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Israel

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   Israel
                   מדינת ישראל
   Medīnat Yisrā'el
   دولة إسرائيل
   Dawlat Isrā'īl
   State of Israel

   Flag of Israel Coat of arms of Israel
   Flag           Coat of arms
   Anthem: Hatikvah  ("The Hope")
   Location of Israel
         Capital        Jerusalem
                        31°47′N 35°13′E
       Largest city     Jerusalem
    Official languages  Hebrew, Arabic
   Government           Parliamentary democracy
    - President         Moshe Katsav
    - Prime Minister    Ehud Olmert
       Independence     from the United Kingdom
    - Declaration       14 May 1948 (05 Iyar 5708)
                            Area
    - Total             22,145^1 km² ( 151th)
                        8,550^1 sq mi
    - Water (%)         ~2
                         Population
    - May 2006 estimate 7,047,001^2 ( 99th)
    - 1995 census       5,548,523
    - Density           324/km² ( 34th)
                        787/sq mi
        GDP ( PPP)      2005 estimate
    - Total             $163.45 billion ( 53rd)
    - Per capita        $23,416 ( 28th)
       HDI  (2006)      0.927 (high) ( 23rd)
         Currency       New Israeli sheqel (₪) ( ILS)
        Time zone       IST ( UTC+2)
    - Summer ( DST)     ( UTC+3)
       Internet TLD     .il
       Calling code     +972
   ^1 Includes the Golan Heights (UN figure).
   ^2 Includes Israeli population living in the West Bank.

   Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל , Medinat Yisra'el; Arabic:
   دَوْلَةْ إِسْرَائِيل‎, Dawlat Isrā'īl), officially the State of Israel,
   is a country in Western Asia on the southeastern edge of the
   Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Lebanon in the north, Syria and
   Jordan in the east, and Egypt in the south-west and has a population of
   over seven million people.

   Proclaimed independent in 1948, Israel is the world's only Jewish
   state, although its population includes citizens of many ethnic and
   religious backgrounds (see Israelis). According to the international
   data reported by Freedom House, the degree of political rights and
   civil liberties in Israel makes it the only liberal democracy in the
   Middle East, consisting of a multi-party system and separation of
   powers.

   Israel has a vibrant cultural life and a technologically and
   industrially advanced economy. Israel was ranked 23rd out of 177
   countries in the 2006 United Nations Human Development Index, the
   highest ranking in the Middle East and third highest in Asia.

Name

   The name "Israel" is rooted in the Hebrew Bible, 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. Other rejected name proposals
   included Eretz Israel, Zion, Judea and New Judea. The use of the term
   Israeli to refer to a citizen of Israel was decided by the Government
   of Israel in the weeks immediately after independence and announced by
   Foreign Minister Moshe Shertok.

History

Historical roots

   The first historical record of the word "Israel" comes from an Egyptian
   stele documenting military campaigns in Canaan. Although this stele
   which referred to a people (the determinative for 'country' was absent)
   is dated to approximately 1211 BCE, Jewish tradition holds that the
   Land of Israel has been a Jewish Holy Land and Promised land for three
   thousand years. 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
   King, Solomon). Connected with these two versions of the temple are
   religiously significant rites which stand as the origin for many
   aspects of modern Judaism. Starting around the eleventh century BCE,
   the first of a series of Jewish kingdoms and states established
   intermittent rule over the region that lasted more than a millennium.
   The holy Menorah sacked from Jerusalem, as seen on the Arch of Titus.
   Traditionally, Jews are forbidden from walking under the arch as it is
   taken to express the sovereignty of Titus over the Jews.
   Enlarge
   The holy Menorah sacked from Jerusalem, as seen on the Arch of Titus.
   Traditionally, Jews are forbidden from walking under the arch as it is
   taken to express the sovereignty of Titus over the Jews.

   Under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and
   (briefly) Sassanian 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 132 CE 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 Muslims conquered the land from the
   Byzantine Empire in 638 CE. The Hebrew niqqud 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

   State of Israel
                      Geography

   Land of Israel · Districts · Cities
   Transportation · Mediterranean
   Dead Sea · Red Sea · Sea of Galilee
   Jerusalem · Tel Aviv · Haifa
                       History

   Jewish history · Timeline · Zionism · Aliyah
   Herzl · Balfour · Mandate · 1947 UN Plan
   Independence · Flag · Austerity · Refugees
          Arab-Israeli conflict · Proposals

   1948 War · 1949 Armistice · Suez War
   Six-Day War · Attrition War
   Yom Kippur War · Lebanon War
   Israel-Lebanon conflict
   Peace treaties with: Egypt, Jordan
            Israeli-Palestinian conflict

   Timeline · Peace process · Peace camp
   1st Intifada · Oslo · 2nd Intifada
   Terrorism · Barrier · Disengagement
                       Economy

   Science & technology · Companies
   Tourism · Wine · Diamonds
   Military industry
               Demographics · Culture

   Religion · Israeli Arabs · Kibbutz
   Music · Archaeology · Universities
   Hebrew · Literature · Sport · Israelis
                   Laws · Politics

   Law of Return · Jerusalem Law
   Parties · Elections · PM · President
   Knesset · Supreme Court · Courts
                   Foreign affairs

   Intl. Law · UN · US · Arab League
                   Security Forces

   Israel Defense Forces
   Intelligence Community · Security Council
   Police · Border Police · Prison Service

   Portal:Israel

   Jews living in the Diaspora have sought to emigrate into Israel
   throughout the centuries. For example, in 1141 Yehuda Halevi issued a
   call to the Jews to emigrate to Eretz Israel and eventually died in
   Jerusalem. In 1267, Nahmanides settled in Jerusalem and since then a
   continual Jewish presence in Jerusalem has been maintained. Yosef Karo
   immigrated to the large Jewish community in Safed in 1535. Waves of
   immigration also occurred, for example in the years 1209-1211, the
   "aliyah of the Rabbis of France and England" to Acre became famous as
   in 1258 and 1266. In 1260, Yechiel of Paris emigrated to Acre along
   with his son and a large group of followers. Small waves of immigration
   occurred during the 18th century out of religious motives, famously
   Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and 300 of his followers, Judah he-Hasid and
   over 1000 disciples, and over five hundred disciples (and their
   families) of the Vilna Gaon known as Perushim. Waves of rabbinical
   students immigrated in 1808-1809, settling in Tiberias, Safed and then
   in Jerusalem.

