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	{{short description\|Country in Western Asia}}
	{{Other uses}}
	{{pp-move-indef}}
	{{POV\|date=January 2023}}
	{{pp-dispute\|small=yes\|expiry=07:12, 30 March 2023}}
	{{Use British English\|date=October 2020}}
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=October 2020}}
	{{Coord\|31\|N\|35\|E\|region:IL_type:country\|display=title}}
	{{Infobox country
	\| conventional_long_name = State of Israel
	\| native_name = {{nobold\|{{Script/Hebrew\|מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל}} (])<br />{{Script/Arabic\|دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل}} (])}}
	\| common_name = Israel
	\| image_flag = Flag of Israel.svg
	\| alt_flag = Star of David centred between two horizontal stripes of a Jewish prayer shawl
	\| image_coat = Emblem of Israel.svg
	\| alt_coat = Menorah surrounded by an olive branch on either side
	\| symbol_type = Emblem
	\| national_anthem = {{lang\|he\|{{Script/Hebrew\|הַתִּקְוָה}}}} ('']''; "The Hope"){{parabr}}{{center\|]}}
	\| image_map = {{Switcher\|]\|Show globe\|]\|Map of Israel (])}}
	\| alt_map = Israel proper shown in dark green; Israeli-occupied territories shown in light green
	\| map_caption = Israel within internationally recognized borders shown in dark green; ] shown in light green
	\| capital = ]<br />(])<!-- DO NOT put this into a note, "(limited recognition)" is the parenthetical comment used per last RfC (see RfC link in the talk page's FAQ) -->{{refn\|group=fn\|Recognition by other UN member states: Russia (]),<ref>{{cite web \|title=Foreign Ministry statement regarding Palestinian-Israeli settlement \|url=http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/2717182 \|website=www.mid.ru \|date=6 April 2017}}</ref> the ] (]),<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Czech-Republic-announces-it-recognizes-West-Jerusalem-as-Israels-capital-517241\|title=Czech Republic announces it recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel's capital\|work=The Jerusalem Post\|date=6 December 2017\|access-date=6 December 2017\|quote="The Czech Republic currently, before the peace between Israel and Palestine is signed, recognizes Jerusalem to be in fact the capital of Israel in the borders of the demarcation line from 1967." The Ministry also said that it would only consider relocating its embassy based on "results of negotiations."}}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite news \|title=Honduras recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital \|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/honduras-recognizes-jerusalem-as-israels-capital/ \|work=The Times of Israel \|date=29 August 2019}}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.infobae.com/america/mundo/2017/12/24/guatemala-se-suma-a-eeuu-y-tambien-trasladara-su-embajada-en-israel-a-jerusalen/\|title=Guatemala se suma a EEUU y también trasladará su embajada en Israel a Jerusalén\|trans-title=Guatemala joins US, will also move embassy to Jerusalem\|website=Infobae\|date=24 December 2017\|language=es}} Guatemala's embassy was located in Jerusalem until the 1980s, when it was moved to Tel Aviv.</ref> ],<ref>{{cite news \|title=Nauru recognizes J'lem as capital of Israel \|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/268084 \|work=Israel National News \|date=29 August 2019 \|language=en}}</ref> and the United States.<ref>{{cite news\|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/world/middleeast/trump-jerusalem-israel-capital.html\|title=Trump Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's Capital and Orders U.S. Embassy to Move\|work=]\|date=6 December 2017\|access-date=6 December 2017}}</ref>}}{{refn\|group=fn\|Jerusalem is Israel's largest city if including ], which is widely recognized as occupied territory.<ref>{{citation\|title=The Legal Status of East Jerusalem\|publisher=]\|date=December 2013\|url=https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/the-legal-status-of-east-jerusalem.pdf\|pages=8, 29}}</ref>}}
	\| coordinates = {{coord\|31\|47\|N\|35\|13\|E\|region:IL-JM_type:city(880000)}}
	\| largest_city = capital
	\| official_languages = ]
	\| languages_type = Recognized languages
	\| languages = ]{{refn\|group=fn\|Arabic had previously been an official language of the State of Israel.<ref name=lang1>{{cite web \|title=Arabic in Israel: an official language and a cultural bridge \|url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/Culture/Pages/Arabic-in-Israel--an-official-language-and-a-cultural-bridge-18-December-2016.aspx \|website=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|date=18 December 2016\|access-date=8 August 2018}}</ref>{{bsn\|date=February 2023}} In 2018 ] was changed to a 'special status in the state' with its use by state institutions to be set in law.<ref name=lang2>{{cite news \|title=Israel Passes 'National Home' Law, Drawing Ire of Arabs \|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/world/middleeast/israel-passes-national-home-law.html \|work=The New York Times \|date=19 July 2018 \|language=en}}</ref><ref name=lang3>{{cite news \|last1=Lubell \|first1=Maayan \|title=Israel adopts divisive Jewish nation-state law \|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-politics-law/israel-adopts-divisive-jewish-nation-state-law-idUSKBN1K901V \|work=Reuters \|date=19 July 2018}}</ref>}}
	\| ethnic_groups = {{unbulleted list\|73.6% ]\|21.1% ]\|5.3% ]}}
	\| ethnic_groups_year = 2022
	\| ethnic_groups_ref = <ref name="population_stat2022"/>
	\| religion = {{unbulleted list\|73.6% ]\|18.1% ]\|1.9% ]\|1.6% ]\|4.8% ]}}
	\| religion_year = 2022
	\| religion_ref = <ref name="population_stat2022"/>
	\| demonym = ]
	\| government_type = ]
	\| leader_title1 = ]
	\| leader_name1 = ]
	\| leader_title2 = ]
	\| leader_name2 = ]
	\| leader_title3 = ]
	\| leader_name3 = ]
	\| leader_title4 = ]
	\| leader_name4 = ]
	\| legislature = ]
	\| sovereignty_type = Independence {{nobold\|out of ]}}
	\| established_event1 = ]
	\| established_date1 = 14 May 1948
	\| established_event2 = ]
	\| established_date2 = 11 May 1949
	\| established_event3 = ]
	\| established_date3 = 1958–2018
	\| area_km2 = 20,770–22,072
	\| area_sq_mi = 8,019–8,522
	\| area_rank = 149th
	\| area_footnote = {{ref label\|area\|a}}
	\| percent_water = 2.71 (as of 2015)<ref>{{cite web\|title=Surface water and surface water change\|access-date=11 October 2020\|publisher=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) \|url=https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=SURFACE_WATER#}}</ref>
	\| population_estimate = {{data Israel\|poptoday\|formatnum}}<ref name="cbs_main">{{cite web \|url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/en/mediarelease/Pages/2022/Population-of-Israel-on-the-Eve-of-2023.aspx \|title=Home page \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=29 December 2022}}</ref><ref name=oecd group=fn/>
	\| population_estimate_year = {{CURRENTYEAR}}
	\| population_estimate_rank = 91st
	\| population_census = 7,412,200<ref>{{cite report \|date=2008 \|title=Population Census 2008 \|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/www/mifkad/mifkad_2008/profiles/rep_e_000000.pdf \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=27 December 2016}}</ref><ref name=oecd group=fn/>
	\| population_census_year = 2008
	\| population_density_km2 = {{pop density\|{{data Israel\|poptoday}}\|22072\|km2\|prec=0\|disp=num}}
	\| population_density_rank = 29th
	\| GDP_PPP = {{increase}} $496.84 billion<ref name="IMFWEOIL">{{cite web \|url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2022/October/weo-report?c=436,&s=NGDP_RPCH,NGDPD,PPPGDP,NGDPDPC,PPPPC,&sy=2020&ey=2027&ssm=0&scsm=1&scc=0&ssd=1&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1 \|title=World Economic Outlook: October 2022 \|website=] \|access-date=16 October 2022}}</ref>
	\| GDP_PPP_per_capita = {{increase}} $52,173<ref name="IMFWEOIL"/>
	\| GDP_PPP_rank = 49th
	\| GDP_PPP_year = 2022
	\| GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 29th
	\| GDP_nominal = {{increase}} $527.18 billion<ref name="IMFWEOIL"/>
	\| GDP_nominal_rank = 28th
	\| GDP_nominal_year = 2022
	\| GDP_nominal_per_capita = {{increase}} $55,359<ref name="IMFWEOIL"/>
	\| GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 14th
	\| Gini = 34.8
	\| Gini_ref = <ref name=oecd group=fn/><ref>{{cite web \|url=https://data.oecd.org/chart/60V4 \|title=Income inequality \|website=data.oecd.org \|publisher=OECD\|access-date=29 June 2020}}</ref>
	\| Gini_year = 2018
	\| HDI_year = 2021<!-- Please use the year to which the data refers, not the publication year-->
	\| HDI = 0.919
	\| HDI_change = increase<!--increase/decrease/steady-->
	\| HDI_rank = 22nd
	\| HDI_ref = <ref name="UNHDR">{{cite web\|url=https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf\|title=Human Development Report 2021/2022\|language=en\|publisher=]\|date=September 8, 2022\|access-date=September 8, 2022}}</ref>
	\| currency = ] ({{lang\|he\|₪}})
	\| currency_code = ILS
	\| time_zone = ]
	\| utc_offset = +2:00
	\| time_zone_DST = ]
	\| utc_offset_DST = +3:00
	\| date_format = {{unbulleted list\|{{lang\|he\|יי-חח-שששש}} (])\|dd-mm-yyyy (])}}
	\| drives_on = right
	\| cctld = ]
	\| iso3166code = IL
	\| calling_code = +972
	\| footnote_a = {{note\|area}} 20,770 km<sup>2</sup> is Israel within the ]. 22,072 km<sup>2</sup> includes the ] (c. {{convert\|1,200\|km2\|abbr=on}}) and ] (c. {{convert\|64\|km2\|abbr=on}}), which Israel effectively annexed but are widely recognized as occupied territory.
	}}

	'''Israel''' ({{IPAc-en\|ˈ\|ɪ\|z\|r\|i\|.\|ə\|l\|,_\|-\|r\|eɪ\|-}}; {{lang-he\|יִשְׂרָאֵל}} {{Transliteration\|he\|Yīsrāʾēl}} {{IPA-he\|jisʁaˈʔel\|}}; {{lang-ar\|إِسْرَائِيل}} {{Transliteration\|ar\|ʾIsrāʾīl}}), officially the '''State of Israel''' ({{lang\|he\|מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל}} {{transliteration\|he\|Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl}} {{IPA-he\|mediˈnat jisʁaˈʔel\|}}; {{Lang\|ar\|دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل}} {{transliteration\|ar\|Dawlat Isrāʾīl}}), is a country in ]. Situated in the ], it is ] by ] to the north, by ] to the northeast, by ] to the east, by the ] to the south, by ] to the southwest, by the ] to the west, and by the ] — the ] along the east and the ] along the southwest. ] is the ] and ] of the country, while its seat of government is in its proclaimed capital of ], although Israeli sovereignty over ] is ].<ref>Akram, Susan M., Michael Dumper, Michael Lynk, and Iain Scobbie, eds. 2010. ''International Law and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Rights-Based Approach to Middle East Peace''. Routledge. p. 119: "UN General Assembly Resolution 181 recommended the creation of an international zone, or corpus separatum, in Jerusalem to be administered by the UN for a 10-year period, after which there would be a referendum to determine its future. This approach applies equally to West and East Jerusalem and is not affected by the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. To a large extent it is this approach that still guides the diplomatic behaviour of states and thus has greater force in international law."</ref>{{refn\|group=fn\|The ] states that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel" and the city serves as the seat of the government, home to the President's residence, government offices, supreme court, and ]. ] (20 August 1980; 14–0, U.S. abstaining) declared the Jerusalem Law "null and void" and called on member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from Jerusalem (see {{Harvard citation no brackets\|Kellerman\|1993\|p=140}}). See ] for more information.}}

	Israel and the ] are located in the ], a region of great significance to the ]. In ], it was where ]ite and ] civilizations developed, while in the early first millennium BCE the kingdoms of ] emerged, before falling to the ] and ]s, respectively.<ref name="Broshi 2001 174" /><ref>{{Cite book \|last=Faust \|first=Avraham \|title=Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period \|date=2012-08-29 \|publisher=Society of Biblical Literature \|isbn=978-1-58983-641-9 \|pages=1\|doi=10.2307/j.ctt5vjz28 }}</ref> During the ], the region was ruled by the ], ], ] and ] empires. In the 2nd century BCE, an independent ] kingdom emerged, before ] conquered the area a century later. In the 7th century, the ] established ]. The ] of the 11th century brought the founding of ], the last ending in the 13th century at the hands of the ], who ] to the ] at the onset of the 16th century. In late 19th century, Jews ] to the area as part of the ] movement. After ], the ] the ] to Britain, which during the war made a ] for the establishment of ]. Following ] and ], the newly formed ] adopted the ], recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states, and ].

	After a ] between Palestinian Arab forces and the ], Israel ] on 14 May 1948 at the termination of the ]. A day later, the surrounding Arab countries intervened, leading to the ], which concluded with the ] that saw Israel in control of most of the former mandate territory, while the ] and ] were held by Jordan and Egypt respectively. Over 700,000 ] ] the territory Israel would come to control, with fewer than 150,000 Palestinian Arabs remaining within Israel. During and immediately after the war, around ] from the ] to Israel.{{sfn\|Fischbach\|2008\|p=26–27}}{{refn\|group=fn\|Tens of thousands of Jews in Arab countries left their homes because of the 1948 war as well, pushed by a combination of anti-Semitic feeling and legislation, religious feeling, Zionist activity, economic factors, the end of colonial rule, and other reasons.The decision to leave varied by circumstance, as well as by country and social class. Approximately 260,000 Jews from the Arab world moved to Israel during and immediately after the war.{{sfn\|Fischbach\|2008\|p=26–27}}}} Israel has since fought ],<ref name="RoutledgeAtlas">{{Harvnb\|Gilbert\|2005\|p=1}}</ref> and since the 1967 ] has occupied the Syrian ] and the Palestinian territories of the ], and the Gaza Strip—the longest military occupation in modern history—though whether Gaza remains occupied following the ] is disputed. Israel has effectively ] and ], and established ] within the occupied territories, though these actions have been rejected as illegal by the international community. While Israel has signed peace treaties with ] and ], and has ] with a number of other Arab countries, it remains formally at war with ] and ], and ] to resolve the ] have thus far stalled.

	The country has a ], ], and ]. The ] serves as head of ], and is elected by the ], Israel's ].<ref name="cnn" /> Israel is a ] and an ] member,<ref name="OECD">{{cite web \|url=http://www.oecd.org/israel/israelsaccessiontotheoecd.htm \|title=Israel's accession to the OECD \|publisher=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development \|access-date=12 August 2012}}</ref> with a ] {{As of\|2021\|lc=y}}.<ref>{{cite web\|author=T. O. I. staff\|title=Israel's population rises to over 9.3 million on Rosh Hashanah eve\|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-population-stands-at-over-9-3-million-on-rosh-hashanah-eve/\|access-date=2021-10-14\|website=Times of Israel\|language=en-US}}</ref> It has the world's ],<ref name="IMFWEOIL"/> and ranks twenty-second in the ].<ref name="IMFWEOIL" /><ref name="HDI">{{cite web \| work=United Nations \| title=Human Development Reports: Israel \| date=2022-09-08 \| url=https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data#/countries/ISR \| access-date=2023-03-17}}</ref>

	=={{anchor\|Etymology}} Etymology==
	{{Further information\|\|Names of Israel#Israel and Judea\|l2 = Names of Israel}}
	<!-- This Anchor tag serves to provide a permanent target for incoming section links. Please do not move it out of the section heading, even though it disrupts edit summary generation (you can manually fix the edit summary before saving your changes). Please do not modify it, even if you modify the section title. See ] for details. (This text: ]) -->
	] (13th century BCE). The majority of ] translate a set of hieroglyphs as "Israel", the first instance of the name in the record.]]

	Under the ] (1920–1948), the whole region was known as 'Palestine' ({{Lang-he\|פלשתינה \|lit=Palestine }}).<ref>{{cite magazine\|url=http://time.com/3445003/mandatory-palestine/\|title=Mandatory Palestine: What It Was and Why It Matters\|author=Noah Rayman\|magazine=]\|date=29 September 2014\|access-date=5 December 2015}}</ref> Upon ] in 1948, the country formally adopted the name 'State of Israel' ({{lang-he\|מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל}}, {{Audio\|He-Medinat Israel2.ogg\|{{transliteration\|he\|''Medīnat Yisrā'el''}}\|help=no}} {{IPA-he\|mediˈnat jisʁaˈʔel\|}}; {{lang-ar\|دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل}}, {{transliteration\|ar\|ALA-LC\|''Dawlat Isrāʼīl''}}, {{IPA-ar\|dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl\|}}) after other ] including ']' (''Eretz Israel''), Ever (from ancestor ]), ], and ], were considered but rejected,<ref>{{cite news \|work=The Palestine Post \|location=Jerusalem \|date=7 December 1947 \|page=1 \|title=Popular Opinion \|url=http://www.jpress.org.il/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToSaveGifMSIE_TAUEN&Type=text/html&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=PLS/1947/12/07&ChunkNum=-1&ID=Ar00105&PageLabel=1 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815030044/http://www.jpress.org.il/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib%3ALowLevelEntityToSaveGifMSIE_TAUEN&Type=text%2Fhtml&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=PLS%2F1947%2F12%2F07&ChunkNum=-1&ID=Ar00105&PageLabel=1 \|archive-date=15 August 2012 }}</ref> while the name 'Israel' was suggested by ] and passed by a vote of 6–3.<ref> {{webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112220409/http://info.jpost.com/1998/Supplements/Jubilee/2.html \|date=12 January 2012 }} ''The Jerusalem Post'', 30 April 1998, by Elli Wohlgelernter</ref> In the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term "]" to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by ] ].<ref>{{cite magazine\|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798687-2,00.html \|magazine=Time \|location=New York \|date=31 May 1948 \|title=On the Move \|access-date=6 August 2007 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016074447/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C798687-2%2C00.html \|archive-date=16 October 2007 }}</ref>

	The names ] and ] have historically been used to refer to the biblical ] and the ] respectively.<ref name=levine>{{cite news \| last = Levine \|first = Robert A. \|title = See Israel as a Jewish Nation-State, More or Less Democratic \|work=The New York Times \|date = 7 November 2000 \|access-date =19 January 2011 \|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/07/opinion/07iht-edlevine.t.html}}</ref> The ] (Hebrew: ''Yisraʾel'', ''Isrāʾīl''; ] {{lang-el\|Ἰσραήλ}}, ''Israēl'', 'El (God) persists/rules', though after {{Bibleverse\|Hosea\|12:4}} often interpreted as 'struggle with God')<ref>William G. Dever, , Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005 p. 186.</ref><ref>Geoffrey W. Bromiley, in ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E–J,''Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995 p. 907.</ref><ref>R.L. Ottley, Cambridge University Press, 2013 pp. 31–32 note 5.</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Longman pronunciation dictionary \|first=John C. \|last=Wells \|publisher=Longman \|location=Harlow, England \|year=1990 \|isbn=978-0-582-05383-0 \|page=381}} entry "Jacob".</ref> in these phrases refers to the patriarch ] who, according to the ], was given the name after he successfully wrestled with the angel of the Lord.<ref>"And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." (], 32:28, 35:10). See also .</ref> Jacob's twelve sons became the ancestors of the ], also known as the '']'' or ''Children of Israel''. Jacob and his sons had lived in ] but were forced by famine to go into ] for four generations, lasting 430 years,<ref>{{Bibleverse\|\|Exodus\|12:40–41\|HE}}</ref> until ], a great-great-grandson of Jacob,<ref>{{Bibleverse\|\|Exodus\|6:16–20\|HE}}</ref> led the Israelites back into ] during the "]". The earliest known archaeological artefact to mention the word "Israel" as a collective is the ] of ] (dated to the late 13th century BCE).<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Barton\|Bowden\|2004\|p=126}}. "The Merneptah Stele ... is arguably the oldest evidence outside the Bible for the existence of Israel as early as the 13th century BCE."</ref>

	==History==
	{{Main\|History of Israel}}
	{{For timeline\|Timeline of Israeli history}}

	===Prehistory===
	{{Further\|Prehistory of the Levant}}
	The ] experienced human residence, agricultural communities, and civilization among the first in the globe. The oldest evidence of ] in the territory of modern Israel, dating to 1.5 ], was found in ] near the ].<ref>{{cite journal \|last=Tchernov \|first=Eitan \|author-link=Eitan Tchernov \|date=1988 \|title=The Age of 'Ubeidiya Formation (Jordan Valley, Israel) and the Earliest Hominids in the Levant \|journal=] \|volume=14 \|issue=2 \|pages=63–65 \|doi=10.3406/paleo.1988.4455 }}</ref> Other notable ] sites include the caves ], ] and ]. The oldest fossils of ]s found ] are the ], who lived in the area that is now northern Israel 120,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite news \|last=Rincon \|first=Paul \|date=14 October 2015 \|title=Fossil teeth place humans in Asia '20,000 years early' \|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34531861 \|work=BBC News \|access-date=4 January 2017}}</ref> Around the 10th millennium BCE, the ] existed in the area.<ref>{{cite journal \|last=Bar-Yosef \|first=Ofer \|author-link=Ofer Bar-Yosef \|date=7 December 1998 \|title=The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture \|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/anthropology/v1007/baryo.pdf \|journal=] \|volume=6 \|issue=5 \|pages=159–177 \|doi=10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::AID-EVAN4>3.0.CO;2-7 \|s2cid=35814375 \|access-date=4 January 2017}}</ref>

	===Antiquity===
	{{Main\|History of ancient Israel and Judah}}
	{{Further\|Canaan\|Israelites\|Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)\|Kingdom of Judah}}
	] in the ]]]
	The ]ites are archaeologically attested in the ] (2100–1550 BCE).<ref name="Golden">Jonathan M Golden, OUP, 2009 pp. 3–4.</ref> During the ] (1550–1200 BCE), large parts of Canaan formed ]s paying tribute to the ].<ref>{{Cite journal \|last1=Braunstein \|first1=Susan L. \|year=2011 \|title=The Meaning of Egyptian-Style Objects in the Late Bronze Cemeteries of Tell el-Farʿah (South) \|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research \|volume=364 \|issue=364 \|pages=1–36 \|doi=10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0001 \|jstor=10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0001 \|s2cid=164054005}}</ref> As a result of the ], Canaan fell into chaos, and Egyptian control over the region collapsed completely.<ref>Dever, William G. ''Beyond the Texts'', Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2017, pp. 89–93</ref><ref>S. Richard, "Archaeological sources for the history of Palestine: The Early Bronze Age: The rise and collapse of urbanism", ''The Biblical Archaeologist'' (1987)</ref> There is evidence that urban centers such as ], ], ], ], ] and ] were damaged or destroyed.<ref>{{Cite journal \|last1=Knapp \|first1=A. Bernard \|last2=Manning \|first2=Sturt W. \|date=2016-01-01 \|title=Crisis in Context: The End of the Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean \|journal=American Journal of Archaeology \|volume=120 \|issue=1 \|pages=130 \|doi=10.3764/aja.120.1.0099 \|s2cid=191385013 \|issn=0002-9114}}</ref>

	A people named Israel appear for the first time in the ], an ]ian inscription which dates to about 1200 BCE.<ref name="NollMerneptah">K.L. Noll, A&C Black, 2012, rev.ed. pp. 137ff.</ref><ref name="ThompsonMerneptah">], Brill, 2000 pp. 275–276: 'They are rather a very specific group among the population of Palestine which bears a name that occurs here for the first time that at a much later stage in Palestine's history bears a substantially different signification.'</ref><ref>The ] appears much earlier, in material from ]. {{Cite journal \|last=Hasel \|first=Michael G. \|date=1 January 1994 \|title=Israel in the Merneptah Stela \|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research \|volume=296 \|issue=296 \|pages=45–61 \|doi=10.2307/1357179 \|jstor=1357179 \|s2cid=164052192}}; {{Cite book \|last=Bertman \|first=Stephen \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1C4NKp4zgIQC&q=ebla%20israel%20ishmael%20abraham&pg=PA317 \|title=Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia \|date=14 July 2005 \|publisher=OUP \|isbn=978-0-19-518364-1}} and {{cite book \|author1=Meindert Dijkstra \|title=Between Evidence and Ideology Essays on the History of Ancient Israel read at the Joint Meeting of the Society for Old Testament Study and the Oud Testamentisch Werkgezelschap Lincoln, July 2009 \|date=2010 \|publisher=Brill \|isbn=978-90-04-18737-5 \|editor1-last=Becking \|editor1-first=Bob \|editor1-link=Lester L. Grabbe \|page=47 \|chapter=Origins of Israel between history and ideology \|quote=As a West Semitic personal name it existed long before it became a tribal or a geographical name. This is not without significance, though is it rarely mentioned. We learn of a maryanu named ysr"il (*Yi¡sr—a"ilu) from Ugarit living in the same period, but the name was already used a thousand years before in Ebla. The word Israel originated as a West Semitic personal name. One of the many names that developed into the name of the ancestor of a clan, of a tribe and finally of a people and a nation. \|editor2-last=Grabbe \|editor2-first=Lester}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|last1 = Lemche \|first1 = Niels Peter \|year = 1998 \|title = The Israelites in History and Tradition \|publisher = Westminster John Knox Press \|url={{Google books\|JIoY7PagAOAC\|page=PA35\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|page=35\|isbn=978-0-664-22727-2}}</ref> Ancestors of the ] are thought to have included ] native to this area.<ref name="Miller1986">{{Cite book \|last1=Miller \|first1=James Maxwell \|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofancient00mill \|title=A History of Ancient Israel and Judah \|last2=Hayes \|first2=John Haralson \|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press \|year=1986 \|isbn=978-0-664-21262-9}}</ref>{{rp\|78–79}} According to the modern archaeological account, the Israelites and their culture branched out of the Canaanite peoples and their cultures through the development of a distinct ]—and later ]—religion centered on ].<ref>Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (c. 1200–1000 BCE). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. Given the information available, one cannot maintain a radical cultural separation between Canaanites and Israelites for the Iron I period." (pp. 6–7). Smith, Mark (2002) "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" (Eerdman's)</ref><ref>Rendsberg, Gary (2008). "Israel without the Bible". In Frederick E. Greenspahn. The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship. NYU Press, pp. 3–5</ref><ref>{{cite book \|last1=Gnuse \|first1=Robert Karl \|title=No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel \|date=1997 \|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press Ltd \|isbn=1-85075-657-0 \|location=England \|pages=28, 31}}</ref> They spoke an archaic form of the ], known as ].<ref>Steiner, Richard C. (1997), "Ancient Hebrew", in Hetzron, Robert (ed.), ''The Semitic Languages'', Routledge, pp. 145–173, {{ISBN\|978-0-415-05767-7}}</ref> Around the same time, the ] settled on the southern ].{{sfn\|Killebrew\|2005\|p=230}}{{sfn\|Shahin\|2005\|p=6}}

