Israel

Israel —officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְרָאֵל Medinat Yisra'el, AFI: [mediˈnat jisʁaˈʔel]; in Arabic, دولة إِسرائيل‎, romanized: Dawlat Isrā'īl, AFI: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl])— is a sovereign country in Asia, located in the Middle East region, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan, the West Bank (Palestine) and the Dead Sea to the east, the Gaza Strip to the west, the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt) to the southwest and the Gulf to the south. Aqaba, on the Red Sea. With a population of nearly 9 million, the majority of whom are Jews, Israel is the world's only Jewish state. It is also home to Arab Muslims, Christians, Druze and Samaritans, as well as other religious and ethnic groups. minority. The capital —with limited international recognition—, seat of government and largest city in the country is Jerusalem. The main economic and financial center is located in Tel Aviv-Yafo and the largest industrial center is located in Haifa.

The State of Israel identifies its roots with the ancient Land of Israel (ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisraˈel), a concept central to Judaism for over 3,000 years. After World War I and during the partition of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations approved the British Mandate for Palestine with the intention of creating a " national home for the Jewish people". In 1947, the United Nations approved the partition of Palestine into two E states, one Jewish and one Arab. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel declared its independence, followed by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War with neighboring Arab countries, which refused to accept the UN plan. Successive victories in a series of subsequent wars confirmed its independence and expanded the borders of the Jewish state beyond the provisions of the United Nations Partition Plan. Israel has been in conflict with many of its neighboring Arab countries, with numerous armed clashes since then. Since its founding, Israel's borders and even the state's right to exist have been subject to dispute, especially among its Arab neighbors. However, Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and efforts have been made to reach a permanent agreement with the Palestinian National Authority. In January 2020, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, together with the then Israeli Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, presented a unilateral peace plan to resolve the conflict.

Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system and universal suffrage. The Prime Minister acts as the head of government and the Knesset as Israel's legislative body. In terms of gross domestic product, its economy is ranked 28th according to the International Monetary Fund. In turn, Israel ranks highly among Middle Eastern countries in human development indices, freedom of expression, and economic competitiveness.

Etymology

The Merenptah stella, carved in the s.XIIIa. C. in Ancient Egypt contains the first mention of the name “Israel”.

For the last three thousand years, Israel has identified, in common and religious usage, both the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisraˈel) and all the people Jewish, who has continued to refer to the former as his homeland, Holy Land or the Promised Land, despite the fact that the Romans later changed the name of the territory to Syria Palestine after crushing the Bar Kochba rebellion.

The noun comes from a passage in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, where the Biblical patriarch Jacob provoked the admiration of an angel after defeating him in a fight that lasted all night; he blessed him and changed his name to Yisra'el.The confederated tribes who recognized themselves as descendants of Jacob called themselves the "Sons of Israel" or "Israelites." ». In terms of archaeology, the earliest known mention of the name Israel, other than a personal name, is an epic tale recorded on the Ancient Egyptian stele of Merenptah, dating from 1210 BC.. C., where it is used as a demonym, designating a town or group of people without association with a specific geographical place.

When the new Jewish state was established in the middle of the XX century, various names were considered for it, such as "Eretz Yisrael », «Zion», «Judea» and «New Judea», which were eventually dropped. The modern name the country adopted was Medinat Yisraˈel in Hebrew and Dawlat Isrā'īl in Arabic, the two official languages, with the same meaning as "State of Israel". The name of the country in Spanish is israelí and its plural israelíes, adopted by its government a few weeks after independence. The term israelita It is usually used in Spanish in reference to the former inhabitants of the Kingdom of Israel, although it is also used as a synonym for Jewish or Hebrew, and even erroneously with Israeli i>.

History

Historical roots

The twelve tribes of Israel.

The ancient land of Canaan, located to the southwest of the so-called Fertile Crescent, was from ancient times a land of transit and intermediate point between the flourishing civilizations of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, on the one hand, and the Nile valley on the other. The region was divided into small city-states or independent local kingdoms, such as Moab, Edom, Judah, Israel, Aram or Phoenicia, which had to face successive invasions from neighboring empires (Egypt, Assyria or Babylon) and from Arabian nomads or Sea Peoples like the Philistines. In that land two of the greatest milestones of Western civilization saw the light: the Semitic alphabet, origin of many ancient and modern alphabets, and a monotheism from which the Abrahamic religions come, both achievements spreading throughout the West. It also saw the birth of the first cities in the world (such as Jericho), seven thousand years ago, in the midst of the Neolithic revolution, as well as one of the first ports in the world, ancient Jaffa.

The Land of Israel has been sacred to the Jewish people since Biblical times, housing the holiest sites in Judaism. According to the Torah, it was promised by Yahweh to the three Patriarchs of the Jewish people as their homeland; some scholars have placed this period in the early 2nd millennium BCE. C. In the time of Akhenaten (c. 1350 BC) there were numerous Hebrew tribes located on the eastern bank of the Jordan River, trying to cross it and settle on the more fertile lands on the western bank. In the last days of Ramesses II, with Canaan divided between the Egyptians and the Hittites, new Hebrew tribes arrived on the banks of the Jordan. Several of them allied to invade Canaan, making this coalition in the tribal way, identifying themselves as the descendants of the sons of Jacob, Yisra'el, grandson of the patriarch Abraham, for which they called themselves children of Israel.

These Hebrew tribes, who had the same origin as the Amorites and spoke a dialect of the same Semitic language already spoken in Canaan, crossed the Jordan River around 1240 B.C. C. and conquered Jericho, from where they spread through the mountainous regions of the area, adopting the Semitic alphabet and many other aspects of Canaanite culture. According to tradition, at the end of the 11th century B.C. Saul established the first of a series of Israelite kingdoms in Canaan, which would rule it intermittently for the next thousand years. C. two kingdoms were established, Israel and Judah, which came to form a united monarchy in military opposition to the Philistines and other neighboring peoples. According to traditional scriptural history, this unified kingdom was ruled by Kings Saul, David, and Solomon before their final separation (in 924 B.C.); the Tel Dan stele is generally accepted as the oldest (and to date only) archaeological evidence of the existence of the dynasty of David.

Relieve of the Arch of Titus in which the treasures depicted by the Romans are depicted to the Jews, among them the Menorah, after the Site of Jerusalem of 70 AD.

Later, under the successive foreign dominations of Assyria, Babylon, the Achaemenid Empire, Macedonia, and the Seleucid Empire, the presence of Jews was substantially diminished as a result of the successive expulsions to which they were subjected. The people of Israel were independent only three times after the Babylonian exile: the first time was during Seleucid rule, when the Hasmonean dynasty arose, an oligarchy made up of the priestly family of the Maccabees. The Hasmonean dynasty managed to free itself from the Seleucid yoke and ruled the Jewish people for a century, from 164 B.C. C. until 63 a. C., when the country was submitted to Rome by Pompey. The second independent stage occurred during the first Judeo-Roman war between 66 and 73, when the Jews revolted for the first time against Rome, now an empire. During this war the conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple took place, as well as the death of more than a million Jews and the origin of the exodus of many survivors.

The last moment of full independence for the Jewish people was the brief period of the Bar Kochba rebellion. For three years, between 132 and 135, Jewish forces resisted the Roman Empire, until the revolt was finally crushed by the Emperor Hadrian. The failure of the revolt led to the definitive expulsion of the Jews from the country and the reconstruction of Jerusalem as a Roman colony under the name of Aelia Capitolina. With the Jewish state destroyed and most of its population exiled, the Romans intentionally renamed the country Syria Palestine, or simply Palestine, a name derived from the Jews' ancient adversaries, the Philistines. Interestingly the Mishnah and the Talmud, two of the most important texts of Judaism, were written in exile from this time on.

Middle and Modern Ages

Jerusalem Site (1099) during the First Crusade. Illustration of the centuryXIII.

After the division of the Roman Empire, Palestine was under the rule of Byzantium until the year 639, when the Arab conquest took place. The Umayyad dynasty (661-750), despite the many problems posed by the social and ethnic complexity of the territory they dominated, did not record any major national problems (between the different ethnic groups of the empire, and especially between Arabs and others) nor clashes between religious communities, nor between non-Muslims and the central power. The Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258), also known as the Caliphate of Baghdad, succeeded to the Umayyad, finally being replaced by the Seljuk dynasty (1071).

