refer to?
- Where is asshur today?
- Where is asshur in the Bible?
- Where is Eber in the Bible?
- What does the name Shem mean?
- Does Eber mean Hebrew?
- What is the original name of Israel?
- What is the meaning of the word Asshur?
- What does the word Assyria mean in the Bible?
- Where was the city of Asshur in the Bible?
- Why was Asshur important to the Assyrians?
(Entry 1 of 2) 1 : jacob sense 2. 2 : the Jewish people. 3 : a people chosen by God.
What is the Hebrew meaning for the word Israel?
Hebrew. Meaning. ‘God Contended’, ‘Wrestles with God’, ‘Triumphant with God’ Other names.
What is asshur in the Bible?
Ashur (אַשּׁוּר) was the second son of Shem, the son of Noah. Both the JPS Tanakh 1917 and the 1611 King James Bible clarify the language of the Septuagint and Vulgate translations of Genesis 10:11-12, by explicitly crediting Ashur as the founder of the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen.
What does the name Assyria mean in Hebrew?
Biblical Names Meaning: In Biblical Names the meaning of the name Assyria is: Country of Assur or Ashur.
What does the name arpachshad mean?
In Biblical Names the meaning of the name Arphaxad is: A healer; a releaser.
Meta is a word which, like so many other things, we have the ancient Greeks to thank for. When they used it, meta meant “beyond,” “after,” or “behind.” The “beyond” sense of meta still lingers in words like metaphysics or meta-economy. The self-referencing sense of meta seems especially popular in art.
Where is asshur today?
northern Iraq
Ashur, also spelled Assur, modern Qalʿat Sharqāṭ, ancient religious capital of Assyria, located on the west bank of the Tigris River in northern Iraq.
Where is asshur in the Bible?
Asshur (also spelled Ashur) was one of the first cities built after the Flood. From its beginning it would grow in influence to become the capital of Assyria (also known as the Assyrian Empire). It was located south of Nineveh on the Tigris River.
Where is Eber in the Bible?
Eber (Hebrew: עֵבֶר, romanized: ʿḖḇer; Biblical Greek: Ἔβερ, romanized: Éber; Arabic: عٰابِر, romanized: ʿĀbir) is an ancestor of the Ishmaelites and the Israelites according to the “Table of Nations” in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 10–11) and the Books of Chronicles (1 Chronicles 1).
What does the name Shem mean?
Hebrew Baby Names Meaning: In Hebrew Baby Names the meaning of the name Shem is: Name; renown. In the bible, Shem was firstnamed of Noah’s three sons.
Does Eber mean Hebrew?
Eber (Hebrew: עֵבֶר, romanized: ʿḖḇer; Biblical Greek: Ἔβερ, romanized: Éber; Arabic: عٰابِر, romanized: ʿĀbir) is an ancestor of the Ishmaelites and the Israelites according to the “Table of Nations” in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 10–11) and the Books of Chronicles (1 Chronicles 1). …
What is the original name of Israel?
During the British Mandate, Palestine’s official name in Hebrew was “Eretz Yisrael.” That was the name that appeared in Hebrew (alongside “Palestine” in English and Arabic) on the local currency, stamps and official documents, lending the name “Israel” official status.
What is the meaning of the word Asshur?
Asshur, Assyria That Asshuris reasoning, is evident from the signification of Asshur or Assyria in the Word, where it is constantly taken for the things which pertain to reason, in both senses; namely, for what is of reason, and for reasonings.
What does the word Assyria mean in the Bible?
Assyria (Asshur) Bible Meaning: A step. Strong’s Concordance #H804. Asshur, one of Shem’s sons, settled in the general area of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. His name became the basis for the term Assyria that references both the nation and the people living in the land.
Where was the city of Asshur in the Bible?
Asshur built Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah. Genesis 25:18. Asshur as a border for the location of settlement of Ishmael’s descendants in the area from Havilah to Shur where they lived in aggression toward all the tribes related to them.
Why was Asshur important to the Assyrians?
Asshur was the father of Assyrians. He gave power and life to every priestly king. A winged circle or globe with the human figure of a warrior god armed with a bow in its center was used to symbolize him as “the great god, king of all gods.” Also, Asshur was used as part of a compound name for various Assyrian kings.
| מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל Medīnat Yisrā’el دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل Dawlat Isrāʼīl State of Israel |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
| Anthem: Hatikvah (הַתִּקְוָה) | ||||
|
|
||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Jerusalem[1] | |||
| Official languages | Hebrew, Arabic (special status under Israeli law), English (most commonly used foreign language)[2] | |||
| Ethnic groups | 73.9% Jewish 21.1% Arab 5.0% other[3] |
|||
| Demonym | Israeli | |||
| Government | Parliamentary democracy[2] | |||
| — | President | Isaac Herzog | ||
| — | Prime Minister | Benjamin Netanyahu | ||
| — | Knesset Speaker | Amir Ohana | ||
| Legislature | Knesset | |||
| Independence | from British Mandate for Palestine | |||
| — | Declaration | May 14, 1948 | ||
| Area | ||||
| — | Total 1 | 20,770 / 22,072 km² (149th) 8,019 / 8,522 sq mi |
||
| — | Water (%) | ~2% | ||
| Population | ||||
| — | 2022 estimate | 9,656,000[3] (99th) | ||
| — | 2008 census | 7,412,200[4] | ||
| — | Density | 422/km² (35th) 1,093/sq mi |
||
| GDP (PPP) | 2022[6] estimate | |||
| — | Total |  $478.01 billion[5] (49th) |
||
| — | Per capita | $50,200[5] (34th) |
||
| GDP (nominal) | 2022[6] estimate | |||
| — | Total | $520.7 billion[5] (29th) |
||
| — | Per capita | $54,690[5] (15th) |
||
| Gini (2018) | 34.8[7] (48th) | |||
| Currency | Shekel (₪) (ILS) |
|||
| Time zone | IST (UTC+2) | |||
| — | Summer (DST) | IDT (UTC+3) | ||
| Internet TLD | .il | |||
| Calling code | [[+972]] | |||
| 1 | Excluding / Including the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. | |||
| 2 | Israeli population and economic data covers the economic territory of Israel, including the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. |
The State of Israel (in Hebrew «Medinat Yisra’el,» or in Arabic «Dawlat Isrā’īl») is a country in the Southwest Asian Levant, on the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel declared its independence in 1948. With a diverse population of primarily Jewish religion and background, it is the world’s only Jewish state.
The land of Israel holds a special place in Jewish religious obligations, encompassing Judaism’s most important sites (such as the remains of the First and Second Temples of the Jewish People). It is also considered a Holy Land to Christianity and Islam due to its importance in the lives of their religious founders, Jesus and Muhammad. It contains holy places sacred to these religions, including the Western Wall (Judaism), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Christianity) and the al-Aqsa Mosque with its iconic Dome of the Rock (Islam).
Israel is the only country in the Middle East considered to be a liberal democracy, having a broad array of political rights and civil liberties present. In addition, Israel is considered the most advanced in the region in terms of freedom of the press, commercial law, economic competition, and overall human development. Israelis have a high life expectancy, at 79.59 years. The nation has high education outcomes, with pupils staying at school longer than in other countries in the region, and has most of the top universities in the region. With limited natural resources, Israel has invested in its human capital to reach a situation where it’s per capita GDP in 2005 reached $26,200 (28th in the world).