	Modern ] has largely discarded ] of the narrative in the ] concerning the ], ], and ] described in the ], and instead views the narrative as constituting the Israelites' ].<ref>{{cite book \|last=Dever \|first=William \|title=What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It? \|year=2001 \|publisher=Eerdmans \|isbn=978-3-927120-37-2 \|url={{Google books\|6-VxwC5rQtwC\|page=\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|pages=98–99 \|quote=After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible "historical figures" archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit.}}</ref> However, some elements of these traditions do appear to have historical roots.{{sfn\|Faust\|2015\|loc=p.476: "While there is a consensus among scholars that the Exodus did not take place in the manner described in the Bible, surprisingly most scholars agree that the narrative has a historical core, and that some of the highland settlers came, one way or another, from Egypt.."}}{{sfn\|Redmount\|2001\|p=61\|ps=: "A few authorities have concluded that the core events of the Exodus saga are entirely literary fabrications. But most biblical scholars still subscribe to some variation of the Documentary Hypothesis, and support the basic historicity of the biblical narrative."}}<ref name=":03">{{cite book \|last=Dever \|first=William \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-VxwC5rQtwC \|title=What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It? \|publisher=Eerdmans \|year=2001 \|isbn=3-927120-37-5 \|pages=98–99 \|quote=After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible "historical figures" archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit.}}</ref>

	] and ] in the 9th century BCE]]
	There is debate about the earliest existence of the ] and their extent and power. While it is unclear if there was ever a ],<ref name="lipschits">{{cite book \|last1=Lipschits \|first1=Oded \|title=The Jewish Study Bible \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|year=2014 \|isbn=978-0-19-997846-5 \|editor1-last=Berlin \|editor1-first=Adele \|edition=2nd \|language=en \|chapter=The History of Israel in the Biblical Period \|editor2-last=Brettler \|editor2-first=Marc Zvi \|chapter-url={{Google books\|yErYBAAAQBAJ\|page=\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref><ref name="Kuhrtp438">{{cite book \|last=Kuhrt \|first=Amiele \|url=https://archive.org/details/ancientneareastc00akuh/page/438 \|title=The Ancient Near East \|publisher=Routledge \|year=1995 \|isbn=978-0-415-16762-8 \|page=}}</ref> historians and archaeologists agree that the northern ] existed by {{Abbr\|ca.\|circa}} 900 BCE<ref name="Finkelstein">{{cite book \|last1=Finkelstein \|first1=Israel \|title=The Bible unearthed : archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its stories \|last2=Silberman \|first2=Neil Asher \|date=2001 \|publisher=Simon & Schuster \|isbn=978-0-684-86912-4 \|edition=1st Touchstone \|location=New York}}</ref>{{rp\|169–195}}<ref name="Wright">{{cite web\|last1=Wright\|first1=Jacob L.\|date=July 2014\|title=David, King of Judah (Not Israel)\|url=http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/07/wri388001.shtml\|url-status=dead\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301164250/http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/07/wri388001.shtml\|archive-date=1 March 2021\|access-date=15 May 2021\|website=The Bible and Interpretation}}</ref> and that the ] existed by {{Abbr\|ca.\|circa}} 850 BCE.<ref name="Finkelstein, Israel, (2020)">Finkelstein, Israel, (2020). , in Joachim J. Krause, Omer Sergi, and Kristin Weingart (eds.), ''Saul, Benjamin, and the Emergence of Monarchy in Israel: Biblical and Archaeological Perspectives'', SBL Press, Atlanta, GA, p. 48, footnote 57: "...They became territorial kingdoms later, Israel in the first half of the ninth century BCE and Judah in its second half..."</ref><ref name="Pitcher"> Quote: "For Israel, the description of the battle of Qarqar in the Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III (mid-ninth century) and for Judah, a Tiglath-pileser III text mentioning (Jeho-) Ahaz of Judah (IIR67 = K. 3751), dated 734–733, are the earliest published to date."</ref> The Kingdom of Israel was the more prosperous of the two kingdoms and soon developed into a regional power;{{sfn\|Finkelstein\|Silberman\|2002\|pp=146–7\|ps=:Put simply, while Judah was still economically marginal and backward, Israel was booming. ... In the next chapter we will see how the northern kingdom suddenly appeared on the ancient Near Eastern stage as a major regional power}} during the days of the ], it controlled ], ], the upper ], the ] and large parts of the ].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book\|last=Israel.\|first=Finkelstein\|title=The forgotten kingdom : the archaeology and history of Northern Israel\|isbn=978-1-58983-910-6\|pages=74\|oclc=949151323}}</ref> ], the capital, was home to one of the largest Iron Age structures in the Levant.<ref name=":04">{{Cite book \|last=Finkelstein \|first=Israel \|title=The Forgotten Kingdom: the archaeology and history of Northern Israel \|year=2013 \|isbn=978-1-58983-911-3 \|pages=65–66; 73; 78; 87–94 \|oclc=880456140}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal \|last=Finkelstein \|first=Israel \|date=2011-11-01 \|title=Observations on the Layout of Iron Age Samaria \|journal=Tel Aviv \|volume=38 \|issue=2 \|pages=194–207 \|doi=10.1179/033443511x13099584885303 \|issn=0334-4355 \|s2cid=128814117}}</ref>

	The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the ].<ref name="Broshi 2001 174">{{cite book \|last=Broshi \|first=Maguen \|title=Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls \|url={{Google books\|etTUEorS1zMC\|page=PA174\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing \|year=2001 \|page=174 \|isbn=978-1-84127-201-6}}</ref> The Kingdom of Judah, with its capital in ], later became a ] of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the ]. It is estimated that ] was around 400,000 in the ].<ref name=":42">Broshi, M., & Finkelstein, I. (1992). . ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'', ''287''(1), 47–60.</ref> In 587/6 BCE, the ] ]. King ] ] and Solomon's Temple,{{sfn\|Finkelstein\|Silberman\|2002\|p=307\|ps=: "Intensive excavations throughout Jerusalem have shown that the city was indeed systematically destroyed by the Babylonians. The conflagration seems to have been general. When activity on the ridge of the City of David resumed in the Persian period, the-new suburbs on the western hill that had flourished since at least the time of Hezekiah were not reoccupied."}}<ref>{{Cite journal \|last=Lipschits \|first=Oded \|date=1999 \|title=The History of the Benjamin Region under Babylonian Rule \|journal=Tel Aviv \|volume=26 \|issue=2 \|pages=155–190 \|doi=10.1179/tav.1999.1999.2.155 \|issn=0334-4355}}</ref> and exiled much of the Judean elite to ].<ref>{{cite journal \|last=Wheeler \|first=P. \|date=2017 \|title=Review of the book Song of Exile: The Enduring Mystery of Psalm 137, by David W. Stowe \|journal=The Catholic Biblical Quarterly \|volume=79 \|issue=4 \|pages=696–697 \|doi=10.1353/cbq.2017.0092\|s2cid=171830838 }}</ref> The defeat was also recorded in the ].<ref name=BabylonianChronicles>{{cite web\|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_nebuchadnezzar_ii.aspx \|title=British Museum – Cuneiform tablet with part of the Babylonian Chronicle (605–594 BCE) \|access-date=30 October 2014 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030154541/https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_nebuchadnezzar_ii.aspx \|archive-date=30 October 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/abc5/jerusalem.html\|title=ABC 5 (Jerusalem Chronicle) – Livius\|website=www.livius.org\|access-date=26 March 2020\|archive-date=5 May 2019\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505195611/https://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/abc5/jerusalem.html\|url-status=dead}}</ref> The ] ended around 538 BCE under the rule of the Medo-Persian ] after he captured Babylon.<ref name="rennert">{{cite web\|url=http://www.biu.ac.il/js/rennert/history_4.html \|title=Second Temple Period (538 BCE to 70 CE) Persian Rule \|publisher=Biu.ac.il \|access-date=15 March 2014}}</ref><ref>''Harper's Bible Dictionary'', ed. by Achtemeier, etc., Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1985, p. 103</ref>

	=== Second Temple period ===
	{{Main\|Second Temple period}}
	{{Further\|Coele-Syria\|Hasmonean dynasty\|Herodian dynasty\|Judaea (Roman province)}}
	], one of the ], written during the ]]]
	The ] was constructed around 520 BCE.<ref name="rennert"/> The ] ruled the region as the province of ],<ref name="Grabbe355">{{cite book \|last=Grabbe \|first=Lester L. \|title=A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud – A History of the Persian Province of Judah v. 1 \|year=2004 \|publisher=T & T Clark \|isbn=978-0-567-08998-4 \|url={{Google books\|-MnE5T_0RbMC\|page=PA355\|keywords=\|text=gave+the+Jews+permission+to+return+to+Yehud+province+and+to+rebuild+the\|plainurl=yes}} \|page=355}}</ref> which had a population of around 30,000 people in the 5th to 4th centuries BCE.<ref name=Finkelstein/>{{rp\|308}}

	In 332 BCE, ] of ] conquered the region as part of his ]. After his death, the area was controlled by the ] and ] empires as a part of ]. During that period, the region underwent a process of ], which heightened tensions between Greeks, Hellenized Jews, and observant Jews. Several centuries of religious tolerance under Hellenistic rule came to an end when ] consecrated the temple, outlawed Jewish customs, and forcibly imposed Hellenistic standards on the Jews. As a result, the ] erupted in 167 BCE, and eventually led to the establishment of the independent ], which exploited the Seleucid Empire's weakening to expand over much of modern Israel and portions of Lebanon and ].<ref>{{Cite book \|last1=Helyer \|first1=Larry R. \|title=The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts \|last2=McDonald \|first2=Lee Martin \|publisher=Baker Academic \|year=2013 \|isbn=978-0-8010-9861-1 \|editor-last=Green \|editor-first=Joel B. \|pages=45–47 \|chapter=The Hasmoneans and the Hasmonean Era \|oclc=961153992 \|quote=The ensuing power struggle left Hyrcanus with a free hand in Judea, and he quickly reasserted Jewish sovereignty... Hyrcanus then engaged in a series of military campaigns aimed at territorial expansion. He first conquered areas in the Transjordan. He then turned his attention to Samaria, which had long separated Judea from the northern Jewish settlements in Lower Galilee. In the south, Adora and Marisa were conquered; (Aristobulus') primary accomplishment was annexing and Judaizing the region of Iturea, located between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains \|editor-last2=McDonald \|editor-first2=Lee Martin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book \|last=Ben-Sasson \|first=H.H. \|title=A History of the Jewish People \|publisher=Harvard University Press \|year=1976 \|isbn=0-674-39731-2 \|pages=226 \|quote=The expansion of Hasmonean Judea took place gradually. Under Jonathan, Judea annexed southern Samaria and began to expand in the direction of the coast plain... The main ethnic changes were the work of John Hyrcanus... it was in his days and those of his son Aristobulus that the annexation of Idumea, Samaria and Galilee and the consolidation of Jewish settlement in Trans-Jordan was completed. Alexander Jannai, continuing the work of his predecessors, expanded Judean rule to the entire coastal plain, from the Carmel to the Egyptian border... and to additional areas in Trans-Jordan, including some of the Greek cities there.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book \|last=Ben-Eliyahu \|first=Eyal \|title=Identity and Territory: Jewish Perceptions of Space in Antiquity \|date=30 April 2019 \|isbn=978-0-520-29360-1 \|pages=13 \|oclc=1103519319 \|quote=From the beginning of the Second Temple period until the Muslim conquest—the land was part of imperial space. This was true from the early Persian period, as well as the time of Ptolemy and the Seleucids. The only exception was the Hasmonean Kingdom, with its sovereign Jewish rule—first over Judah and later, in Alexander Jannaeus's prime, extending to the coast, the north, and the eastern banks of the Jordan.}}</ref>

	The ] invaded the region in 63 BCE, first ], and then intervening in the ]. The ] between pro-Roman and pro-] factions in Judea led to the installation of ] as a ] ] of ]. In 6 CE, the area was fully annexed as the ], a period that heralded tensions with Roman rule, and led to a series of ], resulting in widespread destruction. The ] (66–73 CE) resulted in the ] and a sizable portion of the population being killed or displaced.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book \|last=Schwartz \|first=Seth \|title=The ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad \|date=2014 \|isbn=978-1-107-04127-1 \|location=Cambridge \|pages=85–86 \|oclc=863044259 \|quote=The year 70 ce marked transformations in demography, politics, Jewish civic status, Palestinian and more general Jewish economic and social structures, Jewish religious life beyond the sacrificial cult, and even Roman politics and the topography of the city of Rome itself. The Revolt’s failure had, to begin with, a demographic impact on the Jews of Palestine; many died in battle and as a result of siege conditions, not only in Jerusalem. As indicated above, the figures for captives are conceivably more reliable. If 97,000 is roughly correct as a total for the war, it would mean that a huge percentage of the population was removed from the country, or at the very least displaced from their homes. Nevertheless, only sixty years later, there was a large enough population in the Judaean countryside to stage a massively disruptive second rebellion; this one appears to have ended, in 135, with devastation and depopulation of the district.}}</ref>

	=== Late antiquity and the medieval period ===
	{{Further\|Jewish–Roman wars\|Syria Palestina\|History of Jerusalem during the Middle Ages\|Muslim conquest of the Levant\|Crusades}}
	]<ref>Judaism in late antiquity, Jacob Neusner, Bertold Spuler, Hady R Idris, Brill, 2001, p. 155</ref>]]
	As a result of the ] in 132–136 CE, Judea's countryside was devastated and depopulated.<ref name=":8" /><ref>Werner Eck, "Sklaven und Freigelassene von Römern in Iudaea und den angrenzenden Provinzen," Novum Testamentum 55 (2013): 1–21</ref><ref>{{Cite journal \|last1=Raviv \|first1=Dvir \|last2=Ben David \|first2=Chaim \|date=2021 \|title=Cassius Dio's figures for the demographic consequences of the Bar Kokhba War: Exaggeration or reliable account? \|journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology \|language=en \|volume=34 \|issue=2 \|pages=585–607 \|doi=10.1017/S1047759421000271 \|s2cid=245512193 \|issn=1047-7594 \|quote=Scholars have long doubted the historical accuracy of Cassius Dio's account of the consequences of the Bar Kokhba War (Roman History 69.14). According to this text, considered the most reliable literary source for the Second Jewish Revolt, the war encompassed all of Judea: the Romans destroyed 985 villages and 50 fortresses, and killed 580,000 rebels. This article reassesses Cassius Dio's figures by drawing on new evidence from excavations and surveys in Judea, Transjordan, and the Galilee. Three research methods are combined: an ethno-archaeological comparison with the settlement picture in the Ottoman Period, comparison with similar settlement studies in the Galilee, and an evaluation of settled sites from the Middle Roman Period (70–136CE). The study demonstrates the potential contribution of the archaeological record to this issue and supports the view of Cassius Dio's demographic data as a reliable account, which he based on contemporaneous documentation.}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book \|last=Mor \|first=Menahem \|title=The Second Jewish Revolt \|date=2016-04-18 \|publisher=BRILL \|isbn=978-90-04-31463-4 \|pages=483–484 \|doi=10.1163/9789004314634 \|quote=Land confiscation in Judaea was part of the suppression of the revolt policy of the Romans and punishment for the rebels. But the very claim that the sikarikon laws were annulled for settlement purposes seems to indicate that Jews continued to reside in Judaea even after the Second Revolt. There is no doubt that this area suffered the severest damage from the suppression of the revolt. Settlements in Judaea, such as Herodion and Bethar, had already been destroyed during the course of the revolt, and Jews were expelled from the districts of Gophna, Herodion, and Aqraba. However, it should not be claimed that the region of Judaea was completely destroyed. Jews continued to live in areas such as Lod (Lydda), south of the Hebron Mountain, and the coastal regions. In other areas of the Land of Israel that did not have any direct connection with the Second Revolt, no settlement changes can be identified as resulting from it.}}</ref> Jerusalem was rebuilt as a ] under the name of ], and the province of Judea was renamed ].<ref name="H.H. Ben-Sasson, 1976, page 334">H.H. Ben-Sasson, ''A History of the Jewish People'', Harvard University Press, 1976, {{ISBN\|0-674-39731-2}}, page 334: "In an effort to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria-Palestina, a name that became common in non-Jewish literature."</ref><ref name="Ariel Lewin p. 33">Ariel Lewin. ''The archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine''. Getty Publications, 2005 p. 33. "It seems clear that by choosing a seemingly neutral name – one juxtaposing that of a neighboring province with the revived name of an ancient geographical entity (Palestine), already known from the writings of Herodotus – Hadrian was intending to suppress any connection between the Jewish people and that land." {{ISBN\|0-89236-800-4}}</ref> Jewish presence in the region significantly dwindled after the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt.<ref>Oppenheimer, A'haron and Oppenheimer, Nili. ''Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society''. Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 2.</ref> Jews were expelled from the districts surrounding Jerusalem,<ref>Eusebius, ''Ecclesiastical History''. 4:6.3-4</ref><ref name=":02" /> and joined communities in the diaspora.<ref name="Kessler20102">{{cite book \|author=Edward Kessler \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87Woe7kkPM4C&pg=PA72 \|title=An Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations \|publisher=Cambridge University Press \|year=2010 \|isbn=978-0-521-70562-2 \|page=72 \|quote=Jews probably remained in the majority in Palestine until some time after the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century. In Babylonia, there had been for many centuries a Jewish community which would have been further strengthened by those fleeing the aftermath of the Roman revolts.}}</ref> Nevertheless, there was a continuous small Jewish presence and ] became its religious center.<ref>{{cite book \|last=Cohn-Sherbok \|first=Dan \|title=Atlas of Jewish History \|publisher=Routledge \|year=1996 \|isbn=978-0-415-08800-8 \|page=58}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|last=Lehmann \|first=Clayton Miles \|date=18 January 2007 \|title=Palestine \|url=http://sunburst.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/palestin.htm \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130407005423/http://sunburst.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/palestin.htm \|archive-date=7 April 2013 \|access-date=9 February 2013 \|website=Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces \|publisher=University of South Dakota}}</ref> Jewish communities continued to reside in the southern ] and on the coastal plain.<ref name=":02" /> The ] and part of the ], central Jewish texts, were composed during the 2nd to 4th centuries CE.<ref>{{cite web\|title=Palestinian Talmud/Yerushalmi \|last1=Moscovitz \|first1=Leib \|work=]\|year=2017 \|url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199840731/obo-9780199840731-0151.xml \|access-date=January 11, 2023\|doi=10.1093/OBO/9780199840731-0151\|isbn=978-0-19-984073-1 }}</ref> With the transition of Roman rule into that of the ] under ], ] displaced ] as an external influence.<ref>The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey 2018</ref>

	With the ] in the 4th century, the situation for the Jewish majority in Palestine "became more difficult".<ref name="Kessler20102" /> Many Jews had emigrated to flourishing ] communities,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book \|last=Ehrlich \|first=Michael \|title=The Islamization of the Holy Land, 634–1800 \|publisher=Arc Humanities Press \|year=2022 \|isbn=978-1-64189-222-3 \|location=Leeds, UK \|pages=3–4 \|oclc=1302180905 \|quote=The Jewish community strove to recover from the catastrophic results of the Bar Kokhva revolt (132–135 CE). Although some of these attempts were relatively successful, the Jews never fully recovered. During the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, many Jews emigrated to thriving centres in the diaspora, especially Iraq, whereas some converted to Christianity and others continued to live in the Holy Land, especially in Galilee and the coastal plain. During the Byzantine period, the three provinces of Palestine included more than thirty cities, namely, settlements with a bishop see. After the Muslim conquest in the 630s, most of these cities declined and eventually disappeared. As a result, in many cases the local ecclesiastical administration weakened, while in others it simply ceased to exist. Consequently, many local Christians converted to Islam. Thus, almost twelve centuries later, when the army led by Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in the Holy Land, most of the local population was Muslim.}}</ref> while locally there was both Christian immigration and local conversion. By the middle of the 5th century, there was a Christian majority.<ref name="CHJ2">{{cite book \|author=David Goodblatt \|title=The Cambridge History of Judaism \|year=2006 \|isbn=978-0-521-77248-8 \|editor=Steven Katz \|volume=IV \|pages=404–430 \|chapter=The Political and Social History of the Jewish Community in the Land of Israel, c. 235–638 \|quote=Few would disagree that, in the century and a half before our period begins, the Jewish population of Judah () suffered a serious blow from which it never recovered. The destruction of the Jewish metropolis of Jerusalem and its environs and the eventual refounding of the city... had lasting repercussions. However, in other parts of Palestine the Jewish population remained strong What does seem clear is a different kind of change. Immigration of Christians and the conversion of pagans, Samaritans and Jews eventually produced a Christian majority}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal \|last=Bar \|first=Doron \|date=2003 \|title=The Christianisation of Rural Palestine during Late Antiquity \|journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History \|volume=54 \|issue=3 \|pages=401–421 \|doi=10.1017/s0022046903007309 \|issn=0022-0469 \|quote=The dominant view of the history of Palestine during the Byzantine period links the early phases of the consecration of the land during the fourth century and the substantial external financial investment that accompanied the building of churches on holy sites on the one hand with the Christianisation of the population on the other. Churches were erected primarily at the holy sites, 12 while at the same time Palestine's position and unique status as the Christian 'Holy Land' became more firmly rooted. All this, coupled with immigration and conversion, allegedly meant that the Christianisation of Palestine took place much more rapidly than that of other areas of the Roman empire, brought in its wake the annihilation of the pagan cults and meant that by the middle of the fifth century there was a clear Christian majority.}}</ref> Towards the end of the 5th century, ] erupted, continuing until the late 6th century and resulting in a large decrease in the Samaritan population.<ref>{{cite book \|last=Kohen \|first=Elli \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-9qJRP20MIC&pg=PA26 \|title=History of the Byzantine Jews: A Microcosmos in the Thousand Year Empire \|publisher=] \|year=2007 \|isbn=978-0-7618-3623-0 \|pages=26–31}}</ref> After the ] and the installation of a short-lived ] in 614 CE, the Byzantine Empire ] the country in 628.<ref>{{cite web \|title=Roman Palestine \|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine/Roman-Palestine \|website=www.britannica.com \|publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref>

	In 634–641 CE, the ] ].<ref name=":12">{{Cite book \|last=Ehrlich \|first=Michael \|title=The Islamization of the Holy Land, 634–1800 \|publisher=Arc Humanities Press \|year=2022 \|isbn=978-1-64189-222-3 \|location=Leeds, UK \|pages=3–4 \|oclc=1302180905 \|quote=The Jewish community strove to recover from the catastrophic results of the Bar Kokhva revolt (132–135 CE). Although some of these attempts were relatively successful, the Jews never fully recovered. During the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, many Jews emigrated to thriving centres in the diaspora, especially Iraq, whereas some converted to Christianity and others continued to live in the Holy Land, especially in Galilee and the coastal plain. During the Byzantine period, the three provinces of Palestine included more than thirty cities, namely, settlements with a bishop see. After the Muslim conquest in the 630s, most of these cities declined and eventually disappeared. As a result, in many cases the local ecclesiastical administration weakened, while in others it simply ceased to exist. Consequently, many local Christians converted to Islam. Thus, almost twelve centuries later, when the army led by Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in the Holy Land, most of the local population was Muslim.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book \|last=Ellenblum \|first=Ronnie \|title=Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. \|date=2010 \|publisher=Cambridge University Press \|isbn=978-0-511-58534-0 \|oclc=958547332 \|quote=From the data given above it can be concluded that the Muslim population of Central Samaria, during the early Muslim period, was not an autochthonous population which had converted to Christianity. They arrived there either by way of migration or as a result of a process of sedentarization of the nomads who had filled the vacuum created by the departing Samaritans at the end of the Byzantine period To sum up: in the only rural region in Palestine in which, according to all the written and archeological sources, the process of Islamization was completed already in the twelfth century, there occurred events consistent with the model propounded by Levtzion and Vryonis: the region was abandoned by its original sedentary population and the subsequent vacuum was apparently filled by nomads who, at a later stage, gradually became sedentarized}}</ref><ref name=":102">{{Cite journal \|last1=לוי-רובין \|first1=מילכה \|last2=Levy-Rubin \|first2=Milka \|date=2006 \|title=The Influence of the Muslim Conquest on the Settlement Pattern of Palestine during the Early Muslim Period / הכיבוש כמעצב מפת היישוב של ארץ-ישראל בתקופה המוסלמית הקדומה \|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23407269 \|journal=Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and Its Yishuv / קתדרה: לתולדות ארץ ישראל ויישובה \|issue=121 \|pages=53–78 \|jstor=23407269 \|issn=0334-4657}}</ref><ref name=":Ellenblum20102">{{Cite book \|last=Ellenblum \|first=Ronnie \|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/958547332 \|title=Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. \|date=2010 \|publisher=Cambridge University Press \|isbn=978-0-511-58534-0 \|oclc=958547332 \|quote=From the data given above it can be concluded that the Muslim population of Central Samaria, during the early Muslim period, was not an autochthonous population which had converted to Christianity. They arrived there either by way of migration or as a result of a process of sedentarization of the nomads who had filled the vacuum created by the departing Samaritans at the end of the Byzantine period To sum up: in the only rural region in Palestine in which, according to all the written and archeological sources, the process of Islamization was completed already in the twelfth century, there occurred events consistent with the model propounded by Levtzion and Vryonis: the region was abandoned by its original sedentary population and the subsequent vacuum was apparently filled by nomads who, at a later stage, gradually became sedentarized}}</ref> Over the next six centuries, control of the region transferred between the ], ], ] ], and subsequently the ] and ] dynasties.<ref name="MosheGil2">{{cite book \|last=Gil \|first=Moshe \|title=A History of Palestine, 634–1099 \|publisher=Cambridge University Press \|year=1997 \|isbn=978-0-521-59984-9}}</ref> The population of the area drastically decreased during the following several centuries, dropping from an estimated 1 million during Roman and Byzantine periods to about 300,000 by the early Ottoman period. Alongside this population decline, there was a steady process of ] brought on by non-Muslim emigration, Muslim immigration, and local conversion to Islam.<ref name=":Ellenblum20102" /><ref name=":102" /><ref name=":Broshi1979">{{Cite journal \|last=Broshi \|first=Magen \|date=1979 \|title=The Population of Western Palestine in the Roman-Byzantine Period \|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1356664 \|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research \|volume=236 \|issue=236 \|pages=1–10 \|doi=10.2307/1356664 \|issn=0003-097X \|jstor=1356664 \|s2cid=24341643}}</ref><ref name=":43">Broshi, M., & Finkelstein, I. (1992). . ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'', ''287''(1), 47–60.</ref> The end of the 11th century brought the ], ]-sanctioned incursions of Christian ] intent on wresting ] and the ] from Muslim control and establishing ].<ref>{{OED\|crusades}}</ref> The Ayyubids pushed back the crusaders before Muslim rule was fully restored by the ] in 1291.<ref name="GudrunKramer2">{{cite book \|last=Kramer \|first=Gudrun \|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpalesti00krea/page/376 \|title=A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel \|publisher=Princeton University Press \|year=2008 \|isbn=978-0-691-11897-0 \|page=}}</ref>

	=== Modern period and the emergence of Zionism ===
	{{main\|Ottoman Syria\|Jerusalem Sanjak\|Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem}}
	{{further\|Old Yishuv\|Zionism}}
	] in the 1870s]]
	In 1516, the region was conquered by the ] and proceeded to be ruled as a part of ] for the next four centuries. In 1660, a ] led to the destruction of ] and ].<ref>Joel Rappel, History of Eretz Israel from Prehistory up to 1882 (1980), vol. 2, p. 531. "In 1662 Sabbathai Sevi arrived to Jerusalem. It was the time when the Jewish settlements of Galilee were destroyed by the Druze: Tiberias was completely desolate and only a few of former Safed residents had returned...."</ref> In the late 18th century, local Arab ] ] created a de facto independent Emirate in the Galilee. Ottoman attempts to subdue the Sheikh failed, but after Zahir's death the Ottomans regained control of the area. In 1799 governor ] successfully repelled an ] by troops of ], prompting the French to abandon the Syrian campaign.<ref>{{cite web \|title=Palestine – Ottoman rule \|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine#ref45065 \|website=www.britannica.com \|publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica \|access-date=27 November 2018}}</ref> In 1834, a ] broke out against Egyptian conscription and taxation policies under ]. Although the revolt was suppressed, Muhammad Ali's army retreated and Ottoman rule was restored with British support in 1840.<ref>Macalister and Masterman, 1906, p. </ref> Shortly after, the ] reforms were implemented across the Ottoman Empire.