   In 1860, the old Jewish community in Jerusalem started building
   neighborhoods outside the walls of the Old City (the first one being
   Mishkenot Sha’ananim). In 1878, the first modern agricultural
   settlement was founded in the form of Petah Tikva.

   The first big wave of modern immigration to Israel, or Aliyah (עלייה)
   started in 1881 as Jews fled growing persecution, or followed the
   Socialist Zionist ideas of Moses Hess and others of "redemption of the
   soil." Jews bought land from Ottoman and 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 establishment of Zionism led to the Second Aliyah (1904–1914) with
   the influx of around forty thousand Jews. In 1917, the British Foreign
   Secretary Arthur J. Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration that
   "view[ed] with favour 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 third (1919–1923) and fourth (1924–1929)
   waves after World War I. A massacre of Jews by Arabs in 1929 killed 133
   Jews, including 67 in Hebron.

   The rise of Nazism in 1933 led to a fifth wave of Aliyah. The Jews in
   the region increased from 11% of the population in 1922 to 30% by 1940.
   28% of the land was already bought and owned by Zionist organizations
   plus additional private land owned by Jews. The southern half of the
   country is the barren and mostly empty Negev desert. The subsequent
   Holocaust in Europe led to additional immigration from other parts of
   Europe. By the end of World War II, the number of Jews in Palestine was
   approximately 600,000.

   In 1939, the British introduced a White Paper of 1939, which limited
   Jewish immigration over the course of the war to 75,000 and restricted
   purchase of land by Jews, perhaps in response to the 1936-1939 Arab
   revolt in Palestine. The White Paper was seen as a betrayal by the
   Jewish community and Zionists, who perceived it as being in conflict
   with the Balfour Declaration. The Arabs were not entirely satisfied
   either, as they wanted Jewish immigration halted completely. However,
   the White Paper guided British policy until the end of the term of
   their Mandate. As a result, many Jews fleeing to Palestine to avoid
   Nazi persecution and the Holocaust were intercepted and returned to
   Europe. Two specific examples of this policy involved the ships Struma
   and Exodus (carrying Holocaust survivors in 1947).

   Attempts by Jews to circumvent the blockade and flee Europe became
   known as Aliya Beth.

Jewish Underground groups

   As tensions grew between the Jewish and Arab populations, and with
   little apparent support from the British Mandate authorities, the
   Jewish community began to rely on itself for defense.
   Monument in Ramat Gan commemorating the rebels hanged by the British.
   Enlarge
   Monument in Ramat Gan commemorating the rebels hanged by the British.

   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. As a result of the 1921 Arab
   attacks, the Haganah was formed to protect Jewish settlements. The
   Haganah was mostly defensive in nature, which among other things caused
   several members to split off and form the militant group Irgun
   (initially known as Hagana Bet) in 1931. The Irgun adhered to a much
   more active approach, which included attacks and initiation of armed
   actions against the British, such as attacking British military
   headquarters, the King David Hotel, which killed 91 people. Haganah, on
   the other hand, often preferred restraint. A further split occurred
   when Avraham Stern left the Irgun to form Lehi, (also known as the
   Stern Gang) which was much more extreme in its methods. Unlike the
   Irgun, they refused any co-operation with the British during World War
   II and even attempted to work with the Nazis to secure European Jewry's
   emigration to Palestine.

   These groups had an enormous impact on events and procedures in the
   period preceding the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, such as Aliya Beth (the
   clandestine immigration from Europe), the forming of the Israel Defense
   Forces, and the withdrawal of the British, as well as to a great degree
   forming the foundation of the political parties which exist in Israel
   today.

Establishment of the State of Israel

   Ben-Gurion pronounces the Declaration of the Establishment of the State
   of Israel on May 14, 1948 in Tel Aviv.
   Enlarge
   Ben-Gurion pronounces the Declaration of the Establishment of the State
   of Israel on May 14, 1948 in Tel Aviv.

   In 1947, following increasing levels of violence from groups such as
   Irgun and Lehi, uncontrollable immigration from Europe and general
   war-weariness, the British government decided to withdraw from the
   Palestine Mandate. The UN General Assembly approved the 1947 UN
   Partition Plan dividing the territory into two states, with the Jewish
   area consisting of roughly 55% of the land, and the Arab area roughly
   45%. Jerusalem was planned to be an international region administered
   by the UN to avoid conflict over its status.

   Immediately following the adoption of the Partition Plan by the UN
   General Assembly 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 on
   Jewish civilians, attacking buildings, shops, and neighborhoods, and
   prompting counter-attacks organized by underground Jewish militias like
   the Lehi and Irgun. 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 Palestine Mandate.

   Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations on May 11, 1949.

1948 War of Independence and migration

   Following the State of Israel's establishment, the armies of Egypt,
   Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq joined the fighting and began the
   second phase of the 1948 Arab – Israeli War. From the north, Syria,
   Lebanon, and Iraq, were all but stopped relatively close to the
   borders. Jordanian forces, invading from the east, captured East
   Jerusalem and laid siege on the city's west. However, forces of the
   Haganah successfully stopped most invading forces, and Irgun forces
   halted Egyptian encroachment from the south. At the beginning of June,
   the UN declared a one-month ceasefire during which the Israel Defense
   Forces were officially formed. After numerous months of war, a
   ceasefire was declared in 1949 and temporary borders, known as the
   Green Line, were instituted. Israel had gained an additional 26% of the
   Mandate territory west of the Jordan River. Jordan, for its part, 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.

   During and after the war, then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion set
   about establishing order by dismantling the Palmach and underground
   organizations like the Irgun and Lehi. Those two groups were classified
   as terror organizations after the murder of Folke Bernadotte, a Swedish
   diplomat.