In spite of its high quality of life, Israel has been plagued by war. Ever since it came into existence by fighting off Arab armies in the midst of the 1948 War of Independence, Israel has continually fought for survival. It took over thirty years before Egypt agreed to act as a peaceful neighbor in 1979. In 1994 peaceful relations were established with Jordan. But peace with various Palestinian groups has been more elusive. Enmity between Muslim Palestinians and Jewish Israelis is rooted in the displacement of large populations (a cause similar to conflicts in Armenia and Azerbaijan, Indonesia, and Northern Ireland). Palestinian memories of the 1948 War of Independence are of the Nakba («disaster» or «cataclysm»), when more than 700,000 were displaced by the victorious Israelis. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip live under an occupation intensified by the tit-for-tat of Palestinian terrorism and Israeli reprisals and security clampdowns. Despite various political proposals to establish a Palestinian state existing in peace alongside Israel, no agreement has been reached.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict touches the deepest levels of religious sentiment and tribal identity, and it solution is pivotal not only to prospects for peace in the Middle East but throughout the world. It is unlikely that its resolution can be achieved by political leaders alone; it will require the cooperation of religious and opinion leaders on both sides who can see the world without boundaries and barriers caused by faith, ethnic and national identity, and who can motivate their people to see the humanity of their opponents.
Geography
Political map of Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights (highlighted in orange) and neighboring countries
Principal geographical features of Israel and south-eastern Mediterranean region
The name «Israel» is rooted in the Hebrew Bible, specifically Genesis 32:28, where Jacob is renamed Israel after successfully wrestling with an angel of God. The biblical nation fathered by Jacob was then called «The Children of Israel» or the «Israelites.» The modern country was named State of Israel, and its citizens are referred to as Israelis in English.
Israel is bordered by Lebanon in the north, Syria and Jordan in the east, and Egypt in the southwest. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the Gulf of Eilat (also known as the Gulf of Aqaba) in the south.
During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, Gaza Strip (which was under Egyptian occupation), and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. It withdrew from Sinai by 1982 and from the Gaza Strip by September 12, 2005. The future Palestinian region of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip remains to be determined. East Jerusalem has been under Israeli civil law, jurisdiction and administration since and the Golan Heights since 1981, though they have not been formally annexed.
The sovereign territory of Israel, excluding all territories captured by Israel in 1967, is 8019 square miles (20,770 square kilometers) in area, or slightly smaller than New Jersey in the United States.
Israel is divided east-west by a mountain range running north to south along the coast. Jerusalem sits on the top of this ridge, east of which lies the Dead Sea.
The numerous limestone and sandstone layers of the Israeli mountains allow the water to pour from the west flank to the east. Several springs have formed along the Dead Sea, each an oasis, most notably the oasis at Ein Gedi and Ein Bokek where settlements have developed.
Israel also has a number of large limestone karsts. These caves are around 68 °F (20 °C), although only one is open to the public. Very common all around the country are small natural caves that have been used for thousands of years as shelter, housing, storage rooms, barns and churches.
Israel is divided into four main geographical regions: the Israeli Coastal Plain, the central hills, the Jordan Rift Valley, and the Negev Desert.
Beaches along the Mediterranean shore in Tel Aviv
The coastal plain stretches from the Lebanese border in the north to Gaza in the south, interrupted only by Cape Carmel at Haifa Bay. It is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) wide at Gaza and narrows toward the north to about three miles (five kilometers) at the Lebanese border. The region is fertile and humid, has had problems with malaria, and is known for its citrus and viniculture. The plain is traversed by several short streams.
East of the coastal plain lies the central highland. In the north lie the mountains and hills of Galilee; farther to the south are the Samarian Hills with numerous small, fertile valleys; and south of Jerusalem are the mainly barren hills of Judea. The central highlands average two thousand feet (610 meters) in height and reach their highest elevation at Har Meron, at 3,963 feet (1,208 meters) in Galilee near Safed.
East of the central highlands lies the Jordan Rift Valley, which is a small part of the 4,040-mile (6,500-kilometer)-long Great Rift Valley. In Israel the Rift Valley is dominated by the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee (an important freshwater source also known as Lake Tiberias and to Israelis as Lake Kinneret), and the Dead Sea.
The Jordan River, Israel’s largest river at 200 miles (322 kilometers), originates in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and flows south through the drained Hulah Valley into the freshwater Lake Tiberias. With a water capacity estimated at 106 billion cubic feet (three cubic kilometers), it serves as the principal reservoir for Israel. The Jordan River continues from the southern end of Lake Tiberias (forming the boundary between the West Bank and Jordan) to the highly saline Dead Sea, which is 393 square miles (1,020 square kilometers) in size and, at 1,309 feet (399 meters) below sea level, is the lowest point in the world.
The Negev Desert comprises approximately 4,600 square miles (12,000 square kilometers), more than half of Israel’s total land area. Geographically it is an extension of the Sinai Desert, forming a rough triangle with its base in the north near Beersheba, the Dead Sea, and the southern Judean Mountains, and it has its apex in the southern tip of the country at Eilat.
The coastal climate differs from that of the mountainous areas, particularly during the winter. The northern mountains can get cold, wet and often snowy, and even Jerusalem has snow every couple of years. The coastal regions, where Tel Aviv and Haifa are located, have a typical Mediterranean climate with cool, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. January is the coldest month with average temperatures ranging from 43 °F to 59 °F (6 °C to 15 °C) ,and July and August are the hottest months at 72 °F to 91 °F (22 °C to 33 °C) on average across the state. In Eilat, the desert city, summer daytime-temperatures at times reach 111 °F to 115 °F (44 °C to 46 °C). More than 70 percent of the rain falls between November and March. The most cultivated areas receive more than 12 inches (300 millimeters) of rainfall annually; about one-third of the country is cultivable.
Natural hazards include sandstorms during spring and summer, droughts, and periodic earthquakes. Thunderstorms and hail are common throughout the rainy season and waterspouts occasionally hit the Mediterranean coast, capable of causing only minor damage. However, supercell thunderstorms and a true F2 tornado hit the Western Galilee on April 4, 2006, causing significant damage and 75 injuries.
The Old City of Jerusalem with a view of Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives
Limited arable land and natural freshwater resources pose serious constraints, while the nation must deal with on-going problems of desertification, air pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions, groundwater pollution from industrial and domestic waste, and toxic residue from chemical fertilizers, and pesticides.
Jerusalem has been continuously settled for more than three thousand years and is the location of many sites of historical and religious significance for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, including the Dome of the Rock, the Wailing Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Tomb of the Virgin Mary. The Old City has the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Armenian quarters. Israel’s «Basic Law» states that «Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel,» although the Palestinian Authority sees East Jerusalem as the future capital of Palestine. Metropolitan Jerusalem had a total population of 2,300,000 in 2006, including 700,000 Jews and 1,600,000 Arabs. Tel Aviv had a population of 3,040,400, Haifa had 996,000 and Beersheba had 531,600.