	Since the existence of the earliest ], many Jews have aspired to ] to "Zion" and the "Land of Israel",<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Rosenzweig\|1997\|p=}} "Zionism, the urge of the Jewish people to return to Palestine, is almost as ancient as the Jewish diaspora itself. Some Talmudic statements ... Almost a millennium later, the poet and philosopher Yehuda Halevi ... In the 19th century ..."</ref> though the amount of effort that should be spent towards such an aim was a matter of dispute.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/959229.html \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100418192523/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/959229.html \|archive-date=18 April 2010 \|title=An invention called 'the Jewish people' \|newspaper=Haaretz \|access-date=9 March 2010}}</ref> During the 16th century, Jewish communities struck roots in the ]—], ], ], and ]—and in 1697, Rabbi Yehuda Hachasid led a group of 1,500 Jews to Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Miraculous journey: a complete history of the Jewish people from creation to the present \|last=Eisen \|first=Yosef \|year=2004 \|publisher=Targum Press \|isbn=978-1-56871-323-6 \|page=700}}</ref> In the second half of the 18th century, Eastern European ] of ], known as the ], settled in Palestine.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Hastening redemption: Messianism and the resettlement of the land of Israel \|last=Morgenstern \|first=Arie \|year=2006 \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|isbn=978-0-19-530578-4 \|page=304}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Jews in Palestine in the Eighteenth Century: Under the Patronage of the Istanbul committee of Officials for Palestine \|last=Barnai \|first=Jacob \|year=1992 \|publisher=University Alabama Press \|isbn=978-0-8173-0572-7 \|page=320}}</ref>

	] (1897) in ], Switzerland]]
	The first wave of modern Jewish migration to ], known as the ], began in 1881, as Jews fled ] in Eastern Europe.<ref>{{Cite book\|last=Halpern\|first=Ben\|title=Zionism and the creation of a new society\|url=https://archive.org/details/zionismcreationn00halp\|url-access=limited\|publisher=Oxford University Press\|others=Reinharz, Jehuda\|year=1998\|isbn=0-585-18273-6\|location=New York\|pages=–54\|oclc=44960036}}</ref> Although the Zionist movement already existed in practice, ] journalist ] is credited with founding political ],<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Kornberg\|1993}} "How did Theodor Herzl, an assimilated German nationalist in the 1880s, suddenly in the 1890s become the founder of Zionism?"</ref> a movement that sought to establish a ] in the Land of Israel, thus offering a solution to the so-called ] of the European states, in conformity with the goals and achievements of other national projects of the time.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Herzl\|1946\|p=11}}</ref> In 1896, Herzl published '']'' (''The Jewish State''), offering his vision of a future Jewish state; the following year he presided over the ] in ], Switzerland.<ref>{{cite web\|title = Chapter One\|url = http://www.jewishagency.org/israel/content/23396\|website = The Jewish Agency for Israel1\|access-date = 21 September 2015\|date = 21 July 2005}}</ref> The ] (1904–14) began after the ]; some 40,000 Jews settled in Palestine, although nearly half of them left eventually. Both the first and second waves of migrants were mainly ],<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Stein\|2003\|p=88}}. "As with the First Aliyah, most Second Aliyah migrants were non-Zionist orthodox Jews ..."</ref> although the Second Aliyah included ] groups who established the '']'' movement.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Romano\|2003\|p=30}}</ref> Though the immigrants of the Second Aliyah largely sought to create communal agricultural settlements, the period also saw the establishment of ] in 1909. This period also saw the emergence of Jewish armed militias, the first being ], a guard founded in 1907. Two years later, larger ] organization was founded as its replacement.

	=== British Mandate ===
	{{main\|Mandatory Palestine}}
	{{further\|Yishuv\|Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine\|1948 Palestine war}}
	{{see also\|Balfour Declaration\|United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine}}
	In 1917, during ], British Foreign Secretary ] sent the ] to ], a leader of the British Jewish community, that stated that Britain intended for the creation of a Jewish "]" in Palestine.<ref name=macintyre>{{cite news \|last=Macintyre \|first=Donald \|title=The birth of modern Israel: A scrap of paper that changed history \|work=The Independent \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|date=26 May 2005 \|url=http://maof.rjews.net/english/37-english/19351-the-birth-of-modern-israel-a-scrap-of-paper-that-changed-history}}</ref><ref>{{cite book\|title=The Making of the Modern Near East 1792–1923 \|last=Yapp \|first=M.E. \|author-link=Malcolm Yapp \|year=1987 \|publisher=Longman \|location=Harlow, England \|isbn=978-0-582-49380-3 \|page= \|url=https://archive.org/details/makingofmodern00yapp/page/290 }}</ref>

	In 1918, the ], a group primarily of Zionist volunteers, assisted in the British ].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia\|title = Jewish Legion\|encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Judaica\|url = http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CCX2587510141\|year = 2007\|location = Detroit\|publisher = Macmillan Reference\|access-date = 6 August 2014\|first = Joseph B.\|last = Schechtman\|page = 304\|volume = 11}}</ref> In 1920, after the ] ], the territory was divided between Britain and France under the ], and the British-administered area which included modern day Israel was named ].<ref name="GudrunKramer">{{cite book \|last=Kramer \|first=Gudrun \|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpalesti00krea/page/376 \|title=A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel \|publisher=Princeton University Press \|year=2008 \|isbn=978-0-691-11897-0 \|page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp#art22 \|title=The Covenant of the League of Nations \|website=Article 22 \|access-date=18 October 2012}}</ref><ref>"Mandate for Palestine," ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'', Vol. 11, p. 862, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972</ref> Arab opposition to British rule and Jewish immigration led to the ] and the formation of a Jewish militia known as the ] (meaning "The Defense" in Hebrew) as an outgrowth of Hashomer, from which the ] and ] paramilitaries later split off.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Scharfstein\|1996\|p=269}}. "During the First and Second Aliyot, there were many Arab attacks against Jewish settlements ... In 1920, ] was disbanded and ] ("The Defense") was established."</ref> In 1922, the ] granted Britain the ] under terms which included the Balfour Declaration with its promise to the Jews, and with similar provisions regarding the Arab Palestinians.<ref>{{cite journal \|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1922mandate.html \|title=League of Nations: The Mandate for Palestine, July 24, 1922 \|journal=Modern History Sourcebook \|date=24 July 1922 \|access-date=27 August 2007 }}</ref> The ] at this time was predominantly Arab and Muslim, with Jews accounting for about 11%,<ref>{{cite book \|last1=Shaw \|first1=J. V. W. \|title=A Survey of Palestine \|edition=Reprint \|volume= I: Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry \|year=1991 \|orig-year=1946 \|publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies \|location=Washington, DC \|isbn=978-0-88728-213-3 \|oclc=22345421 \|page=148 \|chapter=Chapter VI: Population \|url=http://www.palestine-studies.org/books.aspx?id=543&href=details}}</ref> and Arab Christians about 9.5% of the population.<ref>{{cite web\|title=Report to the League of Nations on Palestine and Transjordan, 1937 \|publisher=British Government \|year=1937 \|access-date=14 July 2013 \|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/7BDD2C11C15B54C2052565D10057251E \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923061547/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/7BDD2C11C15B54C2052565D10057251E \|archive-date=23 September 2013 }}</ref>

	The ] (1919–23) and ]s (1924–29) brought an additional 100,000 Jews to Palestine. The ] and the increasing persecution of Jews in 1930s Europe led to the ], with an influx of a quarter of a million Jews. This was a major cause of the ], which was launched as a reaction to continued Jewish immigration and land purchases. Several hundred Jews and British security personnel were killed, while the British Mandate authorities alongside the Zionist militias of the Haganah and Irgun killed 5,032 Arabs and wounded 14,760,<ref>{{cite book\|url={{Google books\|hEt5PWCTMJMC\|page=PA374\|keywords=irgun%20and%20haganah%20in%20the%201936 riots\|text=irgun+and+haganah+in+the+1936+riots\|plainurl=yes}}\|title=A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel\|access-date=15 October 2015\|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group\|author=Walter Laqueur\|year=2009\|isbn=978-0-307-53085-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal \| last1 = Hughes \| first1 = M \| year = 2009 \| title = The banality of brutality: British armed forces and the repression of the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936–39 \| url = http://v-scheiner.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/7251/4/The%20banality%20of%20brutality.pdf \| journal = English Historical Review \| volume = CXXIV \| issue = 507 \| pages = 314–354 \| doi = 10.1093/ehr/cep002 \| url-status = dead \| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160221163210/http://v-scheiner.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/7251/4/The%20banality%20of%20brutality.pdf \| archive-date = 21 February 2016 \| df = dmy-all }}</ref> resulting in over ten percent of the adult male ] population killed, wounded, imprisoned or exiled.<ref>] (1987). ''From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem Until 1948''. Institute for Palestine Studies. {{ISBN\|978-0-88728-155-6}}</ref> The British introduced restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine with the ]. With countries around the world turning away ] fleeing ], a clandestine movement known as ] was organized to bring Jews to Palestine. By the end of ], the Jewish population of Palestine had increased to 31% of the total population.<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, Village Statistics, 1945.</ref>

	After World War II, the UK found itself facing a Jewish ] over Jewish immigration restrictions, as well as continued conflict with the Arab community over limit levels. The Haganah joined Irgun and Lehi in an armed struggle against British rule.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Fraser\|2004\|p=27}}</ref> At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Jewish ] and refugees sought a new life far from their destroyed communities in Europe. The Haganah attempted to bring these refugees to Palestine in a programme called ] in which tens of thousands of Jewish refugees attempted to enter Palestine by ship. Most of the ships were intercepted by the ] and the refugees rounded up and placed in detention camps in ] and ] by the British.<ref name="Golani2013">{{cite book\|author=Motti Golani\|title=Palestine Between Politics and Terror, 1945–1947\|url={{Google books\|Mp7BAgAAQBAJ\|page=PA130\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|year=2013\|publisher=UPNE\|isbn=978-1-61168-388-2\|page=130}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|last1=Cohen \|first1=Michael J \|title=Britain's Moment in Palestine:Retrospect and Perspectives, 1917–1948 \|date=2014 \|publisher=Routledge \|location=Abingdon and New York \|isbn=978-0-415-72985-7 \|page=474 \|edition=First \|url={{Google books\|DLPpAgAAQBAJ\|page=PA474\|keywords=British%20detention%20camps%20at%20atlit%20and cyprus\|text=British+detention+camps+at+atlit+and+cyprus\|plainurl=yes}}}}</ref>

	], "Palestine plan of partition with economic union"]]
	On 22 July 1946, Irgun ] the British administrative headquarters for Palestine, which was housed in the southern wing<ref>The Terrorism Ahead: Confronting Transnational Violence in the Twenty-First \| By Paul J. Smith \| M.E. Sharpe, 2007 \| p. 27</ref> of the ] in ].<ref>''Encyclopedia of Terrorism'', ], Sage, 2003 p. 181</ref><ref name="brtca_irgun"> article on the Irgun Zvai Leumi</ref><ref>The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945–1951: Arab Nationalism, the United States, and Postwar Imperialism. William Roger Louis, Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 430</ref> A total of 91 people of various nationalities were killed and 46 were injured.<ref name="tclarke81">]. ''By Blood and Fire'', G.P. Puttnam's Sons, New York, 1981</ref> The hotel was the site of the Secretariat of the Government of Palestine and the Headquarters of the British Armed Forces in Mandatory Palestine and ].<ref name="tclarke81"/><ref name="bethell">{{Cite book\|first=Nicholas\|last=Bethell\|title=The Palestine Triangle\|publisher=Andre Deutsch\|year=1979}}</ref> The attack initially had the approval of the Haganah. It was conceived as a response to ] (a series of widespread raids, including one on the ], conducted by the British authorities) and was the deadliest directed at the British during the Mandate era.<ref name="tclarke81"/><ref name="bethell"/> The Jewish insurgency continued throughout the rest of 1946 and 1947 despite concerted efforts by the British military and ] to suppress it. British efforts to mediate a negotiated solution with Jewish and Arab representatives also failed as the Jews were unwilling to accept any solution that did not involve a Jewish state and suggested a partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, while the Arabs were adamant that a Jewish state in any part of Palestine was unacceptable and that the only solution was a unified Palestine under Arab rule. In February 1947, the British referred the Palestine issue to the newly formed ]. On 15 May 1947, the ] of the United Nations resolved that the ] be created "to prepare for consideration at the next regular session of the Assembly a report on the question of Palestine."<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F5A49E57095C35B685256BCF0075D9C2 \|title=A/RES/106 (S-1) \|date=15 May 1947 \|website=General Assembly resolution \|publisher=United Nations \|access-date=12 August 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806072438/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F5A49E57095C35B685256BCF0075D9C2 \|archive-date=6 August 2012 }}</ref> In the Report of the Committee dated 3 September 1947 to the General Assembly,<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/07175DE9FA2DE563852568D3006E10F3 \|title=A/364 \|date=3 September 1947 \|website=Special Committee on Palestine \|publisher=United Nations \|access-date=12 August 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610173759/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/07175DE9FA2DE563852568D3006E10F3 \|archive-date=10 June 2012 }}</ref> the majority of the Committee in Chapter VI ] to replace the British Mandate with "an independent Arab State, an independent Jewish State, and the City of Jerusalem the last to be under an International Trusteeship System."<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/2248AF9A92B498718525694B007239C6 \|publisher=United Nations \|date=20 April 1949 \|access-date=31 July 2007 \|title=Background Paper No. 47 (ST/DPI/SER.A/47) \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103014616/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/2248AF9A92B498718525694B007239C6 \|archive-date=3 January 2011 }}</ref> Meanwhile, the Jewish insurgency continued and peaked in July 1947, with a series of widespread guerrilla raids culminating in ], in which the Irgun took two British sergeants hostage as attempted leverage against the planned execution of three Irgun operatives. Irgun killed the officers after the executions were carried out.

	In September 1947, the British cabinet decided that the Mandate was no longer tenable, and to evacuate Palestine. According to Colonial Secretary ], four major factors led to the decision to evacuate Palestine: the inflexibility of Jewish and Arab negotiators who were unwilling to compromise on their core positions over the question of a Jewish state in Palestine, the economic pressure that stationing a large garrison in Palestine to deal with the Jewish insurgency and the possibility of a wider Jewish rebellion and the possibility of an Arab rebellion put on a British economy already strained by World War II, the "deadly blow to British patience and pride" caused by the hangings of the sergeants, and the mounting criticism the government faced in failing to find a new policy for Palestine in place of the ].<ref>Hoffman, Bruce: ''Anonymous Soldiers'' (2015)</ref>

	On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly adopted ] recommending the adoption and implementation of the ''Plan of Partition with Economic Union''.<ref name="181(II)">{{cite web \|url=https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/7F0AF2BD897689B785256C330061D253 \|title=Resolution 181 (II). Future government of Palestine \|date=29 November 1947 \|publisher=United Nations \|access-date=21 March 2017 \|archive-date=10 October 2017 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010090147/https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/7F0AF2BD897689B785256C330061D253 \|url-status=dead }}</ref> The plan attached to the resolution was essentially that proposed by the majority of the Committee in the report of 3 September. The ], which was the recognized representative of the Jewish community, accepted the plan, which assigned to Jews – a third of the population owning less than 7% of the land – 55–56% of Mandatory Palestine.<ref>], , ] 2017 {{isbn\|978-1-627-79710-8}} pp. 41,227 n.9.</ref><ref>‘As to territorial boundaries, under the plan the Jewish State was allotted approximately 57 percent of the total area of Palestine even though the Jewish population comprised only 33 percent of the country . In addition, according to British records relied upon by the ad hoc committee, the Jewish population possessed registered ownership of only 5.6 percent of Palestine, and was eclipsed by the Arabs in land ownership in every one of Palestine’s 16 sub-districts- Moreover, the quality of the land granted to the proposed Jewish state was highly skewed in its favour. UNSCOP reported that under its majority plan “he Jews will have the more economically developed part of the country embracing practically the whole of the citrus-producing area”—Palestine’s staple export crop—even though approximately half of the citrus-bearing land was owned by the Arabs. In addition, according to updated British records submitted to the ad hoc committee’s two sub-committees, “of the irrigated, cultivable areas” of the country, 84 per cent would be in the Jewish State and 16 per cent would be in the Arab State”.’ Ardi Imseis, Stanford Journal of International Law vol.57 no 1 Winter 2021 pp1-54 Pp.13–14.</ref>{{sfn\|Morris\|2008\|p=75\|ps=: "The night of 29–30 November passed in the Yishuv's settlements in noisy public rejoicing. Most had sat glued to their radio sets broadcasting live from Flushing Meadow. A collective cry of joy went up when the two-thirds mark was achieved: a state had been sanctioned by the international community."}}{{sfn\|Morris\|2008\|p=396\|ps=: "The immediate trigger of the 1948 War was the November 1947 UN partition resolution. The Zionist movement, except for its fringes, accepted the proposal."}} The ] and ] of Palestine rejected it,<ref>'Although the Zionists had coveted the whole of Palestine, the Jewish Agency
	leadership pragmatically, if grudgingly, accepted Resolution 181(II). Although
	they were of the view that the Jewish national home promised in the Mandate was
	equivalent to a Jewish state, they well understood that such a claim could not be
	maintained under prevailing international law..Based on its own terms, it is impossible to escape the conclusion that the partition plan privileged European interests over those of Palestine’s indigenous people and, as such, was an embodiment of the Eurocentricity of the international system that was allegedly a thing of the past. For this reason, the Arabs took a more principled position in line with prevailing international law, rejecting partition outright . .This rejection has disingenuously been presented in some of the literature as indicative of political intransigence,69 and even hostility towards the Jews as Jews'Imseis pp.14–15.</ref> and indicated that they would reject any other plan of partition.{{sfn\|Morris\|2008\|p=66\|ps=: at 1946 "The League demanded independence for Palestine as a "unitary" state, with an Arab majority and minority rights for the Jews.", p. 67: at 1947 "The League's Political Committee met in Sofar, Lebanon, on 16–19 September, and urged the Palestine Arabs to fight partition, which it called "aggression," "without mercy." The League promised them, in line with Bludan, assistance "in manpower, money and equipment" should the United Nations endorse partition.", p. 72: at December 1947 "The League vowed, in very general language, "to try to stymie the partition plan and prevent the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.""}}{{sfn\|Bregman\|2002\|pp=40–41}} On 1 December 1947, the Arab Higher Committee proclaimed a three-day strike, and ].<ref>{{cite book \|title=Palestine 1948 \|last=Gelber \|first=Yoav \|year=2006 \|publisher=Sussex Academic Press \|location=Brighton \|isbn=978-1-902210-67-4 \|page=17}}</ref> The situation spiraled into a ]; just two weeks after the UN vote, Colonial Secretary ] announced that the British Mandate would end on 15 May 1948, at which point the British would evacuate. As Arab militias and gangs attacked Jewish areas, they were faced mainly by the ], as well as the smaller Irgun and Lehi. In April 1948, the Haganah moved onto the offensive.{{sfn\|Morris\|2008\|p=77–78}}<ref>{{cite book \|title=War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy \|last=Tal \|first=David \|year=2003 \|publisher=Routledge \|isbn=978-0-7146-5275-7 \|page=471}}</ref> During this period 250,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled, due to ].{{sfn\|Morris\|2008}}

	===Early years of the State of Israel===
	{{further\|Israeli Declaration of Independence\|Arab–Israeli conflict}}
	{{multiple image
	\|align=right
	\|image1=Declaration of State of Israel 1948.jpg
	\|caption1=] proclaiming the ] on 14 May 1948
	\|image2=Raising the Ink Flag at Umm Rashrash (Eilat).jpg
	\|caption2=Raising of the ] on 10 March 1949, marking the end of the ]
	\|width1=224
	\|width2=100
	}}
	On 14 May 1948, the day before the expiration of the British Mandate, ], the head of the Jewish Agency, ] "the establishment of a Jewish state in ], to be known as the State of Israel."<ref name="Declaration">{{cite web\|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/declaration%20of%20establishment%20of%20state%20of%20israel.aspx \|title=Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel \|date=14 May 1948 \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|access-date=21 March 2017 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317223538/http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/declaration%20of%20establishment%20of%20state%20of%20israel.aspx \|archive-date=17 March 2017 }}</ref><ref>Clifford, Clark, "Counsel to the President: A Memoir", 1991, p. 20.</ref> The only reference in the text of the Declaration to the borders of the new state is the use of the term ''Eretz-Israel'' ("]").<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/the-elephant-in-the-map-room/ \|title=The Elephant in the Map Room \|last=Jacobs \|first=Frank \|date=7 August 2012 \|work=Borderlines \|publisher=The New York Times \|access-date=3 September 2012}}</ref> The following day, the armies of four Arab countries—], ], ] and ]—entered into parts of what had been British Mandatory Palestine, launching the ];<ref>'The entry into (the) war of the Arab countries poses a complex legal problem. The crossing of the borders can constitute an act of aggression or a threat against peace, justifying a condemnation and an intervention by the United Nations, but if the armies penetrate only the Arab part of the partition plan, they can be considered as called on (to do so) by the population and at this stage their '''intervention''' would not in itself be a threat against the peace. That would only start were the Jewish part attacked. Now, the Arab armies do directly threaten Jewish territory at certain points while in others the Jews have already largely taken up positions in Arab territory. ('L'entrée en guerre des pays arabes pose un problem juridique complexe. Le franchissement des frontières peut constituer un acte d'aggression ou une menace contre la paix, justifiant une condannation et une intervention des Nations unies, mais si les armées pénètrent seulement dans la partie arabe du plan de partage, elles peuvent être considérées comme appelées par la population et à ce stade leur intervention ne serait pas par elle-même une menace contre la paix. Elle ne commencerait qu'avec l'attaque de la partie juive. Or, en certains points, les armées arabes menacent directement le territoire juif et dans d'autres les Juifs se sont déjà largement installés en territoire arabe.' ], ''La Question de Palestine,'' ] Paris 2007 vol.3 p.104</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Arab–Israeli conflict: The Palestine War 1948 \|last=Karsh \|first=Efraim \|year=2002 \|publisher=Osprey Publishing \|isbn=978-1-84176-372-9\|page=50}}</ref><ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Ben-Sasson\|1985\|p=1058}}</ref> contingents from ], ], ] and ] joined the war.{{sfn\|Morris\|2008\|p=205}}<ref>{{cite book\|title=Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present \|last=Rabinovich \|first=Itamar \|author2=Reinharz, Jehuda \|year=2007 \|publisher=Brandeis \|page= \|isbn=978-0-87451-962-4 \|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780874519624/page/74 }}</ref> The apparent purpose of the invasion was to prevent the establishment of the Jewish state at inception, and some Arab leaders talked about "driving the Jews into the sea".<ref>{{cite book\|author=David Tal\|title=War in Palestine, 1948: Israeli and Arab Strategy and Diplomacy\|url={{Google books\|Vs2PAgAAQBAJ\|page=PR4\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|year=2004\|publisher=Routledge\|isbn=978-1-135-77513-1\|page=469\|quote=some of the Arab armies invaded Palestine in order to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, Transjordan...}}</ref><ref name="FOOTNOTEMorris2008396"/>{{sfn\|Morris\|2008\|p=187\|ps=: "A week before the armies marched, Azzam told Kirkbride: "It does not matter how many there are. We will sweep them into the sea." ... Ahmed Shukeiry, one of Haj Amin al-Husseini's aides (and, later, the founding chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization), simply described the aim as "the elimination of the Jewish state." ... al-Quwwatli told his people: "Our army has entered ... we shall win and we shall eradicate Zionism""}} According to ], Jews were worried that the invading Arab armies held the intent to slaughter them.{{sfn\|Morris\|2008\|p=198\|ps=: "the Jews felt that the Arabs aimed to reenact the Holocaust and that they faced certain personal and collective slaughter should they lose"}} The Arab league stated the invasion was to restore law and order and to prevent further bloodshed.<ref name=cablegram>{{cite web\|url=https://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S/745 \|title=PDF copy of Cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to the Secretary-General of the United Nations: S/745: 15 May 1948 \|publisher=Un.org \|date=9 September 2002 \|access-date=13 October 2013 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107030419/http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S%2F745 \|archive-date=7 January 2014 }}</ref>

	After a year of fighting, a ] and temporary borders, known as the ], were established.<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Arab–Israeli conflict: The Palestine War 1948 \|last=Karsh \|first=Efraim \|year=2002 \|publisher=Osprey Publishing \|isbn=978-1-84176-372-9}}</ref> Jordan ] what became known as the ], including ], and Egypt ] the ]. The UN estimated that more than 700,000 Palestinians were ] advancing ] during the conflict—what would become known in Arabic as the '']'' ("catastrophe").<ref>{{cite book\|last=Morris\|first=Benny\|author-link=Benny Morris\|title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited\|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|page=602 \|year=2004}}</ref> Some 156,000 remained and became ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=13336\|title=עיצוב יחסי יהודים - ערבים בעשור הראשון\|website=lib.cet.ac.il}}</ref>

	Israel ] as a member of the UN by majority vote on 11 May 1949.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/1ce874ab1832a53e852570bb006dfaf6/0b3ab8d2a7c0273d8525694b00726d1b \|publisher=The United Nations \|title=Two Hundred and Seventh Plenary Meeting \|date=11 May 1949 \|access-date=13 July 2007 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912101430/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/1ce874ab1832a53e852570bb006dfaf6/0b3ab8d2a7c0273d8525694b00726d1b \|archive-date=12 September 2007 }}</ref> An Israeli-Jordanian attempt at negotiating a peace agreement broke down after the ], fearful of the Egyptian reaction to such a treaty, expressed their opposition to the ].<ref>{{cite book\|author=William Roger Louis\|title=The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945–1951: Arab Nationalism, the United States, and Postwar Imperialism\|url={{Google books\|ATQQ0FMS1FQC\|page=PA579\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|year=1984\|publisher=Clarendon Press\|isbn=978-0-19-822960-5\|page=579 \| quote="The transcript makes it clear that British policy acted as a brake on Jordan. "King Abdullah was personally anxious to come to agreement with Israel", Kirkbride stated, "and in fact it was our restraining influence which had so far prevented him from doing so". Knox Helm confirmed that the Israelis hoped to have a settlement with Jordan, and that they now genuinely wished to live peacefully within their frontiers, if only for economic reasons".}}</ref> In the early years of the state, the ] movement led by Prime Minister ] dominated ].<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Lustick\|1988\|pp=37–39}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal \|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html \|title=Israel (Labor Zionism) \|journal=Country Studies \|access-date=12 February 2010 }}</ref>

