Jump to content

Israel: Difference between revisions

Edit links
Page extended-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Jeeny (talk | contribs)
10,081 edits
m Undid revision 169068497 by Tar3k05 (talk)
→Independence and first years: add socialized medicine
Line 111: Line 111:
Regardless, the State of Israel [[Declaration of Independence (Israel)|was proclaimed]] on [[May 14]], [[1948]], one day before the expiry of the British Mandate for Palestine.<ref name="npr">{{cite web |url=http://www.npr.org/news/specials/mideast/history/history3.html |publisher=National Public Radio |title=Part 3: Partition, War and Independence |work=The Mideast: A Century of Conflict |accessdate=2007-07-13 |date=[[2002-10-02]]}}</ref> Not long after, five Arab countries – Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq – attacked Israel, launching the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]].<ref name="npr" /> After almost a year of fighting, a [[1949 Armistice Agreements|ceasefire was declared]] and temporary borders, known as the [[Green Line (Israel)|Green Line]], were instituted. [[Rule of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan|Jordan annexed]] what became known as the [[West Bank]] and [[East Jerusalem]], and [[Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt|Egypt took control]] of the [[Gaza Strip]]. Israel was admitted as a member of the [[United Nations]] on [[May 11]], [[1949]].<ref>{{cite paper |url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/1ce874ab1832a53e852570bb006dfaf6/0b3ab8d2a7c0273d8525694b00726d1b |publisher=The United Nations |title=Two Hundred and Seventh Plenary Meeting |date=[[1949-05-11]] |accessdate=2007-07-13}}</ref> During the course of the hostilities, 711,000 Arabs, according to UN estimates, [[1948 Palestinian exodus|fled from Israel]].<ref name="un">{{cite paper|url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/93037e3b939746de8525610200567883 |title=General Progress Report and Supplementary Report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Covering the Period from 11 December 1949 to 23 October 1950 |accessdate=2007-07-13 |publisher=The United Nations Conciliation Commission |date=[[1950-10-23]]}} (U.N. General Assembly Official Records, Fifth Session, Supplement No. 18, Document A/1367/Rev. 1)</ref> Arab persecution of Jewish communities precipitated a similar [[Jewish exodus from Arab lands]].<ref name="persecution">{{harvnb|Dekmejian|1975|p=247}}. "And most [Oriental-Sephardic Jews] came... because of Arab persecution resulting from the very attempt to establish a Jewish state in Palestine."</ref> The fate of the [[Palestinian refugee]]s today is a major point of contention in the [[Israeli-Palestinian conflict]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/cis/pdf/VanEvera_flashpointsinwar.pdf |format=pdf |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |last=Van Evera |first=Stephen |accessdate=2007-09-11 |title=Nature of the Flashpoint |work=Center for International Studies}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Reveron|Murer|2006}}</ref>
Regardless, the State of Israel [[Declaration of Independence (Israel)|was proclaimed]] on [[May 14]], [[1948]], one day before the expiry of the British Mandate for Palestine.<ref name="npr">{{cite web |url=http://www.npr.org/news/specials/mideast/history/history3.html |publisher=National Public Radio |title=Part 3: Partition, War and Independence |work=The Mideast: A Century of Conflict |accessdate=2007-07-13 |date=[[2002-10-02]]}}</ref> Not long after, five Arab countries – Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq – attacked Israel, launching the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]].<ref name="npr" /> After almost a year of fighting, a [[1949 Armistice Agreements|ceasefire was declared]] and temporary borders, known as the [[Green Line (Israel)|Green Line]], were instituted. [[Rule of the West Bank and East Jerusalem by Jordan|Jordan annexed]] what became known as the [[West Bank]] and [[East Jerusalem]], and [[Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt|Egypt took control]] of the [[Gaza Strip]]. Israel was admitted as a member of the [[United Nations]] on [[May 11]], [[1949]].<ref>{{cite paper |url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/1ce874ab1832a53e852570bb006dfaf6/0b3ab8d2a7c0273d8525694b00726d1b |publisher=The United Nations |title=Two Hundred and Seventh Plenary Meeting |date=[[1949-05-11]] |accessdate=2007-07-13}}</ref> During the course of the hostilities, 711,000 Arabs, according to UN estimates, [[1948 Palestinian exodus|fled from Israel]].<ref name="un">{{cite paper|url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/93037e3b939746de8525610200567883 |title=General Progress Report and Supplementary Report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Covering the Period from 11 December 1949 to 23 October 1950 |accessdate=2007-07-13 |publisher=The United Nations Conciliation Commission |date=[[1950-10-23]]}} (U.N. General Assembly Official Records, Fifth Session, Supplement No. 18, Document A/1367/Rev. 1)</ref> Arab persecution of Jewish communities precipitated a similar [[Jewish exodus from Arab lands]].<ref name="persecution">{{harvnb|Dekmejian|1975|p=247}}. "And most [Oriental-Sephardic Jews] came... because of Arab persecution resulting from the very attempt to establish a Jewish state in Palestine."</ref> The fate of the [[Palestinian refugee]]s today is a major point of contention in the [[Israeli-Palestinian conflict]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/cis/pdf/VanEvera_flashpointsinwar.pdf |format=pdf |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |last=Van Evera |first=Stephen |accessdate=2007-09-11 |title=Nature of the Flashpoint |work=Center for International Studies}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Reveron|Murer|2006}}</ref>


In the early years of the state, the [[Labor Zionism|Labor Zionist]] movement led by Prime Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] dominated Israeli politics.<ref>{{harvnb|Lustick|1988|pp=37–9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html |publisher=Library of Congress |title=Israel (Labor Zionism) |work=Country Studies}}</ref> These years were marked by [[Aliya#Immigration from 1948-1950|mass immigration]] of [[After the Holocaust|Holocaust survivors]] and Jews fleeing Arab lands;<ref name="persecution" /> the population rose from 800,000 to two million between 1948 and 1958.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_01&CYear=2006 |publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics |accessdate=2007-08-07 |year=2006 |title=Population, by Religion and Population Group}}</ref> Most arrived as refugees with no possessions and were housed in temporary camps known as ''[[ma'abarot]]''. By 1952, over two hundred thousand immigrants were living in these tent cities. The need to solve the crisis led Ben-Gurion to sign a [[Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany|reparations agreement with West Germany]] that triggered mass protests by Jews angered at the idea of Israel "doing business" with Germany.<ref>{{harvnb|Shindler|2002|pp=49–50}}</ref>
In the early years of the state, the [[Labor Zionism|Labor Zionist]] movement led by Prime Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] dominated Israeli politics.<ref>{{harvnb|Lustick|1988|pp=37–9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html |publisher=Library of Congress |title=Israel (Labor Zionism) |work=Country Studies}}</ref> These years were marked by [[Aliya#Immigration from 1948-1950|mass immigration]] of [[After the Holocaust|Holocaust survivors]] and Jews fleeing Arab lands;<ref name="persecution" /> the population rose from 800,000 to two million between 1948 and 1958.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_01&CYear=2006 |publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics |accessdate=2007-08-07 |year=2006 |title=Population, by Religion and Population Group}}</ref> Most arrived as refugees with no possessions and were housed in temporary camps known as ''[[ma'abarot]]''. By 1952, over two hundred thousand immigrants were living in these tent cities. The need to solve the crisis led Ben-Gurion to sign a [[Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany|reparations agreement with West Germany]] that triggered mass protests by Jews angered at the idea of Israel "doing business" with Germany.<ref>{{harvnb|Shindler|2002|pp=49–50}}</ref>A system of [[socialized medicine]] was already in place when the state was established, with ''Kupat Holim'' sick funds and ''Tipat Halav'' baby clinics providing the newcomers with health care. <ref>http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Health/public.html</ref>


[[Image:Eichmann2.jpg|[[Adolf Eichmann]] on trial in [[Jerusalem]]|left|thumb]]
[[Image:Eichmann2.jpg|[[Adolf Eichmann]] on trial in [[Jerusalem]]|left|thumb]]

Revision as of 07:07, 4 November 2007

For other uses, see Israel (disambiguation).
מדינת ישראל
Medīnat Yisrā'el		 دولة إسرائيل
Dawlat Isrā'īl
State of Israel
Anthem: Hatikvah
The Hope
Location of Israel
Capital
and largest city
Jerusalem
31°47′N 35°13′E / 31.783°N 35.217°E / 31.783; 35.217
Official languagesHebrew, Arabic
Demonym(s)Israeli
GovernmentParliamentary democracy[1]
• President
Shimon Peres
Ehud Olmert
Tzipi Livni
Independence 
from UK-administered League of Nations mandate
14 May 1948 (05 Iyar 5708)
Area
• Total 1
20770⁄22072 km2 (0.36333 sq mi) (151st)
• Water (%)
~2%
Population
• 2007 estimate
7,184,0002[2] (96th)
• 1995 census
5,548,523
• Density
324/km2 (839.2/sq mi) (34th)
GDP (PPP)2006 estimate
• Total
$170.3 billion[3] (53rd)
• Per capita
$31,767[4] (18th)
Gini (2005)38.6[1]
Error: Invalid Gini value
HDI (2006)Increase 0.927
Error: Invalid HDI value (23rd)
CurrencyNew Israeli Sheqel (₪) (NIS)
Time zoneUTC+2 (IST)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+3
Calling code972
ISO 3166 codeIL
Internet TLD.il
  1. Excluding / Including the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem; see below.
  2. Includes Israeli population in the West Bank.

