Israel
| State of Israel
מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (Hebrew)
Medīnat Yisrā'el دَوْلَةُ إِسْرَائِيلَ (Arabic) Dawlat Isrā'īl |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||
| Anthem: Hatikvah The Hope |
||||||
 Location of Israel
|
||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Jerusalem[a] |
|||||
| Official language(s) | Hebrew, Arabic[1] | |||||
| Ethnic groups | 75.5% Jewish, 20.3% Arab, 4.2% other[2] | |||||
| Demonym | Israeli | |||||
| Government | Parliamentary democracy[1] | |||||
| - | President | Shimon Peres | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Benjamin Netanyahu | ||||
| - | Knesset Speaker | Reuven Rivlin | ||||
| - | Supreme Court President | Dorit Beinisch | ||||
| Independence | from British Mandate of Palestine | |||||
| - | Declaration | May 14, 1948 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total 1 | 20,770 / 22,072 km2 (151st) 8,019 / 8,522 sq mi |
||||
| - | Water (%) | ~2% | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2010 estimate | 7,645,600[2] (95th) | ||||
| - | 2008 census | 7,406,900[3] | ||||
| - | Density | 365.3/km2 (30th) 946.1/sq mi |
||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2009 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $206.430 billion[4] (49th) | ||||
| - | Per capita | $28,393[4] (29th) | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2009 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $194.825 billion[4] (40th) | ||||
| - | Per capita | $26,796[4] (28th) | ||||
| Gini (2008) | 39.2[1] | |||||
| HDI (2007) |  0.935[5] (very high) (27th) |
|||||
| Currency | Shekel (₪) (ILS or NIS) |
|||||
| Time zone | IST (UTC+2) | |||||
| - | Summer (DST) | IDT (UTC+3) | ||||
| Drives on the | right | |||||
| Internet TLD | .il | |||||
| Calling code | 972 | |||||
| 1 | Excluding / Including the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem; see below. | |||||
| 2 | Includes all permanent residents in Israel proper, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. Also includes Israeli population in the West Bank. Excludes non-Israeli population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. | |||||
Israel (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל, Yisrā'el; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيلُ, Isrā'īl), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el; Arabic: دَوْلَةُ إِسْرَائِيلَ, Dawlat Isrā'īl), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East 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.[6][7] Israel is the world's only predominantly Jewish state,[8] with a population estimated in May 2010 to be 7,602,400 people,[9] of whom 6,051,000 are Jews.[9][10][11] Arab citizens of Israel form the country's second-largest ethnic group, which includes Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Samaritans. According to the May 2010 population estimate, including 300,000 non-citizen Arabs living in East Jerusalem, this minority numbers 1,551,400.[9] The modern State of Israel traces its historical and religious roots to the Biblical Land of Israel, also known as Zion, a concept central to Judaism since ancient times.[12][13][14] Political Zionism took shape in the late-19th century under Theodor Herzl, and the Balfour Declaration of 1917 formalized British policy preferring the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people. Following World War I, the League of Nations granted Great Britain the Mandate for Palestine, which included responsibility for securing "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".[15]
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.[16] 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,[17] and in consequence occupied territories, including the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, beyond those delineated in the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts by elements within both parties to diplomatically solve the problem 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.[18][19] 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.[20] Israel ranks highest among Middle Eastern countries on the UN Human Development Index,[21] and it has one of the highest life expectancies in the world.[22] Jerusalem is the country's capital, although it is not recognized internationally as such.[a] Israel's main financial center is Tel Aviv, and its main industrial center is Haifa. In 2010, Israel was invited to join the OECD.[23]
Contents |
Etymology
For the past three thousand years, the name "Israel", alluding to the patriarch Jacob (Standard Yisraʾel, Isrāʾīl; Septuagint Greek: Ἰσραήλ; "persevere with God"[24]) has meant, in common and religious usage, both the Land of Israel and the entire Jewish nation.[25] According to the Bible, Jacob is renamed Israel after successfully wrestling with an angel of God.[26]
The earliest archaeological artifact to mention "Israel" is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt (dated to the late 13th century BCE), which refers to a people of that name located in Canaan.[27] The modern country was named Medinat Yisrael, or the State of Israel, after other proposed names, including Eretz Israel ("the Land of Israel"), Zion, and Judea, were rejected.[28] In the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term "Israeli" to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett.[29]
History
Antiquity
The Land of Israel, known in Hebrew as Eretz Yisrael, has been sacred to the Jewish people since Biblical times. According to the Torah, God promised the Land of Israel to the three Patriarchs of the Jewish people.[30][31] Scholars place the period of the three Patriarchs somewhere in the early 2nd millennium BCE.[32] According to Biblical evidence the first Kingdom of Israel was established around the 11th century BCE. Subsequent Israelite kingdoms and states ruled intermittently over the next thousand years, and are known from various extra-biblical sources.[33][34][35][36]
Between the time of the First Kingdom of Israel and the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, the Land of Israel fell under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Sassanian, and Byzantine rule.[12][37] Jewish presence in the region dwindled after the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE.[38] Nevertheless, Jewish presence in the Land of Israel remained continuous and the Galilee became its religious center.[39][40] The Mishnah and part of the Talmud, central Jewish texts, were composed during the 2nd to 4th centuries CE in Tiberias and Jerusalem.[41] Following years of persecution at the hands of Byzantine rulers, the Jews revolted in 610 CE, allying themselves with the Persian invaders. After capturing Jerusalem, the Persians and Jews killed thousands of Christians and destroyed many churches.[42] The Byzantine emperor Heraclius recaptured Jerusalem in 628–629 CE, and was responsible for the massacre and expulsion of the Jews.[43][44] During the initial Muslim conquests, in 635 CE, the Land of Israel, including Jerusalem, was captured from the Byzantine Empire.[45] Control of the region transferred between the Umayyads,[45] Abbasids,[45] and Crusaders throughout the next six centuries,[45] before falling in the hands of the Mamluk Sultanate, in 1260.[46] In 1516, the Land of Israel was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, which ruled the region until the 20th century.[46]
Zionism and the British Mandate
Many Jews living in the Diaspora have long aspired to return to Zion and the Land of Israel,[47] though the amount of human effort that should be spent towards such aim is a matter of dispute in Judaism.[48][49] That hope and yearning was articulated in the Bible,[50] and is an important theme of the Jewish belief system.[48] After the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, some communities settled in Palestine.[51] During the 16th century, communities struck roots in the Four Holy Cities—Jerusalem, Tiberias, Hebron, and Safed—and in 1697, Rabbi Yehuda Hachasid led a group of 1,500 Jews to Jerusalem.[52] In the second half of the 18th century, Eastern European opponents of Hasidism, known as the Perushim, settled in Palestine.[53][54][55]
| Aliyah to Israel and settlement |
|---|
 |
| Pre-Zionist Aliyah |
| The Return to Zion The Old Yishuv |
| Before May 14, 1948 |
| First Aliyah · Second Aliyah During World War I Third Aliyah · Fourth Aliyah Fifth Aliyah During and after World War II Berihah |
| After May 14, 1948 |
| Operation Magic Carpet Operation Ezra and Nehemiah 1968 Polish aliyah 1970s Soviet Union aliyah Aliyah from Ethiopia 1990s CIS aliyah 2000s Latin America aliyah |
| Concepts |
| Judaism · Zionism Law of Return Jewish homeland Yerida · Galut Jewish Messianism |
| Persons and organizations |
| Theodor Herzl · Knesset World Zionist Organization Nefesh B'Nefesh · El Al |
| Related topics |
| Jewish history Jewish diaspora Jews in the Land of Israel History of Israel Yishuv · Israeli Jews Revival of Hebrew language History of Zionism Religious Zionism |
The first large wave of "modern" immigration, known as the First Aliyah, began in 1881, as Jews fled pogroms in Eastern Europe.[56] Although the Zionist movement already existed in theory, Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl is credited with founding political Zionism,[57] a movement which sought to establish a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, by elevating the Jewish Question to the international plane.[58] In 1896, Herzl published Der Judenstaat (The State of the Jews), offering his vision of a future state; the following year he presided over the first World Zionist Congress.[59]
The Second Aliyah (1904–1914), began after the Kishinev pogrom; some 40,000 Jews settled in Palestine, but nearly half of them left.[56] Both the first and second waves of migrants were mainly Orthodox Jews,[60] but those in the Second Aliyah included socialist pioneers who established the kibbutz movement.[61] During World War I, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued what became known as the Balfour Declaration, which "view[ed] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". At the request of Edwin Samuel Montagu and Lord Curzon, a line was also inserted stating "it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country".[62]
The Jewish Legion, a group of battalions composed primarily of Zionist volunteers, assisted in the British conquest of Palestine. Arab opposition to the plan led to the 1920 Palestine riots and the formation of the Jewish organization known as the Haganah (meaning "The Defense" in Hebrew), from which the Irgun and Lehi paramilitary groups split off.[63] In 1922, the League of Nations granted the United Kingdom a mandate over Palestine under terms similar to the Balfour Declaration.[64] The population of the area at that time was predominantly Arab and Muslim, with Jews accounting for about 11% of the population.[65]
The Third (1919–1923) and Fourth Aliyahs (1924–1929) brought an additional 100,000 Jews to Palestine.[56] Finally, the rise of Nazism in the 1930s led to the Fifth Aliyah, with an influx of a quarter of a million Jews. This caused the Arab revolt of 1936–1939 and led the British to cap immigration with the White Paper of 1939. With countries around the world turning away Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, a clandestine movement known as Aliyah Bet was organized to bring Jews to Palestine.[56] By the end of World War II, the Jewish population of Palestine had increased to 33% of the total population.[66]
Independence and first years
After 1945, Britain found itself in fierce conflict with the Jewish community, as the Haganah joined Irgun and Lehi in armed struggle against British rule.[67] At the same time, thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe sought shelter in Palestine and were turned away or rounded up and placed in detention camps by the British. In 1947, the British government withdrew from the Mandate of Palestine, stating it was unable to arrive at a solution acceptable to both Arabs and Jews.[68] The newly created United Nations approved the Partition Plan for Palestine (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181) on November 29, 1947, which sought to divide the country into two states—one Arab and one Jewish. Jerusalem was to be designated an international city—a corpus separatum—administered by the UN.[69]
The Jewish community accepted the plan,[70] but the Arab League and Arab Higher Committee rejected it.[71] On December 1, 1947, the Arab Higher Committee proclaimed a three-day strike, and Arab bands began attacking Jewish targets.[72] Jews were initially on the defensive as civil war broke out, but they gradually moved onto the offensive.[73] The Palestinian Arab economy collapsed and 250,000 Palestinian-Arabs fled or were expelled.[74]
On May 14, 1948, the day before the expiration of the British Mandate, the Jewish Agency proclaimed independence, naming the country Israel.[75] The following day, the armies of four Arab countries—Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq—attacked Israel, launching the 1948 Arab–Israeli War;[76][77] Saudi Arabia sent a military contingent to operate under Egyptian command; Yemen declared war but did not take military action.[78] After a year of fighting, a ceasefire was declared and temporary borders, known as the Green Line, were established.[79] Jordan annexed what became known as the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israel was accepted as a member of the United Nations by majority vote on May 11, 1949.[80] According to UN estimates, 711,000 Arabs, or about 80% of the initial Arab population of the area that became Israel, were expelled or fled the country during the conflict.[81] The fate of these Palestinian refugees remains a major point of contention in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[82][83]
In the early years of the state, the Labor Zionist movement led by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion dominated Israeli politics.[84][85] These years were marked by an influx of Holocaust survivors and Jews from Arab lands, many of whom faced persecution in their original countries.[86] Consequently, the population of Israel rose from 800,000 to two million between 1948 and 1958.[87] Most arrived as refugees with no possessions and were housed in temporary camps known as ma'abarot; by 1952, over 200,000 immigrants were living in these tent cities.[88] The need to solve the crisis led Ben-Gurion to sign a reparations agreement with West Germany that triggered mass protests by Jews angered at the idea of Israel accepting financial compensation from Germany for the Holocaust.[89]
In the 1950s, Israel was frequently attacked by Palestinian fedayeen, mainly from the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip.[90] In 1956, Israel joined a secret alliance with Great Britain and France aimed at regaining control of the Suez Canal, which the Egyptians had nationalized (see the Suez Crisis). Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula but was pressured to withdraw by the United States and the Soviet Union in return for guarantees of Israeli shipping rights in the Red Sea and the Canal.[91][92]
In the early 1960s, Israel captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Final Solution, in Argentina and brought him to trial.[93] The trial had a major impact on public awareness of the Holocaust,[94] and Eichmann remains the only person ever to be executed by order of an Israeli court.[95]
Conflicts and peace treaties
Arab nationalists led by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser refused to recognize Israel, calling for its destruction.[17][96] By 1966, Israeli-Arab relations had deteriorated to the point of actual battles taking place between official Israeli and Arab forces.[97] In 1967, Egypt expelled UN peacekeepers, stationed in the Sinai Peninsula since 1957, and announced a partial blockade of Israel's access to the Red Sea.[98] Israel saw these actions as a casus belli for a pre-emptive strike that launched the Six-Day War, in which Israel achieved a decisive victory and captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights.[99] Jerusalem's boundaries were enlarged, incorporating East Jerusalem, and the 1949 Green Line became the administrative boundary between Israel and the occupied territories.