   Large numbers of the Arab population fled the newly-created Jewish
   State during the Palestinian exodus, which is referred to by many
   Palestinian groups and individuals as the Nakba (Arabic: النكبة),
   meaning "disaster" or "cataclysm". Some Israeli historians suggest that
   the Palestinians fled because of orders from Arab generals. Many
   Palestinians left under the belief that the Arab armies would prevail
   and they would return. Moreover, "Arab inhabitants of the State of
   Israel" were offered "full and equal citizenship and due representation
   in all its provisional and permanent institutions" in the Declaration
   of the Establishment of the State of Israel; many, however, refused.

   Estimates of the final refugee count range from 400,000 to 900,000 with
   the official United Nations count at 711,000. The continuing conflict
   between Israel and the Arab world resulted in a lasting displacement
   that persists to this day.

   Immigration of Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees from Arab lands
   doubled Israel's population within a year of independence. Over the
   following years approximately 850,000 Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews fled or
   were expelled from surrounding Arab countries and Iran. Of these, about
   600,000 settled in Israel; the remainder went to Europe and the
   Americas (see Jewish exodus from Arab lands).

1950s and 1960s

   Nazi war criminal Eichmann in a bulletproof glass booth during the open
   trial in 1961.
   Enlarge
   Nazi war criminal Eichmann in a bulletproof glass booth during the open
   trial in 1961.

   Between 1954 and 1955, under Moshe Sharett as prime minister, the Lavon
   Affair – a failed attempt to bomb targets in Egypt – caused political
   disgrace in Israel. Compounding this, in 1956, Egypt nationalized the
   Suez Canal, much to the chagrin of the United Kingdom and France.
   Following this and a series of Fedayeen attacks, Israel created a
   secret military alliance with those two European powers and declared
   war on Egypt. After the Suez Crisis, the three collaborators faced
   international condemnation, and Israel was forced to withdraw its
   forces from the Sinai Peninsula.

   In 1955, Ben-Gurion once again became prime minister and served as such
   until his final resignation in 1963. After Ben-Gurion's resignation,
   Levi Eshkol was appointed to the post.

   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, and brought to
   trial in Israel. Eichmann became the only person ever sentenced to
   death by the Israeli courts.
   Western Wall after Six Day War.
   Enlarge
   Western Wall after Six Day War.

   On the political field, tensions once again 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,
   Israel deemed it a casus belli for pre-emptively attacking Egypt on
   June 5. In the ensuing Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab
   neighbors, Israel defeated the armies of three large Arab states and
   decimated their air forces. Territorially, Israel conquered the West
   Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights. The Green Line of
   1949 became the armistice boundary between Israel and the Occupied
   Territories (called by Israel the Disputed Territories). The Sinai was
   later returned to Egypt following the signing of a peace treaty.

   In 1967, Israeli aircraft attacked the USS Liberty, killing 34 American
   servicemen. American and Israeli investigations into the incident
   concluded that the attack was a tragic accident involving confusion
   over the identity of the Liberty.

   In 1969, Golda Meir, Israel's first and, to date, only female prime
   minister was elected.

1970s

   Between 1968 and 1972, a period known as the War of Attrition, numerous
   scuffles erupted along the border between Israel and Syria and Egypt.
   Furthermore, in the early 1970s, Palestinian groups embarked on an
   unprecedented wave of attacks against Israel and Jewish targets in
   other countries. The climax of this wave occurred at the 1972 Munich
   Olympic Games, when, in the Munich massacre, Palestinian militants held
   hostage and killed members of the Israeli delegation. Israel responded
   with Operation Wrath of God, in which agents of Mossad assassinated
   most of those who were involved in the massacre.

   Finally, on October 6, 1973, the day in 1973 of the Jewish Yom Kippur
   fast, the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched a surprise attack against
   Israel. However, despite early successes against an unprepared Israeli
   army, Egypt and Syria failed to accomplish their goal of regaining the
   territories lost in 1967. A number of years of relative calm ensued,
   which fostered the environment in which Israel and Egypt could make
   peace.

   In 1974, Yitzhak Rabin, with Meir's resignation, became Israel's fifth
   prime minister. Then, in the 1977 Knesset elections, the Ma'arach, the
   ruling party since 1948, created a storm by leaving the government. The
   new Likud party, led by Menachem Begin, became the new ruling party.

   Then, in November of that year, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, making
   a historic visit to the Jewish State, spoke before the Knesset: the
   first recognition of Israel by its Arab neighbors. Military reserves
   officers formed the Peace Now movement to encourage this effort.
   Following the visit, the two nations conducted negotiations which led
   to the signing of the Camp David Accords. In March 1979, Begin and
   Sadat signed the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, DC. As laid
   out in the 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.

1980s

   Ilan Ramon participated in Operation Opera and later became the first
   Israeli astronaut.
   Enlarge
   Ilan Ramon participated in Operation Opera and later 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. This operation was known as Operation Opera.

   In 1982, Israel launched an attack against Lebanon, which had been
   embroiled in the Lebanese Civil War since 1975. The official reason for
   the attack was to defend Israel's northernmost settlements from
   terrorist attacks, which had been occurring frequently. However, after
   establishing a forty-kilometer barrier zone, the IDF continued
   northward and even captured the capital, Beirut. Israeli forces
   expelled Palestinian Liberation Organization forces from the country,
   forcing the organization to relocate to Tunis. Unable to deal with the
   stress of the ongoing war, Prime Minister Begin resigned from his post
   in 1983 and was replaced by Yitzhak Shamir. Though Israel withdrew from
   most of Lebanon in 1986, a buffer zone was maintained until May 2000
   when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon.

   The rest of the 1980s were spent constantly shifting from the right,
   led by Yitzhak Shamir, to the left under Shimon Peres. Peres, for
   example, was prime minister from 1984, but handed the position over to
   Shamir in 1986 under an agreement reached following the creation of the
   unity coalition in the aftermath of the 1984 elections. The First
   Intifadah then broke out in 1987 and was accompanied by waves of
   violence in the Occupied Territories. Following the outbreak, Shamir
   once again was elected prime minister, in 1988.

