- For alternate meanings, see Israel
(disambiguation)
The State of Israel (Hebrew:
מדינת ישראל, translit.: Medinat Yisra'el; Arabic:
دولة اسرائيل, translit.: Daulat Isra'il) is a country in
the Middle East on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a parliamentary democracy and, by national policy, a
"Jewish state." The Israeli population is predominantly Jewish with a large non-Jewish minority, mostly comprising Muslim,
Christian, and Druze Arabs. The territory Israel controls, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, borders (clockwise from north
to south) the states of Lebanon, Syria,
Jordan, and Egypt. Israel shares the coastlines
of the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Aqaba (also known as Gulf of Eilat), and the Dead
Sea.
History
Main article History of Israel
Historical roots
Jews have long considered Israel to be their national home — as a Holy
Land and a Promised Land. The Land of Israel holds a special place in
Jewish religious obligations, including the remains of the Second Temple.
It is also the place where Christianity was born, and contains many other
sites of great spiritual significance in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. A series of Jewish kingdoms and states existed intermittently in the region for over a
millennium until the failure of the Great Jewish Revolt
against the Roman Empire ended up with widescale expulsion of Jews from
their homeland and beloved capital, Jerusalem (about 25% of the Jewish
population, see Destruction of Jerusalem and in
"Propyläen der Weltgeschichte", ed. Golo Mann). After crushing Bar Kokhba's revolt in 135, Emperor Hadrian renamed Provincia Judaea to Provincia Syria Palaestina, a Greek name derived from Philistine (Hebrew
פלשת Pəléšeṯ). [1] (http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_early_palestine_name_origin.php) See also Names of the Levant.
Caliphate and the Ottoman Empire
The Muslim Caliphate conquered the
land from the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantines) in the seventh
century and attracted Arab settlers. The local language, Aramaic, gradually disappeared. Throughout the centuries the size of Jewish population in the land fluctuated.
Before the birth of modern Zionism, by the early 19th century, more than 10,000 Jews
lived in the area that is today's Israel. (Dan Bahat, Twenty Centuries of Jewish Life in the Holy Land, 1976, pp.
61-63)
Modern Zionism
Following centuries of Diaspora, the nineteenth century saw the rise of Zionism, the Jewish
national movement, a desire to see the creation of a Jewish political entity in Palestine, and significant immigration. Zionism remained a minority movement until the rise
of Nazism in 1933 and the subsequent attempted
extermination of the Jewish people in the Shoah, or Holocaust, in which over six million Jews lost their lives. In the late 1800's large numbers of Jews began moving
to the Turkish and later British-controlled region (the British Mandate of Palestine). In 1917, the British endorsed a Jewish homeland in Mandate
Palestine by issuing the Balfour Declaration.
The Jewish population in the region increased from 11% of the population in 1922 to 30% by
1940[2] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/78601.stm).
British Mandate
In 1937, following the Great Arab
Revolt, the partition plan proposed by the Peel Commission was
rejected by the Palestinian Arab leadership, but accepted tentatively (http://www.multied.com/bio/people/BenGurion.html) by Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion. This
was notable, as Ben-Gurion showed a willingness to essentially accept about 1/3 of the land that would ultimately be won by
Israel in the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli war. As a result, in 1939, the British gave in to Arab
pressure because of support needed for WW2, abandoned the idea of a Jewish national homeland, and abandoned partition and
negotiations in favour of the unilaterally-imposed White Paper of
1939, which capped Jewish immigration, and subjected it to review under further agreement with the Arabs. Its other stated
policy was to establish a system under which both Jews and Arabs were to share one government. The policy was viewed as a
significant defeat for the Jewish side, as it placed severe restrictions on Jewish immigration, while placing no practical
restrictions on Arab immigration from surrounding Arab states. Due to these limitations, it was predicted that the proposed
government would be dominated by the Arab side. As a result of the impending Second World War, the plan was never fully implemented, but the White Paper of 1939 policy was implemented well into the end of WW2, and enforced even when Holocaust survivors were fleeing from Nazi
persecution (See Struma).
Declaration of Independence
In 1947, following increasing levels of violence by militant groups, alongside
unsuccessful efforts to reconcile the Jewish and Arab populations, the British government withdrew from the Palestine Mandate.