	Immigration to Israel during the late 1940s and early 1950s was aided by the Israeli Immigration Department and the non-government sponsored ] ({{Abbr\|lit.\|literally\|class=small}} "Institute for ]") which organized illegal and clandestine immigration.<ref>{{cite book \| author = Anita Shapira \| title = Land and Power \| pages = 416, 419 \| publisher = Stanford University Press \| year = 1992}}</ref> Both groups facilitated regular immigration logistics like arranging transportation, but the latter also engaged in clandestine operations in countries, particularly in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, where the lives of Jews were believed to be in danger and exit from those places was difficult. Mossad LeAliyah Bet was disbanded in 1953.<ref>Segev, Tom. 1949: The First Israelis. "The First Million". Trans. Arlen N. Weinstein. New York: The Free Press, 1986. Print. pp. 105–107</ref> The immigration was in accordance with the ]. The immigrants came for differing reasons: some held Zionist beliefs or came for the promise of a better life in Israel, while others moved to escape persecution or were expelled.<ref>{{cite book \|title=The Forgotten Millions: The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands \|last=Shulewitz \|first=Malka Hillel \|year=2001 \|publisher=Continuum \|isbn=978-0-8264-4764-7}}</ref><ref>Laskier, Michael "Egyptian Jewry under the Nasser Regime, 1956–70" pp. 573–619 from ''Middle Eastern Studies'', Volume 31, Issue # 3, July 1995 p. 579.</ref>

	An ] and ] to Israel during the first three years increased the number of Jews from 700,000 to 1,400,000. By 1958, the population of Israel rose to two million.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_02&CYear=2016 \|title=Population, by Religion \|date=2016 \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=4 September 2016}}</ref> Between 1948 and 1970, approximately 1,150,000 Jewish refugees relocated to Israel.<ref>{{cite book\|last=Bard\|first=Mitchell\|title=The Founding of the State of Israel\|year=2003\|publisher=Greenhaven Press\|page=15}}</ref> Some new immigrants arrived as refugees with no possessions and were housed in temporary camps known as '']''; by 1952, over 200,000 people were living in these tent cities.<ref>{{cite book \|title=Immigrants in Turmoil: Mass Immigration to Israel and Its Repercussions in the 1950s and After \|last=Hakohen \|first=Devorah \|year=2003 \|publisher=Syracuse University Press\|isbn=978-0-8156-2969-6}}; for ma'abarot population, see p. 269.</ref> ] were often treated more favorably than Jews from ] and ] countries—housing units reserved for the latter were often re-designated for the former, with the result that Jews newly arrived from Arab lands generally ended up staying in transit camps for longer.<ref>Clive Jones, Emma Murphy, ] 2002 p. 37: "Housing units earmarked for the Oriental Jews were often reallocated to European Jewish immigrants; Consigning Oriental Jews to the privations of ''ma'aborot'' (transit camps) for longer periods."</ref><ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Segev\|2007\|pp=155–157}}</ref> During this period, food, clothes and furniture had to be rationed in what became known as the ]. The need to solve the crisis led Ben-Gurion to sign a ] that triggered mass protests by Jews angered at the idea that Israel could accept monetary compensation for the Holocaust.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Shindler\|2002\|pp=49–50}}</ref>

	]]]
	During the 1950s, Israel was frequently ] by ], nearly always against civilians,<ref>{{cite book\|author=Kameel B. Nasr\|title=Arab and Israeli Terrorism: The Causes and Effects of Political Violence, 1936–1993\|url={{Google books\|QRXURzwdXS4C\|page=PA40\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|year=1996\|publisher=McFarland\|isbn=978-0-7864-3105-2\|pages=40–\|quote=Fedayeen to attack...almost always against civilians}}</ref> mainly from the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip,<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Gilbert\|2005\|p=58}}</ref> leading to several Israeli ]. In 1956, the United Kingdom and France aimed at regaining control of the ], which the Egyptians had nationalized. The continued blockade of the Suez Canal and ] to Israeli shipping, together with the growing amount of Fedayeen attacks against Israel's southern population, and recent Arab grave and threatening statements, prompted Israel to attack Egypt.<ref>{{cite book\|author=Isaac Alteras\|title=Eisenhower and Israel: U.S.-Israeli Relations, 1953–1960\|url={{Google books\|ydRHCPWngioC\|page=PA192\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|year=1993\|publisher=University Press of Florida\|isbn=978-0-8130-1205-6\|pages=192–\|quote="the removal of the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba. The blockade closed Israel's sea lane to East Africa and the Far East, hindering the development of Israel's southern port of Eilat and its hinterland, the Nege. Another important objective of the Israeli war plan was the elimination of the terrorist bases in the Gaza Strip, from which daily fedayeen incursions into Israel made life unbearable for its southern population. And last but not least, the concentration of the Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula, armed with the newly acquired weapons from the Soviet bloc, prepared for an attack on Israel. Here, Ben-Gurion believed, was a time bomb that had to be defused before it was too late. Reaching the Suez Canal did not figure at all in Israel's war objectives. "}}</ref><ref>{{cite book\|author=Dominic Joseph Caraccilo\|title=Beyond Guns and Steel: A War Termination Strategy\|url={{Google books\|FDA8dQyaQ9MC\|page=PA113\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|date=2011\|publisher=ABC-CLIO\|isbn=978-0-313-39149-1\|pages=113–\|quote=The escalation continued with the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran, and Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal in July 1956. On October 14, Nasser made clear his intent:"I am not solely fighting against Israel itself. My task is to deliver the Arab world from destruction through Israel's intrigue, which has its roots abroad. Our hatred is very strong. There is no sense in talking about peace with Israel. There is not even the smallest place for negotiations." Less than two weeks later, on October 25, Egypt signed a tripartite agreement with Syria and Jordan placing Nasser in command of all three armies. The continued blockade of the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, combined with the increased fedayeen attacks and the bellicosity of recent Arab statements, prompted Israel, with the backing of Britain and France, to attack Egypt on October 29, 1956.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book\|author=Alan Dowty\|title=Israel/Palestine\|url={{Google books\|9iFxq6NPPgEC\|page=PA102\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|year=2005\|publisher=Polity\|isbn=978-0-7456-3202-5\|pages=102–\|quote=Gamal Abdel Nasser, who declared in one speech that "Egypt has decided to dispatch her heroes, the disciples of Pharaoh and the sons of Islam and they will cleanse the land of Palestine....There will be no peace on Israel's border because we demand vengeance, and vengeance is Israel's death."...The level of violence against Israelis, soldiers and civilians alike, seemed to be rising inexorably.}}</ref> Israel joined ] with the United Kingdom and France and overran the ] but was pressured to withdraw by the UN in return for guarantees of Israeli shipping rights in the ] via the Straits of Tiran and the Canal.<ref>{{Cite news\|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5195582.stm\|title=Suez Crisis: Key players\|date=21 July 2006\|access-date=19 July 2018\|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://sunnycv.com/steve/20th/suez.html \|title=The Suez Crisis \|last=Schoenherr \|first=Steven \|date=15 December 2005 \|access-date=31 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Suez Crisis \|last=Gorst \|first=Anthony \|author2=Johnman, Lewis \|year=1997 \|publisher=Routledge \|isbn=978-0-415-11449-3}}</ref> The war, known as the ], resulted in significant reduction of Israeli border infiltration.<ref>{{cite book\|author=Benny Morris\|title=Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–1998\|url={{Google books\|jGtVsBne7PgC\|page=\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|date=25 May 2011\|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group\|isbn=978-0-307-78805-4\|pages=300, 301\|quote= In exchange (for Israeli withdrawal) the United states had indirectly promised to guarantee Israel's right of passage through the straits (to the Red sea) and its right to self defense if the Egyptian closed them....(p 301) The 1956 war resulted in a significant reduction of...Israeli border tension. Egypt refrained from reactivating the Fedaeen, and...Egypt and Jordan made great effort to curb infiltration}}</ref> In the early 1960s, Israel captured Nazi war criminal ] in Argentina and brought him to Israel for ].{{sfn\|Bascomb\|2009\|p=219–229}} The trial had a major impact on public awareness of the Holocaust.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Cole\|2003\|p=27}}. "... the Eichmann trial, which did so much to raise public awareness of the Holocaust ..."</ref> Eichmann remains the only person executed in Israel by conviction in an ].<ref>{{cite journal \| author = Shlomo Shpiro \| title = No place to hide: Intelligence and civil liberties in Israel \| journal = Cambridge Review of International Affairs \| volume = 19 \| issue = 44 \| pages = 629–648 \|year = 2006 \| doi=10.1080/09557570601003361\| s2cid = 144734253 }}</ref> During the spring and summer of 1963 Israel was engaged in a diplomatic standoff with the United States due to the Israeli ].<ref name="Haaretz2019">{{Cite news \| url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-a-standoff-with-the-u-s-almost-blew-up-israel-s-nuclear-program-1.7193419 \|title = How a Standoff with the U.S. Almost Blew up Israel's Nuclear Program\|newspaper = Haaretz\|date = 3 May 2019\|last1 = Cohen\|first1 = Avner}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \| url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2019-05-02/battle-letters-1963-john-f-kennedy-david-ben-gurion-levi-eshkol-us-inspections-dimona \| title=The Battle of the Letters, 1963: John F. Kennedy, David Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol, and the U.S. Inspections of Dimona {{pipe}} National Security Archive\| date=29 April 2019}}</ref>

	]}} {{legend\|#f7d3aa\|after the war}} The ] was returned to Egypt in 1982.]]
	Since 1964, Arab countries, concerned over Israeli plans to divert waters of the ] into the ],<ref>"The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East", by Richard B. Parker (1993 Indiana University Press) p. 38</ref> had been trying to divert the headwaters to deprive Israel of water resources, provoking ] between Israel on the one hand, and Syria and Lebanon on the other. ]s led by Egyptian President ] refused to recognize Israel and called for its destruction.<ref name="RoutledgeAtlas">{{Harvnb\|Gilbert\|2005\|p=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Syria and Israel: From War to Peacemaking \|last=Maoz \|first=Moshe \|year=1995 \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|isbn=978-0-19-828018-7 \|page=70 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news \|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/5/newsid_2654000/2654251.stm \|title=On This Day 5 Jun \|date= 5 June 1967\|publisher=BBC \|access-date=26 December 2011}}</ref> By 1966, Israeli-Arab relations had deteriorated to the point of actual battles taking place between Israeli and Arab forces.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Segev\|2007\|p=178}}</ref> In May 1967, Egypt massed its army near the border with Israel, expelled ], stationed in the Sinai Peninsula since 1957, and blocked Israel's access to the Red Sea.<ref>{{cite book \|last=Gat \|first=Moshe \|title=Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964–1967: The Coming of the Six-Day War \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ntLdA8QIgXIC&q=On+the+night+of+May+22-23,+Nasser+declared+the+Gulf+of+Aqaba+closed+to+Israeli+shipping&pg=PA202 \|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group \|year=2003 \|page=202 \|isbn=978-0-275-97514-2}}</ref><ref>], , Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 32.</ref><ref>{{cite book\|author=Samir A. Mutawi\|title=Jordan in the 1967 War\|url={{Google books \|g9bBJusRJIMC \|page= \|keywords= \|text= \|plainurl=yes}} \|year=2002\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|isbn=978-0-521-52858-0\|page=93\| quote=Although Eshkol denounced the Egyptians, his response to this development was a model of moderation. His speech on 21 May demanded that Nasser withdraw his forces from Sinai but made no mention of the removal of UNEF from the Straits nor of what Israel would do if they were closed to Israeli shipping. The next day Nasser announced to an astonished world that henceforth the Straits were, indeed, closed to all Israeli ships}}</ref> Other Arab states mobilized their forces.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Segev\|2007\|p=289}}</ref> Israel reiterated that these actions were a '']'' and, on 5 June, launched a ] against Egypt. Jordan, Syria and Iraq responded and attacked Israel. In a ], Israel captured and occupied the West Bank from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the ] from Syria.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Smith\|2006\|p=126}}. "Nasser, the Egyptian president, decided to mass troops in the Sinai{{nbsp}}... ''casus belli'' by Israel."</ref> Jerusalem's boundaries were enlarged, incorporating ], and the 1949 ] became the administrative boundary between Israel and the ].{{citation needed\|date=June 2021}}

	Following the 1967 war and the "]" resolution of the Arab League, Israel faced attacks from the Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula during the 1967–1970 ], and from Palestinian groups targeting Israelis in the occupied territories, in Israel proper, and around the world. Most important among the various Palestinian and Arab groups was the ] (PLO), established in 1964, which initially committed itself to "armed struggle as the only way to liberate the homeland".<ref>{{cite news \|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/magazine/13PALESTINIANS.html \|title=The Interregnum \|last=Bennet \|first=James \|date=13 March 2005 \|work=The New York Times Magazine \|access-date=11 February 2010}}</ref> In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Palestinian groups launched a ]<ref>{{cite book \|title=Research on Terrorism: Trends, Achievements and Failures \|last=Silke \|first=Andrew \|year=2004 \|publisher=Routledge \|isbn=978-0-7146-8273-0 \|page=149 (256 pp.) \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSpfNJQ4CbAC&q=palestinian+terror+1970s&pg=PA149 \|access-date=8 March 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=The Routledge Atlas of the Arab–Israeli Conflict: The Complete History of the Struggle and the Efforts to Resolve It \|last=Gilbert\|first=Martin \|year=2002 \|publisher=Routledge \|isbn=978-0-415-28116-4 \|page=82 \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UNvJ1FOwiAwC&q=palestinian+terror+1970s&pg=PA82 \|access-date=8 March 2010}}</ref> against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,<ref>{{cite news \|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/world/middleeast/27habash.html \|title=George Habash, Palestinian Terrorism Tactician, Dies at 82 \|first1=Edmund \|last1=Andrews \|author-link=Edmund Andrews (reporter) \|first2=John \|last2=Kifner \|author-link2=John Kifner \|newspaper=The New York Times \|date=27 January 2008 \|access-date=29 March 2012}}</ref> including ] at the ] in Munich. The Israeli government responded with an ] against the organizers of the massacre, a ] and a ].

	On 6 October 1973, as Jews were observing ], the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched ] against Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights, that opened the ]. The war ended on 25 October with Israel successfully repelling Egyptian and Syrian forces but having suffered over 2,500 soldiers killed in a war which collectively took 10–35,000 lives in about 20 days.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/6/newsid_2514000/2514317.stm \|title=1973: Arab states attack Israeli forces \|work=On This Day \|publisher=BBC News \|access-date=15 July 2007 \| date=6 October 1973}}</ref> An ] exonerated ] of responsibility for failures before and during the war, but public anger forced Prime Minister ] to resign.<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/lexicon/eng/agranat_eng.htm \|title=Agranat Commission \|publisher=Knesset \|year=2008 \|access-date=8 April 2010}}</ref>{{bsn\|date=February 2023}} In July 1976, an airliner was hijacked during its flight from Israel to France by Palestinian guerrillas and landed at ], ]. Israeli commandos carried out ] in which 102 out of 106 Israeli hostages were successfully rescued.

	===Further conflict and peace process===
	{{Further\|Israeli–Palestinian peace process\|Iran–Israel proxy conflict}}
	The ] marked a major turning point in Israeli political history as ]'s ] party took control from the ].{{refn\|group=fn\|"In hindsight we can say that 1977 was a turning point ..."{{sfn\|Bregman\|2002\|pp=169–170}}}} Later that year, Egyptian President ] made a trip to Israel and spoke before the ] in what was the first recognition of Israel by an Arab head of state.{{sfn\|Bregman\|2002\|pp=171–174}} In the two years that followed, Sadat and Begin signed the ] (1978) and the ] (1979).{{sfn\|Bregman\|2002\|pp=186–187}} In return, Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and agreed to enter negotiations over an autonomy for Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.{{sfn\|Bregman\|2002\|pp=186–187}}

	On 11 March 1978, a PLO guerilla raid from Lebanon led to the ]. Israel responded by launching an ] to destroy the PLO bases south of the ]. Most PLO fighters withdrew, but Israel was able to secure southern Lebanon until a ] and the Lebanese army could take over. The PLO soon resumed its ] against Israel. In the next few years, the PLO infiltrated the south and kept up a sporadic shelling across the border. Israel carried out numerous retaliatory attacks by air and on the ground.

	] declared that "], complete and united, is the capital of Israel."<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/basic10_eng.htm \|title=Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel \|publisher=Knesset \|access-date=14 January 2017}}</ref>{{bsn\|date=February 2023}}]]
	Meanwhile, Begin's government provided incentives for Israelis to ] in the ], increasing friction with the Palestinians in that area.<ref>{{cite book\|title=A history of the modern Middle East \|last=Cleveland \|first=William L. \|year=1999 \|publisher=Westview Press \|isbn=978-0-8133-3489-9 \|page= \|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernm00clev/page/356 }}</ref> The ], passed in 1980, was believed by some to reaffirm Israel's 1967 annexation of Jerusalem by government decree, and ] over the ]. No Israeli legislation has defined the territory of Israel and no act specifically included East Jerusalem therein.<ref>{{cite journal \|last=Lustick \|first=Ian \|year=1997 \|title=Has Israel Annexed East Jerusalem? \|journal=Middle East Policy \|volume=V \|issue=1 \|pages=34–45 \|issn=1061-1924 \|oclc=4651987544 \|doi=10.1111/j.1475-4967.1997.tb00247.x \|url=https://www.sas.upenn.edu/polisci/sites/www.sas.upenn.edu.polisci/files/Lustick_Has%20Israel%20Annexed%20Jerusalem_1997.pdf \|access-date=1 June 2013 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091120090306/http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol5/9701_lustick.asp \|archive-date=20 November 2009 \|url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1981 Israel ] the ], although annexation was not recognized internationally.<ref name="bbc_golan_profile">{{cite news \|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14724842 \|title=Golan Heights profile \|date=27 November 2015 \|work=BBC News \|access-date=6 January 2017}}</ref> The international community largely rejected these moves, with the UN Security Council declaring both the Jerusalem Law and the Golan Heights Law null and void.<ref>{{cite book \| last=Hillier \| first=T. \| title=Sourcebook on Public International Law \| publisher=Routledge\| year=1998 \|isbn=978-1-135-35366-7 \| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DmuPAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA242 \| access-date=2021-10-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \| last1=Monacella \| first1=R. \| last2=Ware \| first2=S.A. \| title=Fluctuating Borders: Speculations about Memory and Emergence \| publisher=RMIT University Press \| year=2007 \|isbn=978-1-921166-48-8 \| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7r4wd57FqIC&pg=RA1-PA62 \| access-date=2021-10-12}}</ref> Israel's population diversity expanded in the 1980s and 1990s. Several waves of ] ] to Israel since the 1980s, while between 1990 and 1994, ] increased Israel's population by twelve percent.<ref>{{cite journal \|url=http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Economics/Papers/1996/pdfs/96-28.pdf \|journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics \|date=November 2001 \|title=The Impact of Mass Migration on the Israeli Labor Market \|last=Friedberg \|first=Rachel M. \|pages=1373–1408 \|issue=4 \|doi=10.1162/003355301753265606 \|volume=116\|hdl=10419/102605 \|citeseerx=10.1.1.385.2596 }}</ref>

	On 7 June 1981, during the ], the Israeli air force ] Iraq's sole ] under construction just outside ], in order to impede Iraq's nuclear weapons programme. Following a series of PLO attacks in 1982, Israel ] Lebanon that year to destroy the bases from which the PLO launched attacks and missiles into northern Israel.{{sfn\|Bregman\|2002\|p=199}} In the first six days of fighting, the Israelis destroyed the military forces of the PLO in Lebanon and decisively defeated the Syrians. An Israeli government inquiry—the ]—would later hold Begin and several Israeli generals as indirectly responsible for the ] and hold ] ] as bearing "personal responsibility" for the massacre.<ref>{{cite book \|last1= Schiff \|first1= Ze'ev \|author-link= Ze'ev Schiff \|last2= Ehud \|first2= Yaari \|author-link2= Ehud Yaari \|title= Israel's Lebanon War \|publisher= ] \|year= 1984 \|page= \|isbn=978-0-671-47991-6 \|url= https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa0000schi/page/284 }}</ref> Sharon was forced to resign as Defense Minister.<ref>{{cite book \|last= Silver \|first= Eric \|author-link= Eric Silver \|title= Begin: The Haunted Prophet \|publisher= ] \|year= 1984 \|page= \|isbn=978-0-394-52826-7 \|url= https://archive.org/details/beginhauntedprop00silv/page/239 }}</ref> In 1985, Israel responded to a Palestinian ] in ] by ] the PLO headquarters in Tunisia. Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon in 1986, but maintained a ] in southern Lebanon until 2000, from where Israeli forces ] with ]. The ], a Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule,<ref>{{cite book\|title=A History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict \|last=Tessler \|first=Mark A. \|year=1994 \|publisher=Indiana University Press \|isbn=978-0-253-20873-6 \|page= \|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofisraeli00tess_0/page/677 }}</ref> broke out in 1987, with waves of uncoordinated demonstrations and violence occurring in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Over the following six years, the Intifada became more organized and included economic and cultural measures aimed at disrupting the Israeli occupation. More than a thousand people were killed in the violence.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Stone\|Zenner\|1994\|p=246}}. "Toward the end of 1991 ... were the result of internal Palestinian terror."</ref> During the 1991 ], the PLO supported ] and Iraqi Scud missile ]. Despite public outrage, Israel heeded American calls to refrain from hitting back and did not participate in that war.<ref>{{cite news \|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE7DB173EF93AA35751C1A967958260 \|title=After 4 Years, Intifada Still Smolders \|work=The New York Times \|date=9 December 1991 \|access-date=28 March 2008 \|last=Haberman \|first=Clyde}}</ref><ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets \|Mowlana \|Gerbner \|Schiller \|1992 \|p=111}}</ref>

	] (left) with ] (center) and King ] (right), prior to signing the ] in 1994.]]
	In 1992, ] became prime minister following ] in which his party called for compromise with Israel's neighbours.{{sfn\|Bregman\|2002\|p=236}}<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.bc.edu/dam/files/research_sites/cjl/texts/cjrelations/resources/education/Israel_Palestine/cold_war_ends.htm \|publisher=] \|title=From the End of the Cold War to 2001 \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827235024/http://www.bc.edu/dam/files/research_sites/cjl/texts/cjrelations/resources/education/Israel_Palestine/cold_war_ends.htm \|archive-date=27 August 2013 }}</ref> The following year, ] on behalf of Israel, and ] for the PLO, signed the ], which gave the ] the right to govern ] and the Gaza Strip.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1990-2000/Oslo \|publisher=U.S. Department of State \|title=The Oslo Accords, 1993 \|access-date=30 March 2010 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122102530/http://history.state.gov/milestones/1990-2000/Oslo \|archive-date=22 January 2010 }}</ref> The PLO also ] Israel's right to exist and pledged an end to terrorism.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Israel-PLO%20Recognition%20-%20Exchange%20of%20Letters%20betwe \|publisher=Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|title=Israel–PLO Recognition – Exchange of Letters between PM Rabin and Chairman Arafat – Sept 9, 1993 \|access-date=31 March 2010 }}</ref>{{bsn\|date=January 2023}} In 1994, the ] was signed, making Jordan the second Arab country to normalize relations with Israel.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Harkavy\|Neuman\|2001\|p=270}}. "Even though Jordan in 1994 became the second country, after Egypt to sign a peace treaty with Israel ..."</ref> Arab public support for the Accords was damaged by the continuation of Israeli settlements<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/settlement-info-and-tables/stats-data/sources-of-population-growth-total-israeli-population-and-settler-population-1991-2003 \|title=Sources of Population Growth: Total Israeli Population and Settler Population, 1991–2003 \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|publisher=] \|website=Settlements information \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826051148/http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/settlement-info-and-tables/stats-data/sources-of-population-growth-total-israeli-population-and-settler-population-1991-2003 \|archive-date=26 August 2013 }}</ref> and ], and the deterioration of economic conditions.<ref>{{cite book\|title=Negotiating Arab-Israeli peace: American leadership in the Middle East \|last=Kurtzer \|first=Daniel \|author2=Lasensky, Scott \|year=2008 \|publisher=United States Institute of Peace Press \|isbn=978-1-60127-030-6 \|page= \|url=https://archive.org/details/negotiatingarabi0000kurt/page/44 }}</ref> Israeli public support for the Accords waned as Israel was struck by ].<ref>{{cite book\|title=A history of the modern Middle East \|last=Cleveland \|first=William L. \|year=1999 \|publisher=Westview Press \|isbn=978-0-8133-3489-9 \|page= \|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernm00clev/page/494 }}</ref> In November 1995, Yitzhak Rabin ] as he left a peace rally by ], a far-right Jew who opposed the Accords.<ref>{{cite news \|title=Israel marks Rabin assassination \|publisher=BBC News \|date=12 November 2005 \|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4431728.stm}}</ref>