1990s

   During the Gulf War, Iraq hit Israel with thirty-nine Scud missiles,
   although Israel was not a member of the coalition and was not involved
   in the fighting. The missiles didn't kill Israeli citizens directly,
   but there were some deaths from wrong use of the gas masks provided,
   one Israeli died from a heart attack following a hit, and one Israeli
   died from a Patriot missile hit. During the war, Israel also 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 Saddam Hussein calling for him to bomb Israel
   with chemical weapons. Ultimately, Palestinians also used the gas masks
   against Israeli use of tear gas in the coming years.

   The early 1990s were marked by the beginning of a massive immigration
   of Soviet Jews, who, according to the Law of Return, were entitled to
   become Israeli citizens upon arrival. About 380,000 arrived in 1990-91
   alone. Although initially favouring the right, the new immigrants
   became the target of an aggressive election campaign by Labor, which
   blamed their employment and housing problems on the ruling Likud. As a
   result, in the 1992 elections the immigrants voted en masse for Labor,
   letting the left achieve a 61-59 majority in the 1992 Knesset
   elections.

   Following the elections, Yitzhak Rabin became prime minister, forming a
   left-wing government coalition. During the election campaign his Labor
   party promised Israelis a significant improvement in personal security
   and achievement of a comprehensive peace with the Arabs "within six to
   nine months" after the elections. By the end of 1993 the government
   abandoned the framework of Madrid and signed the Oslo Accords with the
   PLO. In 1994, Jordan became the second of Israel's neighbours to make
   peace with it.
   Yitzhak Rabin is buried in Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
   Enlarge
   Yitzhak Rabin is buried in Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

   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. Public support slipped
   even further. On November 4, 1995, a Jewish nationalist militant named
   Yigal Amir assassinated Rabin.

   Public dismay with the assassination created a backlash against Oslo
   opponents and significantly boosted the chances of Shimon Peres,
   Rabin's successor and Oslo architect, to win the upcoming 1996
   elections. However, a new wave of suicide bombings combined with
   Arafat's statements extolling the Muslim nationalist militant Yahya
   Ayyash, made the public mood swing once again and in May 1996 Peres
   narrowly lost to his challenger from Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu.

   Although seen as a hard-liner opposing the Oslo Accords, Netanyahu
   withdrew from Hebron and signed the Wye River Memorandum giving wider
   control to the Palestinian National Authority. During Netanyahu's
   tenure, Israel experienced a lull in attacks against Israel's civilian
   population by Palestinian groups, but his government fell in 1999.
   Labor's Ehud Barak beat Netanyahu by a wide margin in the 1999
   elections and succeeded him as prime minister.

2000s

   Barak initiated unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. This
   process was intended to frustrate Hezbollah attacks on Israel by
   forcing them to cross Israel's border. Barak and Yassir Arafat once
   again conducted negotiations with President Clinton at the July 2000
   Camp David summit. However, the talks failed. Barak offered to form a
   Palestinian State initially on 73% of the West Bank and 100% of the
   Gaza Strip. In ten to twenty-five years, the West Bank area would
   expand to 90% (94% excluding greater Jerusalem).

   After the collapse of the talks, 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. The failure of the
   talks and the outbreak of a new war caused many Israelis on both the
   right and the left to turn away from Barak, and also discredited the
   peace movement.
   The Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
   Enlarge
   The Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

   Ariel Sharon became the new prime minister in March 2001 and
   consequently was re-elected, along with his Likud party in the Knesset
   elections of 2003. Sharon initiated a plan to unilaterally withdraw
   from the Gaza Strip. This disengagement was executed between August and
   September 2005.

   Israel also is building a West Bank Barrier to defend the country from
   attacks by Palestinian armed groups. The barrier, which is planned to
   measure 681 kilometers, meanders past the Green Line and effectively
   annexes 9.5% of the West Bank. The barrier has been met with criticism
   from the international community and numerous protest demonstrations by
   the Israeli far-left.

   After Ariel 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, Hebrew for "forward," won the most seats in
   the 2006 legislative elections.

   On June 28, 2006, Hamas militants dug a tunnel under the border from
   the Gaza Strip and attacked an IDF post, capturing an Israeli soldier
   and killing two others. In response, Israel began Operation Summer
   Rains, which consisted of heavy bombardment of Hamas targets as well as
   bridges, roads, and the only power station in Gaza. Israel has also
   deployed troops into the territory. Israel’s critics have accused it of
   disproportionate use of force and collective punishment of innocent
   civilians and not giving diplomacy a chance. Israel argues that they
   have no other option to get their soldier back and put an end to the
   rocket attacks into Israel.

   The 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict refers to the military conflict in
   Lebanon and northern Israel, primarily between Hezbollah and Israel,
   which started on 12 July 2006. The conflict began with a cross-border
   Hezbollah raid and shelling, which resulted in the capture of two and
   killing of three Israeli soldiers. Israel held the Lebanese government
   responsible for the attack, as it was carried out from Lebanese
   territory, and 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 at 05:00 UTC, 14 August 2006,
   although violations of the ceasefire have occurred from both sides. The
   conflict killed over one thousand Lebanese civilians, 440 Hezbollah
   militants, and 119 Israeli soldiers, as well as forty-four 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 completely destroyed.

Geography and climate

   Map of Israel
   Enlarge
   Map of Israel
   Relief map of Israel
   Enlarge
   Relief map of Israel

   Israel is bordered by Lebanon in the north, Syria and Jordan in the
   east, and Egypt in the south-west. It has coastlines on the
   Mediterranean 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 the
   Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, Gaza Strip
   (which was under Egyptian occupation), and Sinai from Egypt. It
   withdrew all troops and settlers from Sinai by 1982 and from the Gaza
   Strip by September 12, 2005. The future status of the West Bank, the
   Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights remains to be determined.

   The sovereign territory of Israel, excluding all territories captured
   by Israel in 1967, is 20,770 km² (8,019  mi²) in area (1% is water).
   The total area under Israeli law, including East Jerusalem and the
   Golan Heights, is 22,145 km² or 8,550 mi²; with a little less than one
   per cent being water. The total area under Israeli control, including
   the military-controlled and Palestinian-governed territory of the West
   Bank, is 28,023 km² (10,820 mi²) (~1% water).