Fulfillment of the 1947 UN Partition Plan would have
divided the mandated territory into two states, Jewish and Arab, giving about half the land area to each state. Under this plan,
Jerusalem was intended to be an international region under UN administration to
avoid conflict over its status. Immediately following the adoption of the Partition Plan by the United Nations General Assembly,
the Palestinian Arab leadership rejected the plan to create the as-yet-unnamed Jewish state and launched a guerilla war.
On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was
proclaimed. Hoping to annihilate the new Jewish state, the armies of six Arab nations attacked the fledgling state (see: Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel,
May 14, 1948, 1948 Arab-Israeli War). Israel captured
an additional 26% of the Mandate territory west of the Jordan river and annexed it to the new state. Jordan captured about 21% of
the Mandate territory (which became known as the West Bank), including parts of
Jerusalem that included the old city and eastern environments and separated the city into West and East Jerusalem. Jordan's annexation of those territories in 1950 was recognized
only by the United Kingdom and Pakistan. The Gaza Strip was captured by Egypt and came under
its control.
Basis for the conflict
After the war, 14-25% (depending on the estimate) of the Arab population remained in Israel, the rest fled during the war. The
continuing conflict between Israel and the Arab world resulted in a lasting displacement that persists to this day; see Palestinian refugee and Palestinian Exodus for a discussion of the circumstances. Immigration of Holocaust survivors and Jews
from Arab lands doubled Israel's population within one year of independence. Over the following decade approximately 600,000
Mizrahi Jews, who fled or were expelled from surrounding Arab countries, came
to Israel, along with Jews from Iran and Europe. Israel's Jewish population continued to grow at a very high rate for some years,
fed by further waves of Jewish immigration, most notably
recently following the collapse of the USSR.
In 1957, at the UN, 17 maritime powers declared that Israel had a right to transit the Strait of Tiran. Moreover, the Egyptian blockade prior to the
1956 Suez War violated the Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone, which was
adopted by the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea on April 27, 1958. On May 23rd, 1967, Egypt again
cut off the Straits of Tiran (Israel's main shipping route to Asia
and other major places of trade) to Israeli shipping, and also blockaded the port of Eilat. Egypt ordered United Nations peacekeeping forces to leave the Sinai, and in their place, Egyptian tanks and
troops were concentrated on the border with Israel. In accordance with international law (United Nations Conference on the Law of
the Sea, (Geneva: UN Publications 1958, pp. 132-134.), Israel considered the blockade of its port a casus belli, and launched an attack on Egypt, especially the Egyptian Air Force.
Hostilities came to include Jordan (after Jordan reluctantly chose to dismiss Israeli appeals for neutrality and undertook
shelling of Tel Aviv in adherence to its defense treaty with Egypt), Syria, and the
Iraqi air force. This was the Six-Day War (June 5 - 10, 1967), during which
Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. In
1978 Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt under the Camp David Accords, and in 1981 Israel annexed East Jerusalem. The status of the West Bank and Gaza, populated mostly by
Palestinians with some Israeli settlers, is also undecided and has been the focus of several unsuccessful peace conferences (see
Geography below for more).
The status of the Golan Heights is currently the subject of a
territorial dispute between Israel and Syria who are still in a technical state of war
with each other. The Heights, originally part of the British Mandate of Palestine and ceded to the French Mandate of Syria in the early 1920s, were officially annexed by Israel in 1981, although
United Nations Security Council Resolution 497 deemed Israel's annexation "null and void and without international legal
effect".
In the years since 1948, Israel and the
United Nations have often suffered an adversarial relationship. The UN General Assembly passed the non-binding Resolution 194 in December 1948, granting a conditional "right of return" to Palestinian refugees - however, the resolution only refers to "refugees", arguably implying that it was
intended for both Arab and Jewish refugee populations. UN Security Council Resolution 242 (November 1967), calls for "withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from
territories occupied in the recent conflict" (Six-Day war); and UN Security Council Resolution 446 (March
1979), declared settlements on the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Golan
Heights to be illegal. While most of the 65 Security Council and General Assembly resolutions passed against Israeli actions,
and the 41 Security Council resolutions vetoed by the United States, have had near universal support in the UN (often with the
United States and Israel near alone among the dissenting), supporters of Israel claim that the resolutions often misconstrue
International Law, that their supporters selectively apply them, and that the assemblies themselves are biased.