Between 1096 and 1244 motivated by religious fervor, the loss of Byzantine power to the Turks, and the impossibility of making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the European nobility promoted several Crusades. The First Crusade took place in 1099 and ended with the conquest of Jerusalem and the establishment of four Crusader States in the Near East, including the Kingdom of Jerusalem. During the capture of Jerusalem, the crusaders carried out a bloody massacre, which neither Jews nor Muslims respected. Throughout the following decades of Christian rule, there was the settlement of European settlers, especially Italians and Franks, and a notable increase in trade driven by maritime republics. The city of Jerusalem was conquered in the year 1187 by Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, at that time sultan of Egypt and Syria. The Third Crusade allowed the Kingdom of Jerusalem to survive, although it was confined to a narrow strip of land near the coast. The Ayyubid dynasty was replaced by that of the Mamluks in 1250, who with the capture of Acre in 1291 ended the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

In 1517 the region was subjugated by the Ottoman Empire, whose domination lasted four centuries (until 1917), during which it was part of the Vilayate Damascus-Syria, one of the many Ottoman provinces. Despite everything, a small Jewish community always remained, which fluctuated considerably through the centuries. In 1881, with respect to a total estimated population of 470,000 inhabitants, 20,000 to 25,000 Jews lived in the area, with a main presence in Jerusalem, where around 1884 they were one of the majority ethnic groups, until they became the majority in 1896. absolute.

Diaspora and immigration

Jerusalem in 1837

After various uprisings, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and forced almost all the Jews to flee Israel, beginning a long period of exile known as the Diaspora. Diaspora Jews longed to return to Israel for centuries. For example, in 1141 the Sephardic Yehuda Halevi appealed to the Jews to return to Eretz Israel, himself leading the return to Zion, where he met his death. A century later, the Spanish Rabbi Nahmanides immigrated to Jerusalem and there has been a constant presence of Jews ever since, especially in Jerusalem. Yosef Caro, also a Sephardic, emigrated to the large Jewish community of Safed in 1535. Waves of migration occurred, for example, in the period 1209-1211. The " aliyah of the rabbis of France and England" to Acre in 1258 and 1266 was also famous. In 1260 Jehiel from Paris emigrated to Acre along with his son and a large group of followers. Small waves of Jewish migration occurred during the 18th century century, such as Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and 300 of his followers, Judah he -Hasid and around 1000 disciples and more than 500 disciples (and their families) of the Vilna Gaon known as Perushim. Waves of rabbinic students immigrated in 1808-1809, settling in Tiberias, Safed, and later Jerusalem.

In 1860, the ancient Jewish community of Jerusalem began to build housing quarters outside the walls of the Old City. In 1878, the first modern agricultural settlement was founded at Petah Tikva.

Zionism and Aliyah

Jewish children rescued from the German concentration camps in 1945 being taken to the state for the Jews in the British Mandate of Palestine (now known as the State of Israel).

Theodor Herzl, considered the father of the Jewish State.

The first great wave of Jewish immigration to Palestine, known as aliyah, began in 1881, as a consequence of the persecutions to which Jews were subjected in Europe and the ideas of Moses Hess, a Zionist-socialist who advocated the redemption of the territory considered as the Hebrew homeland. The Jews bought land from the Ottoman authorities and Arab landowners, thus creating the first agricultural settlements. It is at this time when the first tensions between Arabs and Jews can be seen.

The rise of Zionism, founded by Theodor Herzl, led to the second Aliyah (1904-1914) in the course of which some 40,000 emigrated to Palestine Jews. In 1909 a group of Russian Jews who arrived after the failure of the 1905 revolution founded Degania, the first kibbutz.

In 1917, the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, issued a declaration promoting the idea of establishing a homeland in Palestine for the Jewish people (the so-called Balfour Declaration). In 1920, Palestine was awarded to the United Kingdom for administration as a League of Nations Mandate.

The third (1919-1923) and fourth (1924-1929) waves of Jewish immigration occurred after World War I.

Between 1916 and 1929, there were several attacks by Arabs against resident Jewish and Christian communities and against pilgrims from the Holy Land. The most important were those of 1920 and those of 1929 in Safed and Hebron (see Hebron massacre). Already before 1919 Christians had been harassed by Arabs, furious over the sale of land in the Christian part of Jerusalem to Jewish buyers.

In 1920 Arab attacks met with a surprising response, not from the British who ignored Arab intentions to attack the Jewish community, but from Jewish advocacy groups founded by, among others, Ze' ev Jabotinsky. It was in that year that the Haganah was born.

Many of the attacks against Jews were promoted by Amin al-Husayni. Al-Husayni, a militant anti-Semite and main Palestinian leader for decades, would become the Third Reich's main Arab ally years later.

The advance of National Socialism in 1933 gave rise to the Fifth Aliyah. The Jews of Palestine, which in 1882 accounted for 8% of the population and which grew to 16.9% in 1931, came to represent 28.1% in 1936 and owned 6% of the British Mandatory territory in 1943. The Holocaust, together with the refusal of the Western powers to open their borders, caused another wave of immigrants to Palestine, raising their number to 600,000 Jewish inhabitants.

Tel Aviv in 1945

In 1939, the British abandoned their commitment to favor the creation of a Jewish state, as well as the partition of Palestine, advocating a single state in the region. In addition, they took steps to limit Jewish immigration and restricted the purchase of land by Jews (see White Paper). Despite this, at the outbreak of World War II, Zionist leaders strongly supported Great Britain. The British, however, maintained a ban on Jewish immigration to Palestine throughout World War II. Many Jews were intercepted and returned to Nazi-dominated Europe, although large numbers were able to enter the country clandestinely.

The Refuseniks

During the Cold War, Soviet Jews were often regarded as traitors and spies, under which official anti-Semitism was once again practiced by the Soviet authorities. Many Jews tried to leave the USSR, but very few obtained the corresponding permission to emigrate. The mere application for a visa posed a serious risk, as it often entailed the loss of their jobs, the confiscation of their assets and even the ostracism of the entire family. After the 1967 war, the situation of the Jews whom visa denials, now known as refuseniks, became a permanent subject of complaint by Western human rights groups. Some of them, like Natan Sharansky, were confined in gulags for several years.

With the policies of glasnost and perestroika, already in the last years of the Soviet Union and once the long-awaited right of refuseniks to emigrate was achieved, hundreds of thousands of Jews decided to leave the USSR. Between 1987 and 1991 alone, more than half a million Jews left the USSR and Russia, of whom 350,000 went to Israel and 150,000 to the United States.

Jewish Veterans of the Red Army

This great migratory wave (between 700,000 and 1 million people for a total population of 6 million Israelis), which lasted for approximately 10 years, significantly influenced the demographic balance and economic development of Israel, generating a positive leap in the country, also thanks to the number of new immigrants with a good academic level in all branches of science and technology.

To this day, immigrants and Jewish descendants from all over the world continue to arrive in Israel, despite recent conflicts such as the Second Lebanon War; Thus, Jews from countries such as the United States and France arrived making aliyah that same year thanks to the Law of Return.

The State of Israel

Lifting the ink flag in Umm Rashrash, scene of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that personified the independence of the State of Israel.

In 1947, one year after the King David Hotel Bombing by the Irgun, a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated during the British Mandate of Palestine between 1931 and 1948, and after continued outbreaks of violence by Jewish and Arab militant groups and given the impossibility of reconciling both populations, the British government decided to withdraw from Palestine and placed the resolution of the conflict in the hands of the UN. After the report of the Peel commission, an international commission that evaluated the situation on the ground, the General Assembly of the United Nations approved on November 29, 1947 a plan that divided Palestine into two States, giving the Arabs and the Jews a similar area of land (43.7%, about 11,500 km², for the Arab State; and 53.6%, about 14,100 km², for the Jewish State, which included the Negev desert, 45% of the surface of the country), despite the fact that in 1946 Jews were 30% of the population of Palestine. 2.7% of the territory (700 km²) around the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem was considered corpus separatum and would be administered by the United Nations. The UN made no provision to implement the Plan, and just two weeks later, at a public meeting held on December 17, the Arab League passed another resolution rejecting exhaustively that of the UN and in which it warned that, in order to avoid the execution of the plan of the UN, would use all means at its disposal, including armed intervention.

On May 14, 1948, hours before the British Mandate for Palestine expired, the State of Israel was proclaimed in the territory granted by the United Nations plan, abolishing as a first step the British anti-immigration laws that prevented from years ago the legal entry of new Jews to Palestine.

Ben Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, in a Tel Aviv museum, under the portrait of Theodor Herzl (14 May 1948).