	], in which 21 Israelis were killed.]]
	Under the leadership of ] at the end of the 1990s, Israel ] from ],{{sfn\|Bregman\|2002\|p=257}} and signed the ], giving greater control to the Palestinian National Authority.<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/www/regions/nea/981023_interim_agmt.html\|publisher=]\|title=The Wye River Memorandum \|date=23 October 1998 \|access-date=30 March 2010}}</ref> ], ] Prime Minister in 1999, began the new millennium by withdrawing forces from Southern Lebanon and conducting negotiations with Palestinian Authority Chairman ] and U.S. President ] at the ]. During the summit, Barak offered a plan for the establishment of a ]. The proposed state included the entirety of the Gaza Strip and over 90% of the West Bank with Jerusalem as a shared capital.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Gelvin\|2005\|p=240}}</ref> Each side blamed the other for the failure of the talks. After a controversial visit by Likud leader ] to the ], the ] began. ] have been a recurring feature of the Intifada, causing Israeli civilian life to become a battlefield.<ref>Sela-Shayovitz, R. (2007). Suicide bombers in Israel: Their motivations, characteristics, and prior activity in terrorist organizations. ''International Journal of Conflict and Violence (IJCV)'', ''1''(2), 163. "The period of the second Intifada significantly differs from other historical periods in Israeli history, because it has been characterized by intensive and numerous suicide attacks that have made civilian life into a battlefront."</ref> Some commentators contend that the Intifada was pre-planned by Arafat due to the collapse of peace talks.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/114827/the-big-myth-he-caused-second-intifada \|title=The big myth: that he caused the Second Intifada \|last=Gross \|first=Tom \|date=16 January 2014 \|newspaper=The Jewish Chronicle \|access-date=22 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news \|last=Hong \|first=Nicole \|date=23 February 2015 \|title=Jury Finds Palestinian Authority, PLO Liable for Terrorist Attacks in Israel a Decade Ago \|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/jury-finds-palestinian-authority-plo-liable-for-terrorist-attacks-in-israel-a-decade-ago-1424715529 \|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal \|access-date=22 April 2016}}</ref><ref name=jewishweek>{{cite news \|url=http://jewishweek.org/news/newscontent.php3?artid=3846 \|title=PA: Intifada Was Planned \|last=Ain \|first=Stewart \|date=20 December 2000 \|newspaper=The Jewish Week \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013083338/http://jewishweek.org/news/newscontent.php3?artid=3846 \|archive-date=13 October 2007}}</ref><ref name=atlantic>{{cite news \|title=In a Ruined Country \|first=David \|last=Samuels \|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/09/in-a-ruined-country/304167/ \|newspaper=The Atlantic \|date=1 September 2005 \|access-date=27 March 2013}}</ref> Sharon became prime minister in a ]. During his tenure, Sharon carried out his plan to ] from the Gaza Strip and also spearheaded the construction of the ],<ref>{{cite news\|title=West Bank barrier route disputed, Israeli missile kills 2 \|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-07-29-west-bank_x.htm \|newspaper=USA Today \|date=29 July 2004 \|access-date=1 October 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020225835/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-07-29-west-bank_x.htm \|archive-date=20 October 2012 }}</ref> ending the Intifada.<ref name=rage>{{cite news \|title=Years of rage \|first1=Amos \|last1=Harel \|first2=Avi \|last2=Issacharoff \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/years-of-rage-1.316603 \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=1 October 2010 \|access-date=12 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news \|title=Losing Faith in the Intifada \|first=Laura \|last=King \|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2004/sep/28/world/fg-intifada28 \|newspaper=Los Angeles Times \|date=28 September 2004 \|access-date=12 August 2012 }}; {{cite news \|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52801-2004Sep26.html \|title=From Jenin To Fallujah? \|last=Diehl \|first=Jackson \|date=27 September 2004 \|newspaper=The Washington Post \|access-date=12 August 2012 }}; {{cite web \|url=http://www.jcpa.org/text/Amidror-perspectives-2.pdf \|title=Winning Counterinsurgency War: The Israeli Experience \|last=Amidror \|first=Yaakov \|website=Strategic Perspectives \|publisher=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs \|access-date=12 August 2012 }}; {{cite web \|url=http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/perspectives57.html \|title=The Need for a Decisive Israeli Victory Over Hamas \|last=Frisch \|first=Hillel \|date=12 January 2009 \|website=Perspectives Papers on Current Affairs \|publisher=Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies \|access-date=12 August 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614054502/http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/perspectives57.html \|archive-date=14 June 2012 }}; {{cite web \|url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA449421 \|title=The "Defensive Shield" Operation as a Turning Point in Israel's National Security Strategy \|last=Buchris \|first=Ofek \|date=9 March 2006 \|website=Strategy Research Project \|publisher=United States Army War College \|access-date=12 August 2012 }}; {{cite news \|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50910-2004Jun17.html \|title=Israel's Intifada Victory \|last=Krauthammer \|first=Charles \|date=18 June 2004 \|newspaper=The Washington Post \|access-date=12 August 2012 }}; {{cite news \|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3558676,00.html \|title=2nd Intifada forgotten \|last=Plocker \|first=Sever \|date=22 June 2008 \|work=Ynetnews \|access-date=12 August 2012 }}; {{cite web \|url=http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/PolicyFocus64.pdf \|title=Lessons from the Palestinian 'War' against Israel \|last=Ya'alon \|first=Moshe \|date=January 2007 \|website=Policy Focus \|publisher=Washington Institute for Near East Policy \|access-date=12 August 2012 \|archive-date=11 August 2012 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811130133/http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/PolicyFocus64.pdf \|url-status=dead }}; {{cite news \|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3957131,00.html \|title=Letting the IDF win \|last=Hendel \|first=Yoaz \|date=20 September 2010 \|work=Ynetnews \|access-date=12 August 2012 }}; {{cite book\|author1=Zvi Shtauber\|author2=Yiftah Shapir\|title=The Middle East strategic balance, 2004–2005\|url={{Google books\|t7C-ZDXrfOgC\|page=PA7\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|access-date=12 February 2012\|year=2006\|publisher=Sussex Academic Press\|isbn=978-1-84519-108-5\|page=7}}</ref> Between 2000 and 2008, 1,063 Israelis, 5,517 Palestinians and 64 foreign citizens had been killed.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.btselem.org/statistics/fatalities/before-cast-lead/by-date-of-event \|title=Fatalities before Operation "Cast Lead" \|publisher=B'Tselem \|access-date=14 January 2017}}</ref>

	In 2006, a Hezbollah artillery assault on Israel's northern border communities and a ] of two Israeli soldiers precipitated the month-long ].<ref name="UN1701">{{cite web \|url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8808.doc.htm \|title=Security Council Calls for End to Hostilities between Hizbollah, Israel, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 1701 (2006) \|website=] \|date=11 August 2006}}<br />Escalation of hostilities in Lebanon and in Israel since Hizbollah's attack on Israel on 12 July 2006</ref><ref name="HRTZ_Harel">{{cite news \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/hezbollah-kills-8-soldiers-kidnaps-two-in-offensive-on-northern-border-1.192965 \|title=Hezbollah kills 8 soldiers, kidnaps two in offensive on northern border \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|last=Harel \|first=Amos \|date=13 July 2006 \|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref> In 2007, the Israeli Air Force ] a nuclear reactor in Syria. In 2008, Israel entered another conflict as ] between ] and Israel collapsed. The ] lasted three weeks and ended after Israel announced a unilateral ceasefire.<ref>{{cite news \|first = Jason \|last = Koutsoukis \|title = Battleground Gaza: Israeli ground forces invade the strip \|url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/battleground-gaza/2009/01/04/1231003847085.html \|work=Sydney Morning Herald \|date = 5 January 2009 \|access-date =5 January 2009}}</ref><ref name=ravid>{{cite news \|last=Ravid \|first=Barak \|title=IDF begins Gaza troop withdrawal, hours after ending 3-week offensive \|newspaper=Haaretz \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|date=18 January 2009 \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/idf-begins-gaza-troop-withdrawal-hours-after-ending-3-week-offensive-1.268326}}</ref> Hamas announced its own ceasefire, with its own conditions of complete withdrawal and opening of ]. Despite neither the ] nor Israeli ] having completely stopped, the fragile ceasefire remained in order.<ref>{{cite news \|first=Yuval \|last=Azoulay \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/two-idf-soldiers-civilian-lightly-hurt-as-gaza-mortars-hit-negev-1.266841 \|title=Two IDF soldiers, civilian lightly hurt as Gaza mortars hit Negev \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=1 January 2009 \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> In what Israel described as a response to ] on southern Israeli cities,<ref name="pound">{{cite news \|title=Gaza groups pound Israel with over 100 rockets \|first1=Yaakov \|last1=Lappin \|first2=Tovah \|last2=Lazaroff \|url=http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Gaza-groups-pound-Israel-with-over-100-rockets \|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post \|date=12 November 2012 \|access-date=27 March 2013}}</ref> Israel began ] in 2012, lasting eight days.<ref>{{cite news\|author=Stephanie Nebehay \|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/palestinians-israel-humanitarian-idUSL5E8MK6MG20121120 \|title=UN rights boss, Red Cross urge Israel, Hamas to spare civilians \|work=Reuters \|date=20 November 2012 \|access-date=20 November 2012}}; {{cite news \|title=Hamas leader defiant as Israel eases Gaza curbs \|first=Nidal \|last=al-Mughrabi \|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-israel-hamas-idUSBRE8AD0WP20121124 \|publisher=Reuters \|date=24 November 2012 \|access-date=8 February 2013}}; {{cite news\|url=http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=291779\|title=Israeli air strike kills top Hamas commander Jabari\|work=The Jerusalem Post\|access-date=14 November 2012}}</ref> Israel started another ] in Gaza following an ] by Hamas in July 2014.<ref>{{cite news\|title=Israel and Hamas Trade Attacks as Tension Rises\|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/world/middleeast/israel-steps-up-offensive-against-hamas-in-gaza.html\|work=The New York Times\|date=8 July 2014}}</ref> In May 2021, another ] took place in Gaza and Israel, lasting eleven days.<ref>{{cite news\|title=Israel and Hamas agree Gaza truce, Biden pledges assistance\|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-official-predicts-ceasefire-soon-israel-gaza-fight-goes-2021-05-19/\|publisher=Reuters\|date=21 May 2021}}</ref>

	By the 2010s, the ] between Israel and ] countries have been established, culminating in the signing of the ]. The Israeli security situation shifted from the traditional ] towards the ] and ].

	==Geography and environment==
	{{Main\|Geography of Israel\|Wildlife of Israel}}
	{{Israel Geographical Map}}
	{{multiple image\|caption_align=center\|total_width=220\|image1=Satellite image of Israel in January 2003.jpg\|width1=727\|height1=1731\|image2=Israel at night.jpg\|width2=425\|height2=934\|footer=] of Israel and neighboring territories during the day and night}}

	Israel is located in the ] area of the ] region. The country is at the ] of the ], bounded by Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank to the east, and Egypt and the Gaza Strip to the southwest. It lies between latitudes ] and ], and longitudes ] and ].

	The sovereign territory of Israel (according to the demarcation lines of the ] and excluding all territories captured by Israel during the 1967 ]) is approximately {{convert\|20770\|km2\|sqmi\|0\|sp=us}} in area, of which two percent is water.<ref name="cia">{{cite web \|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/israel/ \|title=Israel \|website=The World Factbook \|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency \|access-date=5 January 2017}}</ref> However Israel is so narrow (100 km at its widest, compared to 400 km from north to south) that the ] in the Mediterranean is double the land area of the country.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-navy-to-devote-majority-of-missile-boats-to-secure-offshore-drilling-rafts-1.406203 \|title=Israel Navy to devote majority of missile boats to secure offshore drilling rafts \|first=Gili \|last=Cohen \|date=9 January 2012 \|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref> The total area under Israeli law, including ] and the ], is {{convert\|22072\|km2\|sqmi\|0\|sp=us}},<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st01_01&CYear=2012 \|title=Area of Districts, Sub-Districts, Natural Regions and Lakes \|date=11 September 2012 \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=13 June 2013}}</ref> and the total area under Israeli control, including the military-controlled and partially ] territory of the ], is {{convert\|27799\|km2\|sqmi\|0\|sp=us}}.<ref name="loc-geo">{{cite journal \|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html \|date=7 May 2009 \|title=Israel (Geography) \|journal=Country Studies \|access-date=12 February 2010 }}</ref>

	Despite its small size, Israel is home to a variety of geographic features, from the ] desert in the south to the inland fertile ], mountain ranges of the ], ] and toward the ] in the north. The ] on the shores of the Mediterranean is home to most of the nation's population.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist%20Information/Discover%20Israel/Geographic%20Regions/pages/The%20coastal%20plain.aspx \|title=The Coastal Plain \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Tourism \|access-date=6 January 2017 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107171405/http://goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist%20Information/Discover%20Israel/Geographic%20Regions/pages/The%20coastal%20plain.aspx \|archive-date=7 January 2017 \|url-status=dead }}</ref> East of the central highlands lies the ], which forms a small part of the {{convert\|6500\|km\|mi\|0\|adj=on\|sp=us}} ]. The ] runs along the Jordan Rift Valley, from ] through the ] and the ] to the ], the ] on the surface of the Earth.<ref>{{Cite book \|url=https://archive.org/details/livingwatersmyth0000krei \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|access-date=20 July 2007 \|year=1999 \|title=The Living Dead Sea \|isbn=978-0-8264-0406-0 \|url-access=registration }}</ref> Further south is the ], ending with the ], part of the ]. ], or "erosion cirques" are unique to the ] and the ], the largest being the ] at 38 km in length.<ref>{{cite book \|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1486/ \|publisher=UNESCO \|title=Makhteshim Country \|access-date=19 September 2007 \|isbn=978-954-642-135-7 \|year=2001 }}</ref> A report on the environmental status of the ] states that Israel has the largest number of plant species per square meter of all the countries in the basin.<ref name=rinat>{{cite news \|last=Rinat \|first=Zafrir \|title=More endangered than rain forests? \|newspaper=Haaretz \|location=Tel Aviv \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|date=29 May 2008 \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/more-endangered-than-rain-forests-1.246839}}</ref> Israel contains four terrestrial ecoregions: ], ], ], and ].<ref name="DinersteinOlson2017">{{cite journal\|last1=Dinerstein\|first1=Eric\|last2=Olson\|first2=David\|last3=Joshi\|first3=Anup\|last4=Vynne\|first4=Carly\|last5=Burgess\|first5=Neil D.\|last6=Wikramanayake\|first6=Eric\|last7=Hahn\|first7=Nathan\|last8=Palminteri\|first8=Suzanne\|last9=Hedao\|first9=Prashant\|last10=Noss\|first10=Reed\|last11=Hansen\|first11=Matt\|last12=Locke\|first12=Harvey\|last13=Ellis\|first13=Erle C\|last14=Jones\|first14=Benjamin\|last15=Barber\|first15=Charles Victor\|last16=Hayes\|first16=Randy\|last17=Kormos\|first17=Cyril\|last18=Martin\|first18=Vance\|last19=Crist\|first19=Eileen\|last20=Sechrest\|first20=Wes\|last21=Price\|first21=Lori\|last22=Baillie\|first22=Jonathan E. M.\|last23=Weeden\|first23=Don\|last24=Suckling\|first24=Kierán\|last25=Davis\|first25=Crystal\|last26=Sizer\|first26=Nigel\|last27=Moore\|first27=Rebecca\|last28=Thau\|first28=David\|last29=Birch\|first29=Tanya\|last30=Potapov\|first30=Peter\|last31=Turubanova\|first31=Svetlana\|last32=Tyukavina\|first32=Alexandra\|last33=de Souza\|first33=Nadia\|last34=Pintea\|first34=Lilian\|last35=Brito\|first35=José C.\|last36=Llewellyn\|first36=Othman A.\|last37=Miller\|first37=Anthony G.\|last38=Patzelt\|first38=Annette\|last39=Ghazanfar\|first39=Shahina A.\|last40=Timberlake\|first40=Jonathan\|last41=Klöser\|first41=Heinz\|last42=Shennan-Farpón\|first42=Yara\|last43=Kindt\|first43=Roeland\|last44=Lillesø\|first44=Jens-Peter Barnekow\|last45=van Breugel\|first45=Paulo\|last46=Graudal\|first46=Lars\|last47=Voge\|first47=Maianna\|last48=Al-Shammari\|first48=Khalaf F.\|last49=Saleem\|first49=Muhammad\|title=An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm\|journal=BioScience\|volume=67\|issue=6\|year=2017\|pages=534–545\|issn=0006-3568\|doi=10.1093/biosci/bix014\|pmid=28608869\|pmc=5451287\|doi-access=free}}</ref> It had a 2019 ] mean score of 4.14/10, ranking it 135th globally out of 172 countries.<ref name="FLII-Supplementary">{{cite journal\|last1=Grantham\|first1=H. S.\|last2=Duncan\|first2=A.\|last3=Evans\|first3=T. D.\|last4=Jones\|first4=K. R.\|last5=Beyer\|first5=H. L.\|last6=Schuster\|first6=R.\|last7=Walston\|first7=J.\|last8=Ray\|first8=J. C.\|last9=Robinson\|first9=J. G.\|last10=Callow\|first10=M.\|last11=Clements\|first11=T.\|last12=Costa\|first12=H. M.\|last13=DeGemmis\|first13=A.\|last14=Elsen\|first14=P. R.\|last15=Ervin\|first15=J.\|last16=Franco\|first16=P.\|last17=Goldman\|first17=E.\|last18=Goetz\|first18=S.\|last19=Hansen\|first19=A.\|last20=Hofsvang\|first20=E.\|last21=Jantz\|first21=P.\|last22=Jupiter\|first22=S.\|last23=Kang\|first23=A.\|last24=Langhammer\|first24=P.\|last25=Laurance\|first25=W. F.\|last26=Lieberman\|first26=S.\|last27=Linkie\|first27=M.\|last28=Malhi\|first28=Y.\|last29=Maxwell\|first29=S.\|last30=Mendez\|first30=M.\|last31=Mittermeier\|first31=R.\|last32=Murray\|first32=N. J.\|last33=Possingham\|first33=H.\|last34=Radachowsky\|first34=J.\|last35=Saatchi\|first35=S.\|last36=Samper\|first36=C.\|last37=Silverman\|first37=J.\|last38=Shapiro\|first38=A.\|last39=Strassburg\|first39=B.\|last40=Stevens\|first40=T.\|last41=Stokes\|first41=E.\|last42=Taylor\|first42=R.\|last43=Tear\|first43=T.\|last44=Tizard\|first44=R.\|last45=Venter\|first45=O.\|last46=Visconti\|first46=P.\|last47=Wang\|first47=S.\|last48=Watson\|first48=J. E. M.\|title=Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity – Supplementary Material\|journal=Nature Communications\|volume=11\|issue=1\|year=2020\|page=5978\|issn=2041-1723\|doi=10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3\|pmid=33293507\|pmc=7723057\|bibcode=2020NatCo..11.5978G \|doi-access=free}}</ref>

	===Tectonics and seismicity===
	{{Further\|List of earthquakes in the Levant}}

	The ] is the result of tectonic movements within the ] (DSF) fault system. The DSF forms the ] between the ] to the west and the ] to the east. The Golan Heights and all of ] are part of the Arabian Plate, while the Galilee, West Bank, Coastal Plain, and Negev along with the Sinai Peninsula are on the African Plate. This tectonic disposition leads to a relatively high ]. The entire Jordan Valley segment is thought to have ruptured repeatedly, for instance during the last two major ] along this structure in ] and ]. The deficit in ] that has built up since the 1033 event is sufficient to cause an earthquake of {{M\|w}}~7.4.<ref name="Ferry">{{cite journal \|title= A 48-kyr-long slip rate history for the Jordan Valley segment of the Dead Sea Fault \|author1=Ferry M. \|author2=Meghraoui M. \|author3=Karaki A.A. \|author4=Al-Taj M. \|author5=Amoush H. \|author6=Al-Dhaisat S. \|author7=Barjous M. \|journal= Earth and Planetary Science Letters \|year=2008 \|volume=260 \|issue=3–4 \|pages=394–406 \|doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2007.05.049 \|bibcode=2007E&PSL.260..394F }}</ref>

	The most catastrophic known earthquakes occurred in 31 BCE, ], 749, and 1033 CE, that is every {{Abbr\|ca.\|circa}} 400 years on average.<ref name="MarcoAFTAU">American Friends of the Tel Aviv University, ''Earthquake Experts at Tel Aviv University Turn to History for Guidance'' (4 October 2007). Quote: The major ones were recorded along the Jordan Valley in the years 31 B.C.E., 363 C.E., 749 C.E., and 1033 C.E. "So roughly, we are talking about an interval of every 400 years. If we follow the patterns of nature, a major quake should be expected any time because almost a whole millennium has passed since the last strong earthquake of 1033." (Tel Aviv University Associate Professor Dr. Shmuel (Shmulik) Marco). {{Webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811164733/https://www.aftau.org/news-page-environment--ecology?storyid4703=2015&ncs4703=3\|date=11 August 2020}}</ref> Destructive earthquakes leading to serious loss of life strike about every 80 years.<ref name="IllPreped">Zafrir Renat, ''Israel Is Due, and Ill Prepared, for Major Earthquake'', Haaretz, 15 January 2010. "On average, a destructive earthquake takes place in Israel once every 80 years, causing serious casualties and damage." </ref> While stringent construction regulations are currently in place and recently built structures are earthquake-safe, {{As of\|2007\|lc=y}} the majority of the buildings in Israel were older than these regulations and many public buildings as well as 50,000 residential buildings did not meet the new standards and were "expected to collapse" if exposed to a strong earthquake.<ref name="IllPreped"/>

	===Climate===
	{{Further\|Climate change in Israel}}
	] map of Israel and the ]]]
	Temperatures in Israel vary widely, especially during the winter. Coastal areas, such as those of ] and ], have a typical ] with cool, rainy winters and long, hot summers. The area of ] and the Northern Negev have a ] with hot summers, cool winters, and fewer rainy days than the Mediterranean climate. The Southern Negev and the Arava areas have a ] with very hot, dry summers, and mild winters with few days of rain. The highest temperature in the world outside Africa and North America {{As of\|2021\|lc=y}}, 54 °C (129 °F), was recorded in 1942 in the ] kibbutz in the northern Jordan River valley.<ref name=watzman>{{cite news \|last=Watzman \|first=Haim \|title=Left for dead \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|date=8 February 1997 \|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320684.400-left-for-dead.html \|newspaper=New Scientist \|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|url=https://wmo.asu.edu/content/wmo-region-vi-europe-highest-temperature\|title=WMO Region 6: Highest Temperature \|publisher=World Meteorological Organization\|url-status=live\|access-date=14 September 2021\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912112228/https://wmo.asu.edu/content/world-meteorological-organization-global-weather-climate-extremes-archive\|archive-date=12 September 2021}}</ref>

	At the other extreme, mountainous regions can be windy and cold, and areas at elevation of {{Convert\|750\|m\|}} or more (same elevation as Jerusalem) will usually receive at least one ] each year.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Goldreich\|2003\|p=85}}</ref> From May to September, rain in Israel is rare.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/ISXX0026 \|publisher=] \|access-date=11 July 2007 \|title=Average Weather for Tel Aviv-Yafo \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120111750/http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/ISXX0026 \|archive-date=20 January 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.weather.com/outlook/events/weddings/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/ISXX0010 \|publisher=] \|access-date=11 July 2007 \|title=Average Weather for Jerusalem \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120111740/http://www.weather.com/outlook/events/weddings/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/ISXX0010 \|archive-date=20 January 2013 }}</ref> With scarce water resources, Israel has developed various water-saving technologies, including ].<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/facts%20about%20israel/land/focus%20on%20israel-%20development%20of%20limited%20water%20reso \|publisher=Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|access-date=7 November 2007 \|title=Development of Limited Water Resources – Historical and Technological Aspects \|date=20 September 2003 \|last=Sitton \|first=Dov }}</ref>{{bsn\|date=January 2023}} Israelis also take advantage of the considerable sunlight available for ], making ] use per capita—practically every house uses solar panels for water heating.<ref name="Solar energy"/>

	There are four different ] regions in Israel, due to the country's location between the temperate and tropical zones, bordering the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the desert in the east. For this reason, the flora and fauna of Israel are extremely diverse. There are 2,867 known ]. Of these, at least 253 species are ] and non-native.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://flora.huji.ac.il/browse.asp?action=browse&name=1070 \|title=Flora of Israel Online \|publisher=Flora.huji.ac.il \|access-date=29 September 2010 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140430091717/http://flora.huji.ac.il/browse.asp?action=browse&name=1070 \|archive-date=30 April 2014 }}</ref> There are 380 ].<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Articles/Attractions/Pages/National%20Parks%20and%20Nature%20Reserves.aspx \|title=National Parks and Nature Reserves, Israel \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Tourism \|access-date=18 September 2012 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019042219/http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Articles/Attractions/Pages/National%20Parks%20and%20Nature%20Reserves.aspx \|archive-date=19 October 2012 \|url-status=dead }}</ref>

	The Israeli ] has reported that ] "will have a decisive impact on all areas of life, including: water, public health, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, coastal infrastructure, economics, nature, national security, and geostrategy", and will have the greatest effect on vulnerable populations such as the poor, the elderly, and the chronically ill.<ref name="MEP 2020">{{cite web\|url=https://www.gov.il/en/departments/guides/climate_trends_and_impact_in_israel \|title=Climate Change Trends and Impact in Israel\|publisher=]\|date=November 2, 2020\|access-date=June 29, 2021}}</ref>

	==Demographics==
	{{Main\|Demographics of Israel\|Israelis}}
	] of Israel]]
	{{As of\|{{data Israel\|pst2\|popbaseyear}}\|{{padleft:{{data Israel\|pst2\|popbasemonth}}\|2}}\|{{data Israel\|pst2\|popbaseday}}}}, Israel's population was an estimated {{formatnum:{{data Israel\|pst2\|popbase}}}}. In 2022, the civil government recorded 73.6% of the population as ], 21.1% of the population as ], and 5.3% as non-Arab Christians and people who have no religion listed.<ref name="population_stat2022">{{cite report\|url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/en/mediarelease/Pages/2022/Population-of-Israel-on-the-Eve-of-2023.aspx\|title=Population of Israel on the Eve of 2023\|date=29 December 2022\|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics\|access-date=29 December 2022}}</ref> Over the last decade, large numbers of migrant workers from Romania, Thailand, China, Africa, and South America have settled in Israel. Exact figures are unknown, as many of them are living in the country illegally,<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.irinnews.org/Report/85270/ISRAEL-Crackdown-on-illegal-migrants-and-visa-violators \|title=ISRAEL: Crackdown on illegal migrants and visa violators \|newspaper=IRIN \|date=14 July 2009}}</ref> but estimates run from 166,000 to 203,000.<ref name="Adriana Kemp">Adriana Kemp, "Labour migration and racialisation: labour market mechanisms and labour migration control policies in Israel", ''Social Identities'' 10:2, 267–292, 2004</ref> By June 2012, approximately 60,000 ] had entered Israel.<ref>{{cite news \|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-africans-idUSBRE85A0VI20120611 \|title=Israel rounds up African migrants for deportation \|publisher=Reuters \|date=11 June 2012}}</ref> About 93% of Israelis live in urban areas.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=IL\|title=Urban population (% of total population) – Israel\|website=data.worldbank.org\|publisher=]\|access-date= February 11, 2023}}</ref> 90% of ] reside in 139 densely populated towns and villages concentrated in the Galilee, ] and ] regions, with the remaining 10% in ] and neighbourhoods.<ref> ] 2022 p.16:'Today, Palestinian citizens and permanent residents of Israel comprise some 21% of Israel's population and number approximately 1.9 million. Some 90% of Palestinians with Israeli citizenship live in 139 densely populated towns and villages in the Galilee and Triangle regions in northern Israel and the Negev/Naqab region in the south, as a result of deliberate segregation policies. The vast majority of the remaining 10% live in "mixed cities".'</ref><ref> ] 27 April 2021 pp.7,57–63:' This policy, which aims to maximize Jewish Israeli control over land, concentrates the majority of Palestinians who live outside Israel's major, predominantly Jewish cities into dense, under-served enclaves and restricts their access to land and housing, while nurturing the growth of nearby Jewish communities.'</ref><ref>], ] Vol. 27, No. 2, (Winter 2012), pp. 190–200 pp.191,194.'the Palestinian Israeli population grew from 156,000 in 1948 to 1.4 million in 2012. Their villages became overcrowded as their land reserves steadily decreased. The lands were transferred from Palestinian private hands to state control. . .While the state has established hundreds of Jewish communities, it has not established any new Palestinian communities since 1948—except in the forced concentration of the Bedouin communities in poor towns.'</ref><ref>Gershon Shafir, From Overt to Veiled Segregation: Israel's Palestinian Arab Citizens in the Galilee, ], Volume 50 Issue 1 February 2018, pp.1–22 pp.4,7 {{doi\|10.1017/S0020743817000915}}: ' With about 90 percent of Israel's Palestinian citizens living in Arab-only towns and villages, they suffer from the hypersegregation typical of African American urban neighborhoods and its attendant deleterious consequences. This remarkable similarity, however, has different origins...Palestinian residents in old mixed cities are congregated into distinct neighborhoods, whereas in new mixed cities they form distinct enclaves, distinguished by strong family and communal ties'</ref><ref>{{cite news\|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/06/04/can-jews-palestinians-live-peacefully-israel-data-mixed-neighborhoods-says-yes/\|access-date=15 February 2022\|title=Can Jews and Palestinians live peacefully in Israel? The data on mixed neighborhoods says yes\|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Data published by the ] in 2016 estimated the average ] of Israelis at 82.5 years, making it the ].<ref name=OECD_life_expec>{{cite web\|url=https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/life-expectancy-at-birth.htm\|title=Health status – Life expectancy at birth – OECD Data\|website=theOECD}}</ref> Israeli Arab life expectancy lags behind by 3 to 4 years,<ref>{{Cite web \|date=2020-03-29 \|title=Arab and Jewish medics together on frontline of Israel's virus fight \|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20200329-arab-and-jewish-medics-together-on-frontline-of-israel-s-virus-fight \|access-date=2022-06-23 \|publisher=] \|agency=] \|language=en}}</ref><ref>Dov Chernichovsky, Bishara Bisharat, Liora Bowers, Aviv Brill, and Chen Sharony, . Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel December 2017 pp.1–50, 13 (2015)</ref> still highest among Arabs or Muslims in the world.<ref>{{Cite news \|date=9 October 2012 \|title=Saudi writer: 'Why is life expectancy in Israel better?' \|language=en-GB \|publisher=] \|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-radio-and-tv-19890597}}</ref><ref>{{cite news\|url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5062493,00.html#:~:text=The%20life%20expectancy%20of%20Israel's,developed%20countries'%20average%20of%2081.6.\|access-date=15 February 2022\|title=Taub Center report shows discrepancy in Jewish, Arab life expectancy\|newspaper=Ynetnews}}</ref>