History
The Merneptah Stele, the first mention of Israel
Pre-human occupation of the land area that became the state of Israel dates back to 200,000 B.C.E. Jewish tradition holds that the Land of Israel has been a Jewish Holy Land and Promised Land for four thousand years, since the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). The land of Israel holds a special place in Jewish religious obligations, encompassing Judaism’s most important sites (such as the remains of the First and Second Temples of the Jewish People). The first historical record of the word «Israel» comes from an Egyptian stele documenting military campaigns in Canaan. This stele is dated to approximately 1211 B.C.E.
Starting around the eleventh century B.C.E., the first of a series of Jewish kingdoms and states established intermittent rule over the region that lasted more than a millennium.
Under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and (briefly) Sassanid rule, Jewish presence in the region dwindled because of mass expulsions. In particular, the failure of the Bar Kokhba’s revolt against the Roman Empire in 32 C.E. resulted in a large-scale expulsion of Jews. It was during this time that the Romans gave the name “Syria Palaestina” to the geographic area, in an attempt to erase Jewish ties to the land.
Nevertheless, the Jewish presence in Palestine remained constant. The main Jewish population shifted from the Judea region to the Galilee. The Mishnah and Jerusalem Talmud, two of Judaism’s most important religious texts, were composed in the region during this period. The land was conquered from the Byzantine Empire in 638 C.E. during the initial Muslim conquests. The Hebrew alphabet was invented in Tiberias during this time. The area was ruled by the Omayyads, then by the Abbasids, Crusaders, the Kharezmians and Mongols, before becoming part of the empire of the Mamluks (1260–1516) and the Ottoman Empire in 1517.
Zionism and immigration
The first big wave of modern immigration, or Aliyah, started in 1881 as Jews fled growing persecution in Russia, or followed the socialist Zionist ideas of Moses Hess and others who called for the «redemption of the soil.» Jews bought land from individual Arab landholders. After Jews established agricultural settlements, tensions erupted between the Jews and Arabs.
Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), an Austro-Hungarian Jew, founded the Zionist movement. In 1896, he published Der Judenstaat (“The Jewish State”), in which he called for the establishment of a national Jewish state. The following year he helped convene the first World Zionist Congress. The Second Aliyah (1904–1914) brought an influx of around 40,000 Jews.
In 1917, the British Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration, which «view[ed] with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.» In 1920, Palestine became a League of Nations mandate administered by Britain. Jewish immigration resumed in the third (1919–1923) and fourth (1924–1929) waves after World War I. Riots in 1929 killed 133 Jews and 116 Arabs.
From the time Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933 until the beginning of World War II in 1939, a large number of German Jews migrated to Palestine in the Fifth Aliyah (1929-1939) despite British restrictions. Between 1939 and 1945 German Nazis killed more than six million Jews in the Holocaust, a horror that gave new impetus to the movement to form a Jewish state and that caused European nations to recognize the legitimacy of such a claim. The Jewish population in the region increased from 83,790 (11 percent) in 1922 to 608,230 (33 percent) in 1945.
Jewish underground groups
Many Arabs—opposed to the Balfour Declaration, the mandate, and the Jewish National Home—instigated riots and pogroms against Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron, Jaffa, and Haifa. In response, Jewish settlers formed the Haganah in 1921 to protect settlements. Several Haganah members formed the militant group Irgun in 1931, which attacked the British military headquarters, the King David Hotel, which killed 91 people. A further split occurred when Avraham Stern left the Irgun to form Lehi, which was much more extreme, refused any cooperation with the British during World War II, and tried to work with the Germans to secure European Jewry’s escape to Palestine.
Partition
David Ben-Gurion pronounces the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, on May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv
A truce between Arabs in Palestine and the British lasted through World War II, but when the war ended, violence increased, between Jews and Arabs and against the British. In 1947 the British government decided to withdraw from Palestine. The United Nations General Assembly approved a 1947 UN Partition Plan dividing the territory into two states, with the Jewish area consisting of roughly 55 percent of the land, and the Arab area consisting of roughly 45 percent. Jerusalem was to be designated as an international region administered by the UN to avoid conflict over its status. On November 29, 1947, David Ben-Gurion tentatively accepted the partition, while the Arab League rejected it. The Arab Higher Committee immediately ordered a violent three-day strike, attacking buildings, shops, and neighborhoods, and prompting insurgency organized by underground Jewish militias. These attacks soon turned into widespread fighting between Arabs and Jews, this civil war being the first «phase» of the 1948 War of Independence. The State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948, one day before the expiry of the British Mandate of Palestine. Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations on May 11, 1949.
1948 war of independence
Over the next few days, approximately one thousand Lebanese, five thousand Syrian, five thousand Iraqi, and ten thousand Egyptian troops invaded the newly-established state. Four thousand Transjordanian troops invaded the Corpus separatum region encompassing Jerusalem and its environs, as well as areas designated as part of the Arab state. Volunteers from Saudi Arabia, Libya and Yemen helped. Israeli forces fought back, and captured significant amounts of territory that had been designated for the Arab state of Transjordan, as well as part of Jerusalem.
After numerous months of war, a ceasefire was declared and temporary borders, known as the Green Line, were instituted. Israel had gained an additional 23.5 percent of the Mandate territory west of the Jordan River. Jordan held the large mountainous areas of Judea and Samaria, which became known as the West Bank. Egypt took control of a small strip of land along the coast, which became known as the Gaza Strip.
Large numbers of the Arab population fled or were expelled from the newly-created Jewish state. This Palestinian exodus is referred to by Palestinians as the Nakba («disaster» or «cataclysm»). Estimates of the final Palestinian refugee count range from 400,000 to 900,000 with the official United Nations count at 711,000. The unresolved conflict between Israel and the Arab world has resulted in a lasting displacement of Palestinian refugees. The entire Jewish population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip fled to Israel. Over the following years approximately 850,000 Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews fled or were expelled from surrounding Arab countries. Of these, about 600,000 settled in Israel; the remainder went to Europe and the Americas.
Suez crisis
In 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, much to the chagrin of the United Kingdom and France. Israel, fearing Egypt’s increase in power, staged an attack in the Sinai Desert. Several days later, Britain and France joined the offensive. The United Nations sent peacekeepers, who stayed in the region until 1967.
In 1961, the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who had been largely responsible for the Final Solution, the planned extermination of the Jews of Europe, was captured in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by Mossad agents and brought to trial in Israel. Eichmann became the only person ever sentenced to death by the Israeli courts.
The Six-Day War
Tensions arose between Israel and her neighbors in May 1967. Syria, Jordan, and Egypt had been hinting at war and Egypt expelled UN Peacekeeping Forces from the Gaza Strip. When Egypt closed the strategic Straits of Tiran to Israeli vessels, and began massing large numbers of tanks and aircraft on Israel’s borders, Israel preemptively attacked Egypt on June 5. In the ensuing Six-Day War, Israel defeated three large Arab states, conquered the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights. The Green Line of 1949 became the administrative boundary between Israel and the Occupied Territories. The Sinai was later returned to Egypt following the signing of a peace treaty.
Terrorism
The Arab League proceeded to put Israel in a state of siege. Arab terrorists hijacked Israeli airplanes. At the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, Palestinian militants held hostage and killed members of the Israeli delegation. Agents of Israel’s Mossad assassinated most of those who were involved in the massacre. On October 6, 1973, the day of the Jewish Yom Kippur fast, the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched a surprise attack against Israel. Egypt and Syria were repelled, and a number of years of relative calm ensued.