Israel (Template:Lang-he, Yisra'el), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵלⓘ, Medinat Yisra'el; Template:Lang-ar, Dawlat Isrā'īl), is a country in Southwest Asia located on the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. It has borders with Lebanon in the north, Syria and Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area.[5] The West Bank and Gaza Strip, which are partially administrated by the Palestinian National Authority, are also adjacent. With a population of about 7.2 million,[2] the majority of whom are Jews, Israel is the world's only Jewish state.[6] It is also home to Arab Muslims, Christians and Druze, as well as other religious and ethnic minority groups. Jerusalem is the nation's capital, seat of government, and largest city.[7]

The modern state of Israel has its roots in the Land of Israel, a concept central to Judaism for over three thousand years. After World War I, the League of Nations approved the British Mandate for Palestine with the intent of creating a "national home for the Jewish people".[8] In 1947, the United Nations approved the partition of the Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab.[9] The Arab League rejected the plan, but on May 14, 1948, Israel declared its independence. The new country's victory in the subsequent Arab-Israeli War expanded the borders of the Jewish state beyond those in the UN Partition Plan. Since then, Israel has been in conflict with many of the neighboring Arab countries, resulting in several major wars and decades of violence. Throughout the conflict, Israel's boundaries have been subject to dispute, although Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and efforts are being made to reach a permanent accord with the Palestinians.

Unlike most countries in the Middle East, Israel is a liberal democracy[10][11] and a developed country.[12] In the region, Israel is the least corrupt,[13] and the most progressive in terms of freedom of the press,[14] economic competition,[15] and human development.[16]

Etymology

Over the past three thousand years, the name "Israel" has meant in common and religious usage both the Land of Israel and the entire Jewish nation. The name originated from a verse in the Bible (Genesis, 32:28) where Jacob is renamed Israel after successfully wrestling with an angel of God.[17] Commentators differ on the meaning of the name. Some say the name comes from the verb śarar ("to rule, be strong, have authority over"), thereby making the name mean "God rules" or "God judges".[18] Other possible meanings include "the prince of God" (from the King James Version) or "El fights/struggles".[19] Regardless of the precise meaning of the name, the biblical nation fathered by Jacob thus became the "Children of Israel" or the "Israelites".

The first historical mention of the word "Israel" is in the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt (dated the late 13th century BCE), although scholars disagree on whether it refers to a people or a homeland.[20] The modern country was named Medinat Yisrael, or the State of Israel, after other proposed names, including Eretz Israel, Zion, and Judea, were rejected.[21] 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.[22]

History

Main article: History of the State of Israel
Further information: History of the Jews in the Land of Israel

Early roots

Further information: History of ancient Israel and Judah

The Land of Israel, known in Hebrew as Eretz Yisrael, has been sacred to the Jewish people since the time of the biblical patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Bible has placed this period in the early 2nd millennium BCE.[23] According to the Torah, the Land of Israel was promised to the Jews as their homeland,[24][25] and the sites holiest to Judaism are located there. Around the 11th century BCE, the first of a series of Jewish kingdoms and states established rule over the region; these Jewish kingdoms and states ruled intermittently for the following one thousand years.[26]

Between the time of the Jewish kingdoms and the 7th-century Muslim conquests, the Land of Israel fell under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Sassanian, and Byzantine rule.[27] Jewish presence in the region dwindled after the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE and the resultant large-scale expulsion of Jews. Nevertheless, a continuous Jewish presence in Palestine was maintained, although the main Jewish population shifted from the Judea region to the Galilee;[28] the Mishna and part of the Talmud, among Judaism's most important religious texts, were composed in Israel during this period.[29] The Land of Israel was captured from the Byzantine Empire around 636 CE during the initial Muslim conquests. Control of the region transferred between the Umayyads,[30] Abbasids,[31] and Crusaders over the next six centuries, before falling in the hands of the Mamluk Sultanate, in 1260. In 1516, the Land of Israel became a part of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled the region until the 20th century.[32]

Zionism and the British Mandate

Main articles: Zionism, Aliyah, and British Mandate of Palestine
See also: 1922 Text: League of Nations Palestine Mandate, Jewish refugees, and Timeline of Zionism
Part of a series on
Aliyah
Concepts
Pre-Modern Aliyah
Aliyah in modern times
Absorption
Organizations
Related topics

Jews living in the Diaspora have long aspired to return to Zion and the Land of Israel.[33] That hope and yearning was articulated in the Bible[34] and is a central theme in the Jewish prayer book. Beginning in the twelfth century, a small but steady stream of Jews began to leave Europe to settle in the Holy Land. After Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, some made their way to the Land of Israel.[35] During the 16th century, the pace stepped up, and large communities struck roots in Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and Tiberias, the four holy cities. In the second half of the 18th century, entire Hasidic communities from Poland, Galicia and Ukraine settled in the Holy Land with their rabbis.[36]

Theodor Herzl, visionary of the Jewish State

The first large wave of modern immigration, known as the First Aliyah (Hebrew: עלייה), began in 1881, as Jews fled pogroms in Eastern Europe.[37] While the Zionist movement already existed in theory, Theodor Herzl is credited with founding political Zionism,[38] a movement which sought to establish a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, by elevating the Jewish Question to the international plane.[39] In 1896, Herzl published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), offering his vision of a future state; the following year he presided over the first World Zionist Congress.[40]

The Second Aliyah (1904–1914), began after the Kishinev Pogrom. Some 40,000 Jews settled in Palestine.[37] Both the first and second waves of migrants were mainly Orthodox Jews,[41] but those in the Second Aliyah included socialist pioneers who established the kibbutz movement.[42] During World War I, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued what became known as the Balfour Declaration, which "view[ed] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."[43] The Jewish Legion, a group of battalions composed primarily of Zionist volunteers, assisted in the British conquest of Israel. Arab opposition to the plan led to the 1920 Palestine riots and the formation of the Jewish defense organization known as the Haganah, from which the Irgun and Lehi split off.[44] In 1922, the League of Nations granted Great Britain, a mandate over Palestine for the express purpose of "placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home".[45]

Jewish immigration continued with the Third Aliyah (1919–1923) and Fourth Aliyah (1924–1929), which together brought 100,000 Jews to Palestine.[37] In the wake of the Jaffa riots in the early days of the Mandate, the British restricted Jewish immigration and territory slated for the Jewish state was allocated to Transjordan.[46] The rise of Nazism in the 1930s led to the Fifth Aliyah, with an influx of a quarter of a million Jews. This influx resulted in the Arab revolt of 1936–1939 and led the British to cap immigration 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.[37] By the end of World War II, Jews accounted for 33% of the population of Palestine, up from 11% in 1922.[47][48]

Independence and first years

Main articles: 1948 Arab-Israeli War and Declaration of Independence (Israel)
See also: Israel and the United Nations, Jewish exodus from Arab lands, Palestinian exodus, and Sh'erit ha-Pletah
David Ben-Gurion proclaiming Israeli independence on May 14, 1948 below a portrait of Herzl

In 1947, the British government withdrew from commitment to the Mandate of Palestine, stating it was unable to arrive at a solution acceptable to both Arabs and Jews.[49] The newly-created United Nations approved the UN Partition Plan (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181) on November 29, 1947, dividing the country into two states, one Arab and one Jewish. Jerusalem was to be designated an international city – a corpus separatum – administered by the UN to avoid conflict over its status.[50] The Jewish community accepted the plan,[51] but the Arab League and Arab Higher Committee rejected it.[52]