There was no attempt by the UN to prevent the armed intervention that the Arab League had proclaimed months before, and the day after the declaration of independence, the five neighboring Arab countries declared war on the nascent State of Israel. and they tried to invade it. In the intermittent war that took place over the next 15 months (with various UN-sponsored truces), Israel conquered 26% more land than it had in the old mandate, while Transjordan occupied the areas of Judea and Samaria, now known as the West Bank., and Egypt occupied the territory corresponding to the current Gaza Strip.

At the end of the war, an Arab population estimated by the UN at around 711,000 people was deprived of their homes in Israeli-controlled areas. In the UN's own terminology, only a third are technically "refugees". », those who found a welcome in neighboring Arab countries; the rest, those who settled in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, are "displaced" within the country itself. On the other hand, a significant number of Jews remained in Arab territory and were expelled, including some Jewish communities established in Palestine. since ancient times, among which East Jerusalem stands out.

The immigration of Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees living in Arab countries, in some cases from before Arabization and Islamization, doubled the Jewish population in Israel within a year of the country's declaration of independence. During the following decade approximately 600,000 Oriental Jews, a number equivalent to that of Palestinian refugees, fled or were expelled from Arab territories, where some Jewish communities had lived for almost 2,000 years, and took refuge in Israel (additionally a few 300,000 Jews emigrated to France and the United States, leaving a tiny Jewish population in the Arab countries, mainly in Morocco and Tunisia). In total some 900,000 Jews became the "other refugees" mentioned in resolution 242 of the ONU). (see Jewish exodus from Arab countries)

The 1956 Sinai War

The Sinai war was unleashed as a result of the nationalization of the Suez Canal and the blockade of the Straits of Tiran, the access route to the main Israeli commercial port in the Gulf of Aqaba, by Egypt; as well as the fedayeen attacks that Israel suffered. France and Britain established a secret military alliance with Israel, and the three countries made a coordinated surprise attack on Egypt, occupying the Suez Canal, completely dismantling the Egyptian army and annihilating its air force. In just one week, Israel conquered the entire Sinai Peninsula, including strategic areas such as Sharm el-Sheikh, which is key to accessing the Strait of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba, essential to free access to the sea from the port Israeli from Eilat. If Israel's objectives were a complete military success, for France and the United Kingdom, which achieved their objective of occupying the Suez Canal, it was the complete opposite: latest failures of the former colonialist powers in decline.

The Sinai War represented a military defeat for Egypt, but a moral and political victory. The joint diplomatic pressure of the United States and the Soviet Union, unusually in agreement in the face of the surprise maneuver by London and Paris, which sought to recover the Suez Canal, forced Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Gaza, that is to say, had to return to the pre-war situation that had led it to conquer 60,000 square kilometers in just one week. After the ceasefire decreed by the UN, Egypt accepted the UN interposition force on the border (UNEF, an "Emergency Force" created for that purpose), to maintain the demilitarization of the region and prevent border incidents. It was difficult for Israel to renounce the enormous gains obtained in this lightning war, but in exchange for the withdrawal, it managed to protect the border with Egypt from guerrilla infiltrations, thanks to the deployment of the multinational force, thus gaining nine years of tranquility.

The consequences of the 1956 war left the region in an unstable situation, with an apparent border peace (although the Arab states still did not recognize Israel), but with a rise of pan-Arab Nasserism that has the Palestinian cause as its mobilizing element. Syria, aligned with the Soviet bloc, began sponsoring terrorist attacks on Israel in the early 1960s as part of its "liberation war", with the aim of diverting the attention of the domestic opposition to the Ba'athist dictatorship.

The National Aqueduct

The Jordan River serves as a border between Israel and Jordan in some sections.

In September and October 1953, when Israel began diverting the Jordan River, serious tensions arose. In 1964, Israel began operationalizing the diversion, drawing water from the Jordan River for its National Aqueduct. From January 13 to 17, the Arab summit takes place in Cairo, where Arab leaders affirm their opposition to Israel's diversion of the Jordan River. The following year, the Arab states began construction of the Diversion Plan of Headwater. When finished, it would divert the water from the Dan Banias so that it neither enters Israel nor Lake Tiberias, but instead flows to a retaining wall located in Mukhaiba for Jordan and Syria. It would also divert water from the Hasbani River to the Litani River in Lebanon. The diversion would have reduced the capacity of transporting water to Israel by approximately 35%. Despite the diversion, in 1990 the availability of water per capita in Israel was still 470 cubic meters, while in neighboring Jordan it was 260 cubic meters, 45% less than in the Israeli case. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked the project in Syria in March, May and August 1965.

On December 14, 1993, 155 States approved, at the United Nations, the Declaration of Principles signed by Israelis and Palestinians, the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan and gave full support to the achievements of the peace process.

For the UN, the scarcity of water in the region, characterized by an arid and semi-arid climate, is increasingly considered a crucial issue for the well-being of its countries and peoples. The Palestinian Territories, especially the elevated areas of West Bank, possess an abundance of renewable water resources compared to the rest of the Middle East.

Six Day War

Territory of Israel: Before the Six Day War After the war The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in 1982.

The Six-Day War was an armed conflict that took place in the Middle East in 1967. Warned by the withdrawal of peacekeepers from the Sinai border, the blockade of the Straits of Tiran, and troop movements from Egypt, Syria and Jordan on the other side of the border, together with the concentration of Iraqi and Kuwaiti units and other Arab countries, Israel decided to go on the offensive to ward off what was implied an imminent aggression and attacked Egypt. Although the Arab media promised the destruction and annihilation of the entire Israeli population, bringing memories of the Shoah back to the fore, other sources later questioned whether the Arabs were really going to attack Israel.

During the conflict, Israel conquered the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula up to the Suez Canal, subsequently initiating a plan to colonize the peninsula. In 1973 Egypt recovered the east bank of the canal, during the so-called Yom Kippur war; while the Israeli troops, recovered from the initial surprise, crossed the canal, stopping 101 kilometers from the Egyptian capital, Cairo. After this lightning action, Egypt was the only Arab country (besides Jordan) that signed peace with Israel, formalized in the Camp David peace accords, which most notably resulted in the return of the Sinai peninsula (except for the Gaza Strip), the recognition of the State of Israel by Egypt, and the establishment of diplomatic relations for the first time between Israel and one of its 4 neighboring countries, including the exchange of ambassadors.

Also during the 1967 war, Israel conquered the territories of the West Bank with East Jerusalem, then under Jordanian administration, as well as occupied the Golan Heights, in Syrian territory. In October 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, Syrian troops attacked Israeli positions on the Golan Heights, while Egypt was fighting along the Suez Canal. After the first Syrian conquests, Israel drove the Syrians from the Golan Heights and advanced to within 32 kilometers of Damascus. Following the ceasefire agreement signed between Syria and Israel in May 1974, a demilitarized zone was established between the Syrian and Israeli positions. Israel incorporated the Golan Heights into its administrative system in 1981, in the Northern District, although it has not formally annexed it.

Given the high density of the Arab population in all these territories, Israel never favored their annexation (except East Jerusalem), maintaining its military presence up to the present.

War and occupation of southern Lebanon

Finally, Israel has maintained a strip of land in southern Lebanon under military occupation for nearly twenty years, the so-called "security zone" by Israel, due to the continuous attacks that were taking place from southern Lebanon against the cities of northern Israel by Palestinian armed groups. Already in 1978 the Tsahal carried out the so-called Operation Litani, in order to liquidate the Palestinian bases from which guerrilla infiltrations against Israel were carried out.

Isaac Rabin and Yasir Arafat shake hands after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

The Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which began on June 6, 1982 after the assassination of the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, at the hands of Abu Nidal's group, caused the PLO to flee to Tunisia, occupying its vacuum on Hezbollah armed group, supported by the Syrian and Iranian regimes. Israel withdrew unilaterally from this area on May 24, 2000, in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 425 of 1978, due to Prime Minister Ehud Barak's electoral promise to seek a compromise peace with both Syria and Lebanon., a peace proposal that was later rejected by the Syrian regime, which maintained its presence in Lebanon until 2005 and its military support for Hezbollah.

In July 2006, after the killing of eight Israeli soldiers in a border ambush and the kidnapping of two others by Hezbollah militants, Israel considered it an "act of war" and the Israeli crisis was triggered. Lebanese from 2006.

Status of Jerusalem

As part of the plan for the partition of Palestine, Resolution 181 of the United Nations General Assembly of November 29, 1947 established that «The city of Jerusalem will be established as a "corpus separatum" under a special international regime and will be administered by the United Nations". However, the war that immediately after the Declaration of Independence unleashed the Arab countries against Israel made said resolution inapplicable.