The failure of the Arab states in the 1967 war led Arab non-state actors to have a more central role in the conflict. Most important among them is the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), established in 1964, which initially committed itself to "armed struggle as the only way to liberate the homeland".[100][101] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Palestinian groups launched a wave of attacks[102][103] against Israeli targets around the world,[104] including a massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
On October 6, 1973, as Jews were observing Yom Kippur, the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched a surprise attack against Israel. The war ended on October 26 with Israel successfully repelling Egyptian and Syrian forces but suffering great losses.[105] An internal inquiry exonerated the government of responsibility for failures before and during the war, but public anger forced Prime Minister Golda Meir to resign.[106]
The 1977 Knesset elections marked a major turning point in Israeli political history as Menachem Begin's Likud party took control from the Labor Party.[107] Later that year, Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat made a trip to Israel and spoke before the Knesset in what was the first recognition of Israel by an Arab head of state.[108] In the two years that followed, Sadat and Menachem Begin signed the Camp David Accords and the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.[109] Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and agreed to enter negotiations over an autonomy for Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.[110] Begin's government encouraged Israelis to settle in the West Bank, leading to friction with the Palestinians in that area.[111]
The Jerusalem Law, passed in 1980, was widely believed to have reaffirmed Israel's annexation of Jerusalem and reignited international controversy over the status of the city. However, there has never been an official act that has declared expanded East Jerusalem as having been annexed by the State of Israel.[112] The position of the majority of UN member states is reflected in numerous resolutions declaring that actions taken by Israel to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the whole of Jerusalem are illegal and have no validity.[113]
In 1982, Israel intervened in the Lebanese Civil War to destroy the bases from which the PLO launched attacks and missiles at northern Israel; that move developed into the First Lebanon War.[114] Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon in 1986, but maintained a borderland buffer zone until 2000. The First Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule,[115] broke out in 1987 with waves of violence occurring in the occupied territories. Over the following six years, more than a thousand people were killed in the ensuing violence, much of which was internal Palestinian violence.[116] During the 1991 Gulf War, the PLO and many Palestinians supported Saddam Hussein and Iraqi missile attacks against Israel, though Israel did not participate in that war.[117][118]
In 1992, Yitzhak Rabin became Prime Minister following an election in which his party promoted compromise with Israel's neighbors.[119][120] The following year, Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas, on behalf of Israel and the PLO, signed the Oslo Accords, which gave the Palestinian National Authority the right to self-govern parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.[121] The PLO also recognized Israel's right to exist and pledged an end to terrorism.[122] In 1994, the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace was signed, making Jordan the second Arab country to normalize relations with Israel.[123] Arab public support for the Accords was damaged by the continuation of Israeli settlements[124] and checkpoints, and the deterioration of economic conditions.[125] Israeli public support for the Accords waned as Israel was struck by Palestinian suicide attacks.[126] Finally, while leaving a peace rally in November 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a far-right-wing Jew who opposed the Accords.[127]
At the end of the 1990s, Israel, under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, withdrew from Hebron,[128] and signed the Wye River Memorandum, giving greater control to the Palestinian National Authority.[129] Ehud Barak, elected Prime Minister in 1999, began the new millennium by withdrawing forces from Southern Lebanon and conducting negotiations with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and U.S. President Bill Clinton at the 2000 Camp David Summit. During the summit, Barak offered a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state, but Yasser Arafat rejected it.[130] After the collapse of the talks and a controversial visit by Likud leader Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount, the Second Intifada began. Sharon became prime minister in a 2001 special election. During his tenure, Sharon carried out his plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip and also spearheaded the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier.[131]
In July 2006, a Hezbollah artillery assault on Israel's northern border communities and a cross-border abduction of two Israeli soldiers sparked the month-long Second Lebanon War.[132][133] Two years later, in May 2008, Israel confirmed it had been discussing a peace treaty with Syria for a year, with Turkey as a go-between.[134] However, at the end of the year, Israel entered another conflict as a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel collapsed. The Gaza War lasted three weeks and ended after Israel announced a unilateral ceasefire.[135][136] Hamas announced its own ceasefire, with its own conditions of complete withdrawal and opening of border crossings. Despite neither the rocket launchings nor Israeli retaliatory strikes having completely stopped, the fragile ceasefire remained in order.[137]
Geography and climate
Israel is located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, bounded by Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the southwest. The sovereign territory of Israel, excluding all territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War, is approximately 20,770 square kilometers (8,019 sq mi) in area, of which two percent is water.[1] The total area under Israeli law, when including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, is 22,072 square kilometers (8,522 sq mi),[138] and the total area under Israeli control, including the military-controlled and partially Palestinian-governed territory of the West Bank, is 27,799 square kilometers (10,733 sq mi).[139]
Despite its small size, Israel is home to a variety of geographic features, from the Negev desert in the south to the mountain ranges of the Galilee, Carmel and toward the Golan in the north. The Israeli Coastal Plain on the shores of the Mediterranean is home to seventy percent of the nation's population. East of the central highlands lies the Jordan Rift Valley, which forms a small part of the 6,500-kilometer (4,039 mi) Great Rift Valley.
The Jordan River runs along the Jordan Rift Valley, from Mount Hermon through the Hulah Valley and the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the surface of the Earth.[140] Further south is the Arabah, ending with the Gulf of Eilat, part of the Red Sea. Unique to Israel and the Sinai Peninsula are makhteshim, or erosion cirques.[141] The largest makhtesh in the world is Ramon Crater in the Negev,[142] which measures 40 by 8 kilometers (25 by 5 mi).[143] A report on the environmental status of the Mediterranean basin states that Israel has the largest number of plant species per square meter of all the countries in the basin.[144]
Climate
Temperatures in Israel vary widely, especially during the winter. The more mountainous regions can be windy, cold, and sometimes snowy; Jerusalem usually receives at least one snowfall each year.[145] Meanwhile, coastal cities, such as Tel Aviv and Haifa, have a typical Mediterranean climate with cool, rainy winters and long, hot summers. The area of Beersheba and the Northern Negev has a semi-arid climate with hot summers, and cool winter but with fewer rainy than the Mediterranean climate. The Southern Negev and the Arava areas have Desert climate with very hot and dry summers, and mild winters with few days of rain. The highest temperature in the continent of Asia (53.7 °C/128.7 °F) was recorded in 1942 at Tirat Zvi kibbutz in the northern Jordan river valley.[146]
From May to September, rain in Israel is rare.[147][148] With scarce water resources, Israel has developed various water-saving technologies, including drip irrigation.[149] Israelis also take advantage of the considerable sunlight available for solar energy, making Israel the leading nation in solar energy use per capita (practically every house uses solar panels for water heating).[150]
Government, politics and legal system
Israel operates under a parliamentary system as a democratic republic with universal suffrage.[1] The President of Israel is the head of state, but his duties are limited and largely ceremonial.[151] A Parliament Member supported by a majority in parliament becomes the Prime Minister, usually the chairman of the largest party. The Prime Minister is the head of government and head of the Cabinet.[151][152] Israel is governed by a 120-member parliament, known as the Knesset. Membership of the Knesset is based on proportional representation of political parties,[153] with a 2% electoral threshold, which commonly results in coalition governments.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled every four years, but unstable coalitions or a no-confidence vote by the Knesset often dissolves governments earlier. "The average life span of an Israeli government is 22 months. The peace process, the role of religion in the state, and political scandals have caused coalitions to break apart or produced early elections."[154] The Basic Laws of Israel function as an unwritten constitution. In 2003, the Knesset began to draft an official constitution based on these laws.[1][155]
Legal system
Israel has a three-tier court system. At the lowest level are magistrate courts, situated in most cities across the country. Above them are district courts, serving both as appellate courts and courts of first instance; they are situated in five of Israel's six districts. The third and highest tier in Israel is the Supreme Court, seated in Jerusalem. It serves a dual role as the highest court of appeals and the High Court of Justice. In the latter role, the Supreme Court rules as a court of first instance, allowing individuals, both citizens and non-citizens, to petition against decisions of state authorities.[156][157] Although Israel supports the goals of the International Criminal Court, it has not ratified the Rome Statute, citing concerns about the ability of the court to remain free from political impartiality.[158]
In addition to the three-tier court system described above (also known as the "General Court system") Israel has also a system of specialized Labour Courts, similar to those found in Continental Europe. The Labour Courts have unique jurisdiction over labour matters (both on the individual and collective spheres) as well as social welfare matters (e.g. law suits related to pensions, social security benefits, healthcare, etc.). Each one of the five judicial districts has one Regional Labour Court which serves as a first instance court for those matters described above.
Most matters in Labour Courts are adjudicated by a three-panel consisting of one professional judge, and two lay representatives nominated to the court with the consent of the largest employees and employers unions (one representative termed as "Employees Representative" and the other as "Employers Representative"). Some matters (e.g. criminal cases related to labour law) are adjudicated by a professional judge only. The National Labour Court, situated in Jerusalem, serves as an appeal court as well as a first-instance court for matters with national importance (e.g. collective bargaining disputes, on a national level, between employees and employers unions).
Israel's legal system combines English common law, civil law, and Jewish law.[1] It is based on the principle of stare decisis (precedent) and is an adversarial system, where the parties in the suit bring evidence before the court. Court cases are decided by professional judges rather than juries.[156] Marriage and divorce are under the jurisdiction of the religious courts: Jewish, Muslim, Druze, and Christian. A committee of Knesset members, Supreme Court justices, and Israeli Bar members carries out the election of judges.[159] Administration of Israel's courts (both the "General" courts and the Labor Courts) is carried by the Administration of Courts, situated in Jerusalem. It is to be noted that both the General and Labor courts are paperless courts, i.e. storage of court files, as well as court decisions, are carried out electronically.
Israel's Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty seeks to defend human rights and liberties in Israel. Israel is the only country in the region ranked "Free" by Freedom House based on the level of civil liberties and political rights; the "Israeli Occupied Territories/Palestinian Authority" was ranked "Not Free."[160][161] However, in 2009 Reporters Without Borders rated Israel 93 out of 175 countries in terms of freedom of the press, lagging behind countries such as Kuwait (60th), Lebanon (61st) and United Arab Emirates (86th).[162][163] Groups such as Amnesty International[164] and Human Rights Watch[165] have often disapproved of Israel's human rights record in regards to the Arab–Israeli conflict. Israel's civil liberties also allow for self-criticism, from groups such as B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.[166]
Administrative districts
The State of Israel is divided into six main administrative districts, known as mehozot (מחוזות; singular: mahoz) – Center, Haifa, Jerusalem, North, Southern, and Tel Aviv Districts. Districts are further divided into fifteen sub-districts known as nafot (נפות; singular: nafa), which are themselves partitioned into fifty natural regions.[167]
| Number | District | Main City | Provinces | Number of Residents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North | Nazareth | Kinneret, Safed, Acre, Golan, Jezreel Valley | 1,242,100 |
| 2 | Haifa | Haifa | Haifa, Hadera | 880,000 |
| 3 | Center | Ramla | Rishon Lezion, Sharon (Netanya), Petah Tikva, Ramla, Rehovot | 1,770,200 |
| 4 | Tel Aviv | Tel Aviv | Tel Aviv | 1,227,000 |
| 5 | Jerusalem | Jerusalem | Jerusalem | 910,300 |
| 6 | South | Beersheba | Ashkelon, Beersheba | 1,053,600 |
| B | Judea and Samaria | Modi'in Illit (Largest city) | --- | 304,569[168] |
For statistical purposes, the country is divided into three metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv metropolitan area (population 3,206,400), Haifa metropolitan area (population 1,021,000), and Beer Sheva metropolitan area (population 559,700).[169] Israel's largest municipality, both in population and area,[170] is Jerusalem with 773,800 residents in an area of 126 square kilometers (49 sq mi) (in 2009).
Israeli government statistics on Jerusalem include the population and area of East Jerusalem, which is widely recognized as part of the Palestinian territories under Israeli occupation.[171] Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Rishon LeZion rank as Israel's next most populous cities, with populations of 393,900, 265,600, and 227,600 respectively.[170]
Occupied territories
In 1967, as a result of the Six-Day War, Israel gained control of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza strip and the Golan Heights. Israel also took control of the Sinai Peninsula, but returned it to Egypt as part of the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.
Following Israel's capture of these territories, settlements consisting of Israeli citizens were established within each of them. Israel has applied civilian law to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, incorporating them into its territory and offering their inhabitants permanent residency status and the possibility to become full citizen if they asked it. In contrast, the West Bank has remained under military occupation, and it and the Gaza Strip are seen by the Palestinians and most of the international community as the site of a future Palestinian state.[172][173] The UN Security Council has declared the incorporation of the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem to be "null and void" and continues to view the territories as occupied.[174][175] The International Court of Justice, principal judicial organ of the United Nations, determined in its 2004 advisory opinion on the legality of the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier that the lands captured by Israel in the Six-Day War, including East Jerusalem, are occupied territory.[176]
The status of East Jerusalem in any future peace settlement has at times been a difficult hurdle in negotiations between Israeli governments and representatives of the Palestinians. Most negotiations relating to the territories have been on the basis of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which emphasises " the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war", and calls on Israel to withdraw from occupied territories in return for normalization of relations with Arab states, a principle known as "Land for peace".[177][178][179]
The West Bank was annexed by Jordan in 1948, following the Arab rejection of the UN decision to create two states in Palestine. Only Britain recognized this annexation and Jordan has since ceded its claim to the territory to the PLO. The West Bank was occupied by Israel in 1967. The population are mainly Arab Palestinians, including refugees of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[180] From their occupation in 1967 until 1993, the Palestinians living in these territories were under Israeli military administration. Since the Israel-PLO letters of recognition, most of the Palestinian population and cities have been under the internal jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, and only partial Israeli military control, although Israel has on several occasions redeployed its troops and reinstated full military administration during periods of unrest. In response to increasing attacks as part of the Second Intifada, the Israeli government started to construct the Israeli West Bank barrier.[181] When completed, approximately 13 % of the Barrier will be constructed on the Green Line or in Israel with 87 % inside the West Bank.[182][183]
The Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt from 1948 to 1967 and then by Israel after 1967. In 2005, as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, Israel removed all of its residents and forces from the territory. Israel does not consider the Gaza Strip to be occupied territory and declared it a "foreign territory". That view has been rejected by numerous international humanitarian organizations and various bodies of the United Nations.[184][185][186][187][188] Following June 2007, when Hamas assumed power in the Gaza Strip,[189] Israel tightened its control of the Gaza crossings along its border, as well as by sea and air, and prevented persons from entering and exiting the area except for isolated cases it deemed humanitarian.[189] Gaza has a border with Egypt and an agreement between Israel, the EU, the PA and Egypt governed how border crossing would take place (it was monitored by European observers),[190] until June 2006, following the abduction of the soldier Gilad Shalit, when the crossing agreement ceased to exist.[189] As of 2010 the Rafah border crossing was controlled by Egypt.[191] Internal control of Gaza is in the hands of Hamas.
