Israel

For other uses, see Israel (disambiguation).

State of Israel
מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (Hebrew)
دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل (Arabic)
Anthem: הַתִּקְוָה (Hatīkvāh; "The Hope")
Israel within internationally recognized borders shown in dark green; Israeli-occupied territories shown in light green
Capital
and largest city
Jerusalem
(limited recognition)[fn 1][fn 2]
31°47′N 35°13′E / 31.783°N 35.217°E / 31.783; 35.217
Official languageHebrew[8]
Special statusArabic[fn 3]
Ethnic groups
(2022 est.)[12]
Religion
(2022 est.)[12]
Demonym(s)Israeli
GovernmentUnitary parliamentary republic
• President
Isaac Herzog
Benjamin Netanyahu
Amir Ohana
Yitzhak Amit (acting)
LegislatureKnesset
Establishment
14 May 1948
11 May 1949
19 July 2018
Area
• Total
22,072 or 20,770[13][14] km2 (8,522 or 8,019 sq mi)[a] (149th)
• Water (%)
2.71[15]
Population
• 2024 estimate
10,009,800 [16] (93rd)
• 2022 census
9,601,720[17][fn 4]
• Density
452/km2 (1,170.7/sq mi) (29th)
GDP (PPP)2024 estimate
• Total
Increase $541.343 billion[18] (47th)
• Per capita
Increase $54,446[18] (29th)
GDP (nominal)2024 estimate
• Total
Increase $528.067 billion[18] (29th)
• Per capita
Increase $53,110[18] (18th)
Gini (2021)Negative increase 37.9[19]
medium inequality
HDI (2022)Increase 0.915[20]
very high (25th)
CurrencyNew shekel (₪) (ILS)
Time zoneUTC+2:00 (IST)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+3:00 (IDT)
Date format
  • יי-חח-שששש (AM)
  • dd-mm-yyyy (CE)
Drives onright
Calling code+972
ISO 3166 codeIL
Internet TLD.il
  1. ^ 20,770 km2 is Israel within the Green Line. 22,072 km2 includes the occupied Golan Heights (c. 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi)) and East Jerusalem (c. 64 km2 (25 sq mi)).

Israel,[a] officially the State of Israel,[b] is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. It is bordered by Lebanon and Syria to the north, the West Bank and Jordan to the east, the Gaza Strip and Egypt to the southwest, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west.[21] The country also has a small coastline on the Red Sea at its southernmost point, and part of the Dead Sea lies along its eastern border. Israel's proclaimed capital is in Jerusalem,[22] while Tel Aviv is the country's largest urban area and economic center.

Israel is located in a region known to Jews as the Land of Israel, synonymous with the Palestine region, the Holy Land, and Canaan. In antiquity, it was home to the Canaanite civilization followed by the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Situated at a continental crossroad, the region experienced demographic changes under the rule of various empires from the Romans to the Ottomans.[23] European antisemitism in the late 19th century galvanized Zionism, which sought a Jewish homeland in Palestine and gained British support. After World War I, Britain occupied the region and established Mandatory Palestine in 1920. Increased Jewish immigration in the leadup to the Holocaust and British colonial policy led to intercommunal conflict between Jews and Arabs,[24][25] which escalated into a civil war in 1947 after the United Nations (UN) proposed partitioning the land between them.

The State of Israel declared its establishment on 14 May 1948. The armies of neighboring Arab states invaded the area of the former Mandate the next day, beginning the First Arab–Israeli War. Subsequent armistice agreements established Israeli control over 77 percent of the former Mandate territory.[26][27][28] The majority of Palestinian Arabs were either expelled or fled in what is known as the Nakba, with those remaining becoming the new state's main minority.[29][30][31] Over the following decades, Israel's population increased greatly as the country received an influx of Jews who emigrated, fled or were expelled from the Muslim world.[32][33] Following the 1967 Six-Day War Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and Syrian Golan Heights. Israel established and continues to expand settlements across the illegally occupied territories, contrary to international law, and has effectively annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in moves largely unrecognized internationally. After the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt—returning the Sinai in 1982—and Jordan. In the 2020s, it normalized relations with more Arab countries. However, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict after the interim Oslo Accords have not succeeded, and the country has engaged in several wars and clashes with Palestinian militant groups. Israel's practices in its occupation of the Palestinian territories have drawn sustained international criticism—along with accusations that it has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people—from human rights organizations and United Nations officials.