Regardless, the State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948, one day before the expiry of the British Mandate for Palestine.[53] Not long after, five Arab countries – Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq – attacked Israel, launching the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[53] After almost a year of fighting, a ceasefire was declared and temporary borders, known as the Green Line, were instituted. Jordan annexed what became known as the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip. Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations on May 11, 1949.[54] During the course of the hostilities, 711,000 Arabs, according to UN estimates, fled from Israel.[55] Arab persecution of Jewish communities precipitated a similar Jewish exodus from Arab lands.[56] The fate of the Palestinian refugees today is a major point of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[57][58]

In the early years of the state, the Labor Zionist movement led by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion dominated Israeli politics.[59][60] These years were marked by mass immigration of Holocaust survivors and Jews fleeing Arab lands;[56] the population rose from 800,000 to two million between 1948 and 1958.[61] Most arrived as refugees with no possessions and were housed in temporary camps known as ma'abarot. By 1952, over two hundred thousand immigrants were living in these tent cities. 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 of Israel "doing business" with Germany.[62]A system of socialized medicine was already in place when the state was established, with Kupat Holim sick funds and Tipat Halav baby clinics providing the newcomers with health care. [63]

File:Eichmann2.jpg
Adolf Eichmann on trial in Jerusalem

During the 1950s, Israel was frequently attacked by Arab fedayeen, mainly from the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip.[64] In 1956, Israel joined a secret alliance with Great Britain and France aimed at recapturing the Suez Canal, which the Egyptians had nationalized (see the Suez Crisis). Despite capturing the Sinai Peninsula, Israel was forced to retreat due to pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union in return for guarantees of Israeli shipping rights in the Red Sea and the Canal.[65] At the start of the following decade, Israel captured Adolf Eichmann, an implementer of the Final Solution hiding in Argentina, and brought him to trial.[66] The trial had a major impact on public awareness of the Holocaust[67] and to date Eichmann remains the only person sentenced to death by Israeli courts.[68]

Conflicts and peace treaties

In 1967, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria massed troops close to Israeli borders, expelled UN peacekeepers and blocked Israel's access to the Red Sea. Israel saw these actions as a casus belli for a pre-emptive strike that launched the Six-Day War, during which it captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights.[69] The 1949 Green Line became the administrative boundary between Israel and the occupied territories. Jerusalem's boundaries were enlarged, incorporating East Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Law, passed in 1980, reaffirmed this measure and reignited international controversy over the status of Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Golda Meir, who resigned following the Yom Kippur War

In the early 1970s, Palestinian groups launched a wave of attacks against Israeli targets around the world, including a massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Israel responded with Operation Wrath of God, in which those responsible for the Munich massacre were tracked down and assassinated.[70] On October 6, 1973, Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched a surprise attack against Israel. The war ended on October 26 with Israel successfully repelling Egyptian and Syrian forces but suffering great losses.[71] An internal inquiry exonerated the government of responsibility for the war, but public anger forced Prime Minister Golda Meir to resign.

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.[72] Later that year, Egyptian President Anwar Al 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.[73] In the two years that followed, Sadat and Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords and the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.[74] Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and agreed to enter negotiations over an autonomy for Palestinians across the Green Line, a plan which was never implemented.

In 1982, Israel intervened in the Lebanese Civil War to destroy the bases from which the Palestine Liberation Organization launched attacks and missiles at northern Israel. That move developed into the First Lebanon War.[75] Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon in 1986, but maintained a borderland buffer zone until 2000. The First Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule,[76] broke out in 1987 with waves of violence occurring in the occupied territories. Over the following six years, more than a thousand people were killed in the ensuing violence, much of which was internal Palestinian violence.[77] During the 1991 Gulf War, the PLO and many Palestinians supported Saddam Hussein and Iraqi missile attacks against Israel.[78][79]

Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shake hands, presided over by Bill Clinton, at the signing of the Oslo Accords, September 13, 1993

In 1992, Yitzhak Rabin became Prime Minister following an election in which his party promoted compromise with Israel's neighbors.[80][81] The following year, Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas, on behalf of Israel and the PLO, signed the Oslo Accords, which gave the Palestinian National Authority the right to self-govern parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in return for recognition of Israel's right to exist and an end to terrorism.[82] In 1994, the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace was signed, making Jordan the second Arab country to normalize relations with Israel.[83] Public support for the Accords waned as Israel was struck by a wave of attacks from Palestinians. The November 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by a right-wing Jew, as he left a peace rally, shocked the country. At the end of the 1990s, Israel, under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, withdrew from Hebron[84] and signed the Wye River Memorandum, giving greater control to the Palestinian National Authority.[85]

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 July 2000 Camp David Summit. During the summit, Barak offered a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state, but Yasser Arafat rejected it.[86] After the collapse of the talks, Palestinians began the Second Intifada.

Ariel Sharon soon after became the new 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.[87] In January 2006, after Ariel Sharon suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke which left him in a coma, the powers of office were transferred to Ehud Olmert. The kidnappings of Israeli soldiers by Hamas and Hezbollah and the shelling of settlements on Israel's northern border led to a five-week war, known in Israel as the Second Lebanon War. The conflict was brought to end by a ceasefire brokered by the United Nations. After the war, Israel's Chief of Staff, Dan Halutz, resigned.[88]

Geography and climate

Negev Desert landscape
Main article: Geography of Israel

Israel is located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, bounded by Lebanon to the north, Syria and Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the southwest. The sovereign territory of Israel, excluding all territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War, is approximately 20,770 square kilometers (8,019 sq mi) in area, of which two percent is water.[1] The total area under Israeli law, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, is 22,072 square kilometers (8,522 sq mi).[89] The total area under Israeli control, including the military-controlled and Palestinian-governed territory of the West Bank, is 27,799 square kilometers (10,733 sq mi).[90]

Despite its small size, Israel is home to a variety of geographic features, from the Negev desert in the south to the mountain ranges of the Galilee, Carmel, and the Golan in the north. The Israeli Coastal Plain on the shores of the Mediterranean is home to seventy percent of the nation's population. East of the central highlands lies the Jordan Rift Valley, which forms a small part of the 6,500-kilometer (4,040-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.[91] Unique to Israel and the Sinai Peninsula are makhteshim, or erosion cirques.[92] The largest makhtesh in the world is Ramon Crater in the Negev,[93] which measures 40 kilometers by 8 kilometers (25 mi by 5 mi).[94]

Temperatures in Israel vary widely, especially during the winter. The more mountainous regions can be windy, cold, and sometimes snowy; Mount Hermon's peak is covered with snow most of the year and Jerusalem usually receives at least one snowfall each year.[95] Meanwhile, coastal cities, such as Tel Aviv and Haifa, have a typical Mediterranean climate with cool, rainy winters and long, hot summers. From May to September, rain in Israel is rare.[96][97] Due to the abundance of sunlight in Israel, the country has become a global leader in the field of solar energy. In 1980, the Knesset passed a law requiring solar water heating systems in new private homes. Israel is now first in the world in the use of solar energy per capita (3% of the primary national energy consumption). [98] As a country with scarce water resources, Israel has developed various water-saving technologies, among them drip irrigation, patented in 1956.[99]At the Global Water Awards ceremony in Dubai in March 2006, an Israeli desalination plant won the top prize.[100]

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Israel
See also: Human rights in Israel, List of political parties in Israel, and Israeli judicial system
The Knesset, home of the Israeli parliament

Israel operates under a parliamentary system as a democratic country with universal suffrage.[1] The President of Israel is the head of state, but his duties are largely ceremonial.[101] A Parliament Member supported by a majority in parliament becomes the Prime Minister, usually the chairman of the largest party. The Prime Minister is the head of government and head of the Cabinet.[101][102] Israel is governed by a 120-member parliament, known as the Knesset. Membership in the Knesset is based on proportional representation of political parties.[103] Parliamentary elections are held every four years, but the Knesset can dissolve the government at any time by a no-confidence vote. The Basic Laws of Israel function as an unwritten constitution. In 2003, the Knesset began to draft an official constitution based on these laws.[1][104]

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 both as appellate courts and courts of first instance; they are situated in five of Israel's six districts. The third and highest tier in Israel is the Supreme Court, seated 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 decisions of state authorities.[105][106] Israel is not a member of the International Criminal Court as it fears the court would be biased against it due to political pressure.[107] Israel's legal system combines English common law, civil law, and Jewish law.[1] It is based on the principle of stare decisis (precedent) and is an adversarial system, where the parties in the suit bring evidence before the court. Court cases are decided by professional judges rather than juries.[105] Marriage and divorce are under the jurisdiction of the religious courts: Jewish, Muslim, Druze, and Christian. A committee of Knesset members, Supreme Court justices, and Israeli Bar members carries out the election of judges.[108]