Israel is the only state that is barred from joining any of the five geographical groupings that would make it eligible for
Security Council membership according to accepted practice. It has indefinite temporary membership of the "Western Europe and
Others" group but agreed to not seek UNSC membership on that basis. More than half of the UN's emergency meetings have been to
respond to the regional crisis.
See also:
Wars
The refusal of Arab countries to recognize the establishment of the State of Israel, in 1948 has been a source of repeated wars and other conflicts with Arab nations such
as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The state of war between Egypt and Israel ended with the signing of
the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty on March 26, 1979. The state of war with Jordan officially ended with the signing of the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace on October
26, 1994. Sporadic negotiations with Lebanon and Syria, Israel's remaining belligerent neighbours, have not as
yet resulted in peace treaties. Israel is currently also embroiled in an ongoing conflict with Palestinians in
the territories controlled since the Six Day War in 1967, despite the signing of the Oslo Accords on September 13, 1993, and the ongoing efforts
of Israeli, Palestinian and global peacemakers.
See also:
Politics and Law
Main article Politics of Israel
Israel is a parliamentary democracy based on universal suffrage and proportional representation. Israel's legislative branch is a
120-member parliament known as the Knesset. Membership in the Knesset is allocated to parties based on their proportion of the vote. Elections to the
Knesset are normally held every four years, but the Knesset can decide to dissolve
itself ahead of time by a simple majority.
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.2
The Judiciary branch of Israel is made of a three-tier system of courts: at the lowest level are the Magistrate Courts. Above
them, serving both as an appelate court and as a court of first instance are the District Courts. At the top of the judicial
pyramid is the Supreme Court. Judges in Israel retire at the age of 70 and are appointed by a committee made up of
representatives of the Knesset, Supreme Court justices and the Israeli Bar. The Israeli Supreme Court is regarded by many as
Israel's guardian of civil rights, but by others as the most activist Supreme Court in the world [3] (http://www.yaleisraeljournal.com/fall2003/courts.php).
Israel has not completed a written constitution. Its government is based
on the laws of the Knesset, especially by "Basic Laws of Israel", which are special laws (currently there are 15 of them), by the Knesset
legislature which will become the future official constitution. The declaration of the State of Israel has a significance
in this matter as well. Israel's legal system is a western legal system best classified as "mixed": it has a strong
Anglo-American influence, but in some parts has borrowed heavily from civil law tradition. Marital issues are governed by
religious law.
Because of its Proportional representation
electoral system, coalitions in the Knesset can often be unstable and are usually made up of at least two parties. Coalitions can
be difficult to form and hard to keep together because of the large number of political parties, many of whom run on very
specialized platforms, often advocating the tenets of particular interest groups such as religious sects.
In the past thirty years, the largest parties have been the conservative Likud Party
and the Social-democrat Labour Party. However, they do not
attract sufficient support to govern without the help of smaller parties such as Shas, a
Sephardi Haredi party
which has a network of religious schools, and supports social spending; Shinui, a
secularist party that sees itself representing Israel's middle class and a foe of religious (particularly Haredi) parties, and
works to reduce social spending; the National Union Party,
a far-right party advocating "transfer" of Palestinian
refugees to resettle in Arab countries; the Mafdal - the national religious party,
affiliated with religious Zionists (kipot srugot); and Yachad (former Meretz), a social-democratic party which is
supportive of the Palestinian cause. Most governments have so far avoided forming a coalition with parties representative of the
Palestinian minority, such as the Arab-Jewish communist Hadash party, the
Arab-nationalist Balad party or the conservative-Islamic bloc United Arab List party
Raam. Exceptions were the 'external' coalition
agreements between Yitzhak Rabin's second government and Hadash and Raam,
which were declared de facto coalition agreements by the Israeli Supreme Court.
Parties of the left dominated Israel's elections until 1974, when following the 1973 War the ruling Labour party began to lose
popularity. On the right, the Likud party was formed by a union of the Liberals and the nationalistic Herut party. The beginning
of right-wing dominance in Israeli politics began in 1977 with the ascendance of Likud's Menachem Begin as prime minister. With the exception of the Labour-Meretz coalitions between 1992-1996 and
1999-2001, the Likud continued to form most Israeli governments since 1977, sometimes in coalition with the Labour Party. In
2003, left-wing parties fared poorly in elections won by Likud government of prime minister Ariel Sharon.