Foreign relations
Israel maintains diplomatic relations with 161 countries and has 94 diplomatic missions around the world.[192] Only three members of the Arab League have normalized relations with Israel; Egypt and Jordan signed peace treaties in 1979 and 1994, respectively, and Mauritania opted for full diplomatic relations with Israel in 1999. Two other members of the Arab League, Morocco and Tunisia, which had some diplomatic relations with Israel, severed them at the start of the Second Intifada in 2000.[193] Since 2003, ties with Morocco have been improved, and Israel's foreign minister has visited the country.[194]
As a result of the 2009 Gaza War, Mauritania, Qatar, Bolivia, and Venezuela suspended political and economical ties with Israel.[195][196] Under Israeli law, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Yemen are enemy countries[197] and Israeli citizens may not visit them without permission from the Ministry of the Interior.[198] Since 1995, Israel has been a member of the Mediterranean Dialogue, which fosters cooperation between seven countries in the Mediterranean Basin and the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.[199]
India established full diplomatic ties with Israel in 1992 and has fostered a strong military, technological and cultural partnership with the country since then.[202] One study revealed that India was the most pro-Israel nation in the world.[203] India is the largest customer of Israeli military equipment and Israel is the second-largest military partner of India after the Russian Federation.[204] India is also the second-largest Asian economic partner of Israel[205] and the two countries enjoy extensive space technology ties.[206][207]
Germany's strong ties with Israel include cooperation on scientific and educational endeavors and the two states remain strong economic and military partners.[208][209] Under the reparations agreement, as of 2007 Germany had paid 25 billion euros in reparations to the Israeli state and individual Israeli holocaust survivors.[210] The UK has kept full diplomatic relations with Israel since its formation having had two visits from heads of state in 2007. Relations between the two countries were also made stronger by former prime minister Tony Blair's efforts for a two state resolution. The UK is seen as having a "natural" relationship with Israel on account of the British Mandate of Palestine.[211] Iran had diplomatic relations with Israel under the Pahlavi dynasty[212] but withdrew its recognition of Israel during the Iranian Revolution.[213]
Although Turkey and Israel did not establish full diplomatic relations until 1991,[214] Turkey has cooperated with the State since its recognition of Israel in 1949. Turkey's ties to the other Muslim-majority nations in the region have at times resulted in pressure from Arab and Muslim states to temper its relationship with Israel.[215] Relations between Turkey and Israel took a downturn after the Gaza War and Israel's raid of the Gaza flotilla which killed 8 Turkish and 1 American IHH members.[216] IHH, which organized the flotilla, is a Turkish charity that some believe has ties to Hamas and Al-Qaeda.[195][217][218][219][220]
In Africa, Ethiopia is Israel's main and closest ally in the continent due to common political, religious and security interests.[221] Israel provides expertise to Ethiopia on irrigation projects and thousands of Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel) live in Israel.
Military
The Israel Defense Forces consists of the Israeli Army, Israeli Air Force and Israeli Navy. It was founded during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War by consolidating paramilitary organizations—chiefly the Haganah—that preceded the establishment of the state.[222] The IDF also draws upon the resources of the Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman), which works with the Mossad and Shabak.[223] The Israel Defense Forces have been involved in several major wars and border conflicts in its short history, making it one of the most battle-trained armed forces in the world.[224][225]
The majority of Israelis are drafted into the military at the age of eighteen. Men serve three years and women serve two to three years.[226] Following compulsory service, Israeli men join the reserve forces and do several weeks of reserve duty every year until their forties. Most women are exempt from reserve duty. Arab citizens of Israel (except the Druze) and those engaged in full-time religious studies are exempt from military service, although the exemption of yeshiva students has been a source of contention in Israeli society for many years.[227][228] An alternative for those who receive exemptions on various grounds is Sherut Leumi, or national service, which involves a program of service in hospitals, schools and other social welfare frameworks.[229] As a result of its conscription program, the IDF maintains approximately 168,000 active troops and an additional 408,000 reservists.[230]
_along_Israeli_Defense_Force_soldiers_fast_rope_from_a_CH-46E_Sea_Knight_helicopter.jpg)
The nation's military relies heavily on high-tech weapons systems designed and manufactured in Israel as well as some foreign imports. The United States is a particularly notable foreign contributor; military aid to Israel is expected to increase by 6 billion over the next decade. US is expected to provide the country with $3.15 billion per year from 2013-2018.[231][232] The Israeli- and U.S.-designed Arrow missile is one of the world's only operational anti-ballistic missile systems.[233]
Since the Yom Kippur War, Israel has developed a network of reconnaissance satellites.[234] The success of the Ofeq program has made Israel one of seven countries capable of launching such satellites.[235] The country has also developed its own main battle tank, the Merkava. Since its establishment, Israel has spent a significant portion of its gross domestic product on defense. In 1984, for example, the country spent 24%[236] of its GDP on defense. Today, that figure has dropped to 7.3%.[1]
Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons.[237] Israel has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity toward its nuclear capabilities. Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity may have played an important role in subduing Israel's enemies.[238]
After the Gulf War in 1991, when Israel was attacked by Iraqi Scud missiles, a law was passed requiring all apartments and homes in Israel to have a mamad, a reinforced security room impermeable to chemical and biological substances.[239]
International deployments
After the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, Israel mobilized a team of 150 IDF doctors and rescue and relief teams, which were to set up a field hospital in Sri Lanka. After the Sri Lankan government rejected this offer, Israel instead flew in 82 tonnes of humanitarian aid along with a small number of IDF personnel. Israel also sent in rescue workers and medical personnel to other countries, along with relief workers and body identifiers from ZAKA and the Israel Police. Israel also donated USD $100,000 to each affected country.[240]
After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, a rescue team was dispatched to Haiti, which consisted of 40 doctors, 20 nurses and rescue workers, and two rescue planes loaded with medical equipment and a field hospital with X-rays, intensive care units, and operating rooms. The Israel Defense Forces set up a satellite communications room with phone and wireless internet access and video conference systems so that surgeons could consult medical experts in Israel.[241] A Magen David Adom delegation arrived on January 17 to establish field clinics in cooperation with local rescue services.[242] The Israeli rescue team remained in Haiti until January 28. Following a request from the United States and United Nations, Israel sent 100 police officers as peacekeepers to Haiti. A group of police forensics investigators to assist in the identification of victims was also sent, along with 220 Home Front Command search and rescue teams and Israeli Medical Corps personnel.
Economy
Israel is considered one of the most advanced countries in Southwest Asia in economic and industrial development. In 2010, it was invited to join the OECD.[23][243] The country is ranked 3rd in the region on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index[244] as well as in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report.[245] It has the second-largest number of startup companies in the world (after the United States)[246] and the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside North America.[247]
In 2009, Israel had the 49th-highest gross domestic product and 29th-highest gross domestic product per capita (at purchasing power parity) at $206.4 billion and $28,393, respectively.[4] The New Israeli Shekel is one of 17 freely convertible currencies according to the CLS list.[249][250]
In 2010, Israel ranked 17th among of the world's most economically developed nations, according to IMD's World Competitiveness Yearbook. The Israeli economy was ranked first as the world's most durable economy in the face of crises, and was also ranked first in the rate of research and development center investments.[251]
The Bank of Israel was ranked first among central banks for its efficient functioning, up from the 8th place in 2009. Israel was also ranked as the worldwide leader in its supply of skilled manpower.[251]
Despite limited natural resources, intensive development of the agricultural and industrial sectors over the past decades has made Israel largely self-sufficient in food production, apart from grains and beef. Other major imports to Israel, totaling $47.8 billion in 2006, include fossil fuels, raw materials, and military equipment.[1] Leading exports include fruits, vegetables, pharmaceuticals, software, chemicals, military technology, and diamonds; in 2006, Israeli exports reached $42.86 billion.[1]
Israel is a global leader in water conservation and geothermal energy,[252] and its development of cutting-edge technologies in software, communications and the life sciences have evoked comparisons with Silicon Valley.[253][254] Intel[255] and Microsoft[256] built their first overseas research and development centers in Israel, and other high-tech multi-national corporations, such as IBM, Cisco Systems, and Motorola, have opened facilities in the country. In July 2007, U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought an Israeli company Iscar, its first non-U.S. acquisition, for $4 billion.[257] Since the 1970s, Israel has received economic and military aid from the United States, whose loans account for the bulk of Israel's external debt.[1]
Tourism
Tourism, especially religious tourism, is an important industry in Israel, with the country's temperate climate, beaches, archaeological and historical sites, and unique geography also drawing tourists. Israel's security problems have taken their toll on the industry, but the number of incoming tourists is on the rebound.[258] In 2008, over 3 million tourists visited Israel.[259]
Transportation
Israel has 18,096 kilometers (11,244 mi) of paved roads,[260] and 2.4 million motor vehicles.[261] The number of motor vehicles per 1,000 persons was 324, relatively low with respect to developed countries.[261] Israel has 5,715 buses on scheduled routes,[262] operated by several carriers, the largest of which is Egged, serving most of the country. Railways stretch across 949 kilometers (590 mi) and are operated solely by government-owned Israel Railways[263] (All figures are for 2008). Following major investments beginning in the early-to-mid 1990s, the number of train passengers per year has grown from 2.5 million in 1990, to 35 million in 2008; railways are also used to transport 6.8 million tons of cargo, per year.[263]
Israel is served by two international airports, Ben Gurion International Airport, the country's main hub for international air travel near Tel Aviv-Yafo, Ovda Airport in the south, as well as several small domestic airports.[264] Airports served 11.1 million passengers (entries and departures) in 2008, 11 million passing through Ben Gurion airport.[265][266]
On the Mediterranean coast, Haifa Port is the country's oldest and largest port, while Ashdod Port is one of the few deep water ports in the world built on the open sea.[264] In addition to these, the smaller Port of Eilat is situated on the Red Sea, and is used mainly for trading with Far East countries.[264]
Science, technology and education
Israel has the highest school life expectancy in Southwest Asia, and is tied with Japan for second-highest school life expectancy on the Asian continent (after South Korea).[267] Israel similarly has the highest literacy rate in Southwest Asia, according to the United Nations.[268] The State Education Law, passed in 1953, established five types of schools: state secular, state religious, ultra orthodox, communal settlement schools, and Arab schools. The public secular is the largest school group, and is attended by the majority of Jewish and non-Arab pupils in Israel. Most Arabs send their children to schools where Arabic is the language of instruction.[269]
Education is compulsory in Israel for children between the ages of three and eighteen.[270][271] Schooling is divided into three tiers – primary school (grades 1–6), middle school (grades 7–9), and high school (grades 10–12) – culminating with Bagrut matriculation exams. Proficiency in core subjects such as mathematics, Bible, Hebrew language, Hebrew and general literature, English, history, and civics is necessary to receive a Bagrut certificate.[272] In Arab, Christian and Druze schools, the exam on Biblical studies is replaced by an exam in Islam, Christianity or Druze heritage.[273] In 2003, over half of all Israeli twelfth graders earned a matriculation certificate.[274]
Israel's eight public universities are subsidized by the state.[272][275] The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel's oldest university, houses the Jewish National and University Library, the world's largest repository of books on Jewish subjects.[276] The Hebrew University is consistently ranked among world's 100 top universities[277][278] by the prestigious ARWU academic ranking. Other major universities in the country include the Technion, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University (TAU), Bar-Ilan University, the University of Haifa, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Israel's seven research universities (excluding the Open University) are consistently ranked among top 500 in the world.[279] Israel ranks third in the world in the number of academic degrees per capita (20 percent of the population).[280][281] Israel has produced five Nobel Prize-winning scientists since 2002[282] and publishes among the most scientific papers per capita of any country in the world.[283][284]
Israel leads world in stem cell research papers per capita since 2000[286] In addition, Israeli universities are among 100 top world universities in mathematics (TAU, Hebrew University and Technion), physics (TAU, Hebrew University and Weizmann Institute of Science), chemistry (TAU, Hebrew University and Technion), computer science (TAU, Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute of Science, BIU and Technion) and economics (TAU and Hebrew University).[287]
In 2009 Israel was ranked 2nd among 20 top countries in space sciences by Thomson Reuters agency.[288] Since 1988 Israel Aerospace Industries have indigenously designed and built at least 13 commercial, research and spy satellites.[289] Most were launched to orbit from Israeli air force base "Palmachim" by the Shavit space launch vehicle. Some of Israel's satellites are ranked among the world's most advanced space systems.[290] In 2003, Ilan Ramon became Israel's first astronaut, serving as payload specialist of STS-107, the fatal mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Israel has embraced solar energy, its engineers are on the cutting edge of solar energy technology[291] and its solar companies work on projects around the world.[292][293] Over 90% of Israeli homes use solar energy for hot water, the highest per capita in the world.[294][295] According to government figures, the country saves 8% of its electricity consumption per year because of its solar energy use in heating.[296] The high annual incident solar irradiance at its geographic latitude creates ideal conditions for what is an internationally renowned solar research and development industry in the Negev Desert.[291][292][293]
Demographics
After reaching 7,406,900 inhabitants[3] according to the first data released from its 2008 census, in 2010 Israel's population stands at about 7.5 million.[297] Israel has two official languages, Hebrew and Arabic.[1] Hebrew is the primary language of the state and is spoken by the majority of the population, and Arabic is spoken by the Arab minority. As of 2008, Arab citizens of Israel comprise just under 20% of the country's total population.[298]
Many Israelis communicate reasonably well in English, as many television programs are broadcast in this language and English is taught from the early grades in elementary school. As a country of immigrants, many languages can be heard on the streets. Due to mass immigration from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia (some 120,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel),[299] Russian and Amharic are widely spoken.[300] Between 1990 and 1994, the Russian immigration increased Israel's population by twelve percent.[301] Out of more than one million Russian-speaking immigrants in Israel,[302] about 300,000 are considered gentile by the Orthodox rabbinate, because, under the Orthodox interpretation, only children to Jewish mothers are considered Jews.[303][304]
Over the last decade, large numbers of migrant workers from Romania, Thailand, China, Africa and South America have settled in Israel. Exact figures are unknown as many of them are living in the country illegally,[305] but estimates run in the region of 200,000.[306] Over 16,000 African asylum seekers have entered Israel in recent years.[307] The main language amongst deaf Israelis is Israeli Sign Language (ISL).[308]
Retention of Israel's population since 1948 is about even or greater, when compared to other countries with mass immigration.[309] Emigration from Israel (yerida) to other countries, primarily the United States and Canada, is described by demographers as modest,[310] but is often cited by Israeli government ministries as a major threat to Israel's future.[311][312]
As of 2009 over 300,000 Israeli citizens live in West Bank settlements[313] such as Ma'ale Adumim and Ariel, and communities that predated the establishment of the State but were re-established after the Six-Day War, in cities such as Hebron and Gush Etzion. 18,000 Israelis live in Golan Heights settlements.[314] In 2006, there were 250,000 Jews living in East Jerusalem.[315] The total number of Israeli settlers is over 500,000 (6.5% of the Israeli population). Approximately 7,800 Israelis lived in settlements in the Gaza Strip until they were evacuated by the government as part of its 2005 disengagement plan.[316]
