Israel

Israel A country of south-west Asia at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bounded on the north by Lebanon, on the east by Syria and Jordan, and on the south by Egypt.

Physical

The coastal plain is very warm in summer and suited particularly to the growth of citrus fruits. The north includes the Sea of Galilee and part of the River Jordan, while the east extends to the Dead Sea with its deposits of potash and reserves of natural gas. Southward is a hot and arid rift valley (part of the Great Rift Valley system) running down the eastern side of the rocky Negev Desert. Massive irrigation programmes have brought large areas of former desert under cultivation.

Economy

The Israeli economy has a well-developed manufacturing base, the main products being chemicals and small metal manufactures. However, high military expenditure and reliance on imported fuels and minerals have resulted in a high rate of inflation and dependence on foreign, mostly US, aid. Agriculture, largely carried out by communes (kibbutzim) and cooperatives (moshavim), has been successfully developed by irrigation, and Israel is self-sufficient in food. Exports include diamonds, chemicals, small metal manufactures, and fruit.

History

The modern state of Israel has developed from the Zionist campaign for a Jewish state in PALESTINE and the BALFOUR Declaration (1917) in which the Jewish demand for a national home was supported by Britain. Under the British mandate (from 1922) in Palestine the Jewish community increased from about 10% of the population in 1918 to about 30% in 1936. In 1937 the Peel Commission recommended the partition of Palestine and the formation of Jewish and Arab states. Subsequently Britain abandoned the partition solution, but, after its referral of the Palestine problem to the United Nations in 1947, a United Nations Special Commission recommended partition and a resolution to that effect passed the General Assembly. The British mandate ended on 14 May 1948 and the independent Jewish state of Israel in Palestine was established. The creation of the state was opposed by the Palestinian Arabs supported by Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, but after a violent conflict Israel survived and considerably enlarged its territory at the expense of the proposed Arab state. A substantial Palestinian refugee problem was created as many Arabs fled from Israel-controlled territory. Further Israeli-Arab wars took place in 1956 (SUEZ WAR), 1967 (SIX-DAY WAR), 1973 (YOM KIPPUR WAR), and 1982 (Lebanon War). As a result of these wars Israel extended its occupation to include all the territory of the former British mandate. After 1948 immigration into Israel took place from over 100 different nations, especially Jews from former communist and Arab countries, as well as from Europe, raising the population from about 700,000 in 1948 to 5.3 million by 1994. Despite a high inflation rate, the development of the economy has made Israel the most industrialized country in the region, greatly aided by funding from the USA and European powers. The right-wing leader of the Likud Party, Yitzhak SHAMIR, led a government (1986–92) firmly opposed to any concessions over the Palestine problem. Under his successor as Prime Minister, the Labour leader Yitzhak RABIN, progress towards an eventual settlement began. Intense diplomatic efforts, led by the USA, during 1991–92 resulted in several sessions of Middle East peace talks. Israel also indicated the possibility of a future peace agreement with Syria by making territorial concessions in the Golan Heights. Arab—Israeli peace talks were disrupted in late 1992 by violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in the occupied territories and by the deportation of over 400 Palestinians, causing the PLO to halt negotiations. Despite the escalating violence in the occupied territories in 1993, Middle East peace talks resumed but remained deadlocked. An unexpected breakthrough in negotiations between Israel and the PLO, led by Yasser ARAFAT, resulted in a declaration of principles on Palestinian self-rule in the occupied territories. The declaration was welcomed internationally as a significant step forward in the peace process, while there was widespread opposition from right-wing Israeli political groups. Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994 and had withdrawn its forces from all Jordanian territories by early 1995. The issue of Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, a long-standing source of dispute, sparked a crisis in the peace process in 1995; the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in November by a Jewish extremist cast doubt over the future and once again threw the Middle East peace process into confusion. Shimon Peres succeeded Rabin and in 1996 HAMAS launched a number of suicide bomb attacks on Israeli cities. In the elections of 1996 (May) Peres, a supporter of the peace process, lost to the hawkish Binyamin NETANYAHU and the peace process stalled. However, a further agreement was reached in 1998 and in 1999 elections were won by the Labour Party under Ehud BARAK.

Capital:	Jerusalem
Area:	20,700 sq km (7992 sq miles)
Population:	5,740,000 (1998 est)
Currency:	1 New (Israeli) sheqel = 100 agorot
Religions:	Jewish 82.0%; Muslim (mostly Sunni) 13.9%; Christian 2.3%; Druze and other 1.8%
Ethnic Groups:	Jewish 83.0%; Arab 16.8%
Languages:	Hebrew, Arabic (both official); Yiddish; Russian; Romanian; English
International Organizations:	UN