	] in the years 1948–2015. The two peaks were in 1949 and 1990.]]
	Israel was established as a ] and is often referred to as a ]. The country's ] grants all Jews and those of Jewish ancestry the right to ].<ref>{{cite news\|last=Omer-Man\|first=Michael\|url=http://www.jpost.com/Features/In-Thespotlight/This-Week-in-History-Jewish-right-to-aliya-becomes-law\|title=This Week in History: Jewish right to aliya becomes law\|newspaper=]\|date=7 August 2011}}</ref> Retention of Israel's population since 1948 is about even or greater, when compared to other countries with mass immigration.<ref>{{cite book \|last= DellaPergola \|first= Sergio \|author-link= Sergio DellaPergola\|contribution= Still Moving: Recent Jewish Migration in Comparative Perspective \|editor=Daniel J. Elazar \|editor2=Morton Weinfeld\|editor2-link=Morton Weinfeld\|title= The Global Context of Migration to Israel \|orig-year= 2000 \|year= 2000\|publisher=Transaction Publishers \|location= New Brunswick, NJ \|isbn=978-1-56000-428-8 \|pages= 13–60 }}</ref> Jewish emigration from Israel (called '']'' in Hebrew), primarily to the United States and Canada, is described by demographers as modest,<ref>{{cite magazine \| last = Herman \| first = Pini \| title = The Myth of the Israeli Expatriate \| magazine=Moment Magazine \| volume = 8 \|issue = 8 \| pages = 62–63\| date = 1 September 1983 }}</ref> but is often cited by Israeli government ministries as a major threat to Israel's future.<ref>{{cite journal \|last1=Gould \|first1=Eric D. \|last2=Moav \|first2=Omer \|year=2007 \|title=Israel's Brain Drain \|journal=Israel Economic Review \|volume=5 \|issue=1 \|pages=1–22 \|ssrn=2180400 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news \|last=Rettig Gur \|first=Haviv \|title=Officials to US to bring Israelis home \|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post \|date=6 April 2008 \|url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=97254 \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref>

	Approximately 80% of ] are ], 14% are immigrants from Europe and the Americas, and 6% are immigrants from Asia and Africa.<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/doclib/2022/2.shnatonpopulation/st02_09.pdf \|title=Jews, by Continent of Origin, Continent of Birth and Period of Immigration \|date=15 September 2022 \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=21 February 2023}}</ref> Jews from Europe and the former ] and their descendants born in Israel, including ], constitute approximately 50% of Jewish Israelis. ] and their descendants, including both ] and ] Jews,<ref>{{cite journal \|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jss/summary/v015/15.1.goldberg.html \|title=From Sephardi to Mizrahi and Back Again: Changing Meanings of "Sephardi" in Its Social Environments\|journal=Jewish Social Studies\|volume=15\|issue=1\|pages=165–188\|year=2008\|last1=Goldberg\|first1=Harvey E.\|doi=10.18647/2793/JJS-2008}}</ref> form most of the rest of the Jewish population.<ref>{{cite news \|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/apr/03/israel-arab-jewish-mizrahi \|title=The myth of the Mizrahim \|work=The Guardian \|date=3 April 2009 \|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.jewcy.com/post/missing_mizrahim \|title= Missing Mizrahim\|date= 31 August 2009}}</ref> Jewish intermarriage rates run at over 35% and recent studies suggest that the percentage of Israelis descended from both Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews increases by 0.5 percent every year, with over 25% of school children now originating from both communities.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://sociology.huji.ac.il/docs/Okun-paper-2006-01.pdf \|title=Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Behavior of Adult Multiethnics: Jews in Israel \|last1=Okun \|first1=Barbara S. \|last2=Khait-Marelly \|first2=Orna \|year=2006 \|publisher=Hebrew University of Jerusalem \|access-date=26 May 2013 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029210049/http://sociology.huji.ac.il/docs/Okun-paper-2006-01.pdf \|archive-date=29 October 2013 }}</ref> Around 4% of Israelis (300,000), ethnically defined as "others", are ] of Jewish origin or family who are not Jewish according to rabbinical law, but were eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.<ref name="DellaPergola, Sergio 2011">{{cite web \| url=http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Jewish_Demographic_Policies.pdf \| title=Jewish Demographic Policies \| publisher=The Jewish People Policy Institute \|year=2011 \| author=DellaPergola, Sergio}}</ref><ref name="Israel people">{{cite encyclopedia \| url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Israel_(people).aspx \| title=Israel (people) \| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com \|year=2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news\|author=Yoram Ettinger\|title=Defying demographic projections\|url=http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3913\|access-date=29 October 2013\|newspaper=]\|date=5 April 2013}}</ref>

	The total number of ] beyond the ] is over 600,000 (≈10% of the Jewish Israeli population).<ref>{{cite magazine \|last=Gorenberg \|first=Gershom \|date=26 June 2017 \|title=Settlements: The Real Story \|url=http://prospect.org/article/settlements-real-story \|magazine=The American Prospect \|access-date=25 August 2017}}</ref> {{As of\|2016\|alt=In 2016}}, 399,300 Israelis ] in ] settlements,<ref name="districts_pop"/> including those that predated the establishment of the State of Israel and which were re-established after the ], in cities such as ] and ] bloc. In addition to the West Bank settlements, there were more than 200,000 Jews living in ],<ref name="jerusalem_pop"/> and 22,000 in the ].<ref name="districts_pop"/> Approximately 7,800 Israelis ] in the Gaza Strip, known as ], until they were evacuated by the government as part of its 2005 ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/settlement-info-and-tables/stats-data/settlements-in-the-gaza-strip-1 \|title=Settlements in the Gaza Strip \|access-date=12 December 2007 \|website=Settlement Information \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826025402/http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/settlement-info-and-tables/stats-data/settlements-in-the-gaza-strip-1 \|archive-date=26 August 2013 }}</ref>

	Israeli Arabs (including the Arab population of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights) comprise 21.1% of the population or 1,995,000 people.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/en/mediarelease/Pages/2021/Population-of-Israel-on-the-Eve-of-2022.aspx \|title=Population of Israel on the Eve of 2022 \|publisher=Cbs.gov.il \|date= \|access-date=2022-02-13}}</ref> In a 2017 telephone poll, 40% of Arab citizens of Israel identified as "Arab in Israel" or "Arab citizen of Israel", 15% identified as "Palestinian", 8.9% as "Palestinian in Israel" or "Palestinian citizen of Israel", and 8.7% as "Arab"; 60% of Israeli Arabs have a positive view of the state.<ref>{{cite report\|publisher=]\|url=https://www.kas.de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=0e141dca-8ac4-a77f-7045-f3a7d4c30991\|title=Citizenship, Identity and Political Participation: Measuring the Attitudes of the Arab Citizens in Israel\|date=December 2017\|pages=22, 25, 28\|issue=12\|quote=(p.28) "The positions of the participants in the focus groups reflect the strength of Palestinian-Arab identity among Arab citizens and the fact that they do not see a contradiction between Palestinian-Arab national identity and Israeli civic identity. The designation "Israeli-Arab" aroused great opposition in the focus groups, as did Israel's Independence Day. A comparison of views expressed in the focus groups with the general results of the survey points to differences between collective positions and memory and individual feelings and attitudes. The collective position presented in the focus group discussions finds expression in the public sphere and emphasizes the Palestinian national identity. Conversely, the responses of the survey participants reveal individual attitudes that assign a broader (albeit secondary, identity) dimension to the component of Israeli civic identity"; quote (p.25): "Amongst the participants there was consensus that Palestinian identity occupies a central place in their consciousness. The definition "Palestinian" has national and emotional importance, as it embodies the heritage of Arab citizens and their culture. This was expressed explicitly in the words of the participants: "We are Palestinian Arabs and we say this with pride;""We are Palestinian citizens of Israel. The emphasis is on the word 'Palestinians'"; "I am first and foremost a Palestinian and nothing more." The designation "Arab citizens of Israel" was acceptable to them on the basis of the understanding that it is impossible to live without citizenship, and as long as Israeli citizenship does not harm the national consciousness. Conversely, the participants spoke out against the designation "Arab-Israeli" and made statements such as "I am an Arab, I belong to a larger culture than the State of Israel"; "We are not the Arabs of Israel, I am an Arab who does not belong to the State of Israel. My roots and my Arabness existed before them." "[Arab-Israeli] is an inappropriate expression because our ancestors were here before '48."}}</ref><ref>{{cite news\|last1=Lynfield\|first1=Ben\|title=Survey: 60% of Arab Israelis have positive view of state\|url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Survey-60-percent-of-Arab-Israelis-have-positive-view-of-state-506150\|access-date=23 October 2017\|work=The Jerusalem Post\|date=27 September 2017}}</ref> According to ], "The identity of 83.0% of the Arabs in 2019 (up from 75.5% in 2017) has an Israeli component and 61.9% (unchanged from 60.3%) has a Palestinian component. However, when these two components were presented as competitors, 69.0% of the Arabs in 2019 chose exclusive or primary Palestinian identity, compared with 29.8% who chose exclusive or primary Israeli Arab identity."<ref>{{cite book\|title = Still Playing by the Rules: Index of Arab-Jewish Relations in Israel 2019 \|date =2020\| publisher =University of Haifa\|url = https://www.academia.edu/49106091\|page=88\|isbn=978-965-599-346-2\|last1 =Smooha\|first1 =Sammy}}</ref>

	===Major urban areas===
	{{Main list\|List of cities in Israel}}
	{{wide image\|Tel Aviv Panorama.jpg\|900px\|View over the ]}}

	Israel has four major metropolitan areas: ] (Tel Aviv metropolitan area; population 3,854,000), ] (population 1,253,900), ] (population 924,400), and ] (population 377,100).<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_25&CYear=2017 \|title=Localities, Population and Density per Sq. Km., by Metropolitan Area and Selected Localities \|date=6 September 2017 \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=19 September 2017}}</ref>

	Israel's largest municipality, in population and area, is ] with {{Israel populations\|Jerusalem}} residents in an area of {{convert\|125\|km2\|0\|abbr=out}}.{{Israel populations\|reference}} Israeli government statistics on Jerusalem include the population and area of ], which is widely recognized as part of the ] under ].<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Roberts\|1990\|p=60}} Although East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been brought directly under Israeli law, by acts that amount to annexation, both of these areas continue to be viewed by the international community as occupied, and their status as regards the applicability of international rules is in most respects identical to that of the West Bank and Gaza.</ref> ] and ] rank as Israel's next most populous cities, with populations of {{Israel populations\|Tel Aviv - Yafo}} and {{Israel populations\|Haifa}}, respectively.{{Israel populations\|reference}}
	The (mainly ]) city of ] is the most densely populated city in Israel and one of the ] in the world.<ref>{{cite web \| url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-city-rankings/population-density-by-city \| title=Population Density by City }}</ref>

	Israel has 16 ] with populations over 100,000. In all, there are 77 Israeli localities granted ] by the Ministry of the Interior,<ref>, 2018</ref> ].<ref>{{cite web \| url=https://www.science.co.il/municipal/Cities.php \| title=List of Cities in Israel}}</ref> Two more cities are planned: ], a ] to be built in the ], and ], originally a small town that is being built into a large city since 2015.<ref>{{cite news\|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-harish-rises-some-wonder-if-it-can-break-suburban-mold/ \|title=New town Harish harbors hopes of being more than another Pleasantville \|work=The Times of Israel \|access-date=2 July 2018 \|date=25 August 2015 }}</ref>

	{{Largest cities of Israel}}

	===Language===
	{{Main\|Languages of Israel}}
	] in ], Arabic, and English]]
	Israel's sole official language is ]. Until 2018, ] was also one of two official languages of the State of Israel;<ref name=lang1/> in 2018 ] to having a 'special status in the state' with its use by state institutions to be set in law.<ref name=lang2/><ref name=lang3/> Hebrew is the primary language of the state and is spoken every day by the majority of the population. Arabic is spoken by the Arab minority, with Hebrew taught in Arab schools.

	As a country of ], many languages can be heard on the streets. Due to mass immigration from the former Soviet Union and ] (some 130,000 ]),<ref name="The Ethiopian Population In Israel">]: </ref><ref>{{cite news \|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-ethiopia-jews-sb-idUSTRE56F4ZY20090716 \|title=Israel may admit 3,000 Ethiopia migrants if Jews \|publisher=Reuters \|date=16 July 2009}}</ref> ] and ] are widely spoken.<ref>{{cite news \|title=Israel's welcome for Ethiopian Jews wears thin \|first=Bill \|last=Meyer \|url=http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2008/08/israels_welcome_for_ethiopian.html \|newspaper=The Plain Dealer \|date=17 August 2008 \|access-date=1 October 2012}}</ref> More than one million Russian-speaking immigrants ] in Israel from the post-Soviet states between 1990 and 2004.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/study-soviet-immigrants-outperform-israeli-students-1.238970 \|title=Study: Soviet immigrants outperform Israeli students \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=10 February 2008}}</ref> French is spoken by around 700,000 Israelis,<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4156781,00.html \|title=French radio station RFI makes aliyah \|newspaper=Ynetnews \|date=5 December 2011}}</ref> mostly originating ] and North Africa (see ]). English was an official language during the Mandate period; it lost this status after the establishment of Israel, but retains a role comparable to that of an official language,<ref>{{cite book\|last=Spolsky\|first=Bernard\|title=Round Table on Language and Linguistics \|url={{Google books\|ljumbfV_7y0C\|page=PA169\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|year=1999\|publisher=Georgetown University Press\|location=Washington, DC \|isbn=978-0-87840-132-1 \|pages=169–170 \|quote=In 1948, the newly independent state of Israel took over the old British regulations that had set English, Arabic, and Hebrew as official languages for Mandatory Palestine but, as mentioned, dropped English from the list. In spite of this, official language use has maintained a de facto role for English, after Hebrew but before Arabic.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|first=Hava \|last=Bat-Zeev Shyldkrot\|editor2-first=Hava\|editor2-last=Bat-Zeev Shyldkrot \|editor1-first=Dorit \|editor1-last=Diskin Ravid\|editor1-link=Dorit Ravid\|title=Perspectives on Language and Development: Essays in Honor of Ruth A. Berman \|chapter-url={{Google books\|xMzx6xFB0IgC\|page=PA90\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers \|date=2004 \|page=90 \|chapter=Part I: Language and Discourse \|isbn=978-1-4020-7911-5 \|quote=English is not considered official but it plays a dominant role in the educational and public life of Israeli society. ... It is the language most widely used in commerce, business, formal papers, academia, and public interactions, public signs, road directions, names of buildings, etc. English behaves 'as if' it were the second and official language in Israel.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|first=Elana\|last=Shohamy\|title=Language Policy: Hidden Agendas and New Approaches \|url={{Google books\|5mG09P64jzYC\|page=PA72\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|year=2006 \|publisher=Routledge \|isbn=978-0-415-32864-7 \|pages=72–73 \|quote=In terms of English, there is no connection between the declared policies and statements and de facto practices. While English is not declared anywhere as an official language, the reality is that it has a very high and unique status in Israel. It is the main language of the academy, commerce, business, and the public space.}}</ref> as may be seen in ] and official documents. Many Israelis communicate reasonably well in English, as many television programmes are broadcast in English with ] and the language is taught from the early grades in elementary school. In addition, Israeli universities offer courses in the English language on various subjects.<ref>{{cite web\|title=English programs at Israeli universities and colleges\|url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/AboutIsrael/Education/Pages/English_programs_Israeli_universities_colleges.aspx\|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs}}</ref>{{bsn\|date=January 2023}}

	===Religion===
	{{Main\|Religion in Israel}}
	{{See also\|Abrahamic religions}}
	{{Religion in Israel chart}}
	Israel comprises a major part of the ], a region of significant importance to all ], including ], ], ], ], the ] and the ].

	The ] of ] varies widely: a social survey from 2016 made by ] indicates that 49% self-identify as ] (secular), 29% as ] (traditional), 13% as ] (religious) and 9% as ] (ultra-Orthodox).<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/03/08/in-israel-jews-are-united-by-homeland-but-divided-into-very-different-groups/ \|title=In Israel, Jews are united by homeland but divided into very different groups \|last1=Starr \|first1=Kelsey Jo \|last2=Masci \|first2=David \|date=8 March 2016 \|publisher=Pew Research Center \|access-date=14 January 2017}}</ref> Haredi Jews are expected to represent more than 20% of Israel's Jewish population by 2028.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/at-the-edge-of-the-abyss-1.3538 \|title=At the edge of the abyss \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=24 November 2009}}</ref>

	] constitute Israel's largest religious minority, making up about 17.6% of the population. About 2% of the population is ] and 1.6% is ].<ref name="cia"/> The Christian population is composed primarily of ] and ], but also includes post-Soviet immigrants, the foreign laborers of multinational origins, and followers of ], considered by most Christians and Jews to be a form of Christianity.<ref>{{cite news \|title=Israel's Christian population numbers 148,000 as of Christmas Eve \|first=Moti \|last=Bassok \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-s-christian-population-numbers-148-000-as-of-christmas-eve-1.208151 \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=25 December 2006 \|access-date=26 April 2012}}</ref> Members of many other religious groups, including ] and ], maintain a presence in Israel, albeit in small numbers.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton53/st_eng02.pdf \|title=National Population Estimates \|access-date=6 August 2007 \|page=27 \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807012547/http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton53/st_eng02.pdf \|archive-date=7 August 2011 \|url-status=dead }}</ref> Out of more than one million ] from the former Soviet Union, about 300,000 are considered not Jewish by the ].<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.economist.com/node/15675691 \|title=Israel's disputatious Avigdor Lieberman: Can the coalition hold together? \|date=11 March 2010 \|newspaper=The Economist \|access-date=12 August 2012}}</ref>

	] and the ], Jerusalem.\|alt=A large open area with people bounded by old stone walls. To the left is a mosque with large golden dome.]]
	The city of ] is of ] to Jews, Muslims, and Christians, as it is the home of ] that are pivotal to their religious beliefs, such as the ] that incorporates the ] and the ] (Al-Aqsa Mosque compound) and the ].<ref>{{cite book \|title=Jerusalem: its sanctity and centrality to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam \|last=Levine \|first=Lee I. \|year=1999 \|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group \|isbn=978-0-8264-1024-5 \|page=516}}</ref> Other locations of religious importance in Israel are ] (holy in Christianity as the site of the ] of ]), ] and ] (two of the ] in Judaism), the ] in ] (holy in Islam as the shrine of the prophet ]), and the ] in ] (holy in Christianity and Islam as the tomb of ] or ]). A number of other religious landmarks are located in the ], among them ] in ], the ] and ] in ], and the ] in ]. The ] of the ] and the ] are located at the ] in ]; the leader of the faith is ] in ].<ref>{{cite book \| title = Hebrew Phrasebook \| publisher = Lonely Planet Publications \|year=1999 \| page = 156 \|isbn=978-0-86442-528-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://info.bahai.org/article-1-6-0-5.html \|title=The Baháʼí World Centre: Focal Point for a Global Community \|publisher=The Baháʼí International Community \|access-date=2 July 2007 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629171538/http://info.bahai.org/article-1-6-0-5.html \|archive-date=29 June 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|publisher=Baháʼí Library Online \|title=Teaching the Faith in Israel \|date=23 June 1995 \|url=http://bahai-library.com/uhj_teaching_in_israel \|access-date=6 August 2007 }}</ref> A few kilometres south of the Baháʼí World Centre is ] affiliated with the reformist ] movement. ], Haifa's mixed neighbourhood of Jews and Ahmadi Arabs is one of a few of its kind in the country, others being ], ], other ] neighbourhoods, ] and ].<ref>{{cite web \| url=http://www.haifatrail.com/haifa-trail-segment14-eng.htm#./images/sect-14/Haifa-Trail-Sect14-P1610817.jpg \| title=Kababir and Central Carmel – Multiculturalism on the Carmel \| access-date=8 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \| url=http://www.visit-haifa.org/eng/Kababir \| title=Visit Haifa \| access-date=8 January 2015}}</ref>

	===Education===
	{{Main\|Education in Israel}}
	] at ]]]
	Education is highly valued in the Israeli culture and was viewed as a ].<ref>{{cite web \| url=http://bibleresources.americanbible.org/resource/education-in-ancient-israel \| title=Education in Ancient Israel \| publisher=American Bible Society \| access-date=3 July 2015}}</ref> Jewish communities in the Levant were the first to introduce ] for which the organized community, not less than the parents was responsible.<ref>{{cite journal \|author=Moaz, Asher \|title=Religious Education in Israel \|journal=University of Detroit Mercy Law Review \|volume=83 \|number=5 \|pages=679–728 \|year=2006 \|url=https://law.bepress.com/taulwps/art44/}}</ref> Many international business leaders such as Microsoft founder ] have praised Israel for its high quality of education in helping spur Israel's economic development and technological boom.<ref name="David Adler"/><ref>{{cite web \| url=http://www.israel21c.org/technology/bill-gates-israel-is-a-high-tech-superpower/ \| title=Bill Gates – Israel is a high tech superpower \| publisher=Israel21 \| date=30 October 2005 \| access-date=3 July 2015 \| author=Karin Kloosterman}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine \| url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/11/07/what-are-the-secrets-behind-israels-growing-innovative-edge/ \| title=What Are The Secrets Behind Israel's Growing Innovative Edge? \| magazine=Forbes \| date=11 July 2013 \| access-date=3 July 2015 \| author=Gary Shapiro}}</ref> In 2015, the country ] third among ] members (after Canada and Japan) for the percentage of 25–64 year-olds that have attained ] with 49% compared with the OECD average of 35%.<ref name="OECD_education">{{cite report \|date=15 September 2016 \|title=Education at a Glance: Israel \|url=http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2016/israel_eag-2016-63-en \|publisher=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development \|access-date=18 January 2017}}</ref> In 2012, the country ranked third in the world in the number of academic degrees per capita (20 percent of the population).<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.american.edu/initeb/as5415a/Israel_ICT/itWork.html \|title=Israel: IT Workforce \|access-date=14 August 2007 \|website=Information Technology Landscape in Nations Around the World \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060913013444/http://www.american.edu/initeb/as5415a/Israel_ICT/itWork.html \|archive-date=13 September 2006 }}</ref>

	Israel has a ] of 16 years and a ] of 97.8%.<ref name="cia"/> The State Education Law, passed in 1953, established five types of schools: state secular, state religious, ultra orthodox, communal settlement schools, and Arab schools. The public secular is the largest school group, and is attended by the majority of Jewish and non-Arab pupils in Israel. Most Arabs send their children to schools where Arabic is the language of instruction.<ref>{{cite book \|url=http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED250227&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED250227 \|title=Israeli Schools: Religious and Secular Problems \|publisher=Education Resources Information Center \|date=10 October 1984 \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> Education is compulsory in Israel for children between the ages of three and eighteen.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/knesset-raises-school-dropout-age-to-18-1.225752 \|newspaper=Haaretz \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|date=18 July 2007 \|title=Knesset raises school dropout age to 18 \|first1=Or \|last1=Kashti \|first2=Shahar \|last2=Ilan}}</ref> Schooling is divided into three tiers – primary school (grades 1–6), ] (grades 7–9), and high school (grades 10–12) – culminating with '']'' matriculation exams. Proficiency in core subjects such as mathematics, the ], Hebrew and general literature, the ], history, Biblical scripture and civics is necessary to receive a Bagrut certificate.<ref name="moia">{{cite web \|url=http://www.moia.gov.il/Publications/education_en.pdf \|title=Education \|last1=Shetreet \|first1=Ida Ben \|last2=Woolf \|first2=Laura L. \|year=2010 \|website=Publications Department \|publisher=Ministry of Immigrant Absorption \|access-date=30 August 2012}}</ref>

	Israel's Jewish population maintains a relatively high level of educational attainment where just under half of all Israeli Jews (46%) hold post-secondary degrees. This figure has remained stable in their already high levels of educational attainment over recent generations.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2016/12/13/religion-and-education-around-the-world/\|title=Religion and Education Around the World\|date=13 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2016/12/13/jewish-educational-attainment/\|title=6. Jewish educational attainment\|date=13 December 2016}}</ref> Israeli Jews (among those ages 25 and older) have average of 11.6 years of schooling making them one of the most highly educated of all major religious groups in the world.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2016/12/13/how-religious-groups-differ-in-educational-attainment/\|title=How Religious Groups Differ in Educational Attainment\|date=13 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/jews-top-class-first-ever-global-study-religion-and-education\|title=Jews at top of class in first-ever global study of religion and education\|date=13 December 2016}}</ref> In Arab, Christian and ] schools, the exam on Biblical studies is replaced by an exam on Muslim, Christian or Druze heritage.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.bibl.u-szeged.hu/oseas/bagrut.html \|publisher=United States-Israel Educational Foundation via the University of Szeged University Library \|title=The Israeli Matriculation Certificate \|access-date=5 August 2007 \|date=January 1996 \|archive-date=15 September 2017 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915073741/http://www.bibl.u-szeged.hu/oseas/bagrut.html \|url-status=dead }}</ref> '']'' described the ] sectors as "the most successful in education system",<ref name="המגזר הערבי נוצרי הכי מצליח במערכת החינוך">{{cite web\|url=http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/319/566.html\|title=המגזר הערבי נוצרי הכי מצליח במערכת החינוך)\|access-date=30 October 2014}}</ref> since Christians fared the best in terms of education in comparison to any other religion in Israel.<ref name="Christians in Israel: Strong in education">{{cite news\|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4323529,00.html\|title=Christians in Israel: Strong in education\|newspaper=Ynetnews\|access-date=30 October 2014\|date=23 December 2012\|last1=Druckman\|first1=Yaron}}</ref> Israeli children from Russian-speaking families have a higher bagrut pass rate at high-school level.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://brookdale.jdc.org.il/?CategoryID=192&ArticleID=351 \|title=Patterns of Integration into Israeli Society among Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union over the Past Two Decades \|last=Konstantinov \|first=Viacheslav \|date=2015 \|publisher=Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute \|access-date=9 March 2017}}</ref> Amongst immigrant children born in the ], the bagrut pass rate is higher amongst those families from European FSU states at 62.6% and lower amongst those from Central Asian and Caucasian FSU states.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://news.walla.co.il/item/1232268\|title=עולים מחבר העמים מצליחים יותר בבגרויות\|website=וואלה! חדשות\|date=10 February 2008}}</ref> In 2014, 61.5% of all Israeli twelfth graders earned a matriculation certificate.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st08_26&CYear=2016 \|title=Students in Grade 12 – Matriculation Examinees and Those Entitled to a Certificate \|date=2016 \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=5 March 2017}}</ref>

	] Campus of the ]]]

	Israel has a tradition of higher education where its quality university education has been largely responsible in spurring the nation's modern economic development.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://kehilanews.com/2017/05/11/israels-educational-tradition-drives-economic-growth/ \|title=Israel's educational tradition drives economic growth \|last=Silver \|first=Stefan \|date=11 May 2017 \|website=Kehlia News Israel}}</ref> Israel has ].<ref name="moia"/><ref>{{cite web\|url=http://embassies.gov.il/delhi/Departments/Pages/Academic%20Affairs.aspx \|title=Higher Education in Israel \|access-date=19 March 2012 \|publisher=Embassy of Israel In India \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725031634/http://embassies.gov.il/delhi/Departments/Pages/Academic%20Affairs.aspx \|archive-date=25 July 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news\|last=Paraszczuk\|first=Joanna\|title=Ariel gets university status, despite opposition\|url=http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Ariel-gets-university-status-despite-opposition\|access-date=21 December 2013\|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post\|date=17 July 2012}}</ref> The ], Israel's second-oldest university after the ],<ref>{{cite web\|title=About Technion\|url=http://pard.technion.ac.il/about-technion/\|publisher=]\|access-date=21 December 2013\|archive-date=24 December 2013\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224101758/http://pard.technion.ac.il/about-technion/\|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Israel\|url=http://monash.edu/study-abroad/outbound/exchange/partners/israel/\|publisher=Monash University\|access-date=21 December 2013\|url-status=dead\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224101745/http://monash.edu/study-abroad/outbound/exchange/partners/israel/\|archive-date=24 December 2013}}</ref> houses the ], the world's largest repository of Judaica and Hebraica.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/English/library/aboutus/past/Building/Pages/history.aspx \|publisher=National Library of Israel \|title=History of the Library \|access-date=22 August 2014}}</ref> The Technion and the Hebrew University consistently ranked among world's 100 top universities by the prestigious ] academic ranking.<ref name="ARWU">{{cite web \|url=http://www.shanghairanking.com/World-University-Rankings-2016/Israel.html \|title=Israel \|date=2016 \|publisher=Academic Ranking of World Universities \|access-date=6 January 2017 \|archive-date=17 August 2016 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817025723/http://www.shanghairanking.com/World-University-Rankings-2016/Israel.html \|url-status=dead }}</ref> Other major universities in the country include the ], ], ], ], the ] and the ]. ], in the ], is the newest university institution, upgraded from college status, and the first in over thirty years.