   The climate of the coastal areas can be very different from that of the
   mountainous areas, particularly during the winter months. The high
   mountains in the north, like Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights, can get
   cold, wet and often snowy and even Jerusalem experiences snow spells
   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.
   Beach of Tel Aviv at sundown.
   Enlarge
   Beach of Tel Aviv at sundown.

Metropolitan areas

   As of 2006, The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics defines three
   metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv (population 3 million), Haifa (population
   980,600) and Jerusalem (the capital; population 706,368).

Government

   Israel is a democratic republic with universal suffrage that operates
   under the parliamentary system. According to the international data
   reported by Freedom House, the degree of political rights and civil
   liberties in Israel makes it the only liberal democracy in the Middle
   East, consisting of a multi-party system and separation of powers.
   Conversely, the research group Minorities at Risk (MAR) characterizes
   Israel's system of governance to be an "ethnic democracy", and notes
   that "the nationalism inherent in Israel’s foundation as a 'Jewish
   state' is at odds with its political basis of democratic governance
   vis-à-vis the Arab minority."

Legislature

   The Knesset building, Israel's parliament.
   Enlarge
   The Knesset building, Israel's parliament.

   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, via a proportional representation
   voting system. 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
   currently hold seats.

Executive

   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.

Constitution and legal system

   Israel has not completed a written constitution. Its government
   functions according to the laws of the Knesset, especially the " Basic
   Laws of Israel", of which there are presently fourteen. 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. The effort is still underway as of
   early 2006.

   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 stare decisis (precedent). It is an adversarial system,
   not an inquisitorial one, in the sense that the parties (for example,
   plaintiff and defendant) are the ones that bring the evidence before
   the court. The court does not conduct any independent investigation on
   the case.

   As in Continental legal systems, the jury system was not adopted in
   Israel. 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
   recently, and is planned to become a bill.

   Religious tribunals ( Jewish, Muslim, Druze and Christian) have
   exclusive jurisdiction on annulment of marriages.

Judiciary

   Frontal view of The Supreme Court building.
   Enlarge
   Frontal view of The Supreme Court building.

   Israel's Judiciary branch 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 five cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv,
   Haifa, Be'er Sheva and Nazareth.

   At the top of the judicial pyramid is the Supreme Court of Israel
   seated in Jerusalem. The current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is
   Dorit Beinisch. The Supreme Court 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 (HCOJ). The HCOJ has the unique
   responsibility of addressing petitions presented to the Court by
   individual citizens. The respondents to these petitions are usually
   governmental agencies (including the Israel Defense Forces). The result
   of such petitions, which are decided by the HCOJ, may be an instruction
   by the HCOJ to the relevant Governmental agency to act in a manner
   prescribed by the HCOJ.

   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 seventy. 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 occupied
   territories.

Military

   Israel's military consists of a unified Israel Defense Forces (IDF),
   known in Hebrew by the acronym Tzahal (צה"ל). Historically, there have
   been no separate Israeli military services. The Navy and Air Force are
   subordinate to the Army. There are other paramilitary agencies that
   deal with different aspects of Israel's security (such as Magav and
   Shin Bet). The IDF was based on paramilitary underground armies,
   chiefly Haganah.

   The IDF is one of the 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.
   In terms of personnel, the IDF's main resource is the training quality
   of its soldiers and expert institutions, rather than sheer numbers of
   soldiers. It also relies heavily on high-tech weapons systems, some
   developed and manufactured in Israel for its specific needs, and others
   imported (largely from the United States).

   Most Israelis (males and females) are drafted into the military at age
   18. Also immigrants sometimes volunteer to join the IDF. An exception
   are Israeli Arabs, most of whom are not conscripted because of a
   possible conflict of interests, due to the possibility of war with
   neighboring Arab states. Other exceptions are those who cannot serve
   because of injury or disability, women who declare themselves married,
   or those who are religiously observant. Compulsory service is three
   years for men, and two years for women. Circassians and Bedouin also
   actively enlist in the IDF. Since 1956, Druze men have been conscripted
   in the same way as Jewish men, at the request of the Druze community.
   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. This is the same policy as the Bedouin and many non-Jewish
   citizens of Israel.

   Following compulsory service, Israeli men become part of the IDF
   reserve forces, and are usually required to serve several weeks every
   year as reservists until their forties.

Nuclear capability

   There is much speculation regarding the nuclear capabilities of Israel.
   Since the middle of the twentieth century, the Negev Nuclear Research
   Centre has been operational and capable of producing weapons grade
   nuclear material. This site has never been under the watch of the
   International Atomic Energy Agency, so it is therefore widely believed
   that Israel has a significant stockpile of nuclear weapons. The IAEA
   has stated outright that it believes Israel "to be a state possessing
   nuclear weapons," but the Israeli government has never confirmed or
   denied this assertion. Although size of nuclear arsenal is debated, it
   is generally accepted that Israel possesses more than one hundred
   devices. Israel is not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
   Treaty.

   The supposed number of stationary nuclear weapons in 2002 is 200; Great
   Britain has 190.

   Data on Israeli nuclear deployment capability is much more freely
   available than hard data on their nuclear program. Israel leads the
   Middle East in medium-range ballistic missile development. The Jericho
   series of ballistic missile was begun in the 1970s, with three major
   designs built to date; Jericho I, II, and III. The Jericho II series
   has been in service since the mid 1980s and has a confirmed range of
   1500 km. The latest missile design, the Jericho III, has a conservative
   range estimate of 4500 km.

   In addition to ballistic missile technology, Israel maintains a fleet
   of Dolphin class submarines, widely suspected of having nuclear launch
   capability.

Economy

   Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial
   government participation. It depends on imports of fossil fuels ( crude
   oil, natural gas, and coal), grains, beef, raw materials, and military
   equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively
   developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20
   years. Israel is largely self-sufficient in food production except for
   grains and beef. Diamonds, high technology, military equipment,
   software, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and agricultural products
   (fruits, vegetables and flowers) are leading exports. Israel usually
   posts sizable current account deficits, which are covered by large
   transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans (although some
   economists would say the deficit is a sign of Israel's advancing
   markets). Israel possesses extensive facilities for oil refining,
   diamond polishing, and semiconductor fabrication. According to
   international data reported by the World Bank, Israel has the best
   regulations for businesses and strongest protections of property rights
   in the Greater Middle East.

   Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the United
   States, which is its major source of economic and military aid. A
   relatively large fraction of Israel's external debt is held by
   individual investors, via the Israel Bonds program. The combination of
   American loan guarantees and direct sales to individual investors,
   allow the state to borrow at competitive and sometimes below-market
   rates.
   A main business district in Gush Dan where the diamond stock exchange
   is located.
   Enlarge
   A main business district in Gush Dan where the diamond stock exchange
   is located.

   The influx of Jewish immigrants from the former USSR topped 750,000
   during the period 1989–1999, bringing the population of Israel from the
   former Soviet Union to one million, one-sixth of the total population,
   many of them highly educated, adding scientific and professional
   expertise of substantial value for the economy's future. The influx,
   coupled with the opening of new markets at the end of the Cold War,
   energized Israel's economy, which grew rapidly in the early 1990s. But
   growth began slowing in 1996 when the government imposed tighter fiscal
   and monetary policies and the immigration bonus petered out. Those
   policies brought inflation down to record low levels in 1999.

   Twenty-four percent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees,
   ranking Israel third in the industrialized world after the United
   States and Netherlands. Twelve percent hold advanced degrees.

   The important diamond industry has been affected by changing industry
   conditions and shifts of certain industry activities to the Far East.

   As Israel has liberalized its economy and reduced taxes and spending,
   the gap between the rich and poor has grown. As of 2005, 20.5% of
   Israeli families (and 34% of Israeli children) are living below the
   poverty line, though around 40% of those are lifted above the poverty
   line through transfer payments .

   Israel's GDP per capita, as of 28 July 2005, was $20,551.20 per person
   (42nd in the world). Israel's overall productivity was $54,510.40, and
   the amount of patents granted was 74/1,000,000 people.

   Population at end of September 2006: 7,082.0 thousand (7.1 million

   Number of Israeli persons employed (2006, second quarter): 2,565.6
   thousand (2.6 million).

   As of August 2006 average monthly wages per employee were: 7,521
   Shekels or 1,749 USD.

   Private consumption expenditure per capita (2006, second quarter):
   12,208 Shekels or 2,839 USD.

   Percent of unemployed persons (2006, first quarter): 8.7%

Science and technology

   Weizmann Institute of Science
   Enlarge
   Weizmann Institute of Science

   Israeli contributions to science and technology have been significant.
   Since the establishment of the State of Israel, Israel has worked in
   science and engineering. Israeli scientists have contributed in the
   areas of genetics, computer sciences, electronics, optics, engineering
   and other high-tech industries. Israeli science is well known for its
   military technology, as well as its work in advancing fields such as
   agriculture, physics, and medicine .

   Four Israelis have won science Nobel Prizes. Biologists Avram Hershko
   and Aaron Ciechanover of the Technion shared the Chemistry prize in
   2004. Israeli-American psychologist Daniel Kahneman had previously won
   the 2002 prize in Economics. In 2005, Robert Aumann from The Hebrew
   University also won the prize in Economics.

   High technology industries have taken a pre-eminent role in the
   economy, particularly in the last decade. 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, communications and the life sciences, Israel is frequently
   referred to as a second Silicon Valley.

   Israel (as of 2004) receives more venture capital investment than any
   country of Europe, and has the largest VC/GDP rate in the world, seven
   times that of the United States . Israel has the largest number of
   startup companies in the world after the United States . Outside the
   U.S. and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed
   companies. Israel also has the highest percentage in the world of home
   computers per Capita .

   Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other
   nation: 109 per 10,000 people. It also boasts one of the highest per
   capita rates of patents filed.

   Israel is ranked third in Research and development spending; eighth in
   technological readiness (companies spending on R&D, the creativity of
   its scientific community, personal computer and internet penetration
   rates); eleventh in innovation; sixteenth in high technology exports;
   and seventeenth in technological achievement in Nation Master's list of
   countries in the world by economy standards.
   Sand Mountains in the Negev.
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   Sand Mountains in the Negev.
   Landscape in the Golan Heights.
   Enlarge
   Landscape in the Golan Heights.

   Tourism

   Another leading industry is tourism, which benefits from the plethora
   of important historical sites for Judaism and Christianity and from
   Israel's warm climate and access to water resources. 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.

Population

Demographics

   Israeli Bedouin soldiers chat with Arab civilians in Galilee, 1978.
   Enlarge
   Israeli Bedouin soldiers chat with Arab civilians in Galilee, 1978.

   According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, as of May 2006, of
   Israel's 7 million people, 77% were Jews, 18.5% Arabs, and 4.3%
   "others". Among Jews, 68% were Sabras (Israeli-born), mostly second or
   third-generation Israelis, and the rest are olim: 22% from Europe and
   the Americas, and 10% from Asia and Africa, including the Arab
   countries.

   Israel has two official languages: Hebrew and Arabic. Hebrew is the
   major and primary language of the state and is spoken by the majority
   of the population. Arabic is spoken by the Arab minority and by some
   members of the Mizrahi Jewish community. English is studied in school
   and is spoken by the majority of the population as a second language.
   Other languages spoken in Israel 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.

   As of 2004, 224,200 Israeli citizens lived in the West Bank in numerous
   Israeli settlements, (including towns such as Ma'ale Adummim and Ariel,
   and a handful of communities that were present long before the 1948
   Arab-Israeli War and were re-established after the Six-Day War such as
   Hebron and Gush Etzion). Around 180,000 Israelis lived in East
   Jerusalem, which came under Israeli law following its capture from
   Jordan during the Six-Day War. About 8,500 Israelis lived in
   settlements built in the Gaza Strip, prior to their forcible removal by
   the government in the summer of 2005 as part of Israel's unilateral
   disengagement plan.

Culture of Israel

   The culture of Israel is inseparable from long history of Judaism and
   Jewish history which preceded it.

   Tel Aviv, Haifa, 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.

   Israel has artist colonies in Safed, Jaffa, and Ein Hod.

   Of the three major repertory companies, the most famous, Habima
   Theatre, was founded in 1917.

