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מדינת ישראל
Medīnat Yisrā'el |
دولة إسرائيل
Dawlat Isrā'īl |
| State of Israel |
|
|
|
Anthem: Hatikvah
The Hope
|
|
|
Capital
(and largest city) |
Jerusalem[1]
 31°47′N, 35°13′E |
| Official languages |
Hebrew, Arabic |
| Ethnic groups |
76% Jewish, 19% Arab, 5% minority groups |
| Demonym |
Israeli |
| Government |
Parliamentary democracy[2] |
| - |
President |
Shimon Peres |
| - |
Prime Minister |
Ehud Olmert |
| - |
Knesset Speaker |
Dalia Itzik |
| Independence |
from British Mandate of Palestine |
| - |
Declaration |
14 May 1948 (05 Iyar 5708) |
| Area |
| - |
Total 1 |
20,770 / 22,072 km² (151st)
8,019 / 8,522 sq mi |
| - |
Water (%) |
~2% |
| Population |
| - |
2008 estimate |
7,282,0002[3] (96th) |
| - |
1995 census |
5,548,523 |
| - |
Density |
324/km² (34th)
839/sq mi |
| GDP (PPP) |
2007[4] estimate |
| - |
Total |
$232.7 billion (44th) |
| - |
Per capita |
$33,299 (22nd) |
| GDP (nominal) |
2007 estimate |
| - |
Total |
$154.3 billion |
| - |
Per capita |
$22,073 |
| Gini (2005) |
38.6[2] |
| HDI (2007) |
▬ 0.932 (high) (23rd) |
| Currency |
Israeli new sheqel (₪) (ILS) |
| Time zone |
IST (UTC+2) |
| - |
Summer (DST) |
(UTC+3) |
| Internet TLD |
.il |
| Calling code |
+972 |
| 1 |
Excluding / Including the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem; see below. |
| 2 |
Includes Israeli population in the West Bank. |
Israel (Hebrew: יִשְרָאֵל, Yisra'el; Arabic: إسرائيل, Isrā'īl) officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְרָאֵל (help·info), Medinat Yisra'el; Arabic: دَوْلَةْ إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrā'īl), is a country in Western Asia located on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area.[5] The West Bank and Gaza Strip are also adjacent. With a population of about 7.28 million[3], the majority of whom are Jews, Israel is the world's only Jewish state.[6] It is also home to Arab Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Samaritans, as well as other religious and ethnic minority groups.
The modern state of Israel has its roots in the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael), a concept central to Judaism for over 3000 years.[7] After World War I, the League of Nations approved the British Mandate of Palestine with the intent of creating a "national home for the Jewish people."[8] In 1947, the United Nations approved the partition of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab.[9] The Arab League rejected the plan, but on May 14, 1948, the Jewish provisional government declared Israel's independence. The new country's victory in the subsequent Arab-Israeli War expanded the borders of the Jewish state beyond those in the UN Partition Plan. Since then, Israel has been in conflict with many of the neighboring Arab countries, resulting in several major wars and decades of violence that continue to this day.[10] Since its foundation, Israel's boundaries
and even the State's very 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 are being made to reach a permanent accord with the Palestinians.[11]
Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system and universal suffrage.[12][13] The Prime Minister serves as head of government and the Knesset serves as Israel's legislative body. In terms of nominal gross domestic product, the nation's economy is estimated as being the 44th-largest in the world.[14] Israel ranks high among Middle Eastern countries on the bases of human development,[15] freedom of the press,[16] and economic competitiveness.[17] Jerusalem is the country's capital, seat of government, and largest city, while Israel's main financial center is Tel Aviv.
Name
Over the past three thousand years, the name "Israel" has meant in common and religious usage both the Land of Israel and the entire Jewish nation.[18] The name originated from a verse in the Bible (Genesis, 32:28) where Jacob is renamed Israel after successfully wrestling with an angel of God.[19]
The first historical mention of the word "Israel" is in the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt (dated the late 13th century BCE), which appears to refer to a people.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22]
History
-
Early roots
- Further information: History of ancient Israel and Judah
Roman garrison ruins at the foot of
Masada
The Land of Israel, known in Hebrew as Eretz Yisrael, has been sacred to the Jewish people since the time of the biblical patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Scholars have placed this period in the early 2nd millennium BCE.[23] According to the Torah, the Land of Israel was promised to the Jews, by God, as their homeland,[24][25] and the sites holiest to Judaism are located there. According to the traditional view, around the 11th century BCE, the first of a series of Israelite kingdoms and states established rule over the region; these Israelite kingdoms and states ruled intermittently for the following one thousand years.[26]
Between the time of the Jewish kingdoms and the 7th-century Muslim conquests, the Land of Israel fell under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Sassanian, and Byzantine rule.[27] Jewish presence in the region dwindled after the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE and the resultant large-scale expulsion of Jews. In 628/9, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius
conducted a massacre and expulsion of the Jews, at which point the
Jewish population probably reached its lowest point. Nevertheless, a
continuous Jewish presence in Palestine remained. Although the main Jewish population shifted from the Judea region to the Galilee,[28] the Mishnah and part of the Talmud, among Judaism's most important religious texts, were composed in Israel during this period.
Classical
from 