	==Government and politics==
	{{Main\|Israeli system of government\|Politics of Israel}}
	{{See also\|Criticism of the Israeli government}}
	]
	{{multiple image \|total_width=260 \|caption_align=center
	\| image1 = Isaac Herzog, July 2021 (D1233-049).JPG
	\| caption1 = ]<br />]

	\| image2 = Benjamin Netanyahu, February 2023.jpg
	\| caption2 = ]<br />]
	}}
	] chamber, home to the Israeli parliament]]

	Israel is a ] with ]. A member of parliament supported by a parliamentary majority becomes the ]—usually this is the chair of the largest party. The prime minister is the ] and head of the ].<ref name="cia2"/><ref>In 1996, direct elections for the prime minister were inaugurated, but the system was declared unsatisfactory and the old one reinstated. See {{cite news\|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2683259.stm \|publisher=BBC News \|title=Israel's election process explained \|access-date=31 March 2010 \|date=23 January 2003}}</ref>

	Israel is governed by a 120-member parliament, known as the ]. Membership of the Knesset is based on ] of ],<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/description/eng/eng_mimshal_beh.htm \|publisher=The Knesset \|access-date=8 August 2007 \|title=The Electoral System in Israel }}</ref>{{bsn\|date=February 2023}} with a 3.25% electoral threshold, which in practice has resulted in coalition governments. Residents of Israeli settlements in the West Bank are eligible to vote<ref>, Fox News, February 2015: "When Israelis go to the polls next month, tens of thousands of Jewish settlers in the West Bank will also be casting votes, even though they do not live on what is sovereign Israeli territory. This exception in a country that doesn't allow absentee voting for citizens living abroad is a telling reflection of Israel's somewhat ambiguous and highly contentious claim to the territory, which has been under military occupation for almost a half century."</ref> and after the ], 10 of the 120 MKs ({{percent\|10\|120}}) were settlers.<ref>, Israeli Democracy Institute, 30 March 2015</ref> Parliamentary ] are scheduled every four years, but unstable coalitions or a ] by the Knesset can dissolve a government earlier.<ref name="cnn">{{cite web \|title=How Israel's electoral system works - CNN.com \|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/02/05/israel.elections.explainer/index.html \|access-date=2021-10-14 \|publisher=]}}</ref> The first Arab-led party was established in 1988 and the main Arab bloc, the ], holds about 10% of the parliament's seats.<ref>{{Cite news \|last1=Halbfinger \|first1=David M. \|last2=McCann \|first2=Allison \|date=2020-02-28 \|title=As Israel Votes Again (and Again), Arabs See an Opportunity \|language=en-US \|work=] \|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/world/middleeast/israel-arabs-election-vote.html \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://archive.today/20220106024835/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/world/middleeast/israel-arabs-election-vote.html%23commentsContainer \|archive-date=2022-01-06}}</ref>

	The ] function as an ]. In its ], Israel defines itself as a ], and as the ].<ref name="freedomhouse2008">{{cite web \|year=2020 \|title=Israel \|url=https://freedomhouse.org/country/israel/freedom-world/2020 \|access-date=13 October 2020 \|website=] \|publisher=Freedom House}}</ref> In 2003, the Knesset began to draft an official ] based on these laws.<ref name="cia"/><ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Mazie\|2006\|p=34}}</ref>

	The ] is ], with limited and largely ceremonial duties.<ref name="cia2">{{cite web \|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2077.html \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613004001/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2077.html \|url-status=dead \|archive-date=13 June 2007 \|work=The World Factbook \|title=Field Listing — Executive Branch \|access-date=20 July 2007 \|date=19 June 2007 }}</ref>

	Israel has no official religion,<ref>{{cite book \| title=Secularism on the Edge: Rethinking Church-State Relations in the United States, France, and Israel \|last=Charbit \|first=Denis \| editor1-last=Berlinerblau \| editor1-first=Jacques \| editor2-last=Fainberg \| editor2-first=Sarah \| editor3-last=Nou \| editor3-first=Aurora \| chapter=Israel's Self-Restrained Secularism from the 1947 Status Quo Letter to the Present \| publisher=Palgrave Macmillan \| location=New York \|year=2014 \|isbn=978-1-137-38115-6 \| pages=167–169 \|chapter-url={{Google books\|gThvBAAAQBAJ\|page=PA167\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|quote=The compromise, therefore, was to choose constructive ambiguity: as surprising as it may seem, there is no law that declares Judaism the official religion of Israel. However, there is no other law that declares Israel's neutrality toward all confessions. Judaism is not recognized as the official religion of the state, and even though the Jewish, Muslim and Christian clergy receive their salaries from the state, this fact does not make Israel a neutral state. This apparent pluralism cannot dissimulate the fact that Israel displays a clear and undoubtedly hierarchical pluralism in religious matters. ... It is important to note that from a multicultural point of view, this self-restrained secularism allows Muslim law to be practiced in Israel for personal matters of the Muslim community. As surprising as it seems, if not paradoxical for a state in war, Israel is the only Western democratic country in which Sharia enjoys such an official status.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \| title=The Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Religion \|last=Sharot \|first=Stephen \| editor1-last=Beckford \| editor1-first=James A. \| editor2-last=Demerath \| editor2-first=Jay \| chapter=Judaism in Israel: Public Religion, Neo-Traditionalism, Messianism, and Ethno-Religious Conflict \| publisher=Sage Publications \| location=London and Thousand Oaks, CA \|year=2007 \|isbn=978-1-4129-1195-5 \| pages=671–672 \|chapter-url={{Google books\|vA8edg7bv0kC\|page=PA671\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|quote=It is true that Jewish Israelis, and secular Israelis in particular, conceive of religion as shaped by a state-sponsored religious establishment. There is no formal state religion in Israel, but the state gives its official recognition and financial support to particular religious communities, Jewish, Islamic and Christian, whose religious authorities and courts are empowered to deal with matters of personal status and family law, such as marriage, divorce, and alimony, that are binding on all members of the communities.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \| title=Women in Zones of Conflict: Power and Resistance in Israel \|last=Jacoby \|first=Tami Amanda \| publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press \| location=Montreal, Quebec and Kingston, Ontario \|year=2005 \|isbn=978-0-7735-2993-9 \| pages=53–54\|url={{Google books\|pr1LJNrlmuIC\|page=PA53\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|quote=Although there is no official religion in Israel, there is also no clear separation between religion and state. In Israeli public life, tensions frequently arise among different streams of Judaism: Ultra-Orthodox, National-Religious, ''Mesorati'' (Conservative), Reconstructionist Progressive (Reform), and varying combinations of traditionalism and non-observance. Despite this variety in religious observances in society, Orthodox Judaism prevails institutionally over the other streams. This boundary is an historical consequence of the unique evolution of the relationship between Israel nationalism and state building. ... Since the founding period, in order to defuse religious tensions, the State of Israel has adopted what is known as the 'status quo,' an unwritten agreement stipulating that no further changes would be made in the status of religion, and that conflict between the observant and non-observant sectors would be handled circumstantially. The 'status quo' has since pertained to the legal status of both religious and secular Jews in Israel. This situation was designed to appease the religious sector, and has been upheld indefinitely through the disproportionate power of religious political parties in all subsequent coalition governments. ... On one hand, the Declaration of Independence adopted in 1948 explicitly guarantees freedom of religion. On the other, it simultaneously prevents the separation of religion and state in Israel.}}</ref> but the definition of the state as "]" creates a strong connection with Judaism, as well as a conflict between state law and religious law. Interaction between the political parties keeps ] between state and religion largely as it existed during the British Mandate.<ref>{{cite journal\|last=Englard\|first=Izhak\|date=Winter 1987\|title=Law and Religion in Israel\|journal=The American Journal of Comparative Law\|volume=35\|issue=1\|pages=185–208\|doi=10.2307/840166\|jstor=840166\|quote=The great political and ideological importance of religion in the state of Israel manifests itself in the manifold legal provisions concerned with religions phenomenon. ... It is not a system of separation between state and religion as practiced in the U.S.A and several other countries of the world. In Israel a number of religious bodies exercise official functions; the religious law is applied in limited areas}}</ref>

	On 19 July 2018, the ] passed a Basic Law that characterizes the State of Israel as principally a "]", and Hebrew as its official language. The bill ascribes "special status" to the Arabic language. The same bill gives Jews a unique right to national self-determination, and views the developing of Jewish settlement in the country as "a national interest", empowering the government to "take steps to encourage, advance and implement this interest."<ref>{{cite news \|title=Jewish nation state: Israel approves controversial bill \|publisher=BBC \|date=19 July 2018 \|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44881554 \|access-date=20 July 2018 }}</ref>

	===Legal system===
	{{Main\|Judiciary of Israel\|Israeli law}}
	], Givat Ram, Jerusalem]]
	Israel has a ]. At the lowest level are ] courts, situated in most cities across the country. Above them are ]s, serving as both ] courts and ]; they are situated in five of Israel's six ]. The third and highest tier is the ], located in Jerusalem; it serves a dual role as the highest court of appeals and the ]. 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.<ref>{{cite news \|title=Israel's high court unique in region \|url=http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/opinion/editorials/2007/09/israel%E2%80%99s_high_court_unique_region \|newspaper=Boston Herald \|date=9 September 2007 \|access-date=27 March 2013}}</ref> Although Israel supports the goals of the ], it has not ratified the ], citing concerns about the ability of the court to remain free from political impartiality.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/6/Israel%20and%20the%20International%20Criminal%20Court \|title=Israel and the International Criminal Court \|publisher=Office of the Legal Adviser to the ] \|date=30 June 2002 \|access-date=20 July 2007 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516021101/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/6/Israel%20and%20the%20International%20Criminal%20Court \|archive-date=16 May 2007 }}</ref>{{bsn\|date=January 2023}}

	Israel's legal system combines three legal traditions: ] ], ], and ].<ref name="cia"/> It is based on the principle of '']'' (precedent) and is an ], where the parties in the suit bring evidence before the court. Court cases are decided by professional judges with no role for juries.<ref name="judiciary">{{cite web \|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Branches%20of%20Government/Judicial/The%20Judiciary-%20The%20Court%20System \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|access-date=5 August 2007 \|date=1 August 2005 \|title=The Judiciary: The Court System }}</ref>{{bsn\|date=January 2023}} ] and divorce are under the jurisdiction of the religious courts: ], ], Druze, and Christian. The election of judges is carried out by a ] of two Knesset members, three Supreme Court justices, two ] members and two ministers (one of which, Israel's ], is the committee's chairman). The committee's members of the Knesset are ] by the Knesset, and one of them is traditionally a member of the opposition, the committee's Supreme Court justices are chosen by tradition from all Supreme Court justices by seniority, the Israeli Bar members are elected by the bar, and the second minister is appointed by the Israeli cabinet. The current justice minister and committee's chairman is ].<ref>.</ref> Administration of Israel's courts (both the "General" courts and the ]) is carried by the Administration of Courts, situated in Jerusalem. Both General and Labor courts are paperless courts: the storage of court files, as well as court decisions, are conducted electronically. Israel's ] seeks to defend ]. As a result of "]", large portions of Israeli ] are applied to Israeli settlements and Israeli residents in the occupied territories.<ref name="Ben-NaftaliSfard2018">{{cite book\|author1=Orna Ben-Naftali\|author2=Michael Sfard\|author3=Hedi Viterbo\|title=The ABC of the OPT: A Legal Lexicon of the Israeli Control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory\|url={{Google books\|Is5TDwAAQBAJ\|page=PA52\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|date=2018\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|isbn=978-1-107-15652-4\|pages=52–}}</ref>

	===Administrative divisions===
	{{Main\|Districts of Israel}}
	{{Israel Labelled Map}}
	The State of Israel is divided into six main administrative ], known as ''mehozot'' ({{Lang-he\|מחוזות\|link=no}}; singular: ''mahoz'') – ], ], ], ], ], and ] districts, as well as the ] in the ]. All of the Judea and Samaria Area and parts of the Jerusalem and Northern districts are not recognized internationally as part of Israel. Districts are further divided into fifteen sub-districts known as ''nafot'' ({{Lang-he\|נפות\|link=no}}; singular: ''nafa''), which are themselves partitioned into fifty natural regions.<ref>{{cite web \|publisher=Central Bureau of Statistics \|title=Introduction to the Tables: Geophysical Characteristics \|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton53/download/st_eng01.doc \|format=doc \|access-date=4 September 2007 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221195435/http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton53/download/st_eng01.doc \|archive-date=21 February 2011 \|url-status=dead }}</ref>

	{\| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
	\|-
	! rowspan="2"\| District
	! rowspan="2"\| Capital
	! rowspan="2"\| Largest city
	! colspan="4"\| Population, 2021<ref name="districts_pop">{{cite web \|url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/doclib/2022/2.shnatonpopulation/st02_17.pdf \|title=Localities and Population, by Population Group, District, Sub-District and Natural Region \|date=15 September 2022 \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=21 February 2023}}</ref>
	\|-
	! Jews
	! Arabs
	! Total
	! class="unsortable"\| note
	\|-
	! ]
	\| colspan="2"\| ]
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|802400\|1209700}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|389000\|1209700}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{sort\|1209700\|1,209,700}}
	\| {{ref\|jerusalemdistrict\|a}}
	\|-
	! ]
	\| ]
	\| ]
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|641500\|1513600}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|811700\|1513600}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{sort\|1513600\|1,513,600}}
	\|
	\|-
	! ]
	\| colspan="2"\| ]
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|735200\|1092700}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|277600\|1092700}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{sort\|1092700\|1,092,700}}
	\|
	\|-
	! ]
	\| ]
	\| ]
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|2002100\|2304300}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|190300\|2304300}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{sort\|2304300\|2,304,300}}
	\|
	\|-
	! ]
	\| colspan="2"\| ]
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|1362900\|1481400}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|25200\|1481400}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{sort\|1481400\|1,481,400}}
	\|
	\|-
	! ]
	\| ]
	\| ]
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|982800\|1386000}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|303100\|1386000}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{sort\|1386000\|1,386,000}}
	\|
	\|-
	! ]
	\| ]
	\| ]
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|455700\|465400}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{percentage\|900\|465400}}
	\| style="text-align:right"\| {{sort\|0465400\|465,400}}
	\| {{ref\|judeaandsamaria\|b}}
	\|}

	:{{note\|jerusalemdistrict\|a}} Including 361,700 Arabs and 233,900 Jews in ], {{as of\|2020\|lc=y}}.<ref name="jerusalem_pop">{{cite report \|last1=Yaniv \|first1=Omer \|last2=Haddad \|first2=Netta \|last3=Assaf-Shapira \|first3=Yair \|date=2022 \|title=Jerusalem Facts and Trends 2022 \|url=https://jerusaleminstitute.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-על-נתונייך-אנגלית-דיגיטל-1.pdf \|publisher=Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research \|page=25 \|access-date=21 February 2023}}</ref>
	:{{note\|judeaandsamaria\|b}} Israeli citizens only.

	===Israeli-occupied territories===
	{{Main\|Israeli-occupied territories\|Israeli occupation of the West Bank}}
	{{Summarize section\|date=February 2023}}
	<!---As prose text is preferred overly detailed data charts and diagrams such as weather data boxes, population charts and past elections results etc should be reserved for main sub articles on the topic as per WP:DETAIL.--->
	{{Administration in the Palestine region}}
	{{Israeli occupations navbox}}
	]
	In 1967, as a result of the ], Israel captured and ] the ], including ], the ] and the ]. Israel also captured the ], but returned it to Egypt as part of the 1979 ].{{sfn\|Bregman\|2002\|pp=186–187}} Between 1982 and 2000, Israel occupied ], in what was known as the ]. Since Israel's capture of these territories, ]s and military installations have been built within each of them, except Lebanon.

	The ] and ] have been fully incorporated into Israel under Israeli law, but not under international law. Israel has applied civilian law to both areas and granted their inhabitants permanent residency status and the ability to ]. The UN Security Council has declared the annexation of the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem to be "null and void" and continues to view the territories as occupied.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/73D6B4C70D1A92B7852560DF0064F101 \|title=Resolution 497 (1981) \|year=1981 \|publisher=United Nations \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612120152/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/73D6B4C70D1A92B7852560DF0064F101 \|archive-date=12 June 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/dde590c6ff232007852560df0065fddb?OpenDocument \|title=East Jerusalem: UNSC Res. 478 \|year=1980 \|publisher=UN \|access-date=10 April 2010 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101231090053/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/dde590c6ff232007852560df0065fddb?OpenDocument \|archive-date=31 December 2010 }}</ref> The ] of East Jerusalem in any future peace settlement has at times been a difficult issue in ] between Israeli governments and representatives of the Palestinians, as Israel views it as its sovereign territory, as well as part of its capital.

	] is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank.]]
	The West Bank excluding East Jerusalem is known in Israeli law as the ]; the almost 400,000 Israeli settlers residing in the area are considered part of Israel's population, have Knesset representation, a ] applied to them, and their output is considered part of Israel's economy.<ref name=Sher>Gilead Sher, , INSS Insight No. 638, 4 December 2014</ref>{{refn\|group=fn\|name=oecd\|Israeli population and economic data covers the economic territory of Israel, including the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.{{sfn\|OECD\|2011}}<ref> {{Webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009161737/http://mas.ps/files/server/20141911093442-1.pdf \|date=9 October 2021 }}, Volume 26, October 2011, p. 57: "When Israel bid in March 2010 for membership in the 'Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development'... some members questioned the accuracy of Israeli statistics, as the Israeli figures (relating to gross domestic product, spending and number of the population) cover geographical areas that the Organization does not recognize as part of the Israeli territory. These areas include East Jerusalem, Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Golan Heights."</ref>}} The land itself is not considered part of Israel under Israeli law, as Israel has consciously refrained from annexing the territory, without ever relinquishing its legal claim to the land or defining a border with the area.<ref name=Sher/> There is no border between Israel-proper and the West Bank for Israeli vehicles. Israeli political opposition to annexation is primarily due to the perceived "demographic threat" of incorporating the West Bank's Palestinian population into Israel.<ref name=Sher/> Outside of the Israeli settlements, the West Bank remains under direct Israeli military rule, and Palestinians in the area cannot become Israeli citizens. The international community maintains that Israel does not have sovereignty in the West Bank, and considers Israel's control of the area to be the longest military occupation is modern history.<ref name="occhist">See for example:<br />* {{cite book\|title=Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza\|last=Hajjar\|first=Lisa\|publisher=University of California Press\|date=2005\|isbn=978-0-520-24194-7\|page=96\|url={{Google books\|mcjoHq2wqdUC\|page=PA96\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|quote=The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is the longest military occupation in modern times.}}<br />* {{cite journal\|first=Perry\|last=Anderson\|author-link=Perry Anderson\|title=Editorial: Scurrying Towards Bethlehem\|date=July–August 2001\|journal=New Left Review\|volume=10\|url=https://newleftreview.org/article/download_pdf?id=2330\|quote=longest official military occupation of modern history—currently entering its thirty-fifth year\|access-date=9 January 2015\|archive-date=1 October 2018\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001124430/https://newleftreview.org/article/download_pdf?id=2330\|url-status=dead}}<br />* {{cite book\|first=Saree\|last=Makdisi\|author-link=Saree Makdisi\|url={{Google books\|2dBM3Ago2BAC\|page=PA299\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|quote=longest-lasting military occupation of the modern age\|title=Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation\|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company\|date=2010\|isbn=978-0-393-33844-7}}<br />* {{cite journal\|volume=94\|issue=885\|date=Spring 2012\|journal=International Review of the Red Cross\|title=The law of belligerent occupation in the Supreme Court of Israel\|first=David\|last=Kretzmer\|author-link=David Kretzmer\|doi=10.1017/S1816383112000446\|url=https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/review/2012/irrc-885-kretzmer.pdf\|quote=This is probably the longest occupation in modern international relations, and it holds a central place in all literature on the law of belligerent occupation since the early 1970s\|pages=207–236\|s2cid=32105258}}<br />* {{cite news\|title=The Justice of Occupation\|quote=Israel is the only modern state that has held territories under military occupation for over four decades\|type=opinion\|first=Ra'anan\|last=Alexandrowicz\|date=24 January 2012\|work=The New York Times\|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/opinion/the-justice-of-occupation.html}}<br />* {{cite book\|title=The Role of National Courts in Applying International Humanitarian Law\|first=Sharon\|last=Weill\|url={{Google books\|bDnnAgAAQBAJ\|page=PA22\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|page=22\|date=2014\|publisher=Oxford University Press\|isbn=978-0-19-968542-4\|quote=Although the basic philosophy behind the law of military occupation is that it is a temporary situation modem occupations have well demonstrated that ''rien ne dure comme le provisoire'' A significant number of post-1945 occupations have lasted more than two decades such as the occupations of Namibia by South Africa and of East Timor by Indonesia as well as the ongoing occupations of Northern Cyprus by Turkey and of Western Sahara by Morocco. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, {{underline\|which is the longest in all occupation's history}} has already entered its fifth decade.}}<br />* Azarova, Valentina. 2017, , European Council on Foreign Affairs Policy Brief: "June 2017 marks 50 years of Israel's belligerent occupation of Palestinian territory, making it the longest occupation in modern history."</ref> The West Bank ] by Jordan in 1950, following the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Only Britain recognized this annexation and Jordan has since ] its claim to the territory to the PLO. The ] are mainly ], including ] of the ].<ref>{{cite web \|title=UNRWA in Figures: Figures as of 30 June 2009 \|publisher=United Nations \|date=June 2009 \|url=http://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/uif-june09.pdf \|access-date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> From their occupation in 1967 until 1993, the Palestinians living in these territories were under ]. Since the ], most of the Palestinian population and ] have been under the internal jurisdiction of the ], and only partial Israeli military control, although Israel has on several occasions redeployed its ] and reinstated full military administration during periods of unrest. In response to increasing attacks during the ], the Israeli government started to construct the Israeli West Bank barrier.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.securityfence.mod.gov.il/Pages/ENG/questions.htm \|title=Questions and Answers \|access-date=17 April 2007 \|date=22 February 2004 \|website=Israel's Security Fence \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003072906/http://www.securityfence.mod.gov.il/Pages/ENG/questions.htm \|archive-date=3 October 2013 }}</ref> When completed, approximately 13% of the barrier will be constructed on the ] or in Israel with 87% inside the West Bank.<ref>{{cite web\|author=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees \|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4875de625.html \|title=Refworld {{pipe}} West Bank Barrier Route Projections, July 2008 \|publisher=Unhcr.org \|access-date=11 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/200512_under_the_guise_of_security \|title=Under the Guise of Security: Routing the Separation Barrier to Enable Israeli Settlement Expansion in the West Bank \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|date=December 2005 \|website=Publications \|publisher=B'Tselem}}</ref>

	] of the West Bank, controlled by Israel ], in blue and red, in December 2011]]
	The Gaza Strip is considered to be a "foreign territory" under Israeli law; however, since Israel operates a land, air, and sea ], together with Egypt, the international community considers Israel to be the occupying power. The Gaza Strip was ] from 1948 to 1967 and then by Israel after 1967. In 2005, as part of ], Israel removed all of its settlers and forces from the territory, however, it continues to maintain ] of its airspace and waters. The international community, including numerous international humanitarian organizations and various bodies of the UN, consider Gaza to remain occupied.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F0B7D1A3A8E7CF1985257552004F640E \|title=Situation Report on the Humanitarian Situation in the Gaza Strip \|publisher=Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs \|date=23 January 2009 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612121839/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F0B7D1A3A8E7CF1985257552004F640E \|archive-date=12 June 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/report/palestine-report-131207.htm \|title=The occupied Palestinian territories: Dignity Denied \|publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross \|date=13 December 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/israel-palestine \|title=Israel/Palestine \|chapter=World Report 2013: Israel/Palestine \|year=2013 \|publisher=Human Rights Watch \|access-date=13 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/AHRC1248.pdf\|title=Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories: Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict \|publisher=United Nations Human Rights Council \|date=15 September 2009 \|page=85}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/093/2006/en/ \|title=Israel/Occupied Territories: Road to nowhere \|publisher=Amnesty International \|date=1 December 2006 }}</ref> Following the ], when ],<ref name=gaza/> Israel tightened its control of the Gaza crossings along ], as well as by sea and air, and prevented persons from entering and exiting the area except for isolated cases it deemed humanitarian.<ref name=gaza>{{cite web \|url=http://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/gaza_status \|title=The scope of Israeli control in the Gaza Strip \|publisher=B'Tselem \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> Gaza has a ], and an agreement between Israel, the European Union, and the PA governed how border crossing would take place (it was monitored by European observers).<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/mfadocuments/pages/agreed%20documents%20on%20movement%20and%20access%20from%20and%20to%20gaza%2015-nov-2005.aspx \|title=Agreed documents on movement and access from and to Gaza \|date=15 November 2005 \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|access-date=13 June 2013}}</ref> The application of democracy to its Palestinian citizens, and the selective application of Israeli democracy in the Israeli-controlled Palestinian territories, has been criticized.<ref name="Slater2020">{{cite book\|author=Jerome Slater\|title=Mythologies Without End: The US, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1917–2020\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yVAAEAAAQBAJ\|date=1 October 2020\|publisher=Oxford University Press\|isbn=978-0-19-045909-3\|page=15\|quote=It is now clear that Israel is a true democracy in its broadest sense only for its Jewish citizens. The Arab-Israeli (or, as some prefer, the Palestinian-Israeli) peoples, roughly 20 percent of the total population of Israel its pre-1967 boundaries, are citizens and have voting rights, but they face political, economic, and social discrimination. And, of course, Israeli democracy is inapplicable to the nearly 4 million Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza, conquered by Israel in June 1967, who are occupied, repressed, and in many ways, directly and indirectly, effectively ruled by Israel.}}</ref><ref name="White2012">{{cite book\|author=Ben White\|title=Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bp1PXwAACAAJ\|date=15 January 2012\|publisher=Pluto Press\|isbn=978-0-7453-3228-4}}</ref>