   Israel remains the most advanced and tolerant country in the Middle
   East in terms of gay rights.

Education

   Israel is the most educated country in the Greater Middle East and
   Western Asia, and is tied with South Korea as the most educated in the
   entire Asian continent. It is also ranked quite highly in relation to
   the rest of the world (#22).

   Israel boasts the highest literacy rate in the Middle East.

   Out of all countries in the Middle East and Western Asia, tiny Israel
   has by far the largest amount of Yale University alumni, one of the
   most prestigious and competitive schools in the world.

   Of the top ten universities in the Middle East, seven out of ten are in
   Israel, including all top four. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is
   the only university in the Middle East that holds the honour of being
   ranked in the Webometrics premier top 200 of the world. It is markedly
   uncommon for this honour to be earned by schools outside of North
   America and Europe. Israel is the only country in the Middle East (and
   one of only two in Asia, the other being Japan) that is home to a
   university listed in SJTU's Top 100 Academic Ranking of World
   Universities (Hebrew University, #60).

   The education system in Israel, up to secondary education level,
   consists of three tiers: the primary education (grades 1-6), followed
   by a 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 a multitude of
   subjects, some of them mandatory (Hebrew language, English language,
   mathematics, Bible studies, civics and literature), and some optional
   (e.g. Chemistry, Music, French).

   In 2003, 56.4% of Israeli grade 12 students received a matriculation
   certificate: 57.4% in the Hebrew sector and 50.7% in the Arab sector.

   Any Israeli with a full matriculation certificate can proceed to higher
   education, as in any country. Institutions generally require a certain
   grade average, as well as a good grade in the psychometric exam
   (similar to the American SAT). All universities, and some colleges, are
   subsidized by the state, and students pay only a small part of the
   actual cost as tuition.

   Israel has eight universities, one of them open, and several dozen
   colleges

Sports

   Gal Fridman won Israel's first gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
   Enlarge
   Gal Fridman won Israel's first gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

   Sports in Israel, as in other countries, are an important part of the
   national culture. The Israeli sporting culture is much like that of
   European countries. Israeli athletics go back as far as before the
   establishment of the state of Israel. While football (soccer) and
   basketball are considered the most popular sports in Israel, the nation
   has reached many achievements in other sports, such as handball and
   athletics, and Israelis are also involved in hockey, rugby, wide
   variety of other athletic activities and even chess.

   To date Israel has won six Olympic medals.

Literature

   Israeli literature is mostly written in Hebrew and the history of
   Israeli literature is mostly the product of 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.

Music

   Infected Mushroom
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   Infected Mushroom

   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 the Diaspora and makes use of modern cultural
   importation as well. Hassidic songs, Asian and Arab pop, especially
   Yemenite singers, hip hop and heavy metal are all part of musical
   scene.

   Israel's canonical folk songs often deal with Zionist hopes and dreams
   and glorify the life of idealistic Jewish youth who intend on building
   a home and defending their homeland. These are usually known as שירי
   ארץ ישראל ("Songs of the land of Israel").

   Israel is well known for its famous classical orchestras and the
   Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra under the management of Zubin Mehta has
   a worldwide reputation. Dudu Fisher, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas
   Zukerman are some of the more renowned classical musicians from Israel.

   Music styles popular in Israel include pop, rock, heavy metal, hip hop
   and rap, trance (especially Goa trance and psychedelic trance),
   Oriental Mizrahi music and ethnic music of various sorts.

   Israel has won the Eurovision Song Contest three times.

Religion

   According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of
   2005, 76% of Israelis were Jews by religion (Judaism), 19.7% were Arabs
   (including Muslims, Christians and Druze) and the remaining 4.3%
   "others" (including mostly family members of FSU immigrants and some '
   ethnic Jews' which were not classified by religion, as well as non-Arab
   Christians).

   Roughly 12% of Israeli Jews defined as haredim (ultra-orthodox
   religious); an additional 9% are "religious"; 35% consider themselves
   "traditionalists" (not strictly adhering to Jewish Halakha); and 43%
   are "secular" (termed "hiloni"). Among the seculars, 53% believe in
   God. However, 78% of all Israelis participate in a Passoverseder.

   Israelis tend not to align themselves with a movement of Judaism (such
   as Reform Judaism or Conservative Judaism) but instead tend to define
   their religious affiliation by degree of their religious practice.

   Among Arab Israelis, 82.6% were Muslim, 8.8% were Christian and 8.4%
   were Druze.

   There is a small community of mostly Indian-born Ahmadi Muslims in the
   country. Up to fourteen diverse Buddhist groups are presently active in
   Israel, catering to Israeli Jubus as well as a tiny number of
   Vietnamese Buddhists who came to Israel as refugees from the crisis in
   their homeland and were granted citizenship.

   The Baha'i world centre, which includes the Universal House of Justice,
   in Haifa attracts pilgrimage from all over the world. Apart from a few
   hundred staff, Baha'is do not live in Israel.

Human rights

   The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel proclaimed
   that the state "...will foster the development of the country for the
   benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice
   and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure
   complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants
   irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of
   religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will
   safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to
   the principles of the Charter of the United Nations." 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% of Israel's population. In 2005 Israel's interior
   minister Ophir Pines-Paz termed the country's policy toward its Arab
   citizens "institutional discrimination."

   According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Sephardi Jews "have long
   charged that they suffered social and economic discrimination at the
   hands of the state's Ashkenazi establishment."

   Various countries, international bodies, non-governmental organizations
   and individuals have evaluated and often criticized Israel's human
   rights record, often in relation to the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict
   and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Groups such as Amnesty
   International and Human Rights Watch are highly critical of Israel's
   policies. In turn, these groups were accused of anti-Israel bias: in
   the AI, in the HRW. According to the 2005 US Department of State report
   on Israel, "The government generally respected the human rights of its
   citizens; however, there were problems in some areas..." In 2006, the
   Freedom House rated political rights in Israel as "1" (1 representing
   the most free and 7 the least free rating), civil liberties as "2" and
   gave it the freedom rating of "Free." Other areas, controlled by Israel
   through military occupation but not considered with the country's main
   territory were rated as "6," "5," and "Not Free." Most of the countries
   in the Middle East were classified as "Not Free." Btselem, 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.