After the armistice agreed in July 1949, the city of Jerusalem, which was supposed to be international, was divided in two; the eastern part, which included the Old City, was formally attached to Jordan; and the western part remained within the State of Israel, which proclaimed it as its capital in 1950.

East Jerusalem and the West Bank

In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel also conquered the eastern part of the city, called East Jerusalem. He immediately segregated it from the West Bank and annexed it de facto to the rest of the municipality. In July 1980, through the Jerusalem Law, Israel united both parties into a single municipality in its national legislation, proclaiming it as its "eternal and indivisible capital".

Just a month later, as a measure of punishment for the annexation, the UN advised its member states to move their embassies to the city of Tel Aviv. Since then, the diplomatic headquarters of those countries that have relations with Israel and international organizations have been located in this city, due to the fact that sovereignty over East Jerusalem is disputed and the international community prefers to wait for the official status to be resolved through the negotiations with its neighbors. The last to adopt this measure were the United States in 2017 and Brazil in 2019. However, Paraguay and Bolivia maintain theirs in Mevaseret Zion, a suburb of West Jerusalem. For its part, the United States passed a law in 1995 declaring that "Jerusalem shall be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel" and, in accordance with said law.

This law ("Foreign Relations Authorizations Act, FY 2003", HR 1646), which cannot be construed as an order but as a suggestion, was rejected by the White House for improperly interfering with the constitutional authority of the President of the United States, the only one authorized to manage the foreign relations of the United States. In May 2018, thanks to an order from President Donald Trump, the US embassy was transferred to Jerusalem.

Conflicts in the Gaza Strip

During 2008 and the beginning of 2009, numerous rocket attacks were carried out against Israeli territory by Hamas, launched from the Gaza Strip, which caused 14 fatalities, 11 of them soldiers, and some 300 wounded. The Israeli army responded by bombarding the Palestinian territory, causing the death of more than 1,300 Palestinians and injuring more than 5,000, the vast majority civilians, as well as causing the destruction of numerous buildings and infrastructures. The episode is known as the Conflict of the Gaza Strip from 2008-2009.

Apart from other episodes with fewer victims, such as the so-called Defensive Pillar Operation (2012), in 2014, and also in response to Hamas attacks, which caused the death of more than 70 Israelis (the great most of them soldiers), and more than 1,000 wounded, there were numerous bombardments by the Israeli armed forces in Gaza, where more than 2,300 Palestinians lost their lives (mostly civilians) and more than 10,000 injured, leaving thousands of homes and numerous infrastructures destroyed. The episode is known as the 2014 Gaza-Israel Conflict.

Government and politics

The Knéset, Parliament of Israel.

Israel is a parliamentary democracy with a multi-party system and separation of powers with universal suffrage. According to the Nation-State Law, Israel describes itself as a Jewish country. The Israeli political system consists of the legislative power, the executive power and the judiciary. Its most important institutions are the president, who serves as head of state, the Knesset (the country's unicameral parliament), the prime minister and his Cabinet, who form the government, and the judicial system, whose highest court is the Court of Justice. Supreme Court and its independence is guaranteed by law.

Israel is governed by 120 parliamentary members, known as the Knesset. The Knesset is based on the proportional representation of political parties.

Parliamentary elections are held every four years, but the Knesset can dissolve the government at any time in a vote of confidence. The fundamental Laws of Israel work with an unwritten constitution. In 2003, the Knesset began drafting an official constitution based on these laws.

Dispatch of the President of Israel, (2007).

Israel's judicial system consists of a three-tier system. The lowest level are the magistrates' courts, located in most cities across the country. Above them are the district courts, which serve as courts of appeal and courts of first instance, which are situated in five of Israel's six Districts. The third and highest level is the Supreme Court of Israel, based in Jerusalem. It fulfills a double role as supreme court of justice and as Superior 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 the decisions of state authorities. Israel's legal system combines the law Anglo-Saxon, civil law and Jewish religious laws (Halakha). It is based on the principle of stare decisis (precedent) and is an adversarial system, where the parties to the lawsuit must present evidence before the court. court. In court, cases are decided by professional judges rather than juries. Marriage and divorce are under the jurisdiction of religious courts: Jewish, Muslim, Druze, and Christian. The election of the justices is carried out by a committee of members of the Knesset, justices of the Supreme Court, and members of the Israel Bar Association.

Its degree of respect for political rights and civil liberties make it the only country in the region considered "free" according to the evaluation carried out by Freedom House. The level of civil liberties allows open criticism on issues of State by groups such as B'Tselem, an organization of Israeli human rights intellectuals highly critical of the government's actions in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as other anti-Zionist or anti-Israel groups that operate legally in Israel.

According to Transparency International, in the 2010 Corruption Perception Index, Israel, with 61 points, ranks 30th out of 178 countries (in which 1 is the least corrupt and 178 is the one with the highest perception index). corruption). The corruption index remained at 61 points in 2013 (0 = perception of high levels of corruption and 100 = perception of very low levels of corruption).

Foreign Relations

Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel in Jerusalem.

, In 2007 Israel maintained diplomatic relations with 161 countries and had 94 diplomatic missions around the world. Three members of the Arab League have normalized relations with Israel: Egypt and Jordan, which signed peace treaties in 1979 and 1994 respectively and Mauritania, which opted for full diplomatic relations with Israel in 1999. Since 2003 relations with Morocco have been on the rise and the Israeli Foreign Minister has visited the country. Under Israeli law, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen are enemy countries and Israeli citizens will not be able to visit them without permission from the Ministry of the Interior. Since 1995 Israel has been a member of the Mediterranean Dialogue, which fosters cooperation between seven countries of the Mediterranean Basin and the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Spain recognized the State of Israel on January 17, 1986 by decision of the Council of Ministers chaired by Felipe González, while at the same time, in The Hague, capital of the rotating Presidency of the European Union, the representatives of both governments sign the act of establishing relations.

The United States, Turkey, Germany, the United Kingdom and India are among Israel's closest allies. The United States was the first country to recognize the State of Israel, followed by the Soviet Union. Israel can be considered its main ally in South West Asia, based on shared political and religious values. Despite not establishing full diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel until 1991, Turkey has cooperated with the state since it confirmed recognition of Israel in 1949. However, Turkey's ties to other Muslim-majority nations in the region have sometimes led to pressure from Arab states to moderate its relationship with Israel. Strong ties between Germany and Israel they include scientific and educational cooperation and both states maintain strong ties in the economic and military sectors. India established full diplomatic ties with Israel in 1992 and has fostered strong ties with the country in both the military and cultural sectors ever since. The United Kingdom, which has maintained full diplomatic relations with Israel since its formation, has paid two visits by the head of state in 2 007. Relations between the two countries were consolidated during the government of former Prime Minister Tony Blair due to his efforts to find a resolution between the two States. The United Kingdom is seen as having a "natural" relationship with Israel on account of the British Mandate for Palestine. Iran had diplomatic relations with Israel under the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty, but withdrew its recognition of Israel during the Iranian Revolution.

Diplomatic relations Diplomatic relations suspended Diplomatic relations in the past No diplomatic relations, but with trade relations in the past No diplomatic relations

In Latin America, Colombia is a strong political and commercial ally of Israel, such that 80% of Colombia's exchanges in the Middle East are with Israel. It has also advised the Colombian government through spies for the selective assassination of thousands of people from left-wing parties, such as the Patriotic Union. Panama, since the founding of Israel, has been a strong ally, even voting against the admission of the Palestinian State as an observer member of the United Nations in 2012; Likewise, former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli came to affirm on a state visit to Israel in 2010 that "Israel is the guardian of Jerusalem", in addition to the fact that Panama was the first American country to have a Jewish president: Eric Arturo Delvalle. Ecuador was the third country within the United Nations that recognized Israel and the first in Latin America to buy IAI Kfir combat aircraft, so since 2021 Israel has become one of the most important allies in defense, national security and technology. important in Ecuador, there are Jewish communities in Quito and Guayaquil. By contrast, both Venezuela and Bolivia severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 2009, in the wake of the 2008-2009 Gaza Strip conflict.