	The ], principal judicial organ of the UN, asserted, in its ] on the legality of the construction of the ], that the lands captured by Israel in the Six-Day War, including East Jerusalem, are occupied territory.<ref>{{cite news \|title=Arabs will ask U.N. to seek razing of Israeli wall \|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5400559/ \|publisher=NBC News \|date=9 July 2004 \|access-date=9 February 2013}}</ref> Most negotiations relating to the territories have been on the basis of ], which emphasizes "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war", and calls on Israel to withdraw from occupied territories in return for normalization of relations with Arab states, a principle known as "]".<ref>{{cite news \|title=Olmert: Willing to trade land for peace \|work=Ynetnews \|date =16 December 2006 \|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3340641,00.html \|access-date=26 September 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news \|title=Syria ready to discuss land for peace \|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post \|date=12 June 2007 \|url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=64667 \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news \|title=Egypt: Israel must accept the land-for-peace formula \|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post \|date=15 March 2007 \|url=http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=54876 \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> Israel has been criticized for engaging in systematic and widespread violations of ], including the occupation itself,<ref>{{cite web\|title=A/RES/36/147. Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories\|url=https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/36/a36r147.htm\|access-date=12 February 2017}}</ref> and ]s against civilians.<ref name="tny1">{{cite news \|last1=Rudoren \|first1=Jodi \|last2=Sengupta \|first2=Somini \|date=22 June 2015 \|title=U.N. Report on Gaza Finds Evidence of War Crimes by Israel and by Palestinian Militants \|newspaper=The New York Times \|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-report.html \|access-date=12 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|date=23 July 2014 \|title=Human Rights Council establishes Independent, International Commission of Inquiry for the Occupied Palestinian Territory \|url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2014/07/human-rights-council-establishes-independent-international-commission \|access-date=12 February 2017 \|publisher=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news\|title=UN condemns Israel's West Bank settlement plans\|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38740712\|publisher=BBC News\|access-date=12 February 2017\|date=25 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|date=December 22, 1987 \|title=The Avalon Project : United Nations Security Council Resolution 605 \|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/un605.asp \|access-date=12 February 2017 \|website=avalon.law.yale.edu}}</ref> The allegations include violations of international humanitarian law<ref>{{cite web\|title=Faced with Israeli denial of access to Occupied Palestinian Territory, UN expert resigns\|url=https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52935\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161205095623/http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52935\|archive-date=5 December 2016\|date=4 January 2016}}</ref> by the ],<ref>{{cite web\|title=Human Rights Council adopts six resolutions and closes its thirty-first regular session\|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=18535&LangID=E\|access-date=12 February 2017}}</ref> The ] has called reports of abuses of significant human rights of Palestinians 'credible' both within Israel<ref>'Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings; arbitrary detention, often extraterritorial detention of Palestinians from the occupied territories in Israel; restrictions on Palestinians residing in Jerusalem including arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, and home; substantial interference with the freedom of association; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; harassment of nongovernmental organizations; significant restrictions on freedom of movement within the country; violence against asylum seekers and irregular migrants; violence or threats of violence against national, racial, or ethnic minority groups; and labor rights abuses against foreign workers and Palestinians from the West Bank.’ ] 17 April 2021.</ref> and the occupied territories.<ref>'With respect to Israeli security forces in the West Bank: credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings due to unnecessary or disproportionate use of force by Israeli officials; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by Israeli officials; arbitrary arrest or detention; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; restrictions on free expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, unjustified arrests and prosecutions against journalists, and censorship; restrictions on internet freedom; restrictions on Palestinians residing in Jerusalem, including arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, and home; substantial interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including harassment of nongovernmental organizations; and restrictions on freedom of movement and residence.' ] 12 April 2022</ref> ] and other NGOs have documented mass arbitrary arrests, torture, unlawful killings, systemic abuses and impunity<ref>{{cite news\|last1=Heyer\|first1=Julia Amalia\|title=Kids Behind Bars: Israel's Arbitrary Arrests of Palestinian Minors\|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/israeli-military-arrest-large-numbers-of-palestinian-children-a-995758.html\|work=Der Spiegel\|access-date=23 April 2017\|date=7 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories 2016/2017\|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/report-israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/\|publisher=Amnesty International\|access-date=23 April 2017\|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news\|title=Eight hundred dead Palestinians. But Israel has impunity\|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/eight-hundred-dead-palestinians-but-israel-has-impunity-9629726.html\|newspaper=The Independent\|access-date=23 April 2017\|date=26 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|last1=Isfahan\|first1=Ali\|title=Why Israel's Impunity Goes Unpunished by International Authorities\|url=https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2014/08/11/why-israels-impunity-goes-unpunished-by-international-authorities/\|publisher=Foreign Policy Journal\|access-date=23 April 2017\|date=11 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=How impunity defines Israel and victimises Palestinians\|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/03/impunity-defines-israel-victimises-palestinians-160327085608275.html\|publisher=Al Jazeera\|access-date=23 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news\|last1=Barghouti\|first1=Marwan\|title=Why We Are on Hunger Strike in Israel's Prisons\|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/16/opinion/palestinian-hunger-strike-prisoners-call-for-justice.html\|newspaper=The New York Times\|access-date=23 April 2017\|date=16 April 2017}}</ref> in tandem with a denial of the right to ].<ref>{{cite news\|last1=Dorfman\|first1=Zach\|title=George Mitchell wrote 'A Path to Peace' about Israel and Palestine. Is there one?\|url=http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-mitchell-peace-20170127-story.html\|newspaper=Los Angeles Times\|access-date=1 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Outrage over Maimane's visit to Israel\|url=http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/outrage-over-maimanes-visit-to-israel-7397147\|access-date=1 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=The subordination of Palestinian rights must stop\|url=http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/the-subordination-of-palestinian-rights-must-stop\|access-date=1 February 2017\|publisher=The National}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Palestine-Israel Journal: Settlements and the Palestinian Right to Self-Determination\|url=http://www.pij.org/details.php?id=478\|website=www.pij.org\|access-date=1 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|last1=Hammond\|first1=Jeremy R.\|title=The Rejection of Palestinian Self Determination\|url=http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Hammond-Rejection-Palestinian-Self-Determination.pdf\|access-date=1 February 2017\|url-status=dead\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203161044/http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Hammond-Rejection-Palestinian-Self-Determination.pdf\|archive-date=3 February 2017}}</ref> In response to such allegations, Prime Minister Netanyahu has defended the country's security forces for protecting the innocent from terrorists<ref>{{cite news\|title=Top US senator clashes with Netanyahu over Israeli rights record\|url=http://www.politico.eu/article/patrick-leahy-clashes-with-netanyahu-over-israeli-rights-record-human-rights-violations/\|work=Politico\|access-date=12 February 2017\|date=31 March 2016}}</ref> and expressed contempt for what he describes as a lack of concern about the human rights violations committed by "criminal killers".<ref>{{cite news\|title=Allegations of Israeli Human Rights Violations Closely Scrutinized, Says U.S. State Department\|url=http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.718320\|newspaper=Haaretz\|access-date=12 February 2017\|language=en\|date=6 May 2017}}</ref> Some observers, such as Israeli officials, scholars,<ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Gilboa\|first=Eytan\|date=1 October 2006\|title=Public Diplomacy: The Missing Component in Israel's Foreign Policy\|journal=Israel Affairs\|volume=12\|issue=4\|pages=715–747\|doi=10.1080/13533310600890067\|s2cid=143245560\|issn=1353-7121}}</ref> United States Ambassador to the UN ]<ref>, 20 April 2017, Times of Israel</ref><ref>, 28 March 2017, National Review</ref> and UN secretary-generals ]<ref>{{cite news\|title=Ban Ki-moon recognizes bias against Israel in last Security Council speech\|url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/UN-chief-urges-Israeli-lawmakers-to-reconsider-settlement-bill-475617\|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post\|access-date=23 April 2017}}</ref> and ],<ref>{{Cite news\|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3339288,00.html\|title=Annan: Solution for refugees in Palestinian state\|work=Ynetnews\|access-date=27 April 2017}}</ref> also assert that the UN is disproportionately concerned with Israeli misconduct.{{overly detailed inline\|date=April 2017}}

	The ] widely regards Israeli settlements in the occupied territories ].<ref>{{Cite journal \| title = Israel: The security barrier—between international law, constitutional law, and domestic judicial review \| last = Barak-Erez \| first = Daphne \| journal = International Journal of Constitutional Law \| date = 1 July 2006 \| volume = 4 \| issue = 3 \| page = 548\| doi = 10.1093/icon/mol021 \| doi-access = free\|quote=The real controversy hovering over all the litigation on the security barrier concerns the fate of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Since 1967, Israel has allowed and even encouraged its citizens to live in the new settlements established in the territories, motivated by religious and national sentiments attached to the history of the Jewish nation in the land of Israel. This policy has also been justified in terms of security interests, taking into consideration the dangerous geographic circumstances of Israel before 1967 (where Israeli areas on the Mediterranean coast were potentially threatened by Jordanian control of the West Bank ridge). The international community, for its part, has viewed this policy as patently illegal, based on the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibit moving populations to or from territories under occupation.}}</ref> ], passed on 23 December 2016 in a 14–0 vote by members of the ] (UNSC) with the United States abstaining. The resolution states that Israel's settlement activity constitutes a "flagrant violation" of ], has "no legal validity" and demands that Israel stop such activity and fulfill its obligations as an ] under the ].<ref name=toi>{{cite news\|title=Choosing not to veto, Obama lets anti-settlement resolution pass at UN Security Council\|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/choosing-not-to-veto-obama-lets-anti-settlement-resolution-pass-at-un-security-council/\|access-date=23 December 2016\|work=The Times of Israel}}</ref>

	Israel's treatment of the Palestinians within the occupied territories has drawn ] the ] by Israeli human rights groups ] and ], and other international organizations including ] and ], with the criticism extending to its treatment of ] as well.<ref>{{Cite news\|last=Rosenfeld\|first=Arno\|date=2021-04-27\|title=Israel is committing 'crime of apartheid,' Human Rights Watch says\|url=https://forward.com/news/468473/israel-apartheid-human-rights-watch/\|access-date=2022-02-15\|work=The Forward\|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news\|last=Berger\|first=Miriam\|date=2022-02-01\|title=Amnesty International, joining other human rights groups, says Israel is 'committing the crime of apartheid'\|language=en-US\|newspaper=The Washington Post\|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/01/amnesty-international-joining-other-human-rights-groups-says-israel-is-committing-crime-apartheid/\|access-date=2022-02-15}}</ref> Amnesty's report was criticized by politicians and government representatives from Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Germany, while it was welcomed by Palestinians, representatives from other states, and organizations such as the ].<ref>{{Cite news\|title=U.S. State Department Rejects Amnesty's Apartheid Claim Against Israel\|language=en\|work=Haaretz\|url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/u-s-state-department-rejects-amnesty-s-apartheid-claims-against-israel-1.10583830\|access-date=2022-02-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news\|date=2022-02-02\|title=Germany rejects use of word 'apartheid' in connection with Israel\|language=en\|publisher=Reuters\|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germany-rejects-use-word-apartheid-connection-with-israel-2022-02-02/\|access-date=2022-02-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news\|title=Israel not apartheid state, but must uphold int'l law, UK says\|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-695546\|access-date=2022-02-16\|work=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://arab.news/mggnn\|title=Arab League, OIC welcome Amnesty's report on Israel's 'apartheid' against Palestinians\|date=3 February 2022\|website=Arab News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news\|date=2022-02-01\|title=Israeli policies against Palestinians amount to apartheid – Amnesty\|language=en-GB\|publisher=BBC News\|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-60197918\|access-date=2022-02-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news \|title=Netherlands rejects Amnesty report accusing Israel of apartheid \|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-705664 \|access-date=2022-05-02 \|work=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref> A 2021 survey of academic experts on the Middle East found an increase from 59%<ref>{{cite news\|title=Here's how experts on the Middle East see the region's key issues, our new survey finds\|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/16/heres-how-experts-middle-east-see-regions-key-issues-our-new-survey-finds/\|newspaper=The Washington Post\|date=16 February 2021 }}</ref> to 65% of these scholars describing Israel as a "one-state reality akin to apartheid".<ref>{{cite news\|title=Academic experts believe that Middle East politics are actually getting worse\|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/17/academic-experts-believe-that-middle-east-politics-are-actually-getting-worse/\|newspaper=The Washington Post\|date= 17 September 2021}}</ref> In 2022, Michael Lynk, a Canadian law professor ] said that the situation met the legal definition of apartheid.<ref>{{Cite web \|last=Kingsley \|first=Patrick \|date=23 March 2022 \|title=U.N. Investigator Accuses Israel of Apartheid, Citing Permanence of Occupation \|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/world/middleeast/israel-apatheid-un.html \|website=]}}</ref> Subsequent reports from his successor, ] and from ] chair Navi Pillay echoed this opinion.<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.newarab.com/news/un-report-urges-plan-end-israeli-colonialism-apartheid\|title=UN report urges plan to 'end Israeli colonialism, apartheid'\|first=The New Arab\|last=Staff\|date=19 October 2022\|website=www.newarab.com/}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-commission-says-it-will-investigate-apartheid-charges-against-israel/\|title=UN commission says it will investigate 'apartheid' charges against Israel\|first=Luke\|last=Tress\|website=www.timesofisrael.com}}</ref>

	===Foreign relations===
	{{Main\|Foreign relations of Israel\|International recognition of Israel}}
	]
	Israel maintains diplomatic relations {{Numrec\|Israel\|with\|] of the United Nations\|link=N}}, as well as with the ], ], the ] and ]. It has 107 ] around the world;<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutTheMinistry/Pages/Israel-s%20Diplomatic%20Missions%20Abroad.aspx \|title=Israel's Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|access-date=25 April 2016 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420071334/http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutTheMinistry/Pages/Israel-s%20Diplomatic%20Missions%20Abroad.aspx \|archive-date=20 April 2016 }}</ref> countries with whom they have no diplomatic relations include most Muslim countries.<ref>{{cite news\|url=http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Why-doesnt-the-Muslim-world-recognize-Israel#article=0QUFFOUZBN0YxODM3RDE5NDM4OUEyRkE5MjY1OEJCRDI=\|title=Why Doesn't the Muslim World Recognize Israel?\|author=Mohammed Mostafa Kamal\|newspaper=]\|date=21 July 2012\|access-date=30 November 2015}}</ref> Six out of twenty-two nations in the ] have normalized relations with Israel. ] and ] signed peace treaties in ] and ], respectively, but Israel remains formally in a ], a status that dates back uninterrupted to 1948. It has been in a similarly ] since the end of the ] in 2000, with the Israel–Lebanon border remaining unagreed by treaty.

	In late 2020, Israel normalized relations with four more Arab countries: the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in September (known as the ]),<ref>{{Cite news\|last=Liebermann\|first=Oren\|date=September 16, 2020\|title=Two Gulf nations recognized Israel at the White House. Here's what's in it for all sides\|publisher=]\|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/15/politics/israel-uae-bahrain-white-house-analysis-intl/index.html}}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite news\|last=Hansler\|first=Jennifer\|date=October 23, 2020\|title=Trump announces that Israel and Sudan have agreed to normalize relations\|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/23/politics/trump-sudan-israel/index.html\|access-date=2020-12-15\|website=CNN}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{Cite news\|date=December 11, 2020\|title=Morocco latest country to normalise ties with Israel in US-brokered deal\|publisher=]\|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55266089\|access-date=December 15, 2020}}</ref> Despite the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, Israel is still widely considered an enemy country among Egyptians.<ref>"Massive Israel protests hit universities" (Egyptian Mail, 16 March 2010) "According to most Egyptians, almost 31 years after a peace treaty was signed between Egypt and Israel, having normal ties between the two countries is still a potent accusation and Israel is largely considered to be an enemy country"</ref> Iran ] with Israel under the ]<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Abadi\|2004\|pp=37–39, 47}}</ref> but withdrew its recognition of Israel during the ].<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Abadi\|2004\|pp=47–49}}</ref> Israeli citizens may not visit Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen (countries Israel fought in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War that Israel does not have a peace treaty with) without permission from the ].<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFAHeb/MFAArchive/2004/horaot+din+israeli0304.htm \|publisher=Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|script-title=he:הוראות הדין הישראלי \|year=2004 \|language=he \|access-date=9 August 2007 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701072212/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFAHeb/MFAArchive/2004/horaot%2Bdin%2Bisraeli0304.htm \|archive-date=1 July 2007 }}</ref> As a result of the ], Mauritania, Qatar, Bolivia, and Venezuela suspended political and economic ties with Israel,<ref name="al-jaz-eng">{{cite news \|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009116151135307776.html \|publisher=Al Jazeera English \|title=Qatar, Mauritania cut Israel ties \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|date=17 January 2009}}</ref> though Bolivia renewed ties in 2019.<ref>{{cite news \|last1=Flores \|first1=Paola \|title=Bolivia to renew Israel ties after rupture under Morales \|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bolivia-renew-israel-ties-rupture-morales-67374746 \|access-date=15 December 2020 \|agency=] \|date=29 November 2019}}</ref> ] maintains good ties with both Israel and the Arab world.<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://thediplomat.com/2018/07/israel-china-relations-innovation-infrastructure-investment/ \|title=Israel-China Relations: Innovation, Infrastructure, Investment \|last= Kuo \|first= Mercy A. \|date=17 July 2018 \|website=The Diplomat}}</ref>

	] with then US President ]]]
	The ] and the ] were the first two countries to recognize the State of Israel, having declared recognition roughly simultaneously.<ref>{{Cite journal\|jstor=2193961\|title=The Recognition of Israel\|journal=The American Journal of International Law\|volume=42\|issue=3\|pages=620–627\|last1=Brown\|first1=Philip Marshall\|doi=10.2307/2193961\|year=1948\|s2cid=147342045 }}</ref> Diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union were broken in 1967, following the ], and renewed in October 1991.<ref>{{cite news\|last=Yaakov \|first=Saar \|title= There Were Times (Hayu Zemanim) \|page= 30 \|language= he \|publisher= Israel Hayom \|date= 18 October 2017 }}</ref> The United States regards Israel as its "most reliable partner in the Middle East",<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3581.htm\|title=U.S. Relations With Israel Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Fact Sheet March 10, 2014\|website=U.S. Department of State\|access-date=30 October 2014}}</ref> based on "common democratic values, religious affinities, and security interests".<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA470003&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf\|title=Israel: Background and Relations with the United States Updated\|publisher=Defense Technical Information Center\|access-date=19 October 2009\|archive-date=5 February 2011\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205011800/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA470003&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf\|url-status=dead}}</ref> The United States has provided $68 billion in ] and $32 billion in grants to Israel since 1967, under the ] (period beginning 1962),<ref name=PNADR900>{{Cite web\|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADT555.pdf\|title=U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants}}</ref> more than any other country for that period until 2003.<ref name=PNADR900/><ref>{{cite web \|url=https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1297.pdf \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020131918/http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1297.pdf \|url-status=dead \|archive-date=20 October 2011 \|title=U.S. Government Foreign Grants and Credits by Type and Country: 2000 to 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/foreign_commerce_aid/foreign_aid.html \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225192852/http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/foreign_commerce_aid/foreign_aid.html \|url-status=dead \|archive-date=25 December 2007 \|title=Foreign Aid}}</ref> Most surveyed Americans have also held consistently favorable views of Israel.<ref>{{Cite web \|date=2022-03-17 \|title=Americans Still Pro-Israel, Though Palestinians Gain Support \|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/390737/americans-pro-israel-though-palestinians-gain-support.aspx \|website=] \|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web \|date=February 2, 2022 \|title=Friend or Enemy — Israel \|url=https://today.yougov.com/topics/travel/trackers/friend-enemy-israel \|website=] \|language=en-us}}</ref> The United Kingdom is seen as having a "natural" ] with Israel on account of the Mandate for Palestine.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://ukinisrael.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/working-with-israel/uk-israel-relations/bilateral-relations \|publisher=Foreign and Commonwealth Office \|title=The bilateral relationship \|website=UK in Israel \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> Relations between the two countries were also made stronger by former prime minister ]'s efforts for a two state resolution. {{As of\|2007\|alt=By 2007}}, ] had paid 25 billion euros in ] to the Israeli state and individual Israeli Holocaust survivors.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33808.pdf \|title=Congressional Research Service: Germany's Relations with Israel: Background and Implications for German Middle East Policy, Jan 19, 2007. (p. CRS-2) \|access-date=29 September 2010}}</ref> Israel is ] in the European Union's ] (ENP), which aims at bringing the EU and its neighbours closer.<ref>{{cite news\|url=https://euobserver.com/foreign/127874\|title=EU to Revise Relations with Turbulent Neighbourhood\|author=Eric Maurice\|publisher=]\|date=5 March 2015\|access-date=1 December 2015}}</ref>

	Although Turkey and Israel did not establish full diplomatic relations until 1991,<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Abadi\|2004\|p=3}}. "However, it was not until 1991 that the two countries established full diplomatic relations."</ref> Turkey has ] with the Jewish state since its recognition of Israel in 1949. Turkey's ties to other Muslim-majority nations in the region have at times resulted in pressure from Arab and Muslim states to temper its relationship with Israel.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Abadi\|2004\|pp=4–6}}</ref> Relations between Turkey and Israel took a downturn after the 2008–09 Gaza War and Israel's ].<ref>{{cite journal \|last=Uzer \|first=Umut \|date=26 March 2013 \|title=Turkish-Israeli Relations: Their Rise and Fall \|url=http://www.mepc.org/journal/middle-east-policy-archives/turkish-israeli-relations-their-rise-and-fall \|journal=Middle East Policy \|volume=XX \|issue=1 \|pages=97–110 \|doi=10.1111/mepo.12007 \|access-date=7 January 2017}}</ref> ] have improved since 1995 due to the decline of Israeli–Turkish relations.<ref>{{cite news \|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11556442 \|title=Israel woos Greece after rift with Turkey \|publisher=BBC News \|date=16 October 2010}}</ref> The two countries have a defense cooperation agreement and in 2010, the ] hosted Greece's ] in a joint exercise at the ]. The joint Cyprus-Israel oil and gas explorations centered on the ] are an important factor for Greece, given its ] with Cyprus.<ref>{{cite news \|title=Turkey, Greece discuss exploration off Cyprus \|agency=Associated Press \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/turkey-greece-discuss-exploration-off-cyprus-1.386864 \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=26 September 2011 \|access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref> Cooperation in the world's longest ], the ], has strengthened ].<ref>{{cite news \|last=Benari \|first=Elad \|date=5 March 2012 \|title=Israel, Cyprus Sign Deal for Underwater Electricity Cable \|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/153437 \|website=Arutz Sheva \|access-date=7 January 2017}}</ref>

	] is one of the few majority Muslim countries to develop strategic and economic ] with Israel.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web \|date=August 7, 2014 \|title=In Muslim Azerbaijan, Self-Interest Prompts Support for Israel on Gaza \|url=https://eurasianet.org/in-muslim-azerbaijan-self-interest-prompts-support-for-israel-on-gaza \|website=] \|language=en}}</ref> Azerbaijan supplies the country with a substantial amount of its oil needs, and Israel is a critical arms supplier for Azerbaijan.<ref name=":2" /> Kazakhstan also has an economic and strategic partnership with Israel.<ref>{{Cite web \|date=2016-07-19 \|title=The Israel-Kazakhstan Partnership \|url=https://thediplomat.com/2016/07/the-israel-kazakhstan-partnership/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518015549/https://thediplomat.com/2016/07/the-israel-kazakhstan-partnership/ \|archive-date=2022-05-18 \|website=] \|language=en-US}}</ref> India established full ] with Israel in 1992 and has fostered a strong military, technological and cultural partnership with the country since then.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://pakistanyouthmovement.com/Research-Reports/India%20Israel%20Ties.pdf \|publisher=Jerusalem Institute for Western Defense \|last=Kumar \|first=Dinesh \|title=India and Israel: Dawn of a New Era \|access-date=19 March 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512233225/http://pakistanyouthmovement.com/Research-Reports/India%20Israel%20Ties.pdf \|archive-date=12 May 2012 }}</ref> A 2009 survey done on behalf of the ] listed India as more pro-Israel than 12 other countries surveyed.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3696887,00.html \|title=From India with love \|newspaper=Ynetnews \|last=Eichner \|first=Itamar \|date=4 March 2009 \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news \|title=Nitin Gadkari to visit Israel tomorrow \|url=http://news.worldsnap.com/city/delhi/nitin-gadkari-to-visit-israel-tomorrow-97059.html \|newspaper=World Snap \|date=13 December 2010 \|access-date=1 October 2012}}</ref> India is the largest customer of the ] and Israel is the second-largest military partner of India after Russia.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-19/india/28119010_1_largest-ever-defence-deal-second-largest-defence-supplier-sensitive-technology-control-requirements \|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707084501/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-19/india/28119010_1_largest-ever-defence-deal-second-largest-defence-supplier-sensitive-technology-control-requirements \|url-status=dead \|archive-date=7 July 2012 \|title=India to hold wide-ranging strategic talks with US, Israel \|date=19 January 2010 \|newspaper=] \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> ] is Israel's main ally in Africa due to common political, religious and security interests.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.economist.com/node/15453225 \|title=Iran and Israel in Africa: A search for allies in a hostile world \|newspaper=The Economist \|date=4 February 2010 \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> Israel provides expertise to Ethiopia on irrigation projects and thousands of ].

	Israel has a history of providing emergency ] and humanitarian response teams to disasters across the world.<ref>{{cite news\|url=http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.653988\|last=Pfeffer\|first=Anshel\|newspaper=Haaretz\|title=The Downsides of Israel's Missions of Mercy Abroad\|date=28 April 2015\|access-date=22 November 2015\|quote=And even when no Israelis are involved, few countries are as fast as Israel in mobilizing entire delegations to rush to the other side of the world. It has been proved time and again in recent years, after the earthquake in Haiti, the typhoon in the Philippines and the quake/tsunami/nuclear disaster in Japan. For a country of Israel's size and resources, without conveniently located aircraft carriers and overseas bases, it is quite an impressive achievement.}}</ref> In 1955 Israel began its foreign aid programme in Burma. The programme's focus subsequently shifted to Africa.<ref name="Geldenhuys">{{cite book \|url = https://archive.org/details/isolatedstatesco0000geld \|url-access = registration \|quote = israel international aid africa 1970. \| title = Isolated States: A Comparative Analysis \| author = Deon Geldenhuys \| publisher = Cambridge University Press \| year = 1990 \| page = \|isbn=978-0-521-40268-2 }}</ref> Israel's humanitarian efforts officially began in 1957, with the establishment of ], the Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/mashav/AboutMASHAV/Pages/Background.aspx \|title=About MASHAV \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|access-date=20 January 2017}}</ref> In this early period, whilst Israel's aid represented only a small percentage of total aid to Africa, its programme was effective in creating goodwill throughout the continent; however, following the 1967 war relations soured.<ref name="Ismael">{{cite book