Districts of Israel: (1) Northern, (2) Haifa, (3) Center, (4) Tel Aviv, (5) Jerusalem, (6) Southern

The Israeli Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty seeks to defend human rights and liberties. Israel is the only country in the region ranked "Free" by Freedom House based on the level of civil and political rights; the "Israeli Occupied Territories/Palestinian Authority" was ranked "Not Free."[109] Similarly, Reporters Without Borders rated Israel 50th out of 168 countries in terms of freedom of the press and highest among Middle Eastern countries.[110] Nevertheless, groups such as Amnesty International[111] and Human Rights Watch[112] have often disapproved of Israel's human rights record in regards to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel's civil liberties also allow for self-criticism, from groups such as B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.[113]

Administrative districts

Main article: Districts of Israel
See also: List of cities in Israel

The State of Israel is divided into six main administrative districts, known as mehozot (מחוזות; singular: mahoz) – Center District, Haifa District, Jerusalem District, Northern District, Southern District, and Tel Aviv District. Districts are further divided into fifteen sub-districts known as nafot (נפות; singular: nafa), which are themselves partitioned into fifty natural regions.[114] For statistical purposes, the country is divided into three metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv and Gush Dan (population 3,150,000), Haifa (population 996,000), and Beersheba (population 531,600).[115] However, Israel's largest city, both in population and area,[116] is Jerusalem with 732,100 residents in an area of 126 square kilometers (49 sq mi). Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Rishon LeZion rank as Israel's next most populous cities, with populations of 384,600, 267,000, and 222,300 respectively.[117]

Occupied territories

Main article: Israeli-occupied territories
Further information: Israeli settlement and Political status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip
A road crossing the Israeli West Bank barrier in Bethlehem

The Israeli-occupied territories – the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights – are the areas Israel captured from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria during the Six-Day War. The term was also used to describe the Sinai Peninsula, which was returned to Egypt as part of the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Following Israel's capture of these territories, settlements consisting of Israeli citizens were established within each of them. Israel has applied civilian law to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, incorporating them into its territory and offering their inhabitants Israeli citizenship. In contrast, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have remained under military occupation, and are widely seen – by Israel, the Palestinians, and the international community alike – as the site of a future Palestinian state. Most negotiations relating to the territories have been on the basis of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which calls on Israel to withdraw from occupied territories in return for peaceful actions from Arab states (see Land for peace).[118][119][120]

The West Bank and the Gaza Strip both have populations consisting primarily of Arab Palestinians, including historic residents of the territories and refugees of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[121] From their occupation in 1967 until 1993, the Palestinians living in these territories were under Israeli military administration. Since the Israel-PLO letters of recognition, most of the Palestinian population and cities have been under the internal jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, and only partial Israeli military control, although Israel has on several occasions redeployed its troops and reinstated full military administration during periods of unrest. In response to increasing attacks as part of the Second Intifada, the Israeli government started to construct the Israeli West Bank barrier,[122] which opponents note is partially built within the West Bank.[123] In 2005, Israel removed all of its residents and forces in the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the West Bank as part of its unilateral disengagement plan.

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Israel
File:Weizmann Truman 1948.jpg
Chaim Weizmann, the first President of Israel, presenting U.S. President Harry S. Truman with a Torah scroll in 1948

Israel maintains diplomatic relations with 161 countries and has 94 diplomatic missions around the world.[124] Only three members of the Arab League have normalized relations with Israel; Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties in 1979 and 1994, respectively, and Mauritania opted for full diplomatic relations with Israel in 1999. Two other members of the Arab League, Morocco and Tunisia, which had some diplomatic relations with Israel, severed them at the start of the Second Intifada in 2000.[125] Since 2003, however, ties with Morocco have been on the upswing, and Israel's foreign minister has visited the country.[126] Under Israeli law, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Yemen are enemy countries[127] and Israeli citizens may not visit them without permission from the Ministry of the Interior.[128] Since 1995, Israel has been a member of the Mediterranean Dialogue, which fosters cooperation between seven countries in the Mediterranean Basin and the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.[129]

The United States, Turkey, Germany, and India are among Israel's closest allies. The United States was the first country to recognize the State of Israel, followed by the Soviet Union. It may regard Israel as its primary ally in the Middle East, based on shared political and religious values.[130] Although Turkey and Israel did not establish full diplomatic relations until 1991,[131] Turkey has cooperated with the State since its recognition of Israel in 1949. However, Turkey's ties to the other Muslim-majority nations in the region have at times resulted in pressure from Arab states to temper its relationship with Israel.[132] Germany's strong ties with Israel may stem from a desire to make amends for the Holocaust. The two countries have cooperated on scientific and educational endeavors and remain strong economic partners.[133] India established full diplomatic ties with Israel in 1992 and has fostered a strong military and cultural partnership with the country since then.[134] Iran had diplomatic relations with Israel under the Pahlavi dynasty[135] but withdrew its recognition of Israel during the Iranian Revolution.[136]

Military

Main article: Israel Defense Forces
See also: Israeli Security Forces and Nuclear weapons and Israel
Arrow missile test launch

The Israel Defense Forces consists of the Israeli Army, Israeli Air Force and Israeli Navy. It was founded during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War out of paramilitary organizations – chiefly the Haganah – that preceded the establishment of the state.[137] The IDF also draws upon the resources of the Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman), which works with the Mossad and Shabak.[138] The involvement of the Israel Defense Forces in major wars and border conflicts has made it one of the most battle-trained armed forces in the world.[139][140]

The majority of Israelis are drafted into the military at the age of eighteen. Men serve three years and women serve two years.[141] Following compulsory service, Israeli men join the reserve forces and do several weeks of reserve duty every year until their forties. Most women are exempt from reserve duty. Israeli Arabs 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.[142][143] An alternative for those who receive exemptions on various grounds is Sherut Leumi, or national service, which involves a program of service in hospitals, schools and other social welfare frameworks.[144] As a result of its conscription program, the IDF maintains approximately 168,000 active troops and an additional 408,000 reservists.[145]

The nation's military relies heavily on high-tech weapons systems designed and manufactured in Israel as well as some foreign imports. The United States is a particularly notable foreign contributor; they are expected to provide the country with $30 billion in military aid between 2008 and 2017.[146] The Israeli- and U.S.-designed Arrow missile is one of the world's only operational anti-ballistic missile systems.[147] Since the Yom Kippur War, Israel has developed a network of reconnaissance satellites.[148] The success of the Ofeq program has made Israel one of seven countries capable of launching such satellites.[149] The country has also developed its own main battle tank, the Merkava. Since its establishment, Israel has had to spend a significant portion of its gross domestic product on defense. In 1984, for example, the country spent 24%[150] of its GDP on defense. Today, that figure has dropped to 7.3%.[1]

Israel has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity toward its nuclear capabilities, though it is widely regarded as possessing nuclear weapons.[151] After the Gulf War in 1991, when Israel was attacked by Iraqi Scud missiles, a law was passed requiring all apartments and homes in Israel to have a mamad, a reinforced security room impermeable to chemical and biological substances. [152]

Economy

Main article: Economy of Israel
See also: Silicon Wadi and Tourism in Israel
A main business district in Ramat Gan outside Tel Aviv, where the diamond stock exchange is located

Israel is considered one of the most advanced countries in the Middle East in economic and industrial development. The country has been ranked highest in the region on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index[153] as well as in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report.[15] It has the second-largest number of startup companies in the world (after the United States) and the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside North America.[154] Israel has the 53rd-highest gross domestic product and 37th-highest gross domestic product per capita (at purchasing power parity) at US$170.3 billion[3] and US$26,800,[4] respectively. In 2007, Israel was invited to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,[155] which promotes cooperation between countries that adhere to democratic principles and operate free-market economies.[156]

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. Other major imports to Israel, totaling US$47.8 billion in 2006, include fossil fuels, raw materials, and military equipment.[1] Leading exports include fruits, vegetables, pharmaceuticals, software, chemicals, military technology, and diamonds; in 2006, Israeli exports reached US$42.86 billion.[1] Israel is a global leader in water conservation and geothermal energy,[157] and its development of cutting-edge technologies in software, communications and the life sciences have evoked comparisons with Silicon Valley.[158][159] Intel[160] and Microsoft[161] built their first overseas research and development centers in Israel, and other high-tech multi-national corporations, such as IBM, Cisco Systems, and Motorola, have opened facilities in the country. In July 2007, U.S. billionaire Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway bought an Israeli company Iscar, its first non-U.S. acquisition, for $4 billion.[162] Since the 1970's, Israel has received economic aid from the United States, whose loans account for the bulk of Israel's external debt,[1] although that aid is expected to end in 2008.[146]