The country's Basic Laws establish a unicameral parliament elected by proportional representation, the Knesset, which determines the makeup of the government headed by the prime minister and elects the figurehead president.[34] Israel is the only country to have a revived official language, Hebrew. Its culture comprises Jewish and Jewish diaspora elements alongside Arab influences. Israel has one of the largest economies in the Middle East and among the highest GDP per capita and standards of living in Asia.[35] One of the most technologically advanced and developed countries in the world, it spends proportionally more on research and development than any other and is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons.[36][37][38]

  1. ^ "Foreign Ministry statement regarding Palestinian-Israeli settlement". mid.ru. 6 April 2017. Archived from the original on 4 January 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Czech Republic announces it recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel's capital". The Jerusalem Post. 6 December 2017. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2017. The Czech Republic currently, before the peace between Israel and Palestine is signed, recognizes Jerusalem to be in fact the capital of Israel in the borders of the demarcation line from 1967." The Ministry also said that it would only consider relocating its embassy based on "results of negotiations.
  3. ^ "Honduras recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital". The Times of Israel. 29 August 2019. Archived from the original on 3 December 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Guatemala se suma a EEUU y también trasladará su embajada en Israel a Jerusalén" [Guatemala joins US, will also move embassy to Jerusalem]. Infobae (in Spanish). 24 December 2017. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2017. Guatemala's embassy was located in Jerusalem until the 1980s, when it was moved to Tel Aviv.
  5. ^ "Nauru recognizes J'lem as capital of Israel". Israel National News. 29 August 2019. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Trump Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's Capital and Orders U.S. Embassy to Move". The New York Times. 6 December 2017. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  7. ^ The Legal Status of East Jerusalem (PDF), Norwegian Refugee Council, December 2013, pp. 8, 29, archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2021, retrieved 26 October 2021
  8. ^ "Constitution for Israel". knesset.gov.il. Archived from the original on 4 August 2023. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Israel Passes 'National Home' Law, Drawing Ire of Arabs". The New York Times. 19 July 2018. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  10. ^ Lubell, Maayan (19 July 2018). "Israel adopts divisive Jewish nation-state law". Reuters. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  11. ^ "Arabic in Israel: an official language and a cultural bridge". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 18 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Israel". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 10 September 2024. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Israel". Central Intelligence Agency. 27 February 2023. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2023 – via CIA.gov.
  14. ^ "Israel country profile". BBC News. 24 February 2020. Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  15. ^ "Surface water and surface water change". OECD.Stat. OECD. Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  16. ^ "World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". population.un.org. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Geographic Areas - Nationwide". 2022 Population Census Data. Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  18. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2024 Edition. (Israel)". www.imf.org. International Monetary Fund. 22 October 2024. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  19. ^ "Gini Index coefficient". The World Factbook. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  20. ^ Human Development Report 2023-24 (Report). United Nations. 13 March 2024. Archived from the original on 18 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  21. ^ "When will be the right time for Israel to define its borders? – analysis". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 12 June 2022. Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  22. ^ Akram, Susan M., Michael Dumper, Michael Lynk, and Iain Scobbie, eds. 2010. International Law and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Rights-Based Approach to Middle East Peace. Routledge. p. 119: "UN General Assembly Resolution 181 recommended the creation of an international zone, or corpus separatum, in Jerusalem to be administered by the UN for a 10-year period, after which there would be a referendum to determine its future. This approach applies equally to West and East Jerusalem and is not affected by the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. To a large extent it is this approach that still guides the diplomatic behaviour of states and thus has greater force in international law."