In the case of India, Israel has maintained diplomatic relations with that country since 1991. Before that date, India had a more pro-Arab and pro-Soviet position, even voting against the founding of Israel in the United Nations General Assembly United in 1948, arguing that he was opposed to the creation of countries based on religion (as in the case of his opposition to the founding of Islamic Pakistan and the Sikh Khalistan); however, it is possible that this distancing was due more to geopolitical reasons. In any case, a number of factors led to India's rapprochement with Israel beginning in 1991, including the dissolution of the Soviet Union (which had strong ties to India), the Organization of the Islamic Conference's declaration that Kashmir it was legitimately Pakistani territory in 1986, and Pakistan's criticism of India over Muslim human rights in 2001 distanced India from the Islamic world. The rise to power of the Likud in Israel, led by Ariel Sharon, and the Bharatiya Janata in India, led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, also had an influence, since both the Likud and the BJP are conservative parties, linked to religious nationalist groups. of Jews and Hindus respectively and who promote a heavy-handed policy against Islamic terrorism.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to India in 2003 was marred by angry protests against Sharon by mainly Muslims in the country, where he was accused of genocide and war crimes on banners. Jaswant Singh was the first Indian Foreign Minister to visit Israel in 2000. Although diplomatic relations between Israel and India remained normal even with the change of government to the center-left Indian National Congress, India's Muslims remain largely pro-Palestinian.

In 2010, the official recognition of the Palestinian territories as an independent state by four South American nations—Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, and Uruguay—provoked angry criticism from the Israeli government.

Human Rights

In terms of human rights, regarding membership of the seven bodies of the International Bill of Human Rights, which include the Human Rights Committee (HRC), Israel has signed or ratified:

Status of major international human rights instruments

Israel	International treaties
	CESCR		CCPR			CERD	CED	CEDAW		CAT		CRC			MWC	CRPD
	CESCR	CESCR-OP	CCPR	CCPR-OP1	CCPR-OP2-DP			CEDAW	CEDAW-OP	CAT	CAT-OP	CRC	CRC-OP-AC	CRC-OP-SC		CRPD	CRPD-OP
Pertenence
Signed and ratified, signed, but not ratified, neither signed nor ratified, without information, it has agreed to sign and ratify the body concerned, but also recognizes the competence to receive and process individual communications from the competent bodies.

Israel has also ratified all four of the Geneva Conventions but not all of their additional protocols nor the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In March 2021, the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's office announced that it would open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes committed against the civilian population by the Israeli army in the occupied territories. Israel is not a member of the ICC, but Palestine has recognized it since 2014, for which reason the court determined that it had jurisdiction to try these possible crimes. Israel has been accused of committing Apartheid against Palestinian citizens without interruption. Following the vile allegations, Israel issued a statement declaring that it "absolutely rejects all these false allegations" in the report. The Israeli Foreign Ministry accused Amnesty International of recycling "lies, inconsistencies and unsubstantiated claims originating from known anti-Israel hate organizations"; adding that “the report denies the right of the State of Israel to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Its extremist language and distortion of the historical context have been designed to demonize Israel and add fuel to the fire of anti-Semitism."

They also denounced that a Palestinian correspondent for Al Jazeera was killed by the Israeli army during a raid on May 11, 2022 by the army in Jenin, in the northern West Bank. Although it is not known where the shot came from, the Palestinian Authority, indicated that they would accept the participation of international organizations in the investigation, rejecting that Israel participate. According to Ben-Dror Yemini "... there is not a single conflict zone in which journalists are proof of bullet. Although the facts do not support Israel's culpability, there is always someone willing to buy the inevitable anti-Israel propaganda."

Territorial organization

The territory of Israel is divided into 6 districts or mechozot (מחוזות), headed by a commissioner appointed by the Ministry of the Interior. They are as follows: Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, North, South and Tel Aviv.

The districts are in turn divided into fifteen sub-districts known as nafot (נפות), which are in turn divided into fifty natural regions. The natural regions are non-administrative units used by the Government of Israel for statistical purposes and the population census.

The districts are a legacy of the Ottoman Empire that controlled the region and their powers include making local legislation, controlling local taxes and budgets, approving public works projects and granting credit to local governments.

As for the territories occupied during the Six-Day War, the Golan Heights is administratively integrated into the Northern District, East Jerusalem into the Jerusalem District, and the West Bank, governed by the Israeli Civil Administration, integrates the Area of Judea and Samaria for statistical purposes only. The Gaza Strip ceased to be administered by Israel following its withdrawal in 2005.

Statistically, the country is divided into three metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv and Gush Dan (with a population of 3,150,000 inhabitants), Haifa (996,000 inhabitants), and Beersheba (531,600 inhabitants). However, the largest city of Israel, both in population and area, is Jerusalem, with 732,100 inhabitants in an area of 126 square kilometers. Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Rishon LeZion are among the most populous cities in Israel, with populations of 384,600, 267,000, and 222,300 respectively.

(***) The area of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) is internationally considered part of the Palestinian territories, as is East Jerusalem.

Borders

The State of Israel borders on the north with Lebanon, a border officially recognized by the UN after the Israeli withdrawal from the south of that country; with Syria to the northeast, with Jordan, the West Bank and East Jerusalem to the east and with Egypt and the Gaza Strip to the south, its borders with Jordan and Egypt being recognized from the peace agreements signed with both countries.

Israel has not yet established its borders with Syria or with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank area, although in this sense the international community usually considers the Green Line, the armistice line between Israel and its Arab neighbors that worked as a de facto border until the Six Day War. Israel also maintains large settlement blocs close to the line and beyond, especially around East Jerusalem and the Etzion Block, and in the West Bank city of Ariel.

As part of the peace process, under the banner of "land for peace," Israel handed over the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, including the Egyptian-administered Gaza Strip, following a full evacuation of the Israelis in 1982. In September 2005, Israel completed its unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip to the "Green Line."

Armed Forces

Emblem of the Israeli Armed Forces.

Israel has the highest proportion of military spending in relation to its Gross Domestic Product and budgets of all developed countries; in 1984, for example, the country spent more than 24% of its GDP on defense, although this proportion has tended to diminish, and that figure was 6.2% in 2012. The Israel Defense Forces (Tzahal) are the only military branch of the Israel Security Forces. The Defense Forces are headed by Ramatcal, a rank equivalent to lieutenant general, who in turn is subordinate to the Council of Ministers. The Israeli army is divided into the Israeli Army Headquarters or Land Army, commonly known as Mazi, the Israeli Air Force and the Navy. The Israeli army was founded in 1948, during the first Arab-Israeli war, through the consolidation and union of the main paramilitary organizations of the Haganah , predecessor of the Tzahal . The country's armed forces also have the Military Intelligence Directorate or Aman, responsible for intelligence agencies such as the Mossad or the Shabak. The Israel Defense Forces have been involved in several wars and border conflicts, which is why they are considered one of the best-trained armies in the world, despite their short history.

Most Israelis must serve in the military at age 18. Men serve for three years and women for two or three. After compulsory service, men serve in the reserve until they are 40 years of age. It is common for several weeks a year while in the reserve to serve on active duty. For their part, the vast majority of women are exempt from being part of the reserve. Israeli Arab citizens are also exempt, except Druze. Full-time religious students are exempted from military service, a move that has generated strong controversy in Israeli society for years, especially with the exemption enjoyed by yeshivot students. (ultra-Orthodox Jews). An alternative to those exempt or not wishing to serve in the military is the Sherut Leumi or national service, a program where volunteers serve in hospitals, schools and other places and activities of public interest. As a result of the imposition of military service, the army has some 176,500 active soldiers and an additional 445,000 reservists, very high numbers for a population of just over 8 million.

Israel Armed Forces Celebrating Independence Day (24 April 1958).

The country's military equipment consists mostly of high-tech weapons systems designed and manufactured in Israel, as well as foreign imports. Since 1967, the United States has been the most notable foreign ally and contributor of military aid. The good military relations between the United States and Israel are still maintained, since between 2013 and 2018 alone, Israel received military aid from the United States worth 3.15 billion dollars. Israel also has the Arrow missiles, which allow it to operate one one of the only anti-missile shields that exist in the world, the Iron Dome or Iron Dome, an anti-ballistic missile system that has earned the congratulations of numerous countries worldwide for intercepting hundreds of Qassams, BM -21, Fajr-5 coming mostly from the Gaza Strip.

Since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel has developed a space network of spy satellites—officially called reconnaissance. made Israel one of only seven countries in the world with such a system. Although it has never been proven, the international community assumes that Israel has possessed nuclear weapons since the 1960s, in addition to chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Israel is estimated to possess between 75 and 400 nuclear warheads, capable of being delivered from aircraft, submarines or long-range ballistic missiles. Israel has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear capability, known as "strategic ambiguity". Since the 1991 Gulf War, when Israel was attacked by Iraqi Scud missiles, every home in the country has been required to have a safe room or Merkhav Mugan, capable of resisting attacks with chemical and biological weapons.