Tourism, especially religious tourism, is another important industry in Israel, with the country's temperate climate, beaches, archaeological and historical 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.[163]

Science and education

Main article: Education in Israel
See also: Science and technology in Israel and List of universities and colleges in Israel
File:Weizmann Institute.jpg
The particle accelerator at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot

Israel has the highest school life expectancy in the Greater Middle East and Southwest Asia, and is tied with Japan for second-highest school life expectancy on the Asian continent (after South Korea).[164] Israel similarly has the highest literacy rate in the Middle East, according to the United Nations.[165] 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.[166]

Education is compulsory in Israel for children between the ages of three and eighteen.[167][168] 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, Bible, Hebrew language and literature, English, history, and civics is necessary to receive a Bagrut certificate.[169] In Arab, Christian and Druze schools, the exam on Biblical studies is replaced by an exam in Islam, Christianity or Druze heritage.[170] In 2003, over half of all Israeli twelfth graders earned a matriculation certificate.[171]

Israel's eight public universities are subsidized by the state.[169][172] The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel's oldest university, houses the Jewish National and University Library, the world's largest repository of books on Jewish subjects.[173] In 2006, the Hebrew University was ranked 60th[174] and 119th[175] in two surveys of the world's top universities. Other major universities in the country include the Technion, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University, the University of Haifa, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Israel ranks third in the world in the number of citizens who hold university degrees (20 percent of the population).[176][177] During the 1990s, an influx of a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union (forty percent of whom were university graduates) helped boost Israel's high-tech sector.[176] Israel has produced four Nobel Prize-winning scientists[178] and publishes among the most scientific papers per capita of any country in the world.[179][180] In 2003, Ilan Ramon became Israel's first astronaut, serving as payload specialist of STS-107, the fatal mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Israel
Further information: Languages of Israel

Israel's population, as of 2007, is 7.2 million.[2] Of those, over 267,000 Israeli citizens lived in the West Bank[181] in Israeli cities such as Ma'ale Adumim and Ariel, and communities that predated the establishment of the State but were re-established after the Six-Day War, such as Hebron and Gush Etzion. In 2002, there were 180,000 Jews living in East Jerusalem.[182] Approximately 8,500 Israelis lived in settlements in the Gaza Strip until they were evacuated by the government as part of its 2005 disengagement plan.

Israel's two official languages are Hebrew and Arabic.[1] Hebrew is the primary language of the state and spoken by the majority of the population. Arabic is spoken by the Arab minority and Jews who immigrated to Israel from Arab lands. Most Israelis can communicate reasonably well in English, as many television programs are in English and many schools begin to teach English in the early grades. As a country of immigrants, dozens of languages can be heard on the streets of Israel. A large influx of people from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia have made Russian and Amharic widely spoken in Israel. Between 1990 and 1994, the immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union increased Israel's population by twelve percent.[183]

Religion

Main article: Religion in Israel
The Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem

Israel was established as a homeland for the Jewish people and is often referred to as the Jewish state. The country's Law of Return grants all Jews and those of Jewish lineage the right to Israeli citizenship.[184] Just over three quarters, or 76.1%, of the population are Jews from a diversity of Jewish backgrounds. Approximately sixty-eight percent of Israeli Jews are Israeli-born, twenty-two percent are immigrants from Europe and the Americas, and ten percent are immigrants from Asia and Africa (including the Arab world).[185] The religious affiliation of Israeli Jews varies widely: eight percent define themselves as "Haredi Jews" and twenty percent consider themselves "secular Jews". The majority of Israeli Jews, fifty-five percent, say they are "traditional," The remaining seventeen percent define themselves as Orthodox Jews.[186]

Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa

Making up 16.2% of the population, Muslims constitute Israel's largest religious minority. Israeli Arabs, who comprise 19.8% of the population, contribute significantly to that figure as over four fifths (82.6%) of them are Muslim. Of the remaining Israeli Arabs, 8.8% are Christian and 8.4% are Druze.[187] Members of many other religious groups, including Buddhists and Hindus, maintain a presence in Israel, albeit in small numbers.[188]

The city of Jerusalem enjoys a special place in the hearts of Jews, Muslims, and Christians as the home of sites that are pivotal to their religious beliefs, such as the Western Wall, the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Other landmarks of religious importance are located in the West Bank, among them the birthplace of Jesus and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. The administrative center of the Bahá'í Faith and the Shrine of the Báb are located at the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa and the leader of the faith is buried in Acre. Apart from maintenance staff, there is no Bahá'í community in Israel, although it is a destination for pilgrimages.[189][190]

Culture

Main article: Culture of Israel
Further information: Israeli literature and Music of Israel
See also: Archaeology of Israel, Jewish cuisine, Revival of the Hebrew language, and Secular Jewish culture
Hebrew Book Week 2005 in Jerusalem

Israel's diverse culture stems from the diversity of the population: Jews from around the world have brought their cultural and religious traditions with them, creating a melting pot of Jewish customs and beliefs.[191] 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.[192] Israel's large Arab minority has left its imprint on Israeli culture in such spheres as architecture,[193] music,[194] and cuisine.[195]

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 Arabic and English. By law, two copies of all printed matter published in Israel must be deposited in the Jewish National and University Library at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2001, the law was amended to include audio and video recordings, and other non-print media.[196] In 2006, 85 percent of the 8,000 books transferred to the library were in Hebrew.[197] Hebrew Book Week is held each June and features book fairs, public readings, and appearances by Israeli authors around the country. During the week, Israel's top literary award, the Sapir Prize, is presented. In 1966, Shmuel Yosef Agnon shared the Nobel Prize in Literature with German Jewish author Nelly Sachs.[198]

Habima National Theatre in Tel Aviv

Israeli music contains musical influences from all over the world; Yemenite music, Hasidic melodies, Arabic music, Greek music, jazz, and pop rock are all part of the music scene.[199][200] 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.[201] Among Israel's world-renowned[202] 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.[203] Israel has also produced many musicians of note, some achieving international stardom. Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman are among the internationally-acclaimed musicians born in Israel. Israel has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nearly every year since 1973, winning the competition three times and hosting it twice.[204] Eilat has hosted its own international music festival, the Red Sea Jazz Festival, every summer since 1987.[205] Continuing the strong theatrical traditions of the Yiddish theater 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.[206]

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem is one of Israel's most important cultural institutions[207] and houses the Dead Sea Scrolls,[208] along with an extensive collection of Judaica and European art.[207] Israel's national Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, houses the world's largest archive of Holocaust-related information.[209] On the campus of Tel Aviv University is Beth Hatefutsoth (the Diaspora Museum), an interactive museum devoted to the history of Jewish communities around the world.[210] Apart from the major museums in large cities, there are also small but high-quality artspaces in many towns and kibbutzim.

Sports

Main article: Sports in Israel
Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. before a match

Sports and physical fitness have not always been paramount in Jewish culture. Athletic prowess, which was prized by the Ancient Greeks, was looked down upon as an unwelcome intrusion of Hellenistic values. Maimonides, however, who was both a rabbi and a physician, emphasized the importance of physical activity and keeping the body in shape. This approach received a boost in the 19th century from the physical culture campaign of Max Nordau, and in the early 20th century when the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Abraham Isaac Kook, declared that "the body serves the soul, and only a healthy body can ensure a healthy soul".[211]

