Israel

Israel /ˈɪzreɪəl/, officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [mediˈnat jisʁaˈʔel] ( listen); Arabic: دولة إِسرائيل‎, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a country in Western Asia, on the south-eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It shares land borders with Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories (or State of Palestine) comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip on the east and southwest respectively, Egypt and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area.[6][7] In its Basic Laws Israel defines itself as a Jewish and Democratic State; it is the world's only Jewish-majority state.[8] On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly recommended the adoption and implementation of the partition plan of Mandatory Palestine. On 14 May 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization[9] and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel," a state independent upon the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine, 15 May 1948.[10][11][12] Neighboring Arab armies invaded Palestine on the next day and fought the Israeli forces.[13] Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states,[14] in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula (between 1967 and 1982), part of South Lebanon (between 1982 and 2000), Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. It annexed portions of these territories, including East Jerusalem, but the border with the West Bank is disputed.[15][16][17][18][19] Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace. Israel's financial center is Tel Aviv,[20] while Jerusalem is the country's most populous city and its designated capital, though internationally Jerusalem is not considered to be a part of Israel.[21][note 1][22] The population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2014 to be 8,146,300 people, of whom 6,110,600 are Jewish. The country's second largest group are Arabs, with 1,686,000 people (including the Druze and most East Jerusalem Arabs).[1][23] The great majority of Israeli Arabs are settled Muslims, with smaller but significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins; the rest are Christians and Druze. Other minorities than Arabs include Maronites, Samaritans, Black Hebrew Israelites,[24] Armenians, Circassians and others. Israel also hosts a significant population of non-citizen foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia. Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage.[25][26] The Prime Minister serves as head of government and the Knesset serves as Israel's unicameral legislative body. Israel is a developed country and an OECD member,[27] with the 43rd-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2012. Israel has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia,[28] and among the highest life expectancies in the world.[29]

The notion of the "Land of Israel", known in Hebrew as Eretz Yisrael, has been important and sacred to the Jewish people since Biblical times. According to the Torah, God promised the land to the three Patriarchs of the Jewish people.[37][38] On the basis of scripture, the period of the three Patriarchs has been placed somewhere in the early 2nd millennium BC,[39] and the first Kingdom of Israel was established around the 11th century BC. Subsequent Israelite kingdoms and states ruled intermittently over the next four hundred years, and are known from various extra-biblical sources.[40][41][42][43] The northern Kingdom of Israel, as well as Philistine city-states, fell in 722 BC, though the southern Kingdom of Judah and several Phoenician city-states continued their existence as the region came under Assyrian rule. With the emergence of Babylonians, Judah was eventually conquered as well in the year 586 BC. Classical period With successive Persian rule, the region, divided between Syria-Coele province and later the autonomous Yehud Medinata, was gradually developing back into urban society, largely dominated by Judeans. The Greek conquests largely skipped the region without any resistance or interest. Incorporated into Ptolemaic and finally Seleucid Empires, southern Levant was heavily hellenized, building the tensions between Judeans and Greeks. The conflict erupted in 167 BC with the Maccabean Revolt, which succeeded in establishing an independent Hasmonean Kingdom in Judah, which later expanded over much of modern Israel, as the Seleucids gradually lost control in the region. Treasures, including the Menorah, carried in a Roman triumph after the 70 AD Siege of Jerusalem.