Peace with Egypt
In 1977 Egyptian president Anwar Sadat visited Jerusalem to talk with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. In 1978, U.S. president Jimmy Carter helped in the Camp David Accords between Sadat and Begin, who shared that year’s Nobel Peace Prize. In March 1979, they signed the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and evacuated the settlements established there during the 1970s. It was also agreed to lend autonomy to Palestinians across the Green Line.
Lebanon invaded
Ilan Ramon, Israeli fighter pilot who became the first Israeli astronaut
On July 7, 1981, the Israeli Air Force bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osiraq in an attempt to foil Iraqi efforts at producing an atomic bomb. In 1982, Israel launched an attack against Lebanon, which had been embroiled in the civil war since 1975, to defend Israel’s northernmost settlements from terrorist attacks. After establishing a 40-kilometer barrier zone, the Israel Defense Forces captured Lebanon’s capital Beirut, and expelled the Palestinian Liberation Organization from the country. Though Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon in 1986, a buffer zone was maintained until May 2000 when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon. A Palestinian uprising called the Intifadah began in 1987. Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli soldiers occupying the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israelis retaliated, and the violence escalated, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Israel proposed a peace initiative in 1989. This same year saw the beginning of a mass immigration by Soviet Jews.
Gulf War
During the 1990-1991 Gulf War, Iraq hit Israel with 39 Scud missiles, although Israel was not a member of the anti-Iraq coalition and was not involved in the fighting. The missiles did not kill Israeli citizens directly, but there were some deaths from incorrect use of the gas masks provided against chemical attack, one Israeli died from a heart attack following a hit, and one Israeli died from a Patriot missile hit. During the war, Israel provided gas masks for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The PLO, however, supported Saddam Hussein. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza marched and famously stood on their rooftops while Scud missiles were falling and cheered Hussein. The first peace talks between Israel and Palestinian Arabs, represented by Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), in Madrid in October 1991, gave the Palestinians responsibility for the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
Oslo Accords
Further peace talks in 1993, known as the Oslo Accords, between Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Arafat, resulted in Israel handing over most of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). In 1994, Jordan made peace with Israel. The initial wide public support for the Oslo Accords began to wane as Israel was struck by an unprecedented wave of attacks supported by the militant Hamas group, which opposed the accords.
On November 4, 1995, a Jewish nationalist militant named Yigal Amir assassinated Rabin. Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu, elected prime minister in 1996, withdrew from Hebron and signed the Wye River Memorandum, in which the PLO agreed to get rid of its terrorist groups, to confiscate illegal weapons, and to imprison their own terrorists, in return for more land on the West Bank. A U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli committee was created to convene several times a month to prevent terrorism. During Netanyahu’s tenure, Israel experienced a lull in attacks by Palestinian groups, but his government fell in 1999 to Ehud Barak of “One Israel.”
Barak withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, to frustrate Hezbollah attacks on Israel by forcing them to cross Israel’s border. Barak and Palestine Liberation Organization head Yassir Arafat negotiated with U.S. President Bill Clinton at a summit at Camp David in July 2000. Barak offered a formula to create a Palestinian state, but Arafat rejected this deal. Palestinians began a second uprising, known as the Al-Aqsa Intifadah, just after the leader of the opposition, Ariel Sharon, visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Gaza withdrawal
The Temple Mount in Jerusalem
Sharon was elected prime minister in March 2001, and was subsequently reelected, along with his Likud party in the 2003 elections. Sharon initiated an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
Israel began building the Israeli West Bank Barrier to defend against attacks by armed Palestinian groups. The barrier effectively annexes 9.5 percent of the West Bank, and creates hardships for Palestinians living near it. The international community and the Israeli far-left have criticized the wall, but it has significantly reduced the number of terrorist attacks against Israel.
Hamas, an Islamic militant group fighting to replace the state of Israel with an Islamic state, won a surprise victory in the Palestinian legislative election, in January 2006, taking 76 of the 132 seats in the chamber, while the ruling Fatah party took 43.
After Sharon suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke, the powers of the office were passed to Ehud Olmert, who was designated the «acting» prime minister. On April 14, 2006, Olmert was elected prime minister after his party, Kadima, won the most seats in the 2006 elections.
On June 28, 2006, Hamas militants dug a tunnel under the border from the Gaza Strip and attacked an Israel Defense Forces post, capturing an Israeli soldier and killing two others. Israel bombarded Hamas targets as well as bridges, roads, and the only power station in Gaza.
A conflict between the Palestinian militant group Hezbollah and Israel began July 12, 2006, with a cross-border Hezbollah raid and shelling, which resulted in the capture of two and killing of eight Israeli soldiers. Israel initiated an air and naval blockade, airstrikes across much of the country, and ground incursions into southern Lebanon. Hezbollah continuously launched rocket attacks into northern Israel and engaged the Israeli Army on the ground with hit-and-run guerrilla attacks. A ceasefire came into effect on August 14, 2006. The conflict killed over one thousand Lebanese civilians, 440 Hezbollah militants, and 119 Israeli soldiers, as well as 44 Israeli civilians, and caused massive damage to the civilian infrastructure and cities of Lebanon and damaged thousands of buildings across northern Israel, many of which were destroyed.
By the end of 2007, 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. Hamas announced its own ceasefire, with its own conditions of complete withdrawal and opening of border crossings. However, violence has continued with Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli attacks.
Government and politics
The Knesset building, Israel’s parliament
Israel is a democratic republic with universal suffrage that operates under a parliamentary system.
The president of Israel is head of state, serving as a largely-ceremonial figurehead. The president selects the leader of the majority party or ruling coalition in the Knesset as the prime minister, who serves as head of government and leads the cabinet. For a short period in the 1990s, the prime minister was directly elected. This change was not viewed a success and was abandoned. The 2007 president was Moshe Katsav, though the acting president was Dalia Itzik; the prime minister was Ehud Olmert.
Israel’s unicameral legislative branch is a 120-member parliament known as the Knesset. Membership in the Knesset is allocated to parties based on their proportion of the vote. Elections to the Knesset are normally held every four years, but the Knesset can decide to dissolve itself ahead of time by a simple majority, known as a vote of no confidence. Twelve parties held seats in 2007.
Israel’s judiciary is made of a three-tier system of courts. At the lowest level are magistrate courts, situated in most cities. Above them are district courts, serving both as appellate courts and as courts of first instance, situated in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Be’er Sheva and Nazareth. At the top is the Supreme Court of Israel seated in Jerusalem, which serves a dual role as the highest court of appeals and as the body for a separate institution known as the High Court of Justice. This court has the unique responsibility of addressing petitions presented by individual citizens. The respondents to these petitions are usually governmental agencies. A committee composed of Knesset members, Supreme Court Justices, and Israeli Bar members carries out the election of judges. The Courts Law requires judges to retire at the age of 70. The chief justice of the Supreme Court, with the approval of the minister of justice, appoints registrars to all courts.
Israel is not a member of the International Criminal Court as it fears it could lead to prosecution of Israeli settlers in the disputed territories.
Legal system
Frontal view of the Supreme Court building
Israel has not completed a written constitution. Its government functions according to the laws of the Knesset, including the «Basic Laws of Israel,» of which there are presently 14. These are slated to become the foundation of a future official constitution. In mid-2003, the Knesset’s constitution, law, and justice committee began drafting an official constitution.