Similarly, the Israeli army also carries out occupation tasks in the West Bank, through the Israeli Civil Administration, which is an integral part of the Israel Defense Forces and central command of field operations, both regular and emergency..

Israel lives in a state of near-permanent conflict as its right to exist has been in dispute since its founding. In addition to recognized wars such as the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the 1956 Suez War, the 1967 Six-Day War, the 1968-70 War of Attrition, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon of 1982 and the Lebanon War of 2006; Israel experienced a First Intifada in 1987, Iraqi missile attacks in 1991 leading up to the Gulf War, the Second Intifada in 2000, the Gaza Strip Conflict of 2008-2009, Operation Defensive Pillar in 2012, Clashes in the Golan Heights of 2012-2013 and multiple suicide bombings. Israel ranks 150 out of 162 countries in the Global Peace Index given by Vision of Humanity in 2013. The armed forces have been accused, in 2009, by Human Rights Watch, of violating the laws of war for failing to take all precautions to distinguish between civilians and combatants before opening fire.

In its 2014 report, Amnesty International assured that the armed forces committed human rights violations in their blockade of the Gaza Strip, including forced evictions, impeding freedom of movement, promoting illegal settlements, demolition of homes, expulsion of immigrants, administrative detention without trial, destruction of property and death of civilians during the military offensive. AI also reported that during Operation Protective Edge, Palestinian armed groups and the Hamas organization fired thousands of rockets and shells into Israeli civilian areas. mortar killing civilians including children.

A United Nations rapporteur questioned the legality of the army's offensives in the Gaza Strip in 2009, while the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence, made up of war veterans, denounced the excesses in Gaza, accusing Israel of not making a distinction between the military and civilians. In December 2004 the Israeli Army admitted killing 148 unarmed Palestinians – most of them young militants who attacked the Israeli Armed Forces with incendiary cocktails and stones, not weapons – since the beginning of that same year.

In 2009 the Palestinian ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, described as genocide the military offensive in Gaza, called by the Israeli Army Operation Cast Lead. In September 2010, the Council of Human Rights of the UN described as a serious violation of human rights and humanitarian law the Israeli attack on the so-called Freedom Flotilla, where the Israeli Navy, in waters international force, attacked different boats with live fire, killing several activists (see attack on the Gaza flotilla).

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  The Merkava, designed and manufactured in Israel, is the main combat cart of the Israel Defense Forces

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  View of two F-15 Israeli Air Force fighters

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  Israeli submarine of the Dolphin Class, one of the most advanced conventional submarines in the world

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  One IDF soldier, belonging to the mixed battalion Caracal, carrying an IMI Tavor with reflex look Meprolight 21

Geography

Israel topographic map.

Relief

In Israel there are three geomorphological regions, from West to East: the Mediterranean coastal plain, the central mountain range and the Jordan River Valley (the deepest depression on Earth). To these three regions, we must add the Negev desert, made up of a plain and calcareous mountains and located in the south of Israel. Arid regions occupy more than half of Israel's territory.

The crater Ramon in the desert of the Negev.

The sea of Galilee and Tiberias.

Even though a large part of the territory is desert, lilies abound in the valleys, as well as trees such as pines, eucalyptus, olive trees and acacias. Brooms grow sporadically in the Negev desert. There are reforestation initiatives that are carried out throughout the country, especially in the mountains, where pines, oaks, cypresses and laurels take root successfully.

Climate

Situated between the deserts of Africa and Asia, on the one hand, and the hot and humid Mediterranean Sea, on the other, Israel finds itself at a crossroads of climatic influences that have made it possible to distinguish up to forty different types of climate in so reduced surface. The thermal regime varies remarkably with altitude and continentality, especially in winter: from west to east it goes from a typical Mediterranean climate to a continental one. Mountainous regions are usually windy and very cold -sometimes with snowfall-. The peak of Mount Hermon is covered in snow most of the year, and Jerusalem generally receives at least one snowfall each year. Coastal cities, such as Tel Aviv and Haifa, have a typical cold and rainy Mediterranean climate, with long, cold winters. very hot summers. In the extreme south, in the Gulf of Eilat, the climate is dry tropical.

The highest temperature on the Asian continent (53.7 °C or 129 °F) was recorded in 1942 at Kibbutz Tirat Zvi, north of the Jordan Valley.

In general, there is a dry season (April-October) and a rainy season (from October-November to April). From May to September, rains are rare in Israel. The highest percentage of rains is reached between mid-January and early March. Rainfall increases from south to north and from east to west.

With scarce water resources, Israel has developed various and varied water-saving technologies, including drip irrigation. Israelis also take advantage of the considerable available sunlight for solar power, making Israel the nation leader in per capita use of solar energy.

Climate change

This section is an extract of Climate Change in Israel.[chuckles]edit]

Physical map of Israel and neighbouring States

Climate change in Israel is the set of causes, effects and consequences of climate change in Israel, and by extension in other territories of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea (subtropical-mediterranean climate) and the most arid subregions to the east and south. Since it was defined and addressed in the second half of the centuryxxIt has been a topic of debate in Israeli society, the effects of which have been noted in local politics and industry, as, of course, in the natural landscapes throughout the country.

There are important evidence of the effects of global warming on the Mediterranean basin, which has been subjected to several types of climate events in recent decades, most evident in the countries of the east and southeast of the region, including Israel. It is estimated that in the future, these trends, if not mitigated, could impact the economy, quality of life and relations with neighbouring countries.

Economy

The main business district is located in Ramat Gan on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, where the Diamond Bag District.

Israel is considered the most advanced country in Southwest Asia in economic and industrial development. The country has ranked highest in the region in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index, as well as the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index. It has the second-highest number of startup companies in the world. (after the United States) and the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside of North America. highest gross per capita with $527.1 billion and $55,359, respectively. In 2007, Israel was invited to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which promotes cooperation among countries that adhere to democratic principles and exploit free market economies.

Despite limited natural resources, the intensive development of agriculture and the industrial sector over the past decades made Israel virtually self-sufficient in food production. Significant imports to Israel, totaling $47.8 billion in 2006, are fossil fuels, raw materials, and military equipment.

Main exports include fruits, vegetables, pharmaceuticals, software, chemicals, military technology, and diamonds; in 2006 Israeli exports reached $42.86 billion. Israel is a world leader in water conservancy and geothermal energy, and its development of cutting-edge technologies in software, communications, and the life sciences have evoked comparisons to Silicon Valley..

The Azrieli Center in Tel Aviv, symbol of the country's economic dynamism.

Intel and Microsoft built their first foreign R&D centers in Israel. Other multinational high-tech companies, such as IBM, Cisco Systems and Motorola, have also opened technology centers in the country.

In Israel, high-quality long-staple cotton is grown and there are fish farms specializing in raising trout, carp and other fish. It also has a recognized reputation in the field of fashion and as a tourist destination. Tourism, especially religious tourism, is another important industry in Israel, with its mild climate, beaches, archaeological and historical sites, and unique geography drawing tourists as well.

In 1998, Newsweek magazine ranked Tel Aviv among the ten most influential technology cities in the world. Already in the 1990s Israel proposed to the neighboring Arab world to transform the Middle East into one of the most important technological and financial centers in the world.

Currency

Sequel coins and bills, the Israeli currency.

"Hebrew corridor", a postal stamp of the first and provisional series of stamps of the State of Israel, issued hours after the declaration of independence.

Since 1985 the currency of Israel has been the new shekel (שקל חדש; NIS; symbol: ₪). Its origin dates back to Mesopotamian times, where it was used as a unit of measurement, but it was not until the 1980s that the shekel replaced the pound as Israel's currency.

A new shekel is divided into 100 agorot (singular agora). There are 20, 50, 100 and 200 new shekalim bills. As for the coins, there are 1 new shekel, 2, 5 and 10 shekalim, and 10 and 50 agorot. The Bank of Israel is the institution in charge of issuing foreign currency. A catalog of coins and banknotes since 1948 can be consulted on its website.

You are allowed to enter Israel with an unlimited amount of foreign currency in the form of cash, traveler's checks, letters of credit, etc. Although most payments can be made in euros or dollars, change will be given in new shekalim. To make currency exchanges you have to go to banks, exchange offices, post offices and some hotels.

Tourism

Tourism is a key industry in Israel. There, important archaeological centers of the Roman and Byzantine civilizations have access to the public.