Israel was established as a homeland for the Jewish people and is often referred to as the Jewish state. The country's Law of Return grants all Jews and those of Jewish lineage the right to Israeli citizenship.[317] Just over three quarters, or 75.5%, of the population are Jews from a diversity of Jewish backgrounds. Approximately 68% of Israeli Jews are Israeli-born, 22% are immigrants from Europe and the Americas, and 10% are immigrants from Asia and Africa (including the Arab World).[318][319] Jews who fled from Arab and Muslim lands and their descendants constitute approximately 50% of Jewish Israelis.[320][321][322]
Religion
The religious affiliation of Israeli Jews varies widely: 55% say they are "traditional," while 20% consider themselves "secular Jews," 17% define themselves as "Religious Zionists"; 8% define themselves as "Haredi Jews."[323] Only 5% of Israel's population in 1990,[324] the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredim, are expected to represent more than one-fifth of Israel's Jewish population in 2028[325]
Making up 16% of the population, Muslims constitute Israel's largest religious minority. About 2% of the population are Christian and 1.5% are Druze.[326]
The Christian population includes both Arab Christians, Post-Soviet immigrants and the Foreign Labourers of multi-national origins and Messianic Jews.[327] Members of many other religious groups, including Buddhists and Hindus, maintain a presence in Israel, albeit in small numbers.[328]
The city of Jerusalem is of special importance to Jews, Muslims and Christians as it is the home of sites that are pivotal to their religious beliefs, such as the Israeli-controlled Old City that incorporates the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.[329] Other landmarks of religious importance are located in the West Bank, among them Joseph's tomb in Shechem, the birthplace of Jesus and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
The administrative center of the Bahá'í Faith and the Shrine of the Báb are located at the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa and the leader of the faith is buried in Acre. Apart from maintenance staff, there is no Bahá'í community in Israel, although it is a destination for pilgrimages. Bahá'í staff in Israel do not teach their faith to Israelis following strict policy.[330][331]
Culture
Israel's diverse culture stems from the diversity of the population: Jews from around the world have brought their cultural and religious traditions with them, creating a melting pot of Jewish customs and beliefs.[332] Israel is the only country in the world where life revolves around the Hebrew calendar. Work and school holidays are determined by the Jewish holidays, and the official day of rest is Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.[333] Israel's substantial Arab minority has also left its imprint on Israeli culture in such spheres as architecture,[334] music,[335] and cuisine.[336]
Israeli literature is primarily poetry and prose written in Hebrew, as part of the renaissance of Hebrew as a spoken language since the mid-19th century, although a small body of literature is published in other languages, such as English. By law, two copies of all printed matter published in Israel must be deposited in the Jewish National and University Library at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2001, the law was amended to include audio and video recordings, and other non-print media.[337] In 2006, 85 percent of the 8,000 books transferred to the library were in Hebrew.[338] The Hebrew Book Week (He: שבוע הספר) is held each June and features book fairs, public readings, and appearances by Israeli authors around the country. During the week, Israel's top literary award, the Sapir Prize, is presented. In 1966, Shmuel Yosef Agnon shared the Nobel Prize in Literature with German Jewish author Nelly Sachs.[339]
Israeli music contains musical influences from all over the world; Sephardic music, Hasidic melodies, Belly dancing music, Greek music, jazz, and pop rock are all part of the music scene.[340][341] The nation's canonical folk songs, known as "Songs of the Land of Israel," deal with the experiences of the pioneers in building the Jewish homeland.[342] Among Israel's world-renowned[343][344] orchestras is the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, which has been in operation for over seventy years and today performs more than two hundred concerts each year.[345] Israel has also produced many musicians of note, some achieving international stardom. Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and Ofra Haza are among the internationally acclaimed musicians born in Israel. Israel has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nearly every year since 1973, winning the competition three times and hosting it twice.[346] Eilat has hosted its own international music festival, the Red Sea Jazz Festival, every summer since 1987.[347]
Cinema of Israel: nine Israeli films have been final nominees for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards since the establishment of Israel. The 2009 movie Ajami was the third consecutive nomination of an Israeli film.[348]
Continuing the strong theatrical traditions of the Yiddish theater in Eastern Europe, Israel maintains a vibrant theatre scene. Founded in 1918, Habima Theatre in Tel Aviv is Israel's oldest repertory theater company and national theater.[349]
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem is one of Israel's most important cultural institutions[350] and houses the Dead Sea scrolls,[351] along with an extensive collection of Judaica and European art.[350] Israel's national Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, houses the world's largest archive of Holocaust-related information.[352] Beth Hatefutsoth (the Diaspora Museum), on the campus of Tel Aviv University, is an interactive museum devoted to the history of Jewish communities around the world.[353] Apart from the major museums in large cities, there are high-quality artspaces in many towns and kibbutzim. Mishkan Le'Omanut on Kibbutz Ein Harod Meuhad is the largest art museum in the north of the country.[354]
Modern dance in Israel is a flourishing field, and several Israeli choreographers (such as Ohad Naharin, Rami Beer, Barak Marshall, and many others) are considered to be among the most versatile and original international creators working today. Famous Israeli companies include the Batsheva Dance Company and the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company.
Sports
Sports and physical fitness have not always been paramount in Jewish culture. Athletic prowess, which was prized by the ancient Greeks, was looked down upon as an unwelcome intrusion of Hellenistic values. Maimonides, who was both a rabbi and a physician, emphasized the importance of regular exercise in preventing illness on the authority of Hippocrates and Galen.[355] This approach received a boost in the 19th century from the physical culture campaign of Max Nordau, and in the early 20th century when the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Abraham Isaac Kook, declared that "the body serves the soul, and only a healthy body can ensure a healthy soul".[356] The Maccabiah Games, an Olympic-style event for Jewish athletes and Israeli athletes, was inaugurated in the 1930s, and has been held every four years since then. In 1964 Israel hosted and won the Asian Nations Cup; in 1970 the Israel national football team managed to qualify to the FIFA World Cup, which is still considered the biggest achievement of Israeli football.
Israel was excluded from the 1978 Asian Games due to Arab pressure on the organizers. The exclusion left Israel in limbo and it ceased competing in Asian competitions.[357] In 1994, UEFA agreed to admit Israel and all Israeli sporting organizations now compete in Europe.
The most popular spectator sports in Israel are association football and basketball.[358] The Israeli Premier League is the country's premier soccer league, and Ligat HaAl is the premier basketball league.[359] Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem are the largest sports clubs. Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv have competed in the UEFA Champions League and Hapoel Tel Aviv reached the final quarter in the UEFA Cup. Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. has won the European championship in basketball five times.[360] Israeli tennis champion Shahar Pe'er ranked 19th in the world after competing in Dubai.[361]
Beersheba has become a national chess center; thanks to Soviet immigration, it is home to the largest number of chess grandmasters of any city in the world.[362] The city hosted the World Team Chess Championship in 2005, and chess is taught in the city's kindergartens.[363] In 2008, the Israeli chess team won the silver medal at the Chess Olympiad.[364] Israeli grandmaster Boris Gelfand is the current Chess World Cup holder.[365]
To date, Israel has won seven Olympic medals since its first win in 1992, including a gold medal in windsurfing at the 2004 Summer Olympics.[366] Israel has won over 100 gold medals in the Paralympic Games and is ranked about 15th in the all-time medal count. The 1968 Summer Paralympics were hosted by Israel.[367]
Cuisine
Israeli cuisine comprises local dishes and dishes brought to the country by Jewish immigrants from around the world. Since the establishment of the State in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, an Israeli fusion cuisine has developed.
Israeli cuisine has adopted, and continues to adapt, elements of various styles of the Jewish cuisine, particularly the Mizrahi, Sephardic, and Ashkenazi styles of cooking, along with Moroccan Jewish, Iraqi Jewish, Ethiopian Jewish, Indian Jewish, Iranian Jewish and Yemeni Jewish influences. It incorporates many foods traditionally eaten in the Arab, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, as falafel, hummus, shakshouka, couscous, and za'atar have become essential dishes n Israel.
See also
- Outline of Israel
References and notes
| a. | ^ The Jerusalem Law states that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel" and the city serves as the seat of the government, home to the President's residence, government offices, supreme court, and parliament. United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 (Aug. 20, 1980; 14–0, U.S. abstaining) declared the Jerusalem Law "null and void" and called on member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from Jerusalem. The United Nations and all member nations refuse to accept the Jerusalem Law (see Kellerman 1993, p. 140) and maintain their embassies in other cities such as Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, and Herzliya (see the CIA Factbook and Map of Israel). The U.S. Congress subsequently adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which said that the U.S. embassy should be relocated to Jerusalem and that it should be recognized as the capital of Israel. The Palestinian Authority sees East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. The city's final status awaits future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (see "Negotiating Jerusalem", University of Maryland). See Positions on Jerusalem for more information. |
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 "Israel", The World Factbook (Central Intelligence Agency), 19 June 2007, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/is.html, retrieved 20 July 2007
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Population of Israel, Just before Rosh HaShana 5771
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Press release – First data from the 2008 Population Census – Completed in July, 2009, Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), 30 September 2009, http://www.cbs.gov.il/hodaot2009n/14_09_192e.pdf, retrieved 18 May 2010
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Israel, International Monetary Fund, http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2010/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2007&ey=2010&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=436&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a=&pr.x=37&pr.y=13, retrieved 21 April 2010
- ↑ Human Development Report 2009. Human development index trends: Table G, The United Nations, http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2009_EN_Complete.pdf, retrieved 10 October 2009
- ↑ "Israel", CIA Factbook (CIA), https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/is.html, retrieved 13 April 2010
- ↑ Skolnik 2007, pp. 132–232
- ↑ "Israel", Country Report (Freedom House), 2007, http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2007&country=7199, retrieved 15 July 2007
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Population". http://www.cbs.gov.il/www/yarhon/b1_e.htm.
- ↑ "Israel closes decade with population of 7.5 million", Haaretz, 31 December 2009, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1138784.html, retrieved 31 December 2009
- ↑ Time Series-DataBank, Central Bureau of Statistics, http://www.cbs.gov.il/ts/, retrieved 20 February 2009
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Ben-Sasson 1985, p. 1232
- ↑ Schwartz, Howard; Loebel-Fried, Caren (2004), Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism, Oxford University Press, p. 399, ISBN 978-0195086799
- ↑ See, for example, Genesis 12 and 13. Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary. Jewish Publication Society, 2001.
- ↑ "The Palestine Mandate", The Avalon Project, 24 July 1922, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/palmanda.asp, retrieved 8 April 2010
- ↑ "United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181", The Avalon Project (Yale University), 29 November 1947, http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/un/res181.htm, retrieved 21 August 2007
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Gilbert, Martín (2005), The Routledge Atlas of the Arab–Israeli conflict, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415359009
- ↑ Rummel 1997, p. 257. "A current list of liberal democracies includes: Andorra, Argentina, ... , Cyprus, ... , Israel, ..."
- ↑ Global Survey 2006: Middle East Progress Amid Global Gains in Freedom, Freedom House, 19 December 2005, http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=70&release=317, retrieved 1 July 2007
- ↑ (PDF) Gross domestic product 2008, The World Bank, 7 October 2009, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP.pdf, retrieved 18 February 2010 Note: this links to the most up-to-date table of GDP and will therefore eventually cease to connect to the table for the year mentioned.
- ↑ Human Development Report 2007/2008, United Nations Development Programme, http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_20072008_EN_Complete.pdf, retrieved 25 June 2009
- ↑ WHO: Life expectancy in Israel among highest in the world Haaretz, May, 2009
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Wrobel, Sharon (10 May 2010), OECD accepts Israel as member, Jerusalem Post, http://www.jpost.com/Business/BusinessNews/Article.aspx?ID=175158, retrieved 10 May 2007
- ↑ Wells, John C. (1990), Longman pronunciation dictionary, Harlow, England: Longman, p. 381, ISBN 0582053838 entry "Jacob"
- ↑ Levine, Robert A. (11 July 2000), "See Israel as a Jewish Nation-State, More or Less Democratic", The New York Times, ISSN 0294-8052, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/07/opinion/07iht-edlevine.t.html, retrieved 29 July 2008
- ↑ From the King James Version of the Bible: "And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." (Genesis, 32:28, 35:10). See also Hosea 12:5.
- ↑ Barton & Bowden 2004, p. 126. "The Merneptah Stele... is arguably the oldest evidence outside the Bible for the existence of Israel as early as the 13th century BCE."
- ↑ Popular Opinion, The Palestine Post, 7 December 1947, p. 1
- ↑ "On the Move", Time, 31 May 1948, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798687-2,00.html, retrieved 6 August 2007
- ↑ From the King James Version of the Bible: "And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers." (Deuteronomy, 30:5)
- ↑ From the King James Version of the Bible: "But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there." (Nehemiah, 1:9)
- ↑ "Walking the Bible Timeline", Walking the Bible (Public Broadcast Television), http://www.pbs.org/walkingthebible/timeline.html, retrieved 29 September 2007
- ↑ Friedland & Hecht 2000, p. 8. "For a thousand years Jerusalem was the seat of Jewish sovereignty, the household site of kings, the location of its legislative councils and courts."
- ↑ Ben-Sasson 1985
- ↑ Matthews, Victor H. (2002), A Brief History of Ancient Israel, Westminster John Knox Press, p. 192, ISBN 978-0664224363
- ↑ Miller, J. Maxwell; Hayes, John Haralson (1986), A History of Ancient Israel and Judah, Westminster John Knox Press, p. 523, ISBN 978-0664212629
- ↑ Scheindlin, Raymond P. (2000), A Short History of the Jewish People: From Legendary Times to Modern Statehood, Oxford University Press, p. 288, ISBN 978-0195139419
- ↑ Oppenheimer, A'haron and Oppenheimer, Nili. Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society. Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 2.
- ↑ Cohn-Sherbok, Dan (1996), Atlas of Jewish History, Routledge, p. 58, ISBN 978-0415088008
- ↑ "Palestine: History", The Online Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces (The University of South Dakota), 22 February 2007, http://www.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/palestin.htm, retrieved 13 March 2009
- ↑ Morçöl 2006, p. 304
- ↑ Runciman, Steven (1987-12-25), A History of the Crusades: Volume 1, The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Cambridge University Press, p. 10, ISBN 0-521-34770-X, http://books.google.com/?id=-F3p5aCFOB0C&pg=PA10&dq=heraclius+massacre+jews+inpublisher:university&cd=13#v=onepage&q=tortured%20and%20slew, "On 5 May, with the help of Jews within, the Persians forced their way into the city. There followed scenes of’ utter horror. With their churches and houses in flames around them, the Christians were indiscriminately massacred, some by the Persian soldiery and many more by the Jews. Sixty thousand were said to have perished and thirty-five thousand more were sold into slavery."
- ↑ Ben-Sasson 1985, pp. 359–363
- ↑ Reinink, G.J.; Stolte, Bernard H. (2002), The Reign of Heraclius (610–641): Crisis and Confrontation, Peeters Publishers, p. 109, ISBN 978-9042912281
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 Gil, Moshe (1997), A History of Palestine, 634–1099, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521599849
- ↑ 46.0 46.1 Kramer, Gudrun (2008), A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel, Princeton University Press, p. 376, ISBN 978-0691118970
- ↑ Rosenzweig, p. 1 "Zionism, the urge of the Jewish people to return to Palestine, is almost as ancient as the Jewish diaspora itself. Some Talmudic statements... Almost a millennium later, the poet and philosopher Yehuda Halevi... In the 19th century..."
