Israel

Error: please specify at least 1 portal The State of Israel ( Hebrew : מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, transliteration : Medinat Yisra'el ; Arabic : دَوْلَةْ إِسْرَائِيل, transliteration: Dawlat Israil ) is a country in the Middle East on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea . A parliamentary democracy , it is the world's only Jewish state . Israel was the birthplace of Judaism in the 17th century BCE and of Christianity at the beginning of the 1st century CE. Israel is one of the Biblical names of Jacob . The population of Israel is predominantly Jewish with a large non-Jewish minority, mostly comprising Muslim , Christian , and Druze Arabs . The territory controlled by Israel, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip , borders the states of Lebanon , Syria , Jordan , and Egypt (listed clockwise from north to south). Israel shares the coastlines of the Mediterranean , the Gulf of Aqaba (also known as Gulf of Eilat ), and the Dead Sea .

Hebrew text Arabic text Israel ( , Yisrā'el ; , Isrā'īl ), officially the State of Israel ( Hebrew : , Medīnat Yisrā'el ; , Dawlat Isrā'īl ), is a country in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea . It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, the Gaza Strip and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is the world's only predominantly Jewish state , with a population of 7.5 million people, of whom 5.7 million are Jewish . Arab citizens of Israel form the country's second-largest ethnic group, which includes Muslims , Christians , Druze , and Samaritans . Former Soviet Union immigrants form Israel's second most prominent ethnic minority today, which has emerged since the early nineties through the present days . The modern State of Israel has its historical and religious roots in the Biblical Land of Israel , also known as Zion , a concept central to Judaism since ancient times. Political Zionism took shape in the late-19th century and the Balfour Declaration of 1917 formalized British policy preferring the establishment of a Jewish state. Following World War I, the League of Nations granted Great Britain the Mandate for Palestine and the responsibility for establishing "the Jewish national home" within it. In November 1947, the United Nations voted in favor of the partition of Palestine , proposing the creation of a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a UN-administered Jerusalem. Partition was accepted by Zionist leaders but rejected by Arab leaders, leading to civil war . Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948 and neighboring Arab states attacked the next day. Since then, Israel has fought a series of wars with neighboring Arab states, and in consequence occupies territories , including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, beyond those delineated in the 1949 Armistice Agreements . Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan , but efforts to resolve conflict with the Palestinians have so far only met with limited success and some of Israel's international borders remain in dispute. Israel is a developed country and a representative democracy with a parliamentary system and universal suffrage . The Prime Minister serves as head of government and the Knesset serves as Israel's legislative body. The economy, based on the nominal gross domestic product , was the 41st-largest in the world in 2008. Israel ranks highest among Middle Eastern countries on the UN Human Development Index , and has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Jerusalem is the country's capital, although it is not recognized internationally as such, while Israel's main financial center is Tel Aviv . In 2010, Israel was accepted as member to the OECD . Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary .

Country in Western Asia 31°N 35°E  /  31°N 35°E  / 31; 35 This article contains Hebrew and Arabic text. Without proper rendering support , you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols . Israel ( / ˈ ɪ z r i ə l , ˈ ɪ z r eɪ ə l / ; ; ), formally known as the State of Israel ( Medinat Yisra'el ), is a country in Western Asia , located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea . It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. The country contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel's economic and technological center is Tel Aviv , while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem , although the state's sovereignty over Jerusalem has only partial recognition . Israel has evidence of the earliest migration of hominids out of Africa . Canaanite tribes are archaeologically attested since the Middle Bronze Age , while the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah emerged during the Iron Age . The Neo-Assyrian Empire destroyed Israel around 720 BCE . Judah was later conquered by the Babylonian , Persian and Hellenistic empires and had existed as Jewish autonomous provinces. The successful Maccabean Revolt led to an independent Hasmonean kingdom by 110 BCE, which in 63 BCE however became a client state of the Roman Republic that subsequently installed the Herodian dynasty in 37 BCE, and in 6 CE created the Roman province of Judea . Judea lasted as a Roman province until the failed Jewish revolts resulted in widespread destruction, the expulsion of the Jewish population and the renaming of the region from Iudaea to Syria Palaestina . Jewish presence in the region has persisted to a certain extent over the centuries. In the 7th century CE, the Levant was taken from the Byzantine Empire by the Arabs and remained in Muslim control until the First Crusade of 1099, followed by the Ayyubid conquest of 1187. The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt extended its control over the Levant in the 13th century until its defeat by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. During the 19th century, national awakening among Jews led to the establishment of the Zionist movement in the diaspora followed by waves of immigration to Ottoman Syria and later Mandatory Palestine . In 1947, the United Nations (UN) adopted a Partition Plan for Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem . The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency , and rejected by Arab leaders. The following year, the Jewish Agency declared the independence of the State of Israel, and the subsequent 1948 Arab–Israeli War saw Israel's establishment over most of the former Mandate territory , while the West Bank and Gaza were held by neighboring Arab states. Israel has since fought several wars with Arab countries, and since the Six-Day War in June 1967 held occupied territories including the West Bank , Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip (still considered occupied after the 2005 disengagement , although some legal experts dispute this claim). It extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem , but not the West Bank. Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories is the world's longest military occupation in modern times. Efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in a final peace agreement, while Israel has signed peace treaties with both Egypt and Jordan . In its Basic Laws , Israel defines itself as a Jewish and democratic state and the nation state of the Jewish people . The country has a liberal democracy (one of only two in the Middle East and North Africa region, the other being Tunisia ), with a parliamentary system , proportional representation , and universal suffrage . The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature . With a population of around 9 million as of 2019, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member. It has the world's 31st-largest economy by nominal GDP , and is the most developed country currently in conflict . It has the highest standard of living in the Middle East, and ranks among the world's top countries by percentage of citizens with military training , percentage of citizens holding a tertiary education degree , research and development spending by GDP percentage , women's safety , life expectancy , innovativeness , and happiness . 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. "Guatemala se suma a EEUU y también trasladará su embajada en Israel a Jerusalén" [Guatemala joins US, will also move embassy to Jerusalem]. Guatemala's embassy was located in Jerusalem until the 1980s, when it was moved to Tel Aviv. The New York Times . 6 December 2017 . The Arabic language has a special status in the state; Regulating the use of Arabic in state institutions or by them will be set in law. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics . Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2008 . These areas include East Jerusalem, Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Golan Heights." "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2019" . Globalization and World Cities Research Network . The Controversial Sovereignty over the City of Jerusalem (22 June 2015, The National Catholic Reporter) "No U.S. president has ever officially acknowledged Israeli sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem (...) The refusal to recognize Jerusalem as Israeli territory is a near universal policy among Western nations." "UN General Assembly Resolution 181 recommended the creation of an international zonea, or corpus separatum, in Jerusalem to be administered by the UN for a 10-year period, after which there would be 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" (Susan M. A History of the Jewish People . The Jewish People: An Illustrated History . The Encyclopedia of Christianity . The Question of Palestine & the United Nations . East Jerusalem has been considered, by both the General Assembly and the Security Council, as part of the occupied Palestinian territory. See for example: * Hajjar, Lisa (2005). The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is the longest military occupation in modern times. * Anderson, Perry (July–August 2001). New Left Review . 10 . longest official military occupation of modern history—currently entering its thirty-fifth year * Makdisi, Saree (2010). Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation . This is probably the longest occupation in modern international relations, and it holds a central place in all literature on the law of belligerent occupation since the early 1970s * Alexandrowicz, Ra'anan (24 January 2012), "The Justice of Occupation" , The New York Times , Israel is the only modern state that has held territories under military occupation for over four decades * Weill, Sharon (2014). Although the basic philosophy behind the law of military occupation is that it is a temporary situation modem occupations have well demonstrated that rien ne dure comme le provisoire A significant number of post-1945 occupations have lasted more than two decades such as the occupations of Namibia by South Africa and of East Timor by Indonesia as well as the ongoing occupations of Northern Cyprus by Turkey and of Western Sahara by Morocco. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, which is the longest in all occupation's history has already entered its fifth decade. * Azarova, Valentina. 2017, Israel's Unlawfully Prolonged Occupation: Consequences under an Integrated Legal Framework , European Council on Foreign Affairs Policy Brief: "June 2017 marks 50 years of Israel's belligerent occupation of Palestinian territory, making it the longest occupation in modern history." "Israel" . Freedom in the World . "A current list of liberal democracies includes: Andorra, Argentina, ..., Cyprus, ..., Israel, ..." "Global Survey 2006: Middle East Progress Amid Global Gains in Freedom" . Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . There are <ref group=fn> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template (see the help page ).