Israel’s legal system mixes influences from Anglo-American, continental and Jewish law, as well as the Declaration of the State of Israel. As in Anglo-American law, the Israeli legal system is based on the principle of precedent; it is an adversarial system, not an inquisitorial one, in the sense that the parties (for example, plaintiff and defendant) bring the evidence before the court. The court does not conduct any independent investigation.
Court cases are decided by professional judges. Additional continental law influences can be found in the fact that several major Israeli statutes (such as the contract law) are based on civil law principles. Israeli statute body is not comprised of codes, but of individual statutes. However, a civil code draft has been completed, and is planned to become a bill.
Religious tribunals (Jewish, Muslim, Druze and Christian) have exclusive jurisdiction on annulment of marriages.
Human rights
The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel included a broad commitment to uphold the rights of its citizens. However, like many democracies, Israel often struggles with issues of minority rights, especially when it comes to the often contentious issues surrounding the treatment of Israel’s large Arab minority, which constitutes 15 percent of Israel’s population.
One of Israel’s Basic Laws, that of human dignity and liberty, serves to defend human rights and liberties. Amnesty International has been highly critical of Israel’s policies, but in 2006, Freedom House rated political rights in Israel as «1» (1 representing the most free and 7 the least free rating); civil liberties as «2.» Freedom House classified Israel as «free,» and most other countries in the Middle East as «Not Free.» However, areas controlled by Israel through military occupation but not considered within the country’s main territory were rated as «6,» «5,» and «Not Free» (and territories administered by the Palestinian Authority were rated as «5,» «5,» and «Partly Free»).
Meanwhile, Sephardi Jews «have long charged that they suffered social and economic discrimination at the hands of the state’s Ashkenazi establishment.» B’tselem, the Israeli human rights organization, has stated that Israel has created in the West Bank a regime of separation based on discrimination, applying two separate systems of law in the same area and basing the rights of individuals on their nationality. Such criticism has also led to Israel’s press being ranked as most free in the region.
Military
Young Israeli soldiers with American tourist, 2003
Israel’s military consists of a unified Israel Defense Forces, known in Hebrew by the acronym Tzahal. There are other paramilitary agencies that deal with different aspects of Israel’s security (such as Israel Border Police and Shin Bet). The Israel Defense Force is one of best-funded military forces in the Middle East and ranks among the most battle-trained armed forces in the world, having been involved in five major wars and numerous border conflicts. It relies heavily on high-technology weapons systems, some developed and manufactured in Israel for its specific needs, and others imported (largely from the United States).
Most Israeli men and women are drafted into the military at age 18. Immigrants sometimes volunteer to join. Most Israeli Arabs are not conscripted because of a possible conflict of interest, due to the possibility of war with neighboring Arab states. Compulsory service is three years for men, and two years for women. Men studying full-time in religious institutions can get a deferment from conscription. Most Haredi Jews extend these deferments until they are too old to be conscripted, a practice that has fueled much controversy in Israel.
While Israeli Arabs are not conscripted, they are allowed to enlist voluntarily. The same policy applies to the Bedouin and many non-Jewish citizens of Israel. After compulsory service, Israeli men become part of the reserve forces, and are usually required to serve several weeks every year as reservists until their 40s.
Nuclear capability
The International Atomic Energy Agency has stated outright that it believes Israel to possess nuclear weapons, an assertion the Israeli government has neither affirmed nor denied. Since the middle of the twentieth century, the Negev Nuclear Research Center has been operational and capable of producing weapons-grade nuclear material. Although the size of nuclear arsenal is debated, it is generally believed that Israel, which is not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, possesses at least one hundred devices.
Israel leads the Middle East in medium-range ballistic missile development. The Jericho series of ballistic missiles was begun in the 1970s, with three major designs built to date. The latest missile design, the Jericho III (based on the «Shavit» booster), has a conservative range estimate of 4,500 kilometers. Israel maintains a fleet of Dolphin-class submarines, widely suspected of being armed with Israeli-made medium-range (1,450 kilometers) cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Foreign relations
Israel maintains diplomatic relations member states of the United Nations, as well as with the Holy See, Kosovo, the Cook Islands, and Niue. It has 181 diplomatic missions around the world.[8]
White House Abraham Accords Signing Ceremony on September 15, 2020: President Donald J. Trump, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyanisigns.
Only a few nations in the Arab League have normalized relations with Israel. Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties in 1979 and 1994, respectively. In late 2020, Israel normalized relations with four more Arab countries: the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in September (known as the Abraham Accords),[9] Morocco in December,[10] and Sudan signed the Accord in January 2021.[11][12]
Despite the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, Israel is still widely considered an enemy country among Egyptians. Iran had diplomatic relations with Israel under the Pahlavi dynasty, but withdrew its recognition of Israel during the Islamic Revolution.
Israeli citizens may not visit Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen (countries Israel fought in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War that Israel does not have a peace treaty with) without permission from the Ministry of the Interior. As a result of the 2008–2009 Gaza War, Mauritania, Qatar, Bolivia, and Venezuela suspended political and economic ties with Israel,<refhttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2009/1/17/qatar-mauritania-cut-israel-ties Qatar, Mauritania cut Israel ties] Al Jazeera, January 17, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2022.</ref> though Bolivia renewed ties in 2019.[13]
China maintains good ties with both Israel and the Arab world.[14]
The United States and the Soviet Union were the first two countries to recognize the State of Israel, having declared recognition roughly simultaneously. Diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union were broken in 1967, following the Six-Day War, and renewed in October 1991.
The United Kingdom is seen as having a «natural» relationship with Israel on account of the Mandate for Palestine. Relations between the two countries were also made stronger by former prime minister Tony Blair’s efforts for a two state resolution. Israel is included in the European Union’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), which aims at bringing the EU and its neighbors closer.
Economy
A main business district in Gush Dan where the diamond stock exchange is located
Israel is the most industrially and economically developed country in the Middle East. As Israel has liberalized its economy and reduced taxes and spending, the gap between the rich and poor has grown. Israel’s economy was originally based on a socialist model, but has developed into a technologically-advanced market economy with substantial government participation.
The influx of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union topped 750,000 during the period 1989–1999. Many of them were highly-educated, adding scientific and professional expertise of substantial value. The influx, coupled with the opening of new markets at the end of the Cold War, energized Israel’s economy, which grew rapidly in the early 1990s. But growth began slowing in 1996 when the government imposed tighter fiscal and monetary policies and the immigration bonus petered out.
Landscape in the Golan Heights
Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors. Israel is largely self-sufficient in food production except for grains and beef.
Export commodities include machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel. Export partners include the U.S., Belgium, and Hong Kong (5.6 percent).
Import commodities include raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, and consumer goods. Import partners include the U.S., Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and China.
Israel usually posts sizable current account deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Israel possesses extensive facilities for oil refining, diamond polishing, and semiconductor fabrication. Roughly half of the government’s external debt is owed to the United States, and a large fraction of that is held by individual investors, via the Israel Bonds program. The state can borrow at competitive and sometimes below-market rates.
Israel receives more venture capital investment than any country in Europe, and has the largest number of start-up companies in the world after the United States. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation, boasts one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed, and is ranked third in research and development spending.