The premiership of Ariel Sharon is one of the most controversial since Israel's founding, with hostility emanating from both
Left and Right. In 1983, the Israeli Kahan Commission found Ariel Sharon "indirectly responsible" for the 1982 Phalangist-led Sabra and Shatila
Massacre, leading to his dismissal as Defence Minister by Menachem
Begin. Some of his military tactics, such as repeated assassinations of Palestinian leaders and military operations in the
West Bank and Gaza, have come under fire
from the Israeli self described "peace movement" (see Peace Now and Jews For Peace) and sections of the
international community, such as the European Union. On the Right, his
acceptance in principle to establish a "state of Palestine" and his call for the evacuation of all communities in the Gaza
Strip and some isolated outposts in the West Bank is opposed by nationalist organisations, the Orthodox religious parties and many in his own Likud party.
Sharon's supporters see his strategy as having reduced the threat of Palestinian terrorism, and as laying the basis for a lasting peace in the Middle East by resolving the "Palestinian problem" with finality.
See also: List of political
parties in Israel
Military
Main article Military of Israel
Israel's military consists of a unified Israel Defense
Forces (IDF), known in Hebrew by the acronym Tzahal.
Historically, there have been no separate Israeli military services. The Navy and Air Force are subordinate to the Army. There are other paramilitary government agencies which deal with
different aspects of Israel's security (such as MAGAV and the Shin Bet). See further discussion: Israel Security Forces.
The IDF is considered the strongest military force in the Middle East, and
relies heavily on technology, training, and conscription. Most of Israel's military hardware is donated by the United States and frequently enhanced by Israel's own military industries.
Most Israelis, males and females, are conscripted into the military at the age
of 18. Exceptions are Israeli Arabs, pacifists, and women who declare
themselves religiously observant. Compulsory service is three years for men, and 20 months for women. Circassians and Bedouin 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, although there has been some change in Haredi society, with a small group of
single Haredi annually joining in to serve in various fields.
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 40s.
Israel is widely regarded as being an undeclared nuclear power — it operates nuclear facilities and is generally
believed to be in possession of nuclear weapons. Because it is not a
signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Israel
rejects international inspections of its purported nuclear facilities and maintains a public policy of "nuclear ambiguity". For
further information, see: Israel and weapons of mass destruction.
Israel is formally at war with Iraq, Syria,
Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon. A 1973 armistice agreement governs relations
with its most immediate military adversary, Syria, and a de facto armistice persists with the other states as well. The chances
for peace negotiations and/or full diplomatic relations with most Arab nations appear a more likely prospect once an independent
Palestine is established.
Geography
Main article: Geography of Israel
Israel, located in Southwest Asia, is a country whose exact
territorial boundaries and borders are widely disputed. It is also considered to be one of the fifteen states that comprise the
so-called Cradle of Humanity. The total
area—excluding East Jerusalem and other territories taken over by
Israel in the 1967 war—is 20,770 square km; the total
area—including the aforementioned territories—is 22,145 square km.
The territories taken over by Israel since the 1967 war are not included in the Israel
country profile, unless otherwise noted. In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations are
being conducted between Israeli and Palestinian representatives (from the Israeli-controlled West Bank and Gaza Strip) to achieve a permanent settlement.
These talks generated the Oslo Accords in 1993, which established mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO, and granted
the new Palestinian Authority partial autonomy in areas
of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Talks were also held between Israel and Syria. On
April 25, 1982, Israel withdrew from the
Sinai Peninsula pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.
Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace.
Administrative districts
Main article: Districts of Israel
6 districts (mehozot; singular, mehoz) and 13 sub-districts (nafot; singular, nafa)
See also List of cities in
Israel.
Economy
Main article: Economy of Israel
Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports of crude
oil and gas, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed
its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel is largely self-sufficient in food production except for
grains. Diamonds, high-technology and military equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are leading exports.