   Within Israel, policies of its government are often subjected to
   criticism from the left and right by its press (the only country ranked
   "Free" (28 on the scale 1-100) in the region in 2005 by Freedom House)
   as well as by a vast variety of political, human rights and watchdog
   groups such as Association for Civil Rights in Israel, B'Tselem,
   Machsom Watch, Women in Black, Women for Israel's Tomorrow, among
   others. According to the Reporters Without Borders, "The Israeli media
   were once again in 2005 the only ones in the region that had genuine
   freedom to speak out." RWB ranked Israel 47th out of 167 countries in
   freedom of the press (just behind the United States at 44th), the
   highest of any country in the Middle East.

Foreign relations

   High priorities in the foreign policy of Israel include seeking an end
   to hostilities with Arab forces and gaining wide acceptance as a
   sovereign state with an important international role.

   The State of Israel joined the United Nations on May 11, 1949 (see
   Israel and the United Nations). Today, Israel has diplomatic relations
   with 161 states.

   Israel is a member of many international agencies and organizations and
   a member of the Mediterranean Dialogue with NATO.

Neighbouring countries

   Mediterranean Sea Flag of Lebanon  Lebanon Flag of Syria  Syria
   North Flag of Jordan  Jordan
   West    Flag of Israel  Israel     East
   South
   Flag of Egypt  Egypt Red Sea Red Sea  Image:Template
   CanadianCityGeoLocation East.png   Flag of Saudi Arabia  Saudi Arabia

   Countries in Southwest Asia

   Armenia • Azerbaijan • Bahrain • Cyprus • Georgia • Iran • Iraq •
   Israel • Jordan • Kuwait Lebanon • Oman • Qatar • Saudi Arabia • Syria
   • Turkey • United Arab Emirates • Yemen
   Countries and territories of the Middle East

   Bahrain • Cyprus • Egypt • Iran • Iraq • Israel • Jordan • Kuwait •
   Lebanon • Oman • Palestinian territories • Qatar • Saudi Arabia •
   Syria • Turkey ( disputed) • United Arab Emirates • Yemen
   Countries of Asia

   Afghanistan • Armenia • Azerbaijan ^1 • Bahrain • Bangladesh • Bhutan •
   Brunei • Cambodia • People's Republic of China ^2 • Cyprus • East Timor
   ^3 • Georgia ^1 • India • Indonesia ^3 • Iran • Iraq • Israel • Japan •
   Jordan • Kazakhstan ^1 • Kuwait • Kyrgyzstan • Laos • Lebanon •
   Malaysia • Maldives • Mongolia • Myanmar • Nepal • North Korea • Oman •
   Pakistan • Philippines • Qatar • Russia ^1 • Saudi Arabia • Singapore •
   South Korea • Sri Lanka • Syria • Tajikistan • Thailand • Turkey ^1 •
   Turkmenistan • United Arab Emirates • Uzbekistan • Vietnam • Yemen

   For dependent and other territories, see Dependent territory and List
   of unrecognized countries.

   ^1 Partly in Europe. ^2 The Republic of China (Taiwan) not officially
   recognized by the United Nations; see Political status of Taiwan.
   ^3 Partly or wholly reckoned in Oceania.
   Countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea

   Albania • Algeria • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Croatia • Cyprus • Egypt •
   France • Greece • Israel • Italy • Lebanon • Libya • Malta • Monaco •
   Montenegro • Morocco • Slovenia • Spain • Syria • Tunisia • Turkey

   For dependent and other territories, see Dependent territory and List
   of unrecognized countries.
   Countries on the Red Sea

   Flag of Djibouti  Djibouti • Flag of Egypt  Egypt • Flag of Eritrea
   Eritrea • Flag of Israel  Israel • Flag of Jordan  Jordan • Flag of
   Saudi Arabia  Saudi Arabia • Flag of Somalia  Somalia •
   Flag of Sudan  Sudan • Flag of Yemen  Yemen
   Countries and territories on the Indian Ocean

   Eurasia: Bahrain • Bangladesh • Christmas Island • Cocos (Keeling)
   Islands • India • Indonesia • Iran • Iraq • Israel • Kuwait • Malaysia
   • Maldives • Myanmar • Oman • Pakistan • Qatar • Saudi Arabia • Sri
   Lanka • Thailand • United Arab Emirates • Yemen

   Africa: Comoros • Djibouti • Eritrea • Kenya • Madagascar • Mauritius •
   Mayotte • Mozambique • Seychelles • Somalia • Somaliland • South Africa
   • Sudan • Tanzania

   Oceania: Australia • Christmas Island • Cocos (Keeling) Islands

   Islands: Bahrain • Christmas Island • Cocos (Keeling) Islands •
   Madagascar • Maldives • Mauritius • Mayotte • Seychelles • Sri Lanka
   Semitic-speaking nations

   Arabic and Maltese

   Flag of Algeria  Algeria • Flag of Bahrain  Bahrain • Flag of Egypt
   Egypt • Flag of Iraq  Iraq • Flag of Jordan  Jordan • Flag of Kuwait
   Kuwait • Flag of Lebanon  Lebanon • Flag of Libya  Libya • Flag of
   Malta  Malta • Flag of Mauritania  Mauritania • Flag of Morocco
   Morocco • Flag of Oman  Oman • Flag of Palestinian National Authority
   Palestine • Flag of Qatar  Qatar • Flag of Saudi Arabia  Saudi Arabia •
   Flag of Sudan  Sudan • Flag of Syria  Syria • Flag of Tunisia  Tunisia
   • Flag of United Arab Emirates  United Arab Emirates • Flag of Western
   Sahara  Western Sahara • Flag of Yemen  Yemen

   Northwest Semitic ( Aramaic and Hebrew)

   Flag of Iraq  Iraq • Flag of Israel  Israel • Flag of Syria  Syria

   South Semitic

   Flag of Eritrea  Eritrea • Flag of Ethiopia  Ethiopia • Flag of Oman
   Oman • Flag of Yemen  Yemen

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