Some land is privately owned and some is public property. Israel has a system of kibbutzim—cooperative farms in which property is collectively owned. Residents share chores, and receive housing, medical care, and education instead of wages. There are moshav farming communities in which each family owns a house and is responsible for an area of land, while products are sold collectively. According to the World Bank, Israel has the best regulations for businesses and strongest protections of property rights in the Greater Middle East.
Tourism in Israel includes a rich variety of historical and religious sites in the Holy Land, as well as modern beach resorts, archaeological tourism, heritage tourism, and ecotourism.
Israeli science is well known for its military technology, as well as its work in genetics, computer sciences, electronics, optics, engineering, agriculture, physics, and medicine. Biologists Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004. Israeli-American psychologist Daniel Kahneman won the 2002 prize in economics, and Robert Aumann won the 2005 economics prize.
Israel’s limited natural resources and strong emphasis on education have also played key roles in directing industry towards high technology fields. As a result of the country’s success in developing cutting-edge technologies in software, communication and the life sciences, Israel is frequently referred to as a «second Silicon Valley.»
Demographics
The majority of Israel’s population are recorded by the civil government as Jews. The rest of the population include a substantial number of Arabs, and the rest are non-Arab Christians and people who have no religion listed. Over the last decade, large numbers of migrant workers from Romania, Thailand, China, Africa, and South America have settled in Israel.
Ethnicity
Israeli soldiers chat with Arab civilians in Galilee, 1978
The majority of Israelis are Jews. Arabs in Israel include descendants of those who remained within Israel’s borders during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Palestinians who immigrated to Israel (especially since 1993) as well as Druze and Bedouins. About nine percent of Israeli Arabs are Christians of various denominations, mostly Catholics and Orthodox.
Relations between Jews and Arabs tend to be antagonistic, since each side sees the other as the aggressor. Relations within the Jewish community itself have been problematic. The Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox oppose compromise with the Palestinians and want a more strictly religious state.
Religion
Jewish prayer at the Western Wall
Israel was founded to provide a national home, safe from persecution, to the Jewish people. Although Israeli law explicitly grants equal civil rights to all citizens regardless of religion, ethnicity, or other heritage, it gives preferential treatment to Jews who seek to immigrate to Israel as part of a governmental policy to increase the Jewish population. The criteria set forth by the Law of Return are controversial, in that it disqualifies individuals who are ethnically Jewish but who converted to another religion, and in that it grants immigrant status to individuals who are not ethnically Jewish but are related to Jews.
Traditionally, Jews are grouped into: Ashkenazim, Jews whose ancestors came from Germany, France, and Eastern Europe; Sephardim, those who settled in Israel from Morocco, Turkey, North Africa and the Mediterranean area, and are descendants of migrants from Spain and Portugal; Italkim, those from central Italy; Mizrahim, from Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria; Beta Israel, from Ethiopia; and Indian Jews. Those with origins in Muslim and Arab lands are commonly called Sephardi by their Ashkenazi counterparts.
There are 14 diverse Buddhist groups active in Israel, catering to Israeli Jubus as well as a tiny number of Vietnamese Buddhists who came to Israel as refugees. A small Hindu presence exists, including Vaishnavite Krishna Consciousness devotees, Brahma Kumaris, and others. There are small numbers of Ismailis and Sikhs. The Bahá’í World Center is situated in Haifa, attracting pilgrims from all over the world. Apart from a few hundred staff, Bahá’ís do not live in Israel.
Language
Israel has two official languages: Hebrew, the state language spoken by most people; and Arabic, which is spoken by the Arab minority and by some members of the Mizrahi Jewish community. English is studied in school and is spoken by most as a second language. Other languages include Russian, Yiddish, Ladino, Romanian, Polish, French, Italian, Dutch, German, Amharic and Persian. American and European popular television shows are commonly presented. Newspapers can be found in all languages listed above as well as others.
Men and women
Women work in many fields. Israel elected a woman prime minister, Golda Meir, in 1969. Women are required to serve in the armed forces, but are not permitted combat. While under the Orthodox tradition, women and men live separate lives, and women are excluded from many traditional activities, women are generally accorded equal status to men.
Marriage and the family
Arranged marriages are uncommon, but there are social taboos against intermarriage. It is unusual for an observant Jew to marry someone secular. Divorce is legal, but under Orthodox Jewish law, men may prevent their ex-wives from remarrying. If the woman enters into another relationship, the courts do not recognize it, and any children are considered illegitimate, and cannot marry in Israel. The nuclear family is the most common domestic unit, with grandparents sometimes included. In the original kibbutz system, the husband and wife lived separately, but it became more common for children to live with their parents.
Celebration of Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem
The mother takes responsibility for raising the baby, helped by the extended family. Jewish boys are circumcised eight days after birth. Collective child-care is common, especially for mothers who work outside the home. In kibbutzim, they stay separately from their parents, and usually see them only at night or on weekends. Children are not strictly disciplined. Arab boys and girls are raised separately, and girls are expected to help more with domestic chores.
According to Jewish law, when children reach the age of maturity (12 years for girls, 13 years for boys) they become responsible for their actions. At this point a boy is said to become “Bar Mitzvah” («one to whom the commandments apply»); a girl is said to become “Bat Mitzvah.” Before this age, all the child’s responsibility to follow Jewish law and tradition lies with the parents. After this age, the children are privileged to participate in all areas of Jewish community life and bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics.
Education
Computer science faculty building in The Technion — Israel Institute of Technology
Israeli pupils stay at school longest in the Greater Middle East and Western Asia. The education system consists of three tiers: primary education (grades 1-6), middle school (grades 7-9), then high school (grades 10-12). Compulsory education is from grades 1 to 9. The secondary education mostly consists of preparation for the Israeli matriculation exams (bagrut). The exams consist of mandatory subjects (Hebrew, English, mathematics, religious education, civics and literature), and some optional (chemistry, music, French). In 2003, 56.4 percent of Israeli grade 12 students received a matriculation certificate; 57.4 percent in the Hebrew sector and 50.7 percent in the Arab.
Any Israeli with a full matriculation certificate can proceed to higher education. Institutions generally require a certain grade average, as well as a good grade in the psychometric exam (similar to the American SAT). As all universities (and some colleges) are subsidized by the state, students pay only a small part of the actual cost as tuition. Israel has eight universities and several dozen colleges. According to Webometrics (2006), of the top ten universities in the Middle East, seven out of ten are in Israel, including the top four. The archaeology of Israel is researched intensively in the universities of the region and also attracts considerable international interest on account of the region’s Biblical links.
Class
Most people in Israel have a similarly comfortable standard of living, although the majority of the poor are Palestinian, as are recent immigrants from Africa and Eastern Europe.
Culture
The culture of Israel is incredibly diverse, inseparable from the long history of Judaism and Jewish history which preceded it and from the local (Palestine/Land of Israel) traditions, whilst taking into account the cultures of the countries of the many millions of Jews who moved to Israel from around the globe. The government encourages and supports the arts. Israelis are very informal, and their standards might be considered rude elsewhere. The words «please» and «thank you» are used selectively.
Architecture
Israel’s architecture is diverse, including a good deal of Islamic architecture, dating from 1250 to 1517. Most Israelis live in modern high-rise apartments. Some Jewish settlers in Palestinian territory, and many Palestinians, live in shacks, unfinished houses, or other modest dwellings.