Israel usually posts sizable current account deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign
loans. Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the U.S., which is its
major source of economic and military aid. The influx of Jewish immigrants from the former USSR topped 750,000 during the period
1989-1999, bringing the population of Israel from the
former Soviet Union to 1 million, one-sixth of the total population, and
adding scientific and professional expertise of substantial value for the economy's future. The influx, coupled with the opening
of new markets at the end of the Cold War, energized Israel's economy, which grew
rapidly in the early 1990s. But growth began slowing in 1996 when the government imposed tighter fiscal and monetary policies and the immigration bonus petered out. Those
policies brought inflation down to record low levels in 1999.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Israel
As of 2001, 81% of Israel's population (excluding the non-Jewish population of the West Bank and Gaza, but including Jewish
settlers in those areas, as the Israeli Central Bureau for Statistics calculates it) is ethnically Jewish. Among Jews, 26% have at least one Israeli-born parent, 37% are first-generation Israelis, 27% are immigrants
from the West, and 11% are from Asia and Africa, including the Arab countries.[4] (http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton53/st02_21x.pdf)
6% of Israeli Jews define themselves as haredim (ultra-orthodox religious);
an additional 9% are "religious"; 34% consider themselves "traditionalists" (not strictly adhering to Jewish halacha) ; and 51% are "secular". Among the seculars, 53% believe in God.[5] (http://www.geocities.com/demokratya/dat/shavit.htm)
Arabs make up 18% of Israel's population. Within this group is a
minority of Palestinian Christians who make up 9% of the
Israeli Arab population.[6] (http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton53/st02_01.pdf)
There are also a number of smaller minorities, including Druze (1.5%), Circassians, and a tiny Armenian
community.
As of 31 December 2003, 224,200
Israeli citizens live in the West Bank in communities established before the 1948
Arab-Israeli War and re-established after the Six-Day War, and in
numerous towns and settlements. All but a few of these were
new settlements, established after Israel took control following the Six-Day
War in 1967, and assisted in their development by government funding and military
protection. This number does not include Israelis in "East Jerusalem",
which was captured by Jordan in 1948, and annexed
by it from 1950 to 1967. About 7,500 Israelis live in
communities built in the Gaza Strip. [7] (http://www.cbs.gov.il/population/new_2003/tab_1.pdf).
See also:
Culture and religion
Main article: Culture of Israel
Holidays and events
| Date |
English Name |
Local Name |
Range of possible dates
in Gregorian calendar |
| Tishrei 1 |
New Year |
Rosh Hashanah |
between Sept 6 & Oct 5 |
| Tishrei 10 |
Day of Atonement |
Yom Kippur |
between Sept 15 & Oct 14 |
| Tishrei 15 |
Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) |
Sukkot |
between Sept 20 & Oct 19 |
| Tishrei 22 |
Assembly of the Eighth Day |
Shemini Atzeret |
between Sept 27 & Oct 26 |
| Nissan 15 |
Passover |
Pesach |
between March 27 & April 25 |
| Nissan 21 |
Passover |
Pesach |
between April 2 & May 1 |
| Nissan 27 |
Holocaust Remembrance Day |
Yom HaShoah |
between April 8 & April 9 |
| Iyar 5 |
Independence Day |
Yom Ha-Atzmaut |
between April 16 & May 15 |
| Sivan 6 |
Pentecost |
Shavuot |
between May 16 & June 14 |
Miscellaneous topics
Footnotes
1 Jerusalem is Israel's officially designated capital, and the location of its presidential residence, government
offices and the Knesset, Israel's Parliament. Israelis often describe the city as "The Eternal Capital of Israel." However, many
countries dissent this designation, and consider the status of Jerusalem as an unresolved issue, due to Israel's capture of the
eastern half of Jerusalem (and subsequent reunification) from Jordan during the Six Day War. They believe that the final issue of
the status of Jerusalem will be determined in future Israeli-Palestinian negotiations; Therefore, those countries locate their
embassies in other major cities like Tel Aviv, Ramat-Gan, Herzliya, etc., instead, to avoid political
sensitivities.
Moreover, some of the dissenting countries do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, due to what they perceive as
illegal Israeli action in designating the city to be its capital in the first place (1950), as well as Israel's capture of the
eastern half from Jordan, in 1967. These states instead recognize Tel Aviv, the temporary capital for a time in 1948, when
Jerusalem was under Arab siege, as the continuous legitimate capital, and as a result keep their embassies there. Other entities
maintain that Jerusalem must be internationalized as originally envisioned by the United Natio |