- ↑ 48.0 48.1 Geoffrey Wigoder, G.G. (ed.), "Return to Zion", The New Encyclopedia of Judaism (via Answers.Com) (The Jerusalem Publishing House), http://www.answers.com/topic/return-to-zion, retrieved 8 March 2010
- ↑ An invention called 'the Jewish people' – Haaretz – Israel News, Ha'aretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/959229.html, retrieved 9 March 2010
- ↑ From the King James Version of the Bible: "the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity ... and gather you again from all the peoples ... and will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed and you shall possess it" (Deut. 30:1–5).
- ↑ Gilbert 2005, p. 2. "Jews sought a new homeland here after their expulsions from Spain (1492)..."
- ↑ Eisen, Yosef (2004), Miraculous journey: a complete history of the Jewish people from creation to the present, Targum Press, p. 700, ISBN 1-56871-323-1
- ↑ Morgenstern, Arie (2006), Hastening redemption: Messianism and the resettlement of the land of Israel, USA: Oxford University Press, p. 304, ISBN 978-0195305784
- ↑ Jewish and Non-Jewish Population of Palestine-Israel (1517–2004), Jewish Virtual Library, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/israel_palestine_pop.html, retrieved 29 March 2010
- ↑ Barnai, Jacob (1992), The Jews in Palestine in the Eighteenth Century: Under the Patronage of the Istanbul committee of Officials for Palestine, University Alabama Press, p. 320, ISBN 978-0817305727
- ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 Immigration, The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Immigration/immigtoc.html, retrieved 12 July 2007 The source provides information on the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Aliyot in their respective articles. The White Paper leading to Aliyah Bet is discussed Jewishvirtuallibrary.org
- ↑ Kornberg 1993 "How did Theodor Herzl, an assimilated German nationalist in the 1880s, suddenly in the 1890s become the founder of Zionism?"
- ↑ Herzl 1946, p. 11
- ↑ Chapter One: The Heralders of Zionism, Jewish Agency for Israel, http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Eye+on+Israel/120/Chapter+One+The+Heralders+of+Zionism.htm, retrieved 12 July 2007
- ↑ Stein 2003, p. 88. "As with the First Aliyah, most Second Aliyah migrants were non-Zionist orthodox Jews..."
- ↑ Romano 2003, p. 30
- ↑ Macintyre, Donald (26 May 2005), "The birth of modern Israel: A scrap of paper that changed history", The Independent (London), http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-birth-of-modern-israel-a-scrap-of-paper-that-changed-history-492084.html, retrieved 7 January 2009
- ↑ Scharfstein 1996, p. 269. "During the First and Second Aliyot, there were many Arab attacks against Jewish settlements... In 1920, Hashomer was disbanded and Haganah ("The Defense") was established."
- ↑ "League of Nations: The Mandate for Palestine, July 24, 1922", Modern History Sourcebook (Fordham University), 24 July 1922, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1922mandate.html, retrieved 27 August 2007
- ↑ J. V. W. Shaw , "A Survey of Palestine, Vol 1: Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the Information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry", Reprinted 1991 by The Institute for Palestine Studies, Washington, D.C., page 148
- ↑ The Population of Palestine Prior to 1948, MidEastWeb, archived from the original on June 27, 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20070627173238/http://www.mideastweb.org/palpop.htm, retrieved 12 July 2007
- ↑ Fraser 2004, p. 27
- ↑ Background Paper No. 47 (ST/DPI/SER.A/47). United Nations. 20 April 1949. http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/2248AF9A92B498718525694B007239C6. Retrieved 31 July 2007.
- ↑ Best 2003, pp. 118–119
- ↑ History: Foreign Domination, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 October 2006, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/History/HISTORY-+Foreign+Domination.htm, retrieved 6 July 2007
- ↑ Bregman 2002, p. 40–41
- ↑ Gelber, Yoav (2006), Palestine 1948, Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, p. 17, ISBN 978-1902210674
- ↑ Tal, David (2003), War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy, Routledge, p. 471, ISBN 978-0714652757
- ↑ Morris, Benny (2008), 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, ISBN 0300151128
- ↑ Clifford, Clark, "Counsel to the President: A Memoir", 1991, P 20.
- ↑ Karsh, Efraim (2002), The Arab–Israeli conflict: The Palestine War 1948, Osprey Publishing, p. 50, ISBN 978-1841763729
- ↑ Ben-Sasson 1985, p. 1058
- ↑ Rabinovich, Itamar; Reinharz, Jehuda (2007), Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present, Brandeis, p. 74, ISBN 978-0874519624
- ↑ Karsh, Efraim (2002), The Arab–Israeli conflict: The Palestine War 1948, Osprey Publishing, ISBN 978-1841763729
- ↑ Two Hundred and Seventh Plenary Meeting. The United Nations. 11 May 1949. http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/1ce874ab1832a53e852570bb006dfaf6/0b3ab8d2a7c0273d8525694b00726d1b. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
- ↑ General Progress Report and Supplementary Report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Covering the Period from December 11, 1949 to October 23, 1950. The United Nations Conciliation Commission. 23 October 1950. http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/93037e3b939746de8525610200567883. Retrieved 13 July 2007. (U.N. General Assembly Official Records, Fifth Session, Supplement No. 18, Document A/1367/Rev. 1)
- ↑ Van Evera, Stephen, "Nature of the Flashpoint" (PDF), Center for International Studies (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), http://web.mit.edu/cis/pdf/VanEvera_flashpointsinwar.pdf, retrieved 11 September 2007
- ↑ Reveron & Murer 2006
- ↑ Lustick 1988, pp. 37–39
- ↑ "Israel (Labor Zionism)", Country Studies (Library of Congress), http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html, retrieved 12 February 2010
- ↑ Shulewitz, Malka Hillel (2001), The Forgotten Millions: The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands, Continuum, ISBN 978-0826447647
- ↑ Population, by Religion and Population Group, Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, 2006, http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_01&CYear=2006, retrieved 7 August 2007
- ↑ Hakohen, Devorah (2003), Immigrants in Turmoil: Mass Immigration to Israel and Its Repercussions in the 1950s and After, Syracuse University Press, ISBN 978-0815629696; for ma'abarot population, see p. 269.
- ↑ Shindler 2002, pp. 49–50
- ↑ Gilbert 2005, p. 58
- ↑ The Suez Crisis, University of San Diego, 5 December 2005, http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/20th/suez.html, retrieved 15 July 2007
- ↑ Gorst, Anthony; Johnman, Lewis (1997), The Suez Crisis, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415114493
- ↑ Adolf Eichmann, Jewish Virtual Library, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/eichmann.html, retrieved 18 September 2007
- ↑ Cole 2003, p. 27. "...the Eichmann trial, which did so much to raise public awareness of the Holocaust..."
- ↑ Justice Ministry Reply to Amnesty International Report, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 5 July 1995, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Law/Legal%20Issues%20and%20Rulings/JUSTICE%20MINISTRY%20REPLY%20TO%201995%20AMNESTY%20INTERNATION, retrieved 10 August 2007
- ↑ Maoz, Moshe (1995), Syria and Israel: From War to Peacemaking, USA: Oxford University Press, p. 70, ISBN 978-0198280187
- ↑ Segev 2007, p. 178
- ↑ Segev 2007, p. 289
- ↑ Smith 2006, p. 126. "Nasser, the Egyptian president, decided to mass troops in the Sinai...casus belli by Israel."
- ↑ Bennet, James (13 March 2005), "The Interregnum", The New York Times Magazine, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/magazine/13PALESTINIANS.html?pagewanted=2, retrieved 11 February 2010
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs – The Palestinian National Covenant- July 1968, Mfa.gov.il, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign+Relations/Israels+Foreign+Relations+since+1947/1947-1974/33+The+Palestinian+National+Covenant-+July+1968.htm, retrieved 13 March 2009
- ↑ Silke, Andrew (2004), Research on terrorism: trends, achievements & failures, Routledge, p. 149, ISBN 978-0714653112, http://books.google.com/?id=rSpfNJQ4CbAC&pg=PA149&dq=palestinian+terror+1970s&cd=1#v=onepage&q=, retrieved 8 March 2010
- ↑ Gilbert, Martin (2002), The Routledge Atlas of the Arab–Israeli conflict: The Complete History of the Struggle and the Efforts to Resolve It, Routledge, p. 82, ISBN 978-0415281164, http://books.google.com/?id=UNvJ1FOwiAwC&pg=PA82&dq=palestinian+terror+1970s&cd=4#v=onepage&q=, retrieved 8 March 2010
- ↑ Andrews, Edmund L. and John Kifner."George Habash, Palestinian Terrorism Tactician, Dies at 82." The New York Times. 27 Jan 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
- ↑ "1973: Arab states attack Israeli forces", On This Day (The BBC), 6 October 1973, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/6/newsid_2514000/2514317.stm, retrieved 15 July 2007
- ↑ Agranat Commission, Knesset, 2008, http://www.knesset.gov.il/lexicon/eng/agranat_eng.htm, retrieved 8 April 2010
- ↑ Bregman 2002, pp. 169–170 "In hindsight we can say that 1977 was a turning point..."
- ↑ Bregman 2002, pp. 171–174
- ↑ Bregman 2002, pp. 186–187
- ↑ Bregman 2002, pp. 186
- ↑ Cleveland, William L. (1999), A history of the modern Middle East, Westview Press, p. 356, ISBN 978-0813334899
- ↑ Ian Lustick (January 1997), "Has Israel Annexed East Jerusalem?", Middle East Policy V (1), archived from the original on 2008-08-01, http://web.archive.org/web/20080801164123/http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol5/9701_lustick.asp, retrieved 2007-07-08.
- ↑ See for example UN General Assembly resolution 63/30, 2009 Jan 23, passed 163 for, 6 against [1]
- ↑ Bregman 2002, p. 199
- ↑ Tessler, Mark A. (1994), A History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Indiana University Press, p. 677, ISBN 978-0253208736
- ↑ Stone & Zenner 1994, p. 246. "Toward the end of 1991,... were the result of internal Palestinian terror."
- ↑ Haberman, Clyde (9 December 1991), After 4 Years, Intifada Still Smolders, The New York Times, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE7DB173EF93AA35751C1A967958260, retrieved 28 March 2008
- ↑ Mowlana, Gerbner & Schiller 1992, p. 111
- ↑ Bregman 2002, p. 236
- ↑ From the End of the Cold War to 2001, Boston College, archived from the original on 2007-09-14, http://web.archive.org/web/20070914065512/http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/meta-elements/texts/cjrelations/resources/education/Israel_Palestine/cold_war_ends.htm, retrieved 16 July 2007
- ↑ The Oslo Accords, 1993, U.S. Department of State, http://history.state.gov/milestones/1990-2000/Oslo, retrieved 30 March 2010
- ↑ Israel-PLO Recognition – Exchange of Letters between PM Rabin and Chairman Arafat – Sept 9- 1993, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Israel-PLO%20Recognition%20-%20Exchange%20of%20Letters%20betwe, retrieved 31 March 2010
- ↑ Harkavy & Neuman 2001, p. 270. "Even though Jordan in 1994 became the second country, after Egypt to sign a peace treaty with Israel..."
- ↑ Settlements information, Foundation for Middle East Peace, Sources of Population Growth: Total Israeli Population and Settler Population, 1991–2003, archived from the original on 11 May 2008, http://web.archive.org/web/20080511203844/http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/stats_data/settler_population_growth/sources_population_growth_1991-2003.html, retrieved 12 December 2007
- ↑ Kurtzer, Daniel; Lasensky,Scott (2008), Negotiating Arab-Israeli peace: American leadership in the Middle East, United States Institute of Peace Press, p. 44, ISBN 978-1601270306
- ↑ Cleveland, William L. (1999), A history of the modern Middle East, Westview Press, p. 494, ISBN 978-0813334899
- ↑ "Israel marks Rabin assassination". BBC News. 12 November 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4431728.stm.
- ↑ Bregman 2002, p. 257
- ↑ The Wye River Memorandum, U.S. Department of State, 23 October 1998, http://www.state.gov/www/regions/nea/981023_interim_agmt.html, retrieved 30 March 2010
- ↑ Gelvin 2005, p. 240
- ↑ Jul 29-west-bank_x.htm West Bank barrier route disputed, Israeli missile kills 2, The Associated Press (via USA Today), 29 July 2004, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004 Jul 29-west-bank_x.htm, retrieved 16 July 2007
- ↑ 'Permanent Ceasefire to Be Based on Creation Of Buffer Zone Free of Armed Personnel Other than UN, Lebanese Forces' United Nations Security Council, August 11, 2006
Escalation of hostilities in Lebanon and in Israel since Hizbollah’s attack on Israel on July 12, 2006 - ↑ Harel, Amos (13 July 2006), "Hezbollah kills 8 soldiers, kidnaps two in offensive on northern border", Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=737825, retrieved 13 August 2006
- ↑ Walker, Peter; News Agencies (21 May 2008), "Olmert confirms peace talks with Syria", The Guardian (London), http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/21/israelandthepalestinians.syria, retrieved 21 May 2008, "Israel and Syria are holding indirect peace talks, with Turkey acting as a mediator..."
- ↑ Koutsoukis, Jason (5 January 2009), Battleground Gaza: Israeli ground forces invade the strip, smh.com.au, http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/battleground-gaza/2009/01/04/1231003847085.html, retrieved 5 January 2009
- ↑ Ravid, Barak (19 January 2009), "IDF begins Gaza troop withdrawal, hours after ending 3-week offensive", Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056246.html, retrieved 29 January 2009
- ↑ Azoulay, Yuval (1 February 2009), Two IDF soldiers, civilian lightly hurt as Gaza mortars hit Negev, Haaretz, http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1060562.html, retrieved 12 April 2009
- ↑ "Area of Districts, Sub-Districts, Natural Regions and Lakes" (PDF), Statistical Abstract of Israel (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics), 2006, http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton57/st01_01.pdf
- ↑ "Israel (Geography)", Country Studies (The Library of Congress), 7 May 2009, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html, retrieved 12 February 2010
- ↑ The Living Dead Sea, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 April 1999, ISBN 0826404065, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1990_1999/1999/4/FOCUS%20on%20Israel-%20The%20Living%20Dead%20Sea, retrieved 20 July 2007
- ↑ Makhteshim Country, UNESCO, ISBN 9546421359, http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1486/, retrieved 19 September 2007
- ↑ Jacobs 1998, p. 284. "The extraordinary Makhtesh Ramon – the largest natural crater in the world..."