Art
Although artist colonies in Safed, Jaffa, and Ein Hod have faded in numbers and importance since the 1970s, Israeli painters and sculptors continue to exhibit and sell their works worldwide. Tel Aviv, Herzliya, and Jerusalem have excellent art museums, and many towns and kibbutzim have smaller high-quality museums. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem houses the Dead Sea Scrolls along with an extensive collection of Jewish religious and folk art. The Museum of the Diaspora is located on the campus of Tel Aviv University. It should be noted that Israel has the highest number of museums per capita of any country in the world.
Cuisine
Jewish cuisine is a collection of international cookery traditions, loosely linked by kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws. Under Jewish laws, certain foods, notably pork and shellfish, are forbidden. Other foods, particularly wine and bread, are associated with Jewish rituals. Meat may not be combined with dairy in the same dish, and anything that contains animal blood is not kosher.
A number of soups are characteristically Jewish. The soup into which kneidlach (matzo balls or dumplings) are put, is the dish used most often on Saturdays, holidays, and other special occasions, particularly at Passover. The kneidlach are made by combining matzo meal (ground matzos), eggs, water, melted fat, pepper and salt. This mixture is then rolled into balls simmered in water and then put into soup. Sometimes kneidlach are fried in fat or cooked with pot roast.
Falafel, ground chickpeas mixed with onions and spices formed into balls and fried, are served in pita bread. Other dishes include tabuleh (a salad of bulgar wheat and chopped vegetables), hummus (chickpea paste), grilled meats, and eggplant. Cumin, mint, garlic, onion, and black pepper are used for flavoring. Baklava, which consists of flaky dough layered with honey and nuts, is a popular dessert. Coffee is extremely strong and thick and served in small cups.
The Sabbath, observed on Saturday, is ushered in on Friday evening with a family meal including an egg bread called challah. On Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, sweet foods are eaten, symbolizing hope for a sweet coming year. Yom Kippur is a fast day. The meal the night before concentrates on relatively bland foods, so fasters will not become too thirsty. During Passover, Jews abstain from eating all leavened foods (bread, pasta, etc.). Instead they eat matzoh, a flat, cracker-like bread, is in memory of the Exodus from Israel, when the Jews could not wait for their bread to rise, and so carried it on their backs to bake in the sun.
Wine
Winemaking barrel shop in Zikhron Yaakov, 1890s
Israel has wineries numbering in the hundreds and ranging in size from small boutique enterprises making a few thousand bottles per year to the largest producing over ten million bottles per year. Wine has been produced in Israel since Biblical times. The modern Israeli wine industry was founded in 1882 by Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, owner of the famous Bordeaux Chateau Château Lafite-Rothschild, in support of a new wave of Jewish immigrants. Israel’s move toward quality wines began with one fine wine—Carmel Special Reserve 1976 (released in 1980). Israel’s main wine-producing areas remain the traditional coastal regions of Sharon & Shimshon, but the best quality wines are coming from the Upper Galilee, Golan Heights, Judean Hills & Ramat Arad.
Clothing
Yarmulkes for sale in Jerusalem, June 2004
Men wear yarmulkes, sometimes called kippah, which are skullcaps, for prayer. More observant men wear them at all times. Conservative Jewish men wear black hats, whereas liberal Jews wear white crocheted caps. In the strictest Orthodox communities, men dress in black and wear long sidelocks. The majority of the population wears Western-style clothes. Many Arabs wear traditional Muslim dress—a turban or other headdress and long robes for men, and a long robe that covers the head and the entire body for women.
Literature
Israeli literature is mostly written in Hebrew and reflects the revival of the Hebrew language as a spoken language in modern times. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, the Hebrew language was increasingly used for speaking as well as writing modern forms of prose, poetry and drama. Every year thousands of new books are published in Hebrew and most of them are original to the Hebrew language. Shmuel Yosef Agnon won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966. Israelis are avid newspaper readers and there is an average daily circulation of 600,000 copies out of a population of approximately seven million. Major daily papers are published in Hebrew, Arabic, English and Russian, while many others come in French, Polish, Yiddish, Hungarian, and German.
Music
Israeli music is diverse and combines elements of both Western and Eastern music. It tends toward eclecticism and contains a wide variety of influences from today’s Jewish diaspora. It also makes use of modern cultural importation. Hasidic songs, Asian and Arab pop, especially Yemenite singers, hip-hop and heavy metal are all part of the musical scene.
Israel’s folk songs often deal with Zionist hopes and dreams and glorify the life of idealistic Jewish youth. Klezmer, a form of Jewish music that originated in Eastern Europe during the seventeenth century, is a blend of drums, violins, clarinets, keyboards, and tambourines that is common at weddings.
Palestinians dance the Dabke
Israel is well-known for its classical orchestras, especially the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra under the management of Zubin Mehta. Dudu Fisher, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman are some of the more renowned classical musicians from Israel. Also well-known is the Jerusalem Symphony, an orchestra associated with the Israel Broadcasting Authority, as do other musical ensembles. Almost every municipality has a chamber orchestra or ensemble, many of which boast the talents of gifted performers who arrived in the 1990s from the countries of the former Soviet Union.
Pop, rock, heavy metal, hip-hop and rap, trance (especially Goa trance and psychedelic trance) are all popular, as is Oriental Mizrahi music and ethnic music of various sorts. Israel has won the Eurovision Song Contest three times (1978, 1979, 1998).
Performing arts
The traditional folk dance of Israel is the Hora, originally an Eastern European circle dance. It is the most popular of Israeli folk dances, and is usually performed to Israeli folk songs, typically to the music of Hava Nagila. Israeli folk dancing today is choreographed for recreational as well as performance dance groups. The Palestinian population’s folk dance is the Dabke, a dance of community, often performed at weddings.
Modern dance in Israel is flourishing. ChoreographerOhad Naharin and the Batsheva Dance Company and the Bat-Dor Dance Company are well known.
Theatre covers the entire range of classical and contemporary drama in translation, as well as plays by Israeli authors. Of the three major repertory companies, the most famous, Habima Theater, was founded in 1917. Jewish theater tends to be melodramatic, although contemporary productions adopt Western theatrical conventions and deal with social issues. Productions are staged in Russian and English as well as in Hebrew and Arabic. The film industry, also thriving, is best known for its documentaries, including Yaakov Gross’s Pioneers of Zion, produced in 1995, and Toward Jerusalem, Ruth Beckermann’s 1992 production.
Gal Fridman won Israel’s first Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Sports
The Israeli sporting culture is much like that of European countries. The Israeli athletic tradition precedes the establishment of the state of Israel. While football (soccer) and basketball are considered the most popular sports in Israel, the nation has attained achievements in American football, handball and athletics. Israelis are involved in hockey, rugby, and, as exemplified by Israeli-born Sagi Kalev, bodybuilding.