The Maccabiah, an Olympics for Jewish athletes, was inaugurated in the 1930s, and has been held every four years since then. The most popular spectator sports in Israel today are football (soccer) and basketball.[212] Ligat ha'Al is the country's premier soccer league, and Ligat Winner is the premier basketball league.[213] Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. has won the European championship in basketball five times.[214] Beersheba has become a national chess center and home to many chess champions from the former Soviet Union. The city hosted the World Team Chess Championship in 2005, and chess is taught in the city's kindergartens.[215] Two years later, in 2007, an Israeli tied for second place in the World Chess Championship.[216] To date, Israel has won six Olympic medals, including a gold medal in windsurfing at the 2004 Summer Olympics.[217]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Israel". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2007-07-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b c "Main Indicators". Central Bureau of Statistics. 2007-09-12. Retrieved 2007-09-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b "Rank Order - GDP (purchasing power parity)". World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 2007-08-16. Retrieved 2007-08-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b "Israel's per capita GDP adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP)" (PDF). Bank of Israel. Moran Dahan. 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2007-09-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Skolnik 2007, pp. 132–232
  6. ^ "Israel". Country Report. Freedom House. 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
  7. ^ Jerusalem is the capital city and seat of government of Israel: it is home to the President's residence, government offices, supreme court, and parliament. The Jerusalem Law states that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel" although the Palestinian Authority sees East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian State (see "Negotiating Jerusalem", University of Maryland) and the United Nations and most countries do not accept the Jerusalem Law (see Kellerman 1993, p. 140), arguing that Jerusalem's final status must await future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Most countries maintain their embassies in other cities such as Tel Aviv, Ramat-Gan, and Herzliya(see the CIA Factbook and Map of Israel) See Positions on Jerusalem for more information.
  8. ^ "The Palestine Mandate". The Avalon Project. Yale University. 1922-07-24. Retrieved 2007-09-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181". The Avalon Project. Yale University. 1947-11-29. Retrieved 2007-08-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Rummel 1997, p. 257. "A current list of liberal democracies includes: Andorra, Argentina, ... , Cyprus, ... , Israel, ..."
  11. ^ "Global Survey 2006: Middle East Progress Amid Global Gains in Freedom". Freedom House. 2005-12-19. Retrieved 2007-07-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "CIA. (19 June, 2007). International Organizations and Groups. World Factbook". Retrieved 2007-10-17.
  13. ^ "Regional Highlights: Middle East". 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index. Transparency International. Retrieved 2007-10-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  14. ^ "Israel". Annual Report 2007. Reporters Without Borders. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
  15. ^ a b "Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007". World Economic Forum. 2007-02-14. Retrieved 2007-07-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "Human Development Report 2006". United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
  17. ^ From the King James Version of the Bible: "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)
  18. ^ Hamilton 1995, p. 334
  19. ^ Wenham 1994, pp. 296–97
  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."
  21. ^ "Popular Opinion". The Palestine Post. 1947-12-07. p. 1. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ "On the Move". TIME Magazine. 1948-05-31. Retrieved 2007-08-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ "Walking the Bible Timeline". Walking the Bible. Public Broadcast Television. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  24. ^ From the King James Version of the Bible: "And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers." (Deuteronomy, 30:5)
  25. ^ From the King James Version of the Bible: "But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there." (Nehemiah, 1:9)
  26. ^ Friedland & Hecht 2000, p. 8. "For a thousand years Jerusalem was the seat of Jewish sovereignty, the household site of kings, the location of its legislative councils and courts."
  27. ^ "Ancient Palestine". Encarta. Microsoft. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
  28. ^ "Palestine: History". The Online Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces. The University of South Dakota. 2007-02-22. Retrieved 2007-07-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ Morçöl 2006, p. 304
  30. ^ "Palestine: The Rise of Islam". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  31. ^ "Palestine: 'Abbasid rule". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  32. ^ "Palestine: The Crusades". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  33. ^ Rosenzweig, 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..."
  34. ^ From the King James Version of the Bible: "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isaiah, 2:3)
  35. ^ Gilbert 2005, p. 2. "Jews sought a new homeland here after their expulsions from Spain (1492)..."
  36. ^ Ausubel 1964, pp. 142–4
  37. ^ a b c d "Immigration". Jewish Virtual Library. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Retrieved 2007-07-12. The source provides information on the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Aliyot in their respective articles. The White Paper leading to Aliyah Bet is discussed here.
  38. ^ Kornberg 1993 "How did Theodor Herzl, an assimilated German nationalist in the 1880s, suddenly in the 1890s become the founder of Zionism?"
  39. ^ Herzl 1946, p. 11
  40. ^ "Chapter One: The Heralders of Zionism". Jewish Agency for Israel. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  41. ^ Stein 2003, p. 88. "As with the First Aliyah, most Second Aliyah migrants were non-Zionist orthodox Jews..."
  42. ^ Romano 2003, p. 30
  43. ^ "Balfour Declaration 1917". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Yale University. 1917-11-02. Retrieved 2007-07-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  44. ^ 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."
  45. ^ "League of Nations: The Mandate for Palestine, July 24, 1922". Modern History Sourcebook. Fordham University. 1922-07-24. Retrieved 2007-08-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  46. ^ Liebreich 2005, p. 34
  47. ^ "The Population of Palestine Prior to 1948". MidEastWeb. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  48. ^ "Population Statistics". Israeli - Palestinian ProCon.org. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  49. ^ "Background Paper No. 47 (ST/DPI/SER.A/47)". United Nations. 1949-04-20. Retrieved 2007-07-31. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  50. ^ Best 2003, pp. 118–9
  51. ^ "History: Foreign Domination". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2006-10-01. Retrieved 2007-07-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  52. ^ Bregman 2002, p. 40–1
  53. ^ a b "Part 3: Partition, War and Independence". The Mideast: A Century of Conflict. National Public Radio. 2002-10-02. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  54. ^ "Two Hundred and Seventh Plenary Meeting". The United Nations. 1949-05-11. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  55. ^ "General Progress Report and Supplementary Report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Covering the Period from 11 December 1949 to 23 October 1950". The United Nations Conciliation Commission. 1950-10-23. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help) (U.N. General Assembly Official Records, Fifth Session, Supplement No. 18, Document A/1367/Rev. 1)
  56. ^ a b Dekmejian 1975, p. 247. "And most [Oriental-Sephardic Jews] came... because of Arab persecution resulting from the very attempt to establish a Jewish state in Palestine."
  57. ^ Van Evera, Stephen. "Nature of the Flashpoint" (pdf). Center for International Studies. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  58. ^ Reveron & Murer 2006
  59. ^ Lustick 1988, pp. 37–9
  60. ^ "Israel (Labor Zionism)". Country Studies. Library of Congress.
  61. ^ "Population, by Religion and Population Group". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2006. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
  62. ^ Shindler 2002, pp. 49–50
  63. ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Health/public.html
  64. ^ Gilbert 2005, p. 58
  65. ^ "The Suez Crisis". University of San Diego. 2005-12-05. Retrieved 2007-07-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  66. ^ "Adolf Eichmann". Jewish Virtual Library. {{cite web}}: Text "accessdate-2007-09-18" ignored (help)
  67. ^ Cole 2003, p. 27. "...the Eichmann trial, which did so much to raise public awareness of the Holocaust..."
  68. ^ "Justice Ministry Reply to Amnesty International Report". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1995-07-05. Retrieved 2007-08-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  69. ^ Smith 2006, p. 126. "Nasser, the Egyptian president, decided to mass troops in the Sinai...casus belli by Israel."
  70. ^ Crowdy 2006, p. 333
  71. ^ "1973: Arab states attack Israeli forces". On This Day. The BBC. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
  72. ^ Bregman 2002, pp. 169–70 "In hindsight we can say that 1977 was a turning point..."
  73. ^ Bergman 2002, pp. 171–4
  74. ^ Bregman 2002, pp. 186–7
  75. ^ Bregman 2002, p. 199
  76. ^ "Intifada". Encarta. Microsoft. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  77. ^ Stone & Zenner 1994, p. 246. "Toward the end of 1991,... were the result of internal Palestinian terror."
  78. ^ Haberman, Clyde (1991-12-09). "After 4 Years, Intifada Still Smolders". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  79. ^ Mowlana, Gerbner & Schiller 1992, p. 111
  80. ^ Bregman 2002, p. 236
  81. ^ "From the End of the Cold War to 2001". Boston College. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  82. ^ "Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements". U.S. Department of State. 1993-09-13. Retrieved 2007-07-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  83. ^ Harkavy & Neuman 2001, p. 270. "Even though Jordan in 1994 became the second country, after Egypt to sign a peace treaty with Israel..."
  84. ^ Bregman 2002, p. 257
  85. ^ "The Wye River Memorandum". U.S. Department of State. 1998-10-23. Retrieved 2007-07-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  86. ^ Gelvin 2005, p. 240
  87. ^ "West Bank barrier route disputed, Israeli missile kills 2". The Associated Press (via USA Today). 2004-07-29. Retrieved 2007-07-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  88. ^ "Halutz resignation spurs calls for Olmert, Peretz to quit too". Haaretz. 2007-01-17. Retrieved 2007-08-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  89. ^ "Area of Districts, Sub-Districts, Natural Regions and Lakes" (PDF). Statistical Abstract of Israel. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2006.
  90. ^ "Israel (Geography)". Country Studies. The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  91. ^ "The Living Dead Sea". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1999-04-01. Retrieved 2007-07-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  92. ^ "Makhteshim Country". UNESCO. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  93. ^ Jacobs 1998, p. 284. "The extraordinary Makhtesh Ramon – the largest natural crater in the world..."
  94. ^ "Ramon R&D Center". Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  95. ^ Goldreich 2003, p. 85
  96. ^ "Average Weather for Tel Aviv-Yafo". The Weather Channel. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
  97. ^ "Average Weather for Jerusalem". The Weather Channel. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
  98. ^ http://www.neaman.org.il/neaman/publications/publication_item.asp?fid=590&parent_fid=490&iid=3639
  99. ^ http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/facts%20about%20israel/land/focus%20on%20israel-%20development%20of%20limited%20water%20reso
  100. ^ http://www.ide-tech.com/News_item.asp?iid=6065&pid=1599&ppid=1489&z=1&p=1
  101. ^ a b "Field Listing - Executive Branch". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2007-07-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  102. ^ In the 1990s, direct elections for Prime Minister were inaugurated but the system was declared unsatisfactory and the old one was brought back.
  103. ^ "The Electoral System in Israel". The Knesset. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
  104. ^ Mazie 2006, p. 34
  105. ^ a b "The Judiciary: The Court System". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2005-08-01. Retrieved 2007-08-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  106. ^ "Israel's high court unique in region". The Boston Herald. 2007-09-09. Retrieved 2007-09-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  107. ^ "Israel and the International Criminal Court". Office of the Legal Adviser to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2002-06-30. Retrieved 2007-07-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  108. ^ "The State - Judiciary - The Court System". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2006-10-01. Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  109. ^ "Press Freedom Rankings by Region 2007". Freedom House. 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-12.
  110. ^ "Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006". Reporters Without Borders. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  111. ^ "Israel and the Occupied Territories". Amnesty International Report 2006. Amnesty International. 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  112. ^ "Israel/Palestinian Authority". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  113. ^ "Land Grab: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank". B'Tselem. 2002. Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  114. ^ "Introduction to the Tables: Geophysical Characteristics" (doc). Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  115. ^ "Localities, Population, and Density" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-07-02.