Country in West Asia For other uses, see Israel (disambiguation) . Israel ( / ˈ ɪ z r i . ə l , - r eɪ -/ ; Yīsrāʾēl ; ʾIsrāʾīl ), officially the State of Israel ( מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl ; دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل Dawlat Isrāʾīl ), is a country in West Asia . It is bordered by Lebanon to the north, by Syria to the northeast, by Jordan to the east, by the Red Sea to the south, by Egypt to the southwest, by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and by the Palestinian territories – the West Bank along the east and the Gaza Strip along the southwest. Tel Aviv is the economic and technological center of the country, while its seat of government is in its proclaimed capital of Jerusalem , although Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem is unrecognized internationally . Israel is located in the Southern Levant , a region known historically as Canaan , the Land of Israel , Palestine and the Holy Land . In the early first millennium BCE, the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah emerged, before falling to the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires , respectively. During the classical era , the region was ruled by the Achaemenid , Macedonian , Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires. In the 2nd century BCE, an independent Hasmonean kingdom emerged, before Rome conquered the area a century later. In the 7th century CE, the Muslim conquest of the Levant established caliphal rule , which was interrupted in the 11th century by the Crusades and fully restored in the 13th century by the Mamluks , who lost the area to the Ottoman Empire at the onset of the 16th century. In the 19th century, Jews began immigrating to the area as part of the Zionist movement. After World War I , the allied powers assigned the Mandate for Palestine to Britain, which during the war made a declaration of support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine . Following World War II and the Holocaust , the newly formed United Nations adopted the Partition Plan for Palestine , recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states, and placing Jerusalem under international control . In the final months of the British Mandate , a civil war broke out between the Palestinian Arabs and the Yishuv , beginning the first stage of the 1948 Palestine war . The British terminated the Mandate on 14 May 1948, and Israel declared independence that day. Upon its independence, Israel became almost immediately embroiled in conflict with its five neighboring Arab states, whose armies began entering the area of the former Mandatory Palestine on 15 May, starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . Early the next year, the 1949 Armistice Agreements left Israel in control of over one-third more territory than the partition plan had called for, with no independent Arab state created. During both stages of the 1948 Palestine war, over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were expelled from or fled Israeli territory to Jordanian-ruled West Bank , Egyptian-controlled Gaza , and the neighboring Arab countries, with fewer than 150,000 Palestinian Arabs remaining within Israel. During and immediately after the war, around 260,000 Jews emigrated or fled from the Arab world to Israel. The 1967 Six-Day War resulted in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, along with the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and the Syrian Golan Heights . Israel has since effectively annexed both East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights , and has established settlements across the Israeli-occupied territories, actions the international community has rejected as illegal under international law. Since the 1973 Yom Kippur War , Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt , returning the Sinai Peninsula, and with Jordan , and more recently normalized relations with several Arab countries , though efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not succeeded. Israel's practices in its occupation of the Palestinian territories, the longest military occupation in modern history, have drawn international condemnation for violating the human rights of the Palestinians, including accusations of apartheid . The country has a parliamentary system , proportional representation , and universal suffrage . The prime minister serves as head of government , and is elected by the Knesset , Israel's unicameral legislature . Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with a population of over 9 million people as of 2021 . It has the world's 29th-largest economy by nominal GDP and 13th by nominal GDP per capita . The Jerusalem Post . 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. "Guatemala se suma a EEUU y también trasladará su embajada en Israel a Jerusalén" [Guatemala joins US, will also move embassy to Jerusalem]. Guatemala's embassy was located in Jerusalem until the 1980s, when it was moved to Tel Aviv. The New York Times . 6 December 2017 . Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) . Israel Central Bureau of Statistics . Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2008 . United Nations Development Programme . 8 September 2022 . 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." Broshi, Maguen (2001). Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period . Last Lectures on the Prevention and Intervention of Genocide . Routledge Studies in Genocide and Crimes against Humanity. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . There are <ref group=fn> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template (see the help page ).