- ↑ Makhtesh Ramon, Jewish Virtual Library, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Ramon.html, retrieved 12 February 2010
- ↑ Rinat, Zafrir (2 June 2008), "More endangered than rain forests?", Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/988204.html, retrieved 29 July 2008
- ↑ Goldreich 2003, p. 85
- ↑ Watzman, Haim (8 February 1997), Left for dead, http://environment.newscientist.com/article/mg15320684.400-left-for-dead--plans-to-rescue-the-rapidly-shrinking-dead-sea-may-be-good-news-forindustry-and-tourists-but-the-strange-life-forms-that-thrive-in-its-supersaltywaters-still-face-a-perilous-future-says-ithaim-watzmanit.html, retrieved 29 July 2008
- ↑ Average Weather for Tel Aviv-Yafo, The Weather Channel, http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/ISXX0026, retrieved 11 July 2007
- ↑ Average Weather for Jerusalem, The Weather Channel, http://www.weather.com/outlook/events/weddings/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/ISXX0010, retrieved 11 July 2007
- ↑ Sitton, Dov (20 September 2003), Development of Limited Water Resources- Historical and Technological Aspects, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/facts%20about%20israel/land/focus%20on%20israel-%20development%20of%20limited%20water%20reso, retrieved 7 November 2007
- ↑ Grossman, Gershon; Ayalon, Ofira; Baron, Yifaat; Kaufman, Debby, Solar energy for the production of heat, Samuel Neaman Institute, http://www.neaman.org.il/neaman/publications/publication_item.asp?fid=590&parent_fid=490&iid=3639, retrieved 7 November 2007
- ↑ 151.0 151.1 "Field Listing — Executive Branch", The World Factbook (Central Intelligence Agency), 19 June 2007, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2077.html, retrieved 20 July 2007
- ↑ In the 1990s, direct elections for Prime Minister were inaugurated but the system was declared unsatisfactory and the old one was brought back. See Israel's election process explained, BBC News, 23 January 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2683259.stm, retrieved 31 March 2010
- ↑ The Electoral System in Israel, The Knesset, http://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_beh.htm, retrieved 8 August 2007
- ↑ Migdalovitz, Carol (6 July 2007) (PDF), Israel: Background and Relations with the United States, Congressional Research Service (via the U.S. Mission to Italy), p. 23, http://italy.usembassy.gov/pdf/other/RL33476.pdf, retrieved 20 February 2009
- ↑ Mazie 2006, p. 34
- ↑ 156.0 156.1 The Judiciary: The Court System, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 August 2005, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Branches%20of%20Government/Judicial/The%20Judiciary-%20The%20Court%20System, retrieved 5 August 2007
- ↑ Israel’s high court unique in region, The Boston Herald, 9 September 2007, http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/editorial/view.bg?articleid=1030205, retrieved 15 September 2007
- ↑ Israel and the International Criminal Court, Office of the Legal Adviser to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30 June 2002, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/6/Israel%20and%20the%20International%20Criminal%20Court, retrieved 20 July 2007
- ↑ The State — Judiciary — The Court System, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 October 2006, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/State/THE+STATE-+Judiciary-+The+Court+System.htm, retrieved 9 August 2007
- ↑ Freedom in the World 2008 – Israel, Freedom House, 2008, http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2008&country=7416, retrieved 27 May 2009
- ↑ Freedom in the World 2008 – Palestinian Authority-Administered Territories (Israel), Freedom House, 2008, http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2008&country=7535, retrieved 27 May 2009
- ↑ Press Freedom Index 2009, Reporters Without Borders, 2009, ISBN 0891952802, http://www.rsf.org/en-classement1003-2009.html, retrieved 31 March 2010
- ↑ "Report: Media freedom shrinks in Israel", Ynetnews.com, 20 October 2009, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3792727,00.html, retrieved 11 February 2010
- ↑ "Israel and the Occupied Territories", Amnesty International Report 2009 (Amnesty International), 2009, http://thereport.amnesty.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/israel-occupied-territories, retrieved 12 February 2010
- ↑ Israel/Palestinian Authority, Human Rights Watch, http://hrw.org/doc/?t=mideast&c=isrlpa, retrieved 20 July 2007
- ↑ Land Grab: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank, B'Tselem, May 2002, http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/200205_Land_Grab.asp, retrieved 9 August 2007
- ↑ (doc) Introduction to the Tables: Geophysical Characteristics, Central Bureau of Statistics, http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton53/download/st_eng01.doc, retrieved 4 September 2007
- ↑ "More than 300.000 settlers live in west bank". http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/idf-more-than-300-000-settlers-live-in-west-bank-1.280778.
- ↑ (PDF) Localities, Population, and Density, http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton60/st02_16.pdf, retrieved 30 January 2010
- ↑ 170.0 170.1 (PDF) Population of localities numbering above 2,000 residents and other rural population, Central Bureau of Statistics, 30 September 2009, http://www.cbs.gov.il/population/new_2010/table3.pdf, retrieved 19 February 2010
- ↑ Roberts 1990, p. 60 Although East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been brought directly under Israeli law, by acts that amount to annexation, both of these areas continue to be viewed by the international community as occupied, and their status as regards the applicability of international rules is in most respects identical to that of the West Bank and Gaza.
- ↑ Primor, Adar (24 October 2009), "Solana: EU aims to establish a Palestinian state at the earliest possible moment within the 1967 borders.", Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1123034.html
- ↑ United States: "an independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps", U.S. Department of State, 25 November 2009, http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/11/132434.htm, retrieved 10 April 2010
- ↑ Golan Heights: UNSC Res. 497, UN, 1981, http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/418/84/IMG/NR041884.pdf?OpenElement, retrieved 10 April 2010
- ↑ East Jerusalem: UNSC Res. 478, UN, 1980, http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/dde590c6ff232007852560df0065fddb?OpenDocument, retrieved 10 April 2010
- ↑ Arabs will ask UN to seek razing of Israeli wall, msnbc.com, 9 July 2004, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5400559/, retrieved 7 July 2010
- ↑ Olmert: Willing to trade land for peace, Ynetnews, 16 December 2006, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3340641,00.html, retrieved 26 September 2007
- ↑ "Syria ready to discuss land for peace", The Jerusalem Post, 12 June 2007, archived from the original on 21 November 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20071121060510/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1181570258086&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull, retrieved 26 September 2007
- ↑ "Egypt: Israel must accept the land-for-peace formula", The Jerusalem Post, 15 May 2007, archived from the original on 1 May 2008, http://web.archive.org/web/20080501231415/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1173879095966, retrieved 26 September 2007
- ↑ (PDF) UNRWA in Figures: Figures as of 30 June 2009, United Nations, June 2009, http://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/uif-june09.pdf, retrieved 27 September 2007
- ↑ "Questions and Answers", Israel’s Security Fence (The State of Israel), 22 February 2004, http://www.securityfence.mod.gov.il/Pages/ENG/questions.htm, retrieved 17 April 2007
- ↑ http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4875de625.html [accessed 20 June 2010]
- ↑ "Under the Guise of Security: Routing the Separation Barrier to Enable Israeli Settlement Expansion in the West Bank", Publications (B'Tselem), December 2005, http://www.btselem.org/english/Publications/summaries/200512_Under_the_Guise_of_Security.asp, retrieved 16 April 2007
- ↑ Gaza humanitarian situation (22-23 January) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN), 23 January 2009
- ↑ The occupied Palestinian territories: Dignity Denied International Committee of the Red Cross, 13 December 2007
- ↑ Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT): Country Summary 2006 Human Rights Watch, January 2006. p. 1
- ↑ Human rights in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories: Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict United Nations Human Rights Council, 15 September 2009. p. 85
- ↑ Israel and the Occupied Territories: Road to nowhere Amnesty International, 1 December 2006
- ↑ 189.0 189.1 189.2 The scope of Israeli control in the Gaza Strip, Btselem.org, http://www.btselem.org/english/Gaza_Strip/Gaza_Status.asp, retrieved 31 March 2010
- ↑ Eubam-rafah.eu portal and Eubam-rafah.eu files
- ↑ Egypt opens Rafah crossing, YNet, 06.01.2010
- ↑ Israel's Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of Relations, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 12 July 2006, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About%20the%20Ministry/Diplomatic%20missions/Israel-s%20Diplomatic%20Missions%20Abroad, retrieved 13 March 2009
- ↑ Israel Among the Nations: Middle East — North Africa, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 October 2006, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign+Relations/Israel+Among+the+Nations/ISRAEL%20AMONG%20THE%20NATIONS-%20Middle%20East%20-%20North%20Afri, retrieved 13 March 2009
- ↑ Israel sees Morocco as mediator, BBC News, 2 September 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3202767.stm, retrieved 28 September 2007
- ↑ 195.0 195.1 Qatar, Mauritania cut Israel ties, Al-Jazeera English, 17 January 2009, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009116151135307776.html, retrieved 18 May 2009
- ↑ Abn, Abi (14 January 2009) (in Spanish), Bolivia rompe relaciones diplomáticas con Israel y anuncia demanda por genocidio en Gaza, YVKE Mundial Radio, http://www.radiomundial.com.ve/yvke/noticia.php?17621, retrieved 14 April 2010
- ↑ (PDF) Initial Periodic Report of the State of Israel Concerning the Implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), Israel Ministry of Justice, February 2001, pp. 147 (173 using pdf numbering), http://www.justice.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/129A5B6A-20D6-4C3B-9785-1C6B6763394A/0/CRCengfull.pdf, retrieved 9 August 2007
- ↑ (Hebrew) הוראות הדין הישראלי, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2004, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFAHeb/MFAArchive/2004/horaot+din+israeli0304.htm, retrieved 9 August 2007
- ↑ Week of 8 – March 14, 2000, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 13 September 2001, http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2000/0308/eng.htm, retrieved 21 July 2007
- ↑ Israel: Background and Relations with the United States Updated, Defense Technical Information Center, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA470003&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf, retrieved 19 October 2009
- ↑ Migdalovitz, Carol (6 July 2007) (PDF), Israel: Background and Relations with the United States, Congressional Research Service (via the U.S. Mission to Italy), p. 23, http://italy.usembassy.gov/pdf/other/RL33476.pdf, retrieved 23 September 2007
- ↑ Kumar, Dinesh, India and Israel: Dawn of a New Era, Jerusalem Institute for Western Defense, archived from the original on September 22, 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20070922185121/http://www.westerndefense.org/bulletins/Dec-01.htm, retrieved 23 September 2007
- ↑ Eichner, Itamar (4 March 2009), "From India with love", Ynetnews, http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3696887,00.html, retrieved 4 May 2010
- ↑ TNN, Jan 19, 2010, 01.45am IST (2010-01-19). "India to hold wide-ranging strategic talks with US, Israel - India - The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-to-hold-wide-ranging-strategic-talks-with-US-Israel/articleshow/5474033.cms. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
- ↑ India-Israel Commercial Relations
- ↑ Koshy, Ninan. "India and Israel Eye Iran". Fpif.org. http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4959. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
- ↑ "India to launch Israel-backed satellite". Edition.cnn.com. 2009-03-21. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/03/21/india.satellite/index.html?iref=mpstoryview. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
- ↑ "Germany and Israel", Background Papers (German Embassy, Washington, D.C.), http://www.germany.info/relaunch/info/archives/background/israel.html, retrieved 23 September 2007
- ↑ Boyes, Roger (17 March 2008), Israel welcomes new Germany to a celebration of its 60th birthday, London: Times Online, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3564572.ece, retrieved 13 March 2009
- ↑ Congressional Research Service: Germany’s Relations with Israel: Background and Implications for German Middle East Policy, Jan 19, 2007. (page CRS-2)
- ↑ "UK and Israel", Background Papers (Uk Foreign and Commonwealth Office.), http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394365&a=KCountryProfile&aid=1031532656768, retrieved 19 December 2007
- ↑ Abadi 2004, pp. 37–39, 47
- ↑ Abadi 2004, pp. 47–49
- ↑ Abadi 2004, p. 3. "However, it was not until 1991 that the two countries established full diplomatic relations."
- ↑ Abadi 2004, pp. 4–6
- ↑ Colum Lynch (May 30, 2010). "Turkey urges U.N. Security Council to condemn Israeli attack on aid flotilla". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/31/AR2010053102860.html. Retrieved June 23, 2010.
- ↑ Israel Navy commandos: Gaza flotilla activists tried to lynch us
- ↑ Israeli Officials Claim Aid Flotilla Had Ties to Al Qaeda, PM Gives Military 'Full Support'
- ↑ Mark Lavie (June 3, 2010). "Israel trying to limit diplomatic damage from raid". Taiwan News. http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1275811&lang=eng_news&cate_img=1037.jpg&cate_rss=General.
- ↑ Anshel Pfeffer (June 6, 2010). "IDF: Five Gaza flotilla activists linked to Hamas, Al-Qaida". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-five-gaza-flotilla-activists-linked-to-hamas-al-qaida-1.294546.