  116. ^ "Press Release: Jerusalem Day" (pdf). Central Bureau of Statistics. 2006-05-24. Retrieved 2007-03-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  117. ^ "Population of Localities numbering above 1,000 residents and other rural population on 31/12/2006" (pdf). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2006-12-31. Retrieved 2007-04-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  118. ^ "Olmert: Willing to trade land for peace". YNetNews. 2006-12-16. Retrieved 2007-09-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  119. ^ "Syria ready to discuss land for peace". The Jerusalem Post. 12 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  120. ^ "Egypt: Israel must accept the land-for-peace formula". The Jerusalem Post. 15 May 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  121. ^ "UNRWA in Figures: Figures as of 31 December 2004" (PDF). United Nations. April 2005. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
  122. ^ "Questions and Answers". Israel’s Security Fence. The State of Israel. February 22, 2004. Retrieved 2007-04-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  123. ^ "Under the Guise of Security: Routing the Separation Barrier to Enable Israeli Settlement Expansion in the West Bank". Publications. B'Tselem. 2005. Retrieved 2007-04-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  124. ^ "Israel's Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of Relations". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2006-07-12. Retrieved 2007-07-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  125. ^ "Israel Among the Nations: Middle East - North Africa". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2006-10-01. Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  126. ^ "Israel sees Morocco as mediator". BBC News. 2003-09-02. Retrieved 2007-09-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  127. ^ "Initial Periodic Report of the State of Israel Concerning the Implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC)" (pdf). Israel Ministry of Justice. 2001. pp. 147 (173 using pdf numbering). Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  128. ^ Template:He icon "הוראות הדין הישראלי". Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2004. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
  129. ^ "Week of 8-14 March 2000". North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 2001-09-13. Retrieved 2007-07-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  130. ^ Migdalovitz, Carol (2007-07-06). "Israel: Background and Relations with the United States" (pdf). Congressional Research Service (via the U.S. Mission to Italy). p. 23. Retrieved 2007-09-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  131. ^ Abadi 2004, p. 3. "However, it was not until 1991 that the two countries established full diplomatic relations."
  132. ^ Abadi 2004, pp. 4–6
  133. ^ "Germany and Israel". Background Papers. German Embassy, Washington, D.C. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  134. ^ Kumar, Dinesh. "India and Israel: Dawn of a New Era". Jerusalem Institute for Western Defense. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  135. ^ Abadi 2004, pp. 37–9, 47
  136. ^ Abadi 2004, pp. 47–9
  137. ^ "History: 1948". Israel Defense Forces. 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  138. ^ Henderson 2003, p. 97
  139. ^ "The State: Israel Defense Forces (IDF)". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2006-10-01. Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  140. ^ "Israel Defense Forces". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  141. ^ "The Israel Defense Forces". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
  142. ^ Stendel 1997, pp. 191–2
  143. ^ Shtrasler, Nehemia (2007-05-16). "Cool law, for wrong population". Haaretz. Retrieved 2007-07-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  144. ^ "Sherut Leumi (National Service)". Nefesh B'Nefesh. 2007-07-04. Retrieved 2007-07-31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  145. ^ Wheeler, Carolynne (2007-09-06). "Stars take the shine off military service". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2007-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  146. ^ a b Erlanger, Steven (2007-08-17). "Israel to Get $30 Billion in Military Aid From U.S." The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-09-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  147. ^ Katz, Yaakov (2007-03-30). "'Arrow can fully protect against Iran'". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2007-09-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  148. ^ Zorn, E. L. (2007-05-08). "Israel's Quest for Satellite Intelligence". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 2007-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  149. ^ Katz, Yaakov (2007-06-11). "Analysis: Eyes in the sky". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2007-09-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  150. ^ Seitz, Charmaine (2001-01-30). "Israel's Defense Budget: The Business Side of War". The Jerusalem Fund. Retrieved 2007-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) (first appeared in Information Brief No. 64)
  151. ^ Mohamed ElBaradei (2004-07-27). "Transcript of the Director General's Interview with Al-Ahram News". International Atomic Energy Agency. Retrieved 2007-07-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  152. ^ http://www.google.com/search?q=reinforced+room+mamad++law+&hl=en&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2006-01%2CGGLD%3Aen
  153. ^ "Economy Rankings - Middle East & North Africa". The World Bank Group. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
  154. ^ "NASDAQ Appoints Asaf Homossany as New Director for Israel". NASDAQ. 2005-02-06. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  155. ^ "Israel invited to join the OECD". Ynet News. 2007-05-16. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  156. ^ "About". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  157. ^ Ginsburg, Mitch (2007-05-28). "A Hotter Holy Land". The Jerusalem Report. Retrieved 2007-08-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  158. ^ "Israel keen on IT tie-ups". The Hindu Business Line. 2001-01-10. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  159. ^ "Israel: Punching above its weight". The Economist. 2005-11-14. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  160. ^ Krawitz, Avi (2007-02-27). "Intel to expand Jerusalem R&D". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  161. ^ "Israel R&D Center: Leadership Team". Microsoft. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  162. ^ "Buffet ready to buy a 'big business'". IHT. {{cite web}}: Text "[[2007-05-07|]]" ignored (help)
  163. ^ Burstein, Nathan (2007-08-14). "Tourist visits above pre-war level". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2007-09-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  164. ^ "Comparing Education Statistics Across the World" (pdf). Global Education Digest 2004. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 2004. pp. 75, 77. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  165. ^ "Human Development Indicators" (PDF). Human Development Report 2005. United Nations. 2005. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  166. ^ ED250227 - Israeli Schools: Religious and Secular Problems.
  167. ^ Kashti, Or (2007-07-19). "Knesset raises school dropout age to 18". Haaretz. Retrieved 2007-08-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  168. ^ "Summary of the Principal Laws Related to Education". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2003-01-26. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  169. ^ a b "Education" (pdf). Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  170. ^ "The Israeli Matriculation Certificate". United States-Israel Educational Foundation via the University of Szeged University Library. 1996. Retrieved 2007-08-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  171. ^ "Pupils in Grade XII, matriculation examinees and entitled to a certificate" (PDF). Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2007-07-02.
  172. ^ "Higher Education in Israel". Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  173. ^ "About the Library". Jewish National and University Library. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  174. ^ "Top 500 World Universities (1-100)". 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-02.
  175. ^ "The World's Top 200 Universities". International Comparisons. Times Higher Education Supplement. 2006-10-06. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  176. ^ a b "Top Ten Reasons to Invest in Israel". Israeli Consulate, New York City. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
  177. ^ "Israel: IT Workforce". Information Technology Landscape in Nations Around the World. American University. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  178. ^ "Israeli professor shares Nobel Prize in Economics for 2005". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2005-10-05. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  179. ^ Heylin, Michael (2006-11-27). "Globalization Of Science Rolls On". Chemical & Engineering News. American Chemical Society. pp. 26–31. Retrieved 2007-08-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  180. ^ Gordon, Evelyn (2006-08-24). "Kicking the global oil habit". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2007-08-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  181. ^ Lazaroff, Tovah (2007-01-10). "Report: 12,400 new settlers in 2006". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2007-08-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  182. ^ Settlements information, Foundation for Middle East Peace. "East Jerusalem Population and Area, 2000-2002". Retrieved 2006-04-08.
  183. ^ Friedberg, Rachel M. (2001). "The Impact of Mass Migration on the Israeli Labor Market". The Quarterly Journal of Economics: 1373. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  184. ^ "The Law of Return". Knesset. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  185. ^ Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Israel. "Jews and others, by origin, continent of birth and period of immigration" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-04-08.
  186. ^ Elazar, Daniel J. "Religion in Israel: A Consensus for Jewish Tradition". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
  187. ^ Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Israel. "Population, by religion and population group" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-08-06.
  188. ^ "National Population Estimates" (PDF). Central Bureau of Statistics. p. 27. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
  189. ^ "The Bahá'í World Centre: Focal Point for a Global Community". The Bahá'í International Community. Retrieved 2007-07-02.
  190. ^ "Teaching the Faith in Israel". Bahá'í Library Online. 1995-06-23. Retrieved 2007-08-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  191. ^ "Immigration and Social and Cultural Diversity Among the Jewish Population". International Youth Foundation. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
  192. ^ "Jewish Festivals and Days of Remembrance in Israel". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  193. ^ Ran, Ami (1998-08-25). "Encounters: The Vernacular Paradox of Israeli Architecture". Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 2007-09-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  194. ^ Brinn, David (2005-10-23). "Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian DJs create bridge for peace". Israel21c. Retrieved 2007-09-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  195. ^ Dolev, Yael. "Some Thoughts About Israeli Cuisine". University of Michigan Integrative Medicine. The University of Michigan. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
  196. ^ "Depositing Books to The Jewish National & University Library". Jewish National and University Library. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  197. ^ "Israeli Book Statistics for 2006". Jewish National and University Library. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  198. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1966". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  199. ^ Broughton, Ellingham & Trillo 1999, p. 365–9
  200. ^ "Israel". World Music. National Geographic Society. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  201. ^ "Israeli Folk". World Music. National Geographic Society. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  202. ^ "Israel (country)". Encarta. Microsoft. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  203. ^ Davis, Barry (2007-02-05). "Israel Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates 70th anniversary". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (from Israel21c). Retrieved 2007-08-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  204. ^ "Israel". Eurovision Song Contest. Eurovision Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  205. ^ "About Us". Red Sea Jazz Festival. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  206. ^ Template:He icon "התיאטרון הלאומי הבימה". Habima National Theatre. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  207. ^ a b "About the Museum". The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  208. ^ "Shrine of the Book". The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  209. ^ "About Yad Vashem: The Yad Vashem Library". Yad Vashem. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  210. ^ "Museum Information". Beth Hatefutsoth. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  211. ^ Griver, Simon (1999). "Sports in Israel". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2007-08-13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  212. ^ Torstrick 2004, p. 141. "The two most popular spectator sports in Israel are soccer and basketball."
  213. ^ "Basketball Super League Profile". Winner Basketball Super League. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  214. ^ Bouskila, Daniel (2005-05-13). "Israel Wins More Than Hoop Crown". The Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2007-08-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  215. ^ "World Team Championship in Beer Sheva, Israel". World Chess Federation. 2005-11-01. Retrieved 2007-08-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  216. ^ Levy, Marissa (2007-10-01). "Local grandmaster takes second place at World Chess Championship". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2007-10-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  217. ^ "Olympic Medal Winners (under Europe / Israel)". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2007-08-13.