Country in West Asia This article is about the country. Israel , officially the State of Israel , is a country in West Asia . It shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. It occupies the Palestinian territories of the West Bank in the east and the Gaza Strip in the south-west, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights in the north-east. Israel also has a small coastline on the Red Sea at its southernmost point, and part of the Dead Sea lies along its eastern border. Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem , while Tel Aviv is its largest urban area and economic centre . Israel is located in a region known as the Land of Israel , synonymous with the Palestine region , the Holy Land , and Canaan . In antiquity it was home to the Canaanite civilisation, followed by the kingdoms of Israel and Judah . Situated at a continental crossroad , the region experienced demographic changes under the rule of empires from the Romans to the Ottomans . European antisemitism in the late 19th century galvanised Zionism , which sought to colonise Palestine to establish a homeland for the Jewish people and gained British support with the Balfour Declaration . After World War I , Britain occupied the region and established Mandatory Palestine in 1920. Increased Jewish immigration in the lead-up to the Holocaust and British foreign policy in the Middle East led to intercommunal conflict between Jews and Arabs , which escalated into a civil war in 1947 after the United Nations (UN) proposed partitioning the land between them. After the end of the British Mandate for Palestine , Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948. Neighbouring Arab states invaded the area the next day, beginning the First Arab–Israeli War . An armistice in 1949 left Israel in control of more territory than the UN partition plan had called for; and no new independent Arab state was created as the rest of the former Mandate territory was held by Egypt and Jordan , respectively the Gaza Strip and the West Bank . 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. 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 Arab world . After the 1973 Yom Kippur War , Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt —returning the Sinai in 1982— and Jordan . In 1993, Israel signed the Oslo Accords , which established mutual recognition and limited Palestinian self-governance in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. In the 2020s it normalised relations with several more Arab countries via the Abraham Accords . 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 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 unrecognised internationally. Israel's practices in its occupation of the Palestinian territories have drawn sustained international criticism —along with accusations that it has committed war crimes , crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Palestinian people —from human-rights organisations and UN officials. The country's Basic Laws establish a parliament elected by proportional representation , the Knesset , which determines the makeup of the government headed by the prime minister and elects the figurehead president . Israel has one of the largest economies in the Middle East, one of the highest standards of living in Asia , the world's 26th-largest economy by nominal GDP and 16th by nominal GDP per capita . One of the most technologically advanced and developed countries in the world, it spends proportionally more on research and development than any other country in the world and is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons . Its culture comprises Jewish and Jewish diaspora elements alongside Arab influences. "Foreign Ministry statement regarding Palestinian-Israeli settlement" . mid.ru . 6 April 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. "Guatemala se suma a EEUU y también trasladará su embajada en Israel a Jerusalén" [Guatemala joins US, will also move embassy to Jerusalem]. Guatemala's embassy was located in Jerusalem until the 1980s, when it was moved to Tel Aviv. Central Bureau of Statistics . 17 May 2025 . "Geographic Areas – Nationwide" . 2022 Population Census Data . Central Bureau of Statistics . International Monetary Fund . 22 April 2025 . 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." Morris, Benny (1999). A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–2001 (reprint ed.). 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. Hermeneutics of Violence: A Four-Dimensional Conception . International Journal of Islamic and Civilizational Studies . 6 (1). 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. Around 750,000–900,000 Palestinians were systematically expelled from their homes and lands and about 531 villages were deliberately destroyed. A History of the Modern Middle East . 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... . Jewish Political Studies Review . 17 (3/4): 3– 19. Israel Yearbook on Human Rights, Volume 6 (1976) . There are <ref group=fn> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template (see the help page ). There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).