Being located in the Holy Land offers a wide variety of religious, historical and important archaeological sites. In addition, it has modern tourist centers on its beaches and regions for ecotourism. It is important to point out the growing importance of sun and beach tourism, located mainly in the area of the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Tel Aviv. In this area there are also numerous resorts and spas.

Each year millions of Christian, Jewish and Muslim pilgrims arrive at their holy places. In Israel you can visit everything from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which is built on the place where Jesus was born according to the Bible, to the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Museum of the Temple of the Book in Jerusalem. In Nazareth, visit the Basilica of the Annunciation, built on the site where the Archangel Gabriel appeared before Mary to announce the arrival of Jesus. In Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount is the third most important site in Islam, occupying the place from which Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher on Golgotha Hill is one of the holiest sites for Christianity as it marks the place of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Jews come to pray at the Wailing Wall, the last remnant of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Science, education and technology

The particle accelerator of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.

Israel has the highest school life expectancy in Southwest Asia, and joins Japan with the second highest school life expectancy in the Asian continent (after South Korea). Israel also has the highest literacy rate in South West Asia, according to the United Nations. The State Education Law, passed in 1953, established five types of schools: state secular, state religious, ultra-Orthodox, communal schools, and Arab schools.

Education is compulsory in Israel for children between the ages of three and eighteen. Studies are divided into three levels - elementary school (grades 1-6), middle school (grades 7-9) and High school (grades 10-12) - culminating in Bagrut certificate exams. Basic subjects such as mathematics, Torah, Hebrew language, Hebrew and general literature, English, history, and civics are required to receive a Bagrut certificate. In Arab, Christian, and Druze schools, the Torah studies exam is substituted. for an exam on Islam, Christianity or Druze heritage, respectively. Druze study together as a way to promote peace and social inclusion. In 2003, more than half of all Israelis passed the twelfth grade by obtaining the matriculation certificate.

All eight public universities in Israel are subsidized by the state. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the oldest university in Israel, is home to the National Library of Israel, the largest repository of books on Jewish subjects in the world. In 2006, the Hebrew University was ranked 60th and 119th among the best universities in the world. Other major universities in the country include the Technion, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University, Bar Ilan University, the University of Haifa, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Israel's seven research universities (excluding the Open University) have been ranked among the top 500 in the world. Israel ranks third in the world for the number of citizens holding university degrees (20 percent of the population). During the 1990s, an influx of one million immigrants from the former Soviet Union (forty percent of whom are college graduates) pushed Israel to stimulate the high-tech sector.

Ten Israelis have won the Nobel Prize in Science. Among others, biologists Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover from the Technion shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. American-Israeli psychologist Daniel Kahneman won the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics. In 2005 Robert Aumann, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, also won the Nobel Prize in Economics. Israel leads the production of scientific publications per capita in the world, being one of the first States in said ranking; in a study carried out in 2006, it ranked third in the world, with 1,018 articles per year and per 1,000,000 people. It also boasts of being one of the countries with the most registered patents per capita. In 2003, Ilan Ramon became the first Israeli astronaut, serving as STS-107 specialist, on the fatal Space Shuttle Columbia mission.

Israeli contributions to science and technology have been very significant, especially considering its small size. Since its founding, Israel has devoted considerable efforts to science and engineering. Israeli scientists have made significant contributions to genetics, computing, electronics, optics, and other high-tech industries. Israeli science is well known for its cutting-edge military technology. Israel has also been a pioneer in advanced agricultural technology. Israel has a high reputation for theoretical physics and its developed medicine is also appreciated.

Israel ranks third in R&D spending, eighth in technological readiness (according to its companies' R&D spending, the creativity of its scientific community, the number of personal computers, and the rate of Internet penetration), 11th in innovation, 16th in high-tech exports, and 17th in technological achievement on the Nation Master list of countries in the world by economic standards.

Demographics

Demographic developments

Tel Aviv beach

Israel is a small country, with a population of 8.3 million (2015); of them, 80% are Jews, and 17% Arabs. Jews number 6.2 million, Arabs number 1.7 million, and 400,000 are Christian or Druze Arabs. In the territories of Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank) and East Jerusalem, in 2005 the population was 2.3 million. According to Israeli statistical data from the end of 2011, some 325,456 settlers live in the 125 recognized settlements in the West Bank (there are another 100 not officially recognized). According to data from the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, 190,423 Israelis lived in East Jerusalem at the end of 2011.

In September 2005, the Israeli authorities launched the Disengagement Plan for the Gaza Strip, which came to be administered by the Palestinian National Authority. The process of withdrawing from the territory implied conflicts within Israeli society, due to the withdrawal of almost 8,000 Jewish settlers who lived in the Gaza Strip, against a population of 1.4 million Palestinians.

In 1948, when the new state was born, the total population of Israel was 914,700, 156,000 of them non-Jews (mainly Arabs). Between 1948 and 1960 the Jewish immigrant population increased by 1.1 million people, emigrated from Muslim countries, for fear of reprisals for the founding of the new State of Israel, such as Morocco (400,000), Iran (200,000), Algeria (150,000), Libya (150,000), Iraq (140,000), Tunisia (120,000), Yemen (60,000), Syria (35,000) and Lebanon (5,000). The small Jewish community in Europe after the Holocaust, less than a quarter of a million people, also immigrated to the new state. Other subsequent immigration flows have occurred after the fall of the Soviet Union, after which many Jews from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus decided to emigrate to Israel, as well as many Jews from Argentina after the serious economic crisis that this country suffered during the decade of 2000. The Sephardic population in the State of Israel is today about 500,000 people.

The population is unevenly distributed throughout the territory, being the central and coastal regions of the Mediterranean the most populated, with rates of more than 300 inhabitants per km². In the south the average does not exceed 55 inhabitants per km².

Old City of Jerusalem

In 2013 life expectancy was 83.60 years for women and 80 for men, the highest in the region. Although it increased in number of years compared to previous years, in 2010 it was ranked number 9 among 180 countries and in 2011 it was ranked 11 among the countries with the highest life expectancy.

Metropolitan areas

There is a double occupation of the territory: on the one hand the cities (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beersheba and Eilat are the main ones), and on the other hand a rural occupation in the form of a kibbutz, an agricultural establishment with a exploitation of the land and communal coexistence.

In 2006, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics defined three metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv (3 million inhabitants), Haifa (980,600) and Jerusalem, the capital (706,368).

Religion

The Dome of the Rock and the Wall of Lamentations, Jerusalem.

The Holy Sepulchre in the Golgotha, venerated by Christians for being the place where the crucifixion of Jesus occurred.

The State of Israel is the only country in the world where the majority of the population is a follower of Judaism. Christianity and Islam also have a significant presence of believers among Israeli citizens. In addition, there are also other religious minorities such as the Druze and the Baha'is. Israel concentrates innumerable holy sites of the three great monotheistic religions and recognizes religious freedom for all, allowing pilgrims from all over the world free access to holy places.

According to a 2011 survey by the Israel Central Institute of Statistics, 75.3% of Israel's total population is made up of Jews (5,837,000 people). 20.5% are followers of Islam (1,587,000 people). The other religions represent 4.2% of the population (322,000 people).

There are three main religions practiced in Israel: Judaism (75%), Islam (16%), Christianity (Catholic and Orthodox) (2%) and Druzism (2%). There are also some other minorities like Messianic, Baha'i and even Buddhist. Israeli law explicitly guarantees equal rights to all citizens regardless of their religion or ethnic group. However, the law grants preferential treatment in certain respects to those individuals who meet the criteria of the Law of Return, which is a controversial issue as the Law of Return differs from religious criteria for who meets the status of a Jew.

Festivities

Being a predominantly Jewish state, the main festivities celebrated in the country belong to that confession: Purim, Pesaj, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah and Hanukkah; other minor holidays are Tu B'Shvat and Tisha b'Av.

In Israel there are also secular commemorations or anniversaries, such as Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day) and Yom Hazikaron (Remembrance Day).

Religion and citizenship: marriage and family

Israel lacks a civil marriage system, that is, the option to marry through civil authorities (such as a court, city hall, or legal representative). Although all marriages from anywhere in the world are recognized, within Israel it is only possible to marry through religious authorities, regardless of religion. In July 2011 the Knesset rejected a proposal to facilitate the celebration of marriage in the country with 40 votes against and 17 in favor. Due to the complicated historical relations between religion and State, which have their origin in the very definition of Israel as a Jewish State, the Hebrew country is currently the only democratic State that it does not facilitate civil marriage as a viable alternative.