Bibliography

  • Abadi, Jacob (2004), Israel's Quest for Recognition and Acceptance in Asia: Garrison State Diplomacy, Routledge, ISBN 0714655767
  • Ausubel, Natan (1964), The Book of Jewish Knowledge, New York, New York: Crown Publishers, ISBN 051709746X
  • Barton, John; Bowden, Julie (2004), The Original Story: God, Israel and the World, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, ISBN 0802829007
  • Best, Anthony (2003), International History of the Twentieth Century, Routledge, ISBN 0415207398
  • Bregman, Ahron (2002), A History of Israel, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0333676319
  • Broughton, Simon; Ellingham, Mark; Trillo, Richard (1999), World Music: The Rough Guide, Rough Guides, ISBN 1858286352
  • Cole, Tim (2003), Holocaust City: The Making of a Jewish Ghetto, Routledge, ISBN 0415929687
  • Crowdy, Terry (2006), The Enemy Within: A History of Espionage, Osprey Publishing, ISBN 1841769339
  • Dekmejian, R. Hrair (1975), Patterns of Political Leadership: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, State University of New York Press, ISBN 087395291X
  • Friedland, Roger; Hecht, Richard (2000), To Rule Jerusalem, University of California Press, ISBN 0520220927
  • Gelvin, James L. (2005), The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521852897
  • Gilbert, Martin (2005), The Routledge Atlas Of The Arab-Israeli Conflict (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 0415359007
  • Goldreich, Yair (2003), The Climate of Israel: Observation, Research and Application, Springer, ISBN 030647445X
  • Hamilton, Victor P. (1995), The Book of Genesis (2nd revised ed.), Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, ISBN 0802823092
  • Harkavy, Robert E.; Neuman, Stephanie G. (2001), Warfare and the Third World, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0312240120
  • Henderson, Robert D'A. (2003), Brassey's International Intelligence Yearbook (2003 ed.), Brassey's Inc., ISBN 1574885502
  • Herzl, Theodor (1946), The Jewish State, American Zionist Emergency Council, ISBN 0486258491
  • Jacobs, Daniel (1988), Israel and the Palestinian Territories: The Rough Guide (2nd revised ed.), Rough Guides, ISBN 1858282489
  • Kellerman, Aharon (1993), Society and Settlement: Jewish Land of Israel in the Twentieth Century, State University of New York Press, ISBN 0791412954
  • Kornberg, Jacques (1993), Theodor Herzl: From Assimilation to Zionism, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253332036
  • Liebreich, Fritz (2005), Britain's Naval and Political Reaction to the Illegal Immigration of Jews to Palestine, 1945–1948, Routledge, ISBN 0714656372
  • Lustick, Ian (1988), For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Council on Foreign Relations Press, ISBN 0876090366
  • Mazie, Steven (2006), Israel's Higher Law: Religion and Liberal Democracy in the Jewish State, Lexington Books, ISBN 0739114859
  • Morçöl, Göktuğ (2006), Handbook of Decision Making, CRC Press, ISBN 1574445480
  • Mowlana, Hamid; Gerbner, George; Schiller, Herbert I. (1992), Triumph of the Image: The Media's War in the Persian Gulf — A Global Perspective, Westview Press, ISBN 0813316103
  • Romano, Amy (2003), A Historical Atlas of Israel, The Rosen Publishing Group, ISBN 0823939782
  • Reveron, Derek S.; Murer, Jeffrey Stevenson (2006), Flashpoints in the War on Terrorism, Routledge, ISBN 0415954908
  • Rosenzweig, Rafael (1997), The Economic Consequences of Zionism, T Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN 9004091475
  • Rummel, Rudolph J. (1997), Power Kills: Democracy As a Method of Nonviolence, Transaction Publishers, ISBN 0765805235
  • Scharfstein, Sol (1996), Understanding Jewish History, KTAV Publishing House, ISBN 0881255459
  • Shindler, Colin (2002), The Land Beyond Promise: Israel, Likud and the Zionist Dream, I.B.Tauris Publishers, ISBN 186064774X
  • Skolnik, Fred (2007), Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 9 (2nd ed.), Macmillian, ISBN 0028659287
  • Smith, Derek (2006), Deterring America: Rogue States and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521864658
  • Stein, Leslie (2003), The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0275971414
  • Stendel, Ori (1997), The Arabs in Israel, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 1898723230
  • Stone, Russell A.; Zenner, Walter P. (1994), Critical Essays on Israeli Social Issues and Scholarship, SUNY Press, ISBN 0791419592
  • Torstrick, Rebecca L. (2004), Culture and Customs of Israel, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0313320918
  • Wenham, Gordon J. (1994), Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 2 (Genesis 16-50), ISBN 0849902010

Template:Israel portal

Government
General reference
Media
Other

Template:Link FA

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Israel&oldid=169111837"