- ↑ "A search for allies in a hostile world", Economist, 4 February 2010, http://www.economist.com/world/middleeast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15453225, retrieved 4 May 2010
- ↑ History: 1948, Israel Defense Forces, 2007, http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/about/History/40s/1948/default.htm, retrieved 31 July 2007
- ↑ Henderson 2003, p. 97
- ↑ The State: Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 13 March 2009, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/State/THE+STATE-+Israel+Defense+Forces+-IDF-.htm, retrieved 9 August 2007
- ↑ Israel Defense Forces, GlobalSecurity.org, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/israel/idf.htm, retrieved 16 September 2007
- ↑ The Israel Defense Forces, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts%20About%20Israel/State/The%20Israel%20Defense%20Forces, retrieved 21 October 2006
- ↑ Stendel 1997, pp. 191–192
- ↑ Shtrasler, Nehemia (16 May 2007), "Cool law, for wrong population", Haaretz, archived from the original on October 1, 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20071001050353/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ArticleContent.jhtml?itemNo=860256, retrieved 21 July 2007
- ↑ Sherut Leumi (National Service), Nefesh B'Nefesh, 4 July 2007, http://www.nbn.co.il/site/kb/questions/68/Sherut+Leumi+%28National+Service%29, retrieved 31 July 2007
- ↑ Wheeler, Carolynne (6 September 2007), Stars take the shine off military service, The Globe and Mail, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070906.DRAFT06/TPStory/TPInternational/Africa/, retrieved 16 September 2007
- ↑ U.S. Aid To Israel
- ↑ Erlanger, Steven (17 August 2007), Israel to Get $30 Billion in Military Aid From U.S., The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/world/middleeast/17israel.html, retrieved 23 September 2007
- ↑ Katz, Yaakov (30 March 2007), "'Arrow can fully protect against Iran'", The Jerusalem Post, archived from the original on 2008-05-29, http://web.archive.org/web/20080529042937/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879211495&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull, retrieved 16 September 2007
- ↑ Zorn, E. L. (8 May 2007), Israel's Quest for Satellite Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/docs/v44i5a04p.htm, retrieved 16 September 2007
- ↑ Katz, Yaakov (11 June 2007), "Analysis: Eyes in the sky", The Jerusalem Post, archived from the original on 2 May 2008, http://web.archive.org/web/20080502000559/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1181570245958&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull, retrieved 16 September 2007
- ↑ Seitz, Charmaine (30 January 2001), Israel’s Defense Budget: The Business Side of War, The Jerusalem Fund, http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/www.thejerusalemfund.org/carryover/pubs/20010130ib.html, retrieved 16 September 2007 (first appeared in Information Brief No. 64)
- ↑ Mohamed ElBaradei (27 July 2004), Transcript of the Director General's Interview with Al-Ahram News, International Atomic Energy Agency, http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Transcripts/2004/alahram27072004.html, retrieved 19 July 2007
- ↑ Ziv, Guy, "To Disclose or Not to Disclose: The Impact of Nuclear Ambiguity on Israeli Security," Israel Studies Forum, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Winter 2007): 76–94
- ↑ Israel Homeowner Glossary, Israelhomeowner.com, 3 January 2007, archived from the original on 2008-04-06, http://web.archive.org/web/20080406045307/http://www.israelhomeowner.com/Glossary.asp, retrieved 13 March 2009
- ↑ Israel Sends Doctors, Supplies To Aid Tsunami Victims
- ↑ IDF communications room a lifeline for many
- ↑ Magen David Adom delegation to leave Haiti by Sunday
- ↑ Lavi, Zvi (10 May 2010), Israel accepted into OECD, Ynet News, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3887453,00.html, retrieved 10 May 2007
- ↑ Economy Rankings — Middle East & North Africa, The World Bank Group, http://www.doingbusiness.org/economyrankings/default.aspx?regionid=4, retrieved 13 March 2009
- ↑ Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007, World Economic Forum, 14 February 2007, ISBN 1403996369, http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Competitiveness%20Report/index.htm, retrieved 15 July 2007
- ↑ Bounfour, Ahmed; Edvinsson, Leif (2005), Intellectual Capital for Communities: Nations, Regions, and Cities, Butterworth-Heinemann, p. 47, ISBN 978-0750677738
- ↑ NASDAQ Appoints Asaf Homossany as New Director for Israel, NASDAQ, 6 February 2005, http://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/news/pr2005/ne_section05_019.stm, retrieved 4 August 2007
- ↑ The Israel IAI-1126 Galaxy/Gulfstream G200, Airliners.net, http://www.airliners.net/aircraft-data/stats.main?id=226, retrieved 31 March 2010
- ↑ CLS Bank live with Israeli Shekel and Mexican Peso, CLS Group, 26 May 2008, http://www.cls-group.com/Media/Pages/NewsArticle.aspx?id=15, retrieved 11 November 2009
- ↑ Bassok, Moti (14 February 2008), "Israelis can soon travel the world with shekels in their pockets", Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/954033.html, retrieved 12 February 2010
- ↑ 251.0 251.1 'Israel's economy most durable in face of crises', Ynet 05.20.2010
- ↑ Ginsburg, Mitch (28 May 2007), A Hotter Holy Land, The Jerusalem Report, http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jrep/access/1271587481.html?dids=1271587481:1271587481&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+28%2C+2007&author=Mitch+Ginsburg&pub=The+Jerusalem+Report&edition=&startpage=13&de/, retrieved 30 August 2007
- ↑ Israel keen on IT tie-ups, The Hindu Business Line, 10 January 2001, http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/businessline/2001/01/11/stories/151139ue.htm, retrieved 4 August 2007
- ↑ Israel: Punching above its weight, Economist, 14 November 2005, http://www.ebusinessforum.com/index.asp?doc_id=7798&layout=rich_story, retrieved 4 August 2007
- ↑ Krawitz, Avi (27 February 2007), "Intel to expand Jerusalem R&D", The Jerusalem Post, archived from the original on 2007-09-29, http://web.archive.org/web/20070929212346/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894528658&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull, retrieved 4 August 2007
- ↑ Israel R&D Center: Leadership Team, Microsoft, archived from the original on July 8, 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20070708084346/http://www.microsoft.com/Israel/RnD/about/team.html, retrieved 4 August 2007
- ↑ Berkshire Announces Acquisition, New York Times, 6 May 2006, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E7DB1F3FF935A35756C0A9609C8B63, retrieved 15 May 2010
- ↑ Burstein, Nathan (14 August 2007), "Tourist visits above pre-war level", The Jerusalem Post, archived from the original on 29 September 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20070929222428/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1186557443251&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull, retrieved 4 September 2007
- ↑ "Pope to visit Holy Land", Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1069604.html, retrieved 13 March 2009
- ↑ Roads(1)(2), By Length and Area, Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, 2008, http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton60/st24_12.pdf, retrieved 5 February 2010
- ↑ 261.0 261.1 2008 – 2.4 Million motor vehicles in Israel, Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, 29 June 2009, http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/newhodaot/hodaa_template.html?hodaa=200927133, retrieved 5 February 2010
- ↑ Bus Services on Scheduled Routes, Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, 2009, http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton60/st24_04.pdf, retrieved 5 February 2010
- ↑ 263.0 263.1 Israeli Railway Services, Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, 2009, http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton60/st24_05.pdf, retrieved 5 February 2010
- ↑ 264.0 264.1 264.2 Transportation in Israel, Jewish Virtual Library, 1 November 2001, ISBN 0080434487, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Economy/transport.html, retrieved 5 February 2010
- ↑ International Air Transport of Passengers via Ben Gurion Airport, Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, 2009, http://www.cbs.gov.il/www/transport_q/t24.pdf, retrieved 5 February 2010
- ↑ (in Hebrew) תנועה אווירית בינלאומית של נוסעים לפי נמל תעופה וסוג טיסה, Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, 2009, http://www.cbs.gov.il/www/yarhon/q3_h.htm, retrieved 5 February 2010
- ↑ "Comparing Education Statistics Across the World" (PDF), Global Education Digest 2004 (UNESCO Institute for Statistics): pp. 75, 77, 2004, http://www.unesco.org/education/docs/EN_GD2004_v2.pdf, retrieved 4 August 2007
- ↑ "Human Development Indicators" (PDF), Human Development Report 2005 (United Nations), 2005, archived from the original on 2 July 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20070702184520/http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005/pdf/HDR05_HDI.pdf, retrieved 4 August 2007
- ↑ ED250227 – Israeli Schools: Religious and Secular Problems, Eric.ed.gov, 10 October 1984, http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED250227&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&accno=ED250227, retrieved 13 March 2009
- ↑ Kashti, Or; Shahar Ilan (19 July 2007), "Knesset raises school dropout age to 18", Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/883341.html, retrieved 5 August 2007
- ↑ Summary of the Principal Laws Related to Education, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 26 January 2003, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2003/1/Summary+of+the+principal+laws+relating+to+educatio.htm, retrieved 4 August 2007
- ↑ 272.0 272.1 (PDF) Education, Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, http://www.moia.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/9FBC4448-CB15-4309-BA82-96DC681E7A11/0/education_en.pdf, retrieved 5 August 2007
- ↑ The Israeli Matriculation Certificate, United States-Israel Educational Foundation via the University of Szeged University Library, January 1996, http://www.bibl.u-szeged.hu/oseas/bagrut.html, retrieved 5 August 2007
- ↑ (PDF) Pupils in Grade XII, matriculation examinees and entitled to a certificate, Central Bureau of Statistics, http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st08_21.pdf, retrieved 2 July 2007
- ↑ Higher Education in Israel, Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC, http://www.israelemb.org/highered/highed.html, retrieved 10 September 2007
- ↑ About the Library, Jewish National and University Library, http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/eng/history.html, retrieved 5 August 2007
- ↑ Top 500 World Universities (1–100), Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2006, http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2006/ARWU2006_Top100.htm, retrieved 2 July 2007
- ↑ Academic Ranking of World Universities – 2009, Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2009, http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp, retrieved 14 November 2009
- ↑ Top 500 World Universities, Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2006, http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2006/ARWU2006TOP500list.htm, retrieved 1 August 2007
- ↑ Top Ten Reasons to Invest in Israel, Israeli Consulate, New York City, archived from the original on 2007-07-16, http://web.archive.org/web/20070716015552/http://www.israelfm.org/economic/investing/top_ten.htm, retrieved 1 August 2007
- ↑ "Israel: IT Workforce", Information Technology Landscape in Nations Around the World (American University), http://www.american.edu/initeb/as5415a/Israel_ICT/itWork.html, retrieved 14 August 2007
- ↑ Prof. Ada Yonath awarded 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 7 October 2009, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Israel+beyond+politics/Prof_Yonath_2009_Nobel_Prize_Chemistry_7-Oct-2009, retrieved 8 February 2010
- ↑ Heylin, Michael (27 November 2006), "Globalization Of Science Rolls On", Chemical & Engineering News (American Chemical Society): pp. 26–31, http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/84/8448sci1.html, retrieved 21 August 2007
- ↑ Gordon, Evelyn (24 August 2006), "Kicking the global oil habit", The Jerusalem Post, archived from the original on 29 September 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20070929222456/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525933299&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer, retrieved 4 August 2007
- ↑ Giant solar plants in Negev could power Israel's future, John Lettice, The Register, 2008 Jan 25
- ↑ "Stem cell density highest in Israel", The Scientist, 21 March 2009, http://www.the-scientist.com/news/print/23240/, retrieved 14 November 2009
- ↑ Academic Ranking of World Universities – 2009, Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2009, archived from the original on May 1, 2008, http://web.archive.org/web/20080501183117/http://www.arwu.org/#, retrieved 14 November 2009
- ↑ Top countries in space sciences, The Times Higher Education supplemmentary, 8 October 2009, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=408577&c=1, retrieved 8 October 2009
- ↑ Barbara Opall-Rome (19 November 2009), Israel Readies for Ofeq-8 Launch, Defense News, http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4379028&c=MID&s=AIR, retrieved 8 February 2010
- ↑ Tran, Mark (21 January 2008), "Israel launches new satellite to spy on Iran", Guardian Unlimited (London), http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2244324,00.html, retrieved 22 January 2008
- ↑ 291.0 291.1 Israel Pushes Solar Energy Technology, Linda Gradstein, National Public Radio, 2007 October 22.
- ↑ 292.0 292.1 At the Zenith of Solar Energy, Neal Sandler,BusinessWeek, 2008 March 26.
- ↑ 293.0 293.1 Looking to the sun, Tom Parry, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 15 August 2007
- ↑ Del Chiaro, Bernadette; Telleen-Lawton, Timothy (PDF), Solar Water Heating (How California Can Reduce Its Dependence on Natural Gas), Environment California Research and Policy Center, http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/uploads/at/56/at563bKwmfrtJI6fKl9U_w/Solar-Water-Heating.pdf, retrieved 29 September 2007
- ↑ Gershon Grossman; Ofira Ayalon (2007), Solar energy for the production of heat Summary and recommendations of the 4th assembly of the energy forum at SNI, The Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Research in Science and Technology, http://www.neaman.org.il/neaman/publications/publication_item.asp?fid=590&parent_fid=490&iid=3639, retrieved 12 February 2010
- ↑ "Israel Special: Solar, what else?!", Sun & Wind Energy, January 2008, http://roma.mfa.gov.il/mfm/Data/156237.pdf, retrieved 15 May 2010
- ↑ Israel at 62: Population of 7,587,000, Ynet, 18 April 2010, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3877574,00.html
- ↑ Johnathan Marcus (2 May 2005), "Israeli Arabs: 'Unequal citizens'", BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4493525.stm, retrieved 6 December 2007
- ↑ Israel may admit 3,000 Ethiopia migrants if Jews. Reuters. 16 July 2009
- ↑ Aug 16-1816635503_x.htm Israel's Welcome for Ethiopian Jews Wears Thin. USA Today 16 August 2008
- ↑ Friedberg, Rachel M. (November 2001), "The Impact of Mass Migration on the Israeli Labor Market", The Quarterly Journal of Economics 116: 1373, doi:10.1162/003355301753265606, http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/003355301753265606?journalCode=qjec
- ↑ Study: Soviet immigrants outperform Israeli students, Haaretz, 10 February 2008
- ↑ "Israel's disputatious Avigdor Lieberman: Can the coalition hold together?", The Economist, 11 March 2010
- ↑ Q&A Lily Galili on 'The Russians in Israel'. Haaretz
- ↑ Israel: Crackdown on illegal migrants and visa violators. Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). 14 July 2009
- ↑ Adriana Kemp, "Labour migration and racialisation: labour market mechanisms and labour migration control policies in Israel", Social Identities 10:2, 267–292, 2004
- ↑ Israel Struggles With African Refugee Dilemma, ABC News, 12 August 2009
- ↑ Meir, Irit; Sandler, Wendy (2007), A Language in Space: The Story of Israeli Sign Language, Psychology Press, p. 352, ISBN 978-0805855708
- ↑ DellaPergola, Sergio (2000) [2000], Still Moving: Recent Jewish Migration in Comparative Perspective, Daniel J. Elazar and Morton Weinfeld eds., ed., ‘The Global Context of Migration to Israel’, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, pp. 13–60, ISBN 1-56000-428-2
- ↑ Herman, Pini (1 September 1983), "The Myth of the Israeli Expatriate", Moment Magazine 8 (8): 62–63
- ↑ Gould, Eric; Moav, Omer (2006) (in Hebrew) (PDF), Brain Drain From Israel (Brichat Mochot M'Yisrael), Jerusalem: Mercaz Shalem — The Shalem Center, The Social-Economic Institute, p. 26, http://www.shalem.org.il/Admin/FileServer/df4b061c96a6fbceb95026260cb4de8a.pdf
- ↑ Rettig, Haviv (6 April 2008), "Officials to US to bring Israelis home", Jerusalem Post, archived from the original on 2 June 2008, http://web.archive.org/web/20080602204820/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1207238165607, retrieved 29 April 2008
- ↑ "Settlements in the West Bank", Settlement Information (Foundation for Middle East Peace), archived from the original on 24 February 2008, http://web.archive.org/web/20080224233451/http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/stats_data/west_bank_settlements.html, retrieved 12 December 2007
- ↑ "Settlements in the Golan Heights", Settlement Information (Foundation for Middle East Peace), http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/settlement-info-and-tables/stats-data/settlements-in-the-golan-heights, retrieved 12 December 2007
- ↑ "Settlements in East Jerusalem", Settlement Information (Foundation for Middle East Peace), archived from the original on 2008-04-20, http://web.archive.org/web/20080420070744/http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/stats_data/east_jerusalem_settlements.html, retrieved 12 December 2007
- ↑ "Settlements in the Gaza Strip", Settlement Information (Foundation for Middle East Peace), http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/settlement-info-and-tables/stats-data/settlements-in-the-gaza-strip-1, retrieved 12 December 2007
- ↑ The Law of Return, Knesset, http://www.knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/return.htm, retrieved 14 August 2007
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Israel (PDF), Jews and others, by origin, continent of birth and period of immigration, http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st02_24.pdf, retrieved 8 April 2006
- ↑ Aharoni, Ada "The Forced Migration of Jews from Arab Countries", Historical Society of Jews from Egypt website. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
- ↑ "The myth of the Mizrahim", Guardian.co.uk, 3 April 2009
- ↑ Jacqueline Shields. "Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries". http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/jewref.html.