Notes
- ↑ 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. However, the United Nations and many nations refused to accept the Jerusalem Law and maintain their embassies in other cities such as Tel Aviv. Countries that do recognize Jerusalem include Australia (West Jerusalem), Russia (West Jerusalem), the Czech Republic (West Jerusalem), Honduras, Guatemala, Nauru, and the United States. In September 2020 it was reported that Serbia would be moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Central Intelligence Agency, Israel The World Factbook Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Latest Population Statistics for Israel Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ↑ The 2008 Census of Population Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 World Economic Outlook database: Israel International Monetary Fund. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 World Economic Outlook (April 2022) International Monetary Fund. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ↑ Income inequality OECD. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ↑ Israel’s Diplomatic Missions Abroad Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ↑ Oren Liebermann, Two Gulf nations recognized Israel at the White House. Here’s what’s in it for all sides CNN, September 16, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ↑ Morocco latest country to normalise ties with Israel in US-brokered deal BBC, December 10, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ↑ Jennifer Hansler, Trump announces that Israel and Sudan have agreed to normalize relations CNN, October 23, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ↑ Sudan quietly signs Abraham Accords weeks after Israel deal Reuters, January 7, 2021. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ↑ Paola Flores, Bolivia to renew Israel ties after rupture under Morales ABC News, November 28, 2019.
- ↑ Mercy A. Kuo, Israel-China Relations: Innovation, Infrastructure, Investment The Diplomat, July 17, 2018. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Dever, William G. Who Were the Early Israelites, And Where Did They Come From? Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2003. ISBN 0802809758
- Finkelstein, Israel, and Neil Asher Silberman. The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts. New York: Free Press, 2001. ISBN 0684869128
- Heller, Joseph. The Birth of Israel, 1945-1949: Ben-Gurion and His Critics. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2000. ISBN 978-0813017327
- Isserlin, B. S. J. The Israelites. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1998. ISBN 0500050821
- Kirsch, Jonathan. King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel. New York: Ballantine Books, 2000. ISBN 0345432754
- Kitchen, K. A. On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2003. ISBN 0802849601
- Kohen, Asher, and Bernard Susser. Israel and the Politics of Jewish Identity: The Secular-Religious Impasse. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. ISBN 0801863457
- Oren, Michael B. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0195151747
- Said, Edward W. The End of the Peace Process: Oslo and After. London: Granta, 2002. ISBN 1862075239
External links
All links retrieved August 15, 2022.
- Israel – CIA World Factbook
- Israel – U.S. State Department
- Israel country profile – BBC News
- Israel Wing – Jewish Virtual Library
- Israel information – Middle-East-Info.org
As with the definition of Palestine, the definition of Israel varies depending on whom you ask. Whereas I could organize the definitions of Palestine by controversy, every definition of Israel is controversial, and likely to offend at least someone. So, here are the various modern definitions of Israel, from smallest to largest.
Arguably this does not count, but by its smallest definition, Israel does not exist at all with any legitimacy. Extremists like Nasrallah (the leader of Hezbollah), do not recognize Israeli sovereignty within any borders, and view Israel as simply Occupied Palestine. The same view is frequently mentioned by official Palestinian media and other sources.
However, given that a large majority of countries recognize Israel, and given that Israel clearly exercises sovereignty over certain areas, we can reject this definition. Some terrorist groups may not like it, but Israel does, in fact, exist. However, Israel’s existence raises another question. Given its existence, what are its borders?
Most countries recognize Israel’s sovereignty within the 1949 Armistice Lines.
After Israel declared independence in 1948, the surrounding Arab nations attacked Israel. Israel won, and pushed the armies back. Israel signed agreements with the surrounding Arab states to define the places where the soldiers had stopped fighting, the armistice lines, as temporary de Facto borders.
Every Arab country except Lebanon insisted in the agreements that the armistice lines were temporary, existed only out of military necessity, and should not be construed as final borders. From the armistice agreement with Jordan:
no provision of this Agreement shall in any way prejudice the rights, claims and positions of either Party hereto in the ultimate peaceful settlement of the Palestine question, the provisions of this Agreement being dictated exclusively by military considerations.
The 1949 Armistice Lines acted as borders until 1967, which why they are often referred to as the 1967 borders. Israel’s sovereignty is (mostly) recognized within the ’49 Armistice Lines, though many countries do not feel that Israel has the right to establish a capital in Jerusalem, even inside the Armistice Lines. However, Israel feels it has rightful sovereignty over a few areas outside the Armistice Lines.
The official Israeli definition of Israel includes Israel within the 1949 Armistice Lines, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
In 1967, Egypt blockaided the Straits of Tiran, which Israel said it would consider an act of war. In response, Israel destroyed the Egyptian air force. Faced with an invasion from Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, Israel defeated the Arab armies in six days.
In the process, Israel captured the Gaza Strip, the Sinai, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. Israel gave the Sinai back to Egypt in the 1979 Camp David Accords, and gave the Gaza Strip back as part of the 2005 Unilateral Disengagement Plan. Of the remaining areas, Israel has annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
Though Syria rejected Israel’s offer to return the Golan Heights in exchange for peace, Syria still claims the Golan Heights for itself, so the international community does not recognize Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights. Though Israel’s armistice agreements with Jordan stressed the mutability of borders, the international community does not recognize Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem. As per UN Resolution 242, the UN feels that the final status of these areas should be determined as the result of a peace agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
Though Israel within the Green Line, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights are areas that the Israeli government considers part of Israel, Israel controls more land than just that.
If by the term «Israel», one wants to refer to all the land which Israel controls, then this definition of Israel includes Israel within the Armistice Lines, the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, and Area C of the West Bank.
After Israel captured the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem, there was a question as to what else to do with the remaining territories. Many Israeli citizens established Settlements in the West Bank, with implicit government approval. However, after a wave of Palestinian rioting in the First Intifada, Israel decided to give Palestine limited self-government in exchange for peace. Israel and the PLO negotiated the Oslo Accords, which granted the Palestinians limited self-government over many areas of the West Bank and Gaza.
The Oslo Accords divided the West Bank and Gaza into Areas A, B, and C. Area A is under full Palestinian civil and military control, and comprises major Palestinian population centers. Area B is under Israeli military control but Palestinian civil control, and Area C is under Israeli civil and military control. Area C comprises the Jordan Valley and all Israeli settlements.
The Oslo Accords were intended to establish only an interim government until a final settlement could be negotiated, but as the Israelis and Palestinians have, as of yet, failed to reach an agreement, the Area divisions in the West Bank still stand (though, as mentioned previously, Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005). As such, if by «Israel» you mean an area that Israel controls, you are referring to Israel within the Green Line, the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, and Area C of the West Bank.
Finally, we come to the concept of «Greater Israel». This is not, strictly speaking, a definition of Israel, but since you asked about them, I can talk about it a bit anyway.
Though all previous Israeli peace offers have involved Israel giving up land it controls, there are some elements in the far right-wing that feel that Israel should actually expand. Some, like the now defunct Israeli political party Herut, believe or believed that Israel should expand to comprise the entire Mandate of Palestine.
This derives, in part, from the belief that the Balfour Declaration, which expressed Britain’s intent to create a Jewish state in Palestine, promised the Jews a state in all of the Mandate of Palestine. The relevant text of the Balfour Declaration:
His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
However, the belief that Israel should include Jordan as well is somewhat of a fringe belief, even among people who read the Balfour declaration in such a way that it promises the Jews Jordan. Given that there are a sufficient number of Arabs just in the West Bank and Gaza to match the number of Jews in Israel, it would be demographically unfeasible for Israel to control Jordan as well.
Israel’s long history means that it’s hard to settle on a specific definition, and were this answer to go back all the way to the Canaanite s it would be several times longer. However, if you hear a person refer to «Israel» today, and they are at least somewhat educated about the Israeli-Arab conflict, they are likely referring to something like the second or third definitions.