Because of this, and given the constant increase in Israeli citizens who prefer to marry "civilly", a whole industry of wedding trips has developed, combining tourism with wedding services. Among the most common destinations are countries such as neighboring Cyprus (famous for its offers aimed at this public) and countries in northern Europe. There are also companies specialized in this type of tourism, which offer services ranging from document management and legal requirements to the vacation plan itself. Upon returning to Israel, the newlywed couple then registers as a married couple at all the effects.

Although most people who marry abroad do so voluntarily, in the case of couples who do not share the same religion, this type of solution is rather their only option to get married, although most marriages from mixed religion are from people who already arrive in Israel married. It is also the case of Jewish people not recognized as such by the Rabbinate of Israel (many of them being citizens of Jewish origin from countries of the former Soviet Union). Similarly, unable to perform a civil marriage in Israel, same-sex couples must marry abroad, and register their change of marital status upon return to Israel. In Tel Aviv, one of the cities most internationally recognized for its tolerance —and number— of LGBT+ people, many prefer to normalize their relationships without formally getting married. The marital status of same-sex couples married in other countries is recognized in Israel and supported by the majority of citizens (and the vast majority of non-religious ones).

Regarding divorce, heterosexual couples who share the same religion —and especially if it is Jewish—, even if they were married civilly in another country, must go through a religious ceremony in order to be recognized as divorced eyes of halacha, even if the divorce was previously filed in the country where the wedding originally took place. Because many Israeli citizens, even considering themselves secular, see importance in recognizing the Religious authorities, especially when faced with the recognition of their children's status as Jews, generally tolerate this norm, even if it is not supported. It should be noted, however, that since Israel is judicially a secular state, in controversial cases, even decisions of the High Rabbinical Court (the highest instance among Jewish courts) can be appealed before the Supreme Court of Israel.

In Israel it is the Orthodox rabbinate that has a monopoly on official religious services. It has clashed on multiple occasions with other currents of Judaism, more common in countries like the United States, where, beyond Conservative and Reform Judaism (both less strict currents of Judaism) there is even the so-called "light orthodoxy", more flexible. than traditional orthodoxy. This has led to major clashes at the religious and institutional level between the Israeli religious authorities and those of other countries. However, it should be noted that the State of Israel recognizes any Jew of any condition, including converts to Judaism in any of the three main streams, as Jews for civil purposes, therefore, among others, they have the right to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return, obtaining Israeli nationality. In fact, in 2021 the Supreme Court decreed that the State is obliged to recognize any convert to Judaism, from any stream, as a person of the Jewish religion. Many Jewish couples, where at least one spouse is not recognized as Jewish by Orthodoxy, having already married in their country of origin, celebrate in Israel a religious ceremony —although not official— led by a rabbi from their own community or religious current, with the chupah, the ketubah and all the elements of a traditional Jewish wedding (although the ketubah is often more equal and adapted to the times). The same is done by married couples who do not immigrate to Israel, but want to celebrate their marriage in the Holy Land.

Culture

Hebrew Book Week in Jerusalem (2005).

The culture of Israel is inseparable from the history of Judaism and the Jewish people that precede it. Israel's cultural diversity stems from the diversity of its population: Jews from around the world brought their cultural and religious traditions with them, creating a melting pot of Jewish cultural customs and beliefs. Israel is the only country in the world where life It revolves around the Hebrew calendar. Work and school holidays are determined by Jewish holidays, and the official day of rest is Saturday, Shabbat. Israel's large Arab minority has also left its mark on Israeli culture in areas such as architecture, music, and cooking.

Literature

Israeli literature is primarily poetry and prose written in Hebrew, as part of the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language since the mid-century XIX, although a small amount of literature is published in other languages, such as Arabic and English. By law, two copies of all print published in Israel must be deposited at the National Library of Israel and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2001, the law was amended to include audio and video recordings as well as other non-print media. In 2006, 85 percent of the 8,000 books transferred to the library were in Hebrew. Hebrew Book Week (Hebrew: שבוע הספר) is celebrated in June with features of book fairs, public readings and appearances by Israeli authors across the country. During the week, Israel's top literary prize, the Sapir Prize, is awarded. In 1966 Shmuel Yosef Agnón shared the Nobel Prize for Literature with the German Jewish author Nelly Sachs. Writers such as Amos Oz, David Grossman, Abraham B. Yehoshua, Aharon Appelfeld, Meir Shalev or the poet Margalit Matitiahu (who writes in Hebrew and in ladino), have been considered the main representatives of current Israeli literature.

Music and dance

Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv.

Israeli music contains a wide variety of influences from the Diaspora; Yemeni music, Hasidic melodies, Arabic music, Greek music, jazz and pop rock are all part of the music scene, while making good use of elements of modern culture. Folk songs known as שירי ארץ ישראל (Shirei Eretz Israel or "Songs of the Land of Israel"), narrate the experiences of the pioneers in the construction of the Jewish homeland, Eretz Israel. Among the world-famous Israelis next door is the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, which has been in business for more than seventy years and today performs more than two hundred concerts each year. Israel has also produced many noted musicians, some achieving international stardom. Noa, Uzi Hitman, Itzhak Perlman, Ofra Haza and Pinchas Zukerman are some of the internationally acclaimed Israeli-born musicians; Mayumana and Dana International also stand out. In another order of things, Israel has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest almost every year since 1973, winning the competition four times (1978, 1979, 1998 and 2018) and twice Jerusalem hosted the same Eilat has organized its own international music festival, the Red Sea Jazz Festival, every summer since 1987, being in 2019 Tel Aviv.

Also originally from Israel are some performers who are gaining great relevance today such as Oren Lavie.

Theater

In Israel there is the national theater, Habimá, in Tel Aviv where there are plays with Jewish themes. Classics are also performed in Hebrew, be they dramas, comedies or musicals. In addition, there is the Cámer theater, a complex with 4 rooms, created in 1970. In Haifa there is the municipal theater, it represents both Israeli and international works, whether classical or modern.

Continuing the tradition of Yiddish theater in Eastern Europe, Israel maintains a vibrant scene.^{[citation needed]} Founded in 1918, Tel Aviv's Habima Theater is the oldest repertory theater company and national theater.

Museums

Tel Aviv, Haifa, Herzliya and Jerusalem have the most important art museums, and many towns and kibbutz have small museums. The Israel Museum in its capital, Jerusalem, is one of Israel's most important cultural institutions, housing the Dead Sea Scrolls along with an extensive collection of Jewish folk and religious art, and European art. The National Museum The Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, is the world's largest repository of archives related to Holocaust information. The Beth Hatefutsoth (Diaspora Museum), on the Tel Aviv University campus, is an interactive museum dedicated to the history of Jewish communities around the world. Apart from the major museums in big cities, there are very high-quality art spaces in many cities and kibbutz. Mishkan Le'Omanut in kibbutz Ein Harod Meuhad is the largest art museum in the north of the country.

Sports

Ramat Gan Stadium, the largest stadium in Israel.

Various sports are regularly practiced in Israel: from swimming, soccer, basketball and tennis, to gymnastics, hockey, rugby, judo, chess, athletics, volleyball and handball. To date, Israel has won six Olympic medals since its first victory in 1992, including a gold medal in windsurfing at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Although soccer and basketball are the most popular sports, Israel has also been successful in other sports, such as handball and track and field. It is also worth mentioning that Israel had its first participation in the World Baseball Classic (world event of this sport) in 2017, having surprising achievements such as undefeated qualification to the 2nd round, thus also ensuring its participation in the next contest in 2021.

With 50,000 licensed divers, Israel has the world's highest rate of divers per capita.^{[citation needed]} An incentive to scuba diving is provided by fascinating marine life tropical in the Red Sea. Other popular water sports include windsurfing, jet skiing and sailing, as well as beach sports such as beach volleyball and 'racquets', a locally developed game that is a kind of 'beach ping pong'. #3. 4;.

Despite being geographically located in Asia, Israel participates in international sports competitions always associated with European federations (UEFA, EHF) or European competitions (Eurobasket). Probably the most internationally known Israeli club is Maccabi Tel Aviv, which has won five European basketball titles (including two Euroleagues in 2004 and 2005). This is due to the refusal of Arab countries, along with some African and Asian countries, to participate with Israel in sporting events. FIFA, since the 1970 World Cup, decided to include Israel in UEFA to prevent the Arab countries from withdrawing en masse.

Beersheba has become a national chess center and home to many chess champions from the former Soviet Union. The city hosted the World Chess Champion team in 2005, and chess is taught in kindergartens in the city. Two years later, in 2007, Boris Abramovich Gelfand took second place in the World Chess Championship.