- ↑ "Missing Mizrahim". http://www.jewcy.com/post/missing_mizrahim.
- ↑ Elazar, Daniel J., Religion in Israel: A Consensus for Jewish Tradition, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/relinisr-consensus.htm, retrieved 6 September 2007
- ↑ "The other Israeli conflict: with itself", CSMonitor.com, July 9, 2009.
- ↑ "At the edge of the abyss", Haaretz.com, November 24, 2009
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Israel (PDF), Population, by religion and population group, http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st02_01.pdf, retrieved 6 August 2007
- ↑ Bassok, Moti (25 December 2006), "Israel's Christian population numbers 148, 000 as of Christmas Eve", Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/805277.html, retrieved 29 July 2008
- ↑ (PDF) National Population Estimates, Central Bureau of Statistics, p. 27, http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton53/st_eng02.pdf, retrieved 6 August 2007
- ↑ Levine, Lee I. (1999), Jerusalem: its sanctity and centrality to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Continuum International Publishing Group, p. 516, ISBN 978-0826410245
- ↑ The Bahá'í World Centre: Focal Point for a Global Community, The Bahá'í International Community, http://info.bahai.org/article-1-6-0-5.html, retrieved 2 July 2007
- ↑ Teaching the Faith in Israel, Bahá'í Library Online, 23 June 1995, http://bahai-library.com/uhj_teaching_in_israel, retrieved 6 August 2007
- ↑ Immigration and Social and Cultural Diversity Among the Jewish Population, International Youth Foundation, archived from the original on October 10, 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20071010072008/http://www.iyfnet.org/document.cfm/92/97/243, retrieved 6 September 2007
- ↑ Jewish Festivals and Days of Remembrance in Israel, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts%20About%20Israel/People/Jewish%20Festivals%20in%20Israel, retrieved 16 September 2007
- ↑ Ran, Ami (25 August 1998), Encounters: The Vernacular Paradox of Israeli Architecture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFA+Publications/Photo+exhibits/Encounters-+The+Vernacular+Paradox+of+Israeli+Arch-+Intro.htm, retrieved 6 September 2007
- ↑ Brinn, David (23 October 2005), Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian DJs create bridge for peace, Israel21c, http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1126&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Culture, retrieved 16 September 2007
- ↑ The International Israeli Table, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern%20History/Israel%20at%2050/The%20International%20Israeli%20Table, retrieved 26 June 2009
- ↑ Depositing Books to The Jewish National & University Library, Jewish National and University Library, http://jnul.huji.ac.il/eng/lgd.html, retrieved 21 August 2007
- ↑ Israeli Book Statistics for 2006, Jewish National and University Library, http://jnul.huji.ac.il/eng/lgd-statistics-2007.html, retrieved 12 August 2007
- ↑ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1966, Nobel Foundation, http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1966/index.html, retrieved 12 August 2007
- ↑ Broughton, Ellingham & Trillo 1999, p. 365–369
- ↑ "Israel", World Music (National Geographic Society), http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/country/content.country/israel_36, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ "Israeli Folk", World Music (National Geographic Society), http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/israeli_folk_735, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ Ben-Sasson 1985, p. 1095
- ↑ Ewbank, Alison J.; Papageorgiou, Fouli T. (1997), Whose Master's Voice?: The Development of Popular Music in Thirteen Cultures, Greenwood Press, p. 117, ISBN 978-0313277726
- ↑ Davis, Barry (5 February 2007), Israel Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates 70th anniversary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (from Israel21c), http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Israel+beyond+politics/Israel+Philharmonic+Orchestra+celebrates+70th+anniversary+5-Feb-2007.htm, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ "Israel", Eurovision Song Contest (Eurovision Broadcasting Union), archived from the original on 2007-06-22, http://web.archive.org/web/20070622035651/http://www.eurovision.tv/content/view/537/1, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ About Us, Red Sea Jazz Festival, archived from the original on 2007-08-12, http://web.archive.org/web/20070812185754/http://www.redseajazzeilat.com/EN/aboutus.html, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ Brown, Hannah (2 February 2010), "‘Ajami’ nominated for Oscar", Jerusalem Post, http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Entertainment/Article.aspx?id=167582
- ↑ (Hebrew) התיאטרון הלאומי הבימה, Habima National Theatre, http://www.habima.co.il/, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ 350.0 350.1 About the Museum, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, http://www.imj.org.il/eng/about/index.html, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ Shrine of the Book, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, http://www.imj.org.il/eng/shrine/index.html, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ About Yad Vashem: The Yad Vashem Library, Yad Vashem, http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/index_about_yad.html, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ Museum Information, Beth Hatefutsoth, http://www.bh.org.il/about-us.aspx, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ TravelNet in cooperation with Israel museums, Mishkan LeOmanut, Ein Harod, Ilmuseums.com, http://www.ilmuseums.com/museum_eng.asp?id=183, retrieved 13 March 2009
- ↑ Davidson, Herbert Alan (2005), Moses Maimonides, p. 479, ISBN 019517321X
- ↑ Griver, Simon (June 1999), Sports in Israel, Jewish Virtual Library, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/sports.html, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ Montague, James (27 Feb 2008), "Time is right for Israel to return to its Asian roots", Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/feb/27/worldcup2010, retrieved 4 May 2010
- ↑ Torstrick 2004, p. 141
- ↑ Basketball Super League Profile, Winner Basketball Super League, http://www.basket.co.il/Data.asp?id=1&lang=en, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ Bouskila, Daniel (13 May 2005), "Israel Wins More Than Hoop Crown", The Jewish Journal, http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/israel_wins_more_than_hoop_crown_20050513/, retrieved 21 August 2007
- ↑ "Israeli tennis stars return to action", The Jerusalem Post, 26 December 2006, http://www.jpost.com/Sports/Article.aspx?id=45927, retrieved 4 May 2010
- ↑ Bekerman, Eitan (4 September 2006), "Chess masters set to compete in world blitz championship", Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/758461.html
- ↑ World Team Championship in Beer Sheva, Israel, World Chess Federation, 1 November 2005, http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/9-other/2182-673-world-team-championship-in-beer-sheva-israel, retrieved 13 March 2009
- ↑ Tzahor, Uri (26 November 2008), "Israel takes silver medal at Chess Olympiad", Ynewnews.com, http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3628765,00.html
- ↑ Shvidler, Eli (15 December 2009), "Israeli grand master Boris Gelfand wins Chess World Cup", Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1135219.html
- ↑ Olympic Medal Winners (under Europe / Israel), International Olympic Committee, http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/results/search_r_uk.asp, retrieved 13 August 2007
- ↑ Tel Aviv 1968, International Paralympic Committee, http://www.paralympic.org/Paralympic_Games/Past_Games/Tel_Aviv_1968/index.html, retrieved 20 September 2008
Bibliography
- Abadi, Jacob (2004), Israel's Quest for Recognition and Acceptance in Asia: Garrison State Diplomacy, Routledge, ISBN 0714655767
- Ausubel, Natan (1964), The Book of Jewish Knowledge, New York, New York: Crown Publishers, ISBN 051709746X
- Barton, John; Bowden, Julie (2004), The Original Story: God, Israel and the World, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, ISBN 0802829007
- Barzilai, Gad (1996), Wars, Internal Conflicts, and Political Order: A Jewish Democracy in the Middle East, State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-2943-1
- Barzilai, Gad (2010), The Attorney General and the State Prosecutor-Is Institutional Separation Warrented?, The Israel Democracy Institute
- Ben-Sasson, Hayim (1985), A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0674397316
- Best, Anthony (2003), International History of the Twentieth Century, Routledge, ISBN 0415207398
- Bregman, Ahron (2002), A History of Israel, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0333676319
- Broughton, Simon; Ellingham, Mark; Trillo, Richard (1999), World Music: The Rough Guide, Rough Guides, ISBN 1858286352
- Cole, Tim (2003), Holocaust City: The Making of a Jewish Ghetto, Routledge, ISBN 0415929687
- Crowdy, Terry (2006), The Enemy Within: A History of Espionage, Osprey Publishing, ISBN 1841769339
- Dekmejian, R. Hrair (1975), Patterns of Political Leadership: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, State University of New York Press, ISBN 087395291X
- Friedland, Roger; Hecht, Richard (2000), To Rule Jerusalem, University of California Press, ISBN 0520220927
- Gelvin, James L. (2005), The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521852897
- Gilbert, Martin (2005), The Routledge Atlas Of The Arab–Israeli conflict (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 0415359007
- Goldreich, Yair (2003), The Climate of Israel: Observation, Research and Application, Springer, ISBN 030647445X
- Hamilton, Victor P. (1995), The Book of Genesis (2nd revised ed.), Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, ISBN 0802823092
- Harkavy, Robert E.; Neuman, Stephanie G. (2001), Warfare and the Third World, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0312240120
- Henderson, Robert D'A. (2003), Brassey's International Intelligence Yearbook (2003 ed.), Brassey's Inc., ISBN 1574885502
- Herzl, Theodor (1946), The Jewish State, American Zionist Emergency Council, ISBN 0486258491
- Howe, Kathleen Stewart (1997), Revealing the Holy Land: the photographic exploration of Palestine, University of California Press, p. 144, ISBN 9780899510958, http://books.google.com/?id=w0mml-378QQC&printsec=frontcover&q=
- Jacobs, Daniel (1988), Israel and the Palestinian Territories: The Rough Guide (2nd revised ed.), Rough Guides, ISBN 1858282489
- Kellerman, Aharon (1993), Society and Settlement: Jewish Land of Israel in the Twentieth Century, State University of New York Press, ISBN 0791412954
- Kornberg, Jacques (1993), Theodor Herzl: From Assimilation to Zionism, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253332036
- Liebreich, Fritz (2005), Britain's Naval and Political Reaction to the Illegal Immigration of Jews to Palestine, 1945–1948, Routledge, ISBN 0714656372
- Lustick, Ian (1988), For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, Council on Foreign Relations Press, ISBN 0876090366
- Mazie, Steven (2006), Israel's Higher Law: Religion and Liberal Democracy in the Jewish State, Lexington Books, ISBN 0739114859
- Morçöl, Göktuğ (2006), Handbook of Decision Making, CRC Press, ISBN 1574445480
- Mowlana, Hamid; Gerbner, George; Schiller, Herbert I. (1992), Triumph of the File: The Media's War in the Persian Gulf — A Global Perspective, Westview Press, ISBN 0813316103
- Roberts, Adam (1990), "Prolonged Military Occupation: The Israeli-Occupied Territories Since 1967", The American Journal of International Law (American Society of International Law) 84 (1): 44–103, doi:10.2307/2203016, http://jstor.org/stable/2203016
- Romano, Amy (2003), A Historical Atlas of Israel, The Rosen Publishing Group, ISBN 0823939782
- Reveron, Derek S.; Murer, Jeffrey Stevenson (2006), Flashpoints in the War on Terrorism, Routledge, ISBN 0415954908
- Rosenzweig, Rafael (1997), The Economic Consequences of Zionism, T Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN 9004091475
- Rummel, Rudolph J. (1997), Power Kills: Democracy As a Method of Nonviolence, Transaction Publishers, ISBN 0765805235
- Sampter, Jessie (2007) [1933], "Jewish Colonization Before 1917", in Sampter, Jessie, Modern Palestine – A Symposium, READ BOOKS, ISBN 9781406738346, http://books.google.com/books?id=3QZ8wqJUfgEC&pg=PA93&dq=%22four+holy+cities%22+1800&lr=&hl=pt-PT&cd=7#v=onepage&q=%22four%20holy%20cities%22%201800&f=false
- Scharfstein, Sol (1996), Understanding Jewish History, KTAV Publishing House, ISBN 0881255459
- Shindler, Colin (2002), The Land Beyond Promise: Israel, Likud and the Zionist Dream, I.B.Tauris Publishers, ISBN 186064774X
- Skolnik, Fred (2007), Encyclopedia Judaica, 9 (2nd ed.), Macmillian, ISBN 0028659287
- Smith, Derek (2006), Deterring America: Rogue States and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521864658
- Stein, Leslie (2003), The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0275971414
- Stendel, Ori (1997), The Arabs in Israel, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 1898723230
- Stone, Russell A.; Zenner, Walter P. (1994), Critical Essays on Israeli Social Issues and Scholarship, SUNY Press, ISBN 0791419592
- Torstrick, Rebecca L. (2004), Culture and Customs of Israel, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0313320918
- Wenham, Gordon J. (1994), Word Biblical Commentary, 2 (Genesis 16–50), Dallas, Texas: Word Books, ISBN 0849902010
External links
- Government
- Israel Government Portal (with links to Arabic, Hebrew versions)
- The Knesset, official site of Israel's parliament
- The Supreme Court, official site (with links to Arabic, Hebrew versions)
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, official site
- Ministry of Tourism, official site
- Central Bureau of Statistics, official site (with links to Arabic, Hebrew versions)
- General reference
- Country Profile from BBC News
- Israel from the Encyclopædia Britannica
- Israel entry at The World Factbook
- Israel resources from Columbia University Libraries
- Israel at the Jewish Virtual Library
- Israel (1988) from Library of Congress Country Studies
- Israel at the Open Directory Project
- Israel at UCB Libraries GovPubs
- The State of Israel fact file at Ynetnews
- Wikimedia Atlas of Israel
- Media
- Ynet News
- The Jerusalem Post
- Haaretz
- Israel Broadcasting Authority (Hebrew) (with link to English version)
- Other
- Israel travel guide from Wikitravel
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Outline of Israel 