  23. ^ Gil, Moshe (1992). A History of Palestine, 634-1099. Cambridge University Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-521-59984-9. Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  24. ^ Morris, Benny (1999). Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–2001 (reprint ed.). Knopf. ISBN 9780679744757. Archived from the original on 22 March 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2024. The fear of territorial displacement and dispossession was to be the chief motor of Arab antagonism to Zionism down to 1948 (and indeed after 1967 as well). Also quoted, among many, by Mark M. Ayyash (2019). Hermeneutics of Violence: A Four-Dimensional Conception. University of Toronto Press, p. 195 Archived 22 March 2024 at the Wayback Machine, ISBN 1487505868. Accessed 22 March 2024.
  25. ^ Fildis, Ayse; Nisanci, Ensar (2019). "British Colonial Policy "Divide and Rule": Fanning Arab Rivalry in Palestine" (PDF). International Journal of Islamic and Civilizational Studies. 6 (1). UTM Press. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  26. ^ "Zionism | Definition, History, Examples, & Facts". britannica.com. 19 October 2023. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  27. ^ Meir-Glitzenstein, Esther (Fall 2018). "Turning Points in the Historiography of Jewish Immigration from Arab Countries to Israel". Israel Studies. 23 (3). Indiana University Press: 114–122. doi:10.2979/israelstudies.23.3.15. JSTOR 10.2979/israelstudies.23.3.15. S2CID 150208821. The mass immigration from Arab countries began in mid-1949 and included three communities that relocated to Israel almost in their entirety: 31,000 Jews from Libya, 50,000 from Yemen, and 125,000 from Iraq. Additional immigrants arrived from Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Iran, India, and elsewhere. Within three years, the Jewish population of Israel doubled. The ethnic composition of the population shifted as well, as immigrants from Muslim counties and their offspring now comprised one third of the Jewish population—an unprecedented phenomenon in global immigration history. From 1952–60, Israel regulated and restricted immigration from Muslim countries with a selective immigration policy based on economic criteria, and sent these immigrants, most of whom were North African, to peripheral Israeli settlements. The selective immigration policy ended in 1961 when, following an agreement between Israel and Morocco, about 100,000 Jews immigrated to the State. From 1952–68 about 600,000 Jews arrived in Israel, three quarters of whom were from Arab countries and the remaining immigrants were largely from Eastern Europe. Today fewer than 30,000 remain in Muslim countries, mostly concentrated in Iran and Turkey.
  28. ^ Fischbach 2008, p. 26–27.
  29. ^ Slater 2020, pp. 81–92, 350, "[p. 350] It is no longer a matter of serious dispute that in the 1947–48 period—beginning well before the Arab invasion in May 1948—some 700,000 to 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from or fled their villages and homes in Israel in fear of their lives—an entirely justifiable fear, in light of massacres carried out by Zionist forces."
  30. ^ Ghanim, Honaida (March 2009). "Poetics of Disaster: Nationalism, Gender, and Social Change Among Palestinian Poets in Israel After Nakba". International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society. 22 (1): 23–39 [25–26]. doi:10.1007/s10767-009-9049-9. ISSN 0891-4486. JSTOR 40608203. S2CID 144148068. Archived from the original on 6 November 2021. Around 750,000–900,000 Palestinians were systematically expelled from their homes and lands and about 531 villages were deliberately destroyed.
  31. ^ Cleveland, William L.; Bunton, Martin (2016). A History of the Modern Middle East. Westview Press. p. 270. ISBN 978-0-429-97513-4. Not only was there no Palestinian Arab state, but the vast majority of the Arab population in the territory that became Israel-over 700,000 people-had become refugees. The Arab flight from Palestine began during the intercommunal war and was at first the normal reaction of a civilian population to nearby fighting-a temporary evacuation from the zone of combat with plans to return once hostilities ceased. However, during spring and early summer 1948, the flight of the Palestinian Arabs was transformed into a permanent mass exodus... .
  32. ^ Beker, Avi (2005). "The Forgotten Narrative: Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries". Jewish Political Studies Review. 17 (3/4): 3–19. ISSN 0792-335X. JSTOR 25834637. Archived from the original on 9 January 2024. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  33. ^ Dinstein, Yoram (11 October 2021). Israel Yearbook on Human Rights, Volume 6 (1976). BRILL. p. 282. ISBN 978-90-04-42287-2. Archived from the original on 21 May 2024. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  34. ^ Cite error: The named reference cnn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  35. ^ "30 Wealthiest Countries by Per Capita Net Worth". Yahoo Finance. 9 September 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  36. ^ Dutta, Soumitra; Lanvin, Bruno; Wunsch-Vincent, Sacha (2022). Global Innovation Index 2023, 15th Edition. World Intellectual Property Organization. doi:10.34667/tind.46596. ISBN 978-92-805-3432-0. Retrieved 10 August 2024. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  37. ^ Getzoff, Marc (9 August 2023). "Most Technologically Advanced Countries In The World 2023". Global Finance Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 November 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  38. ^ "Top 15 Most Advanced Countries in the World". Yahoo Finance. 4 December 2022. Archived from the original on 10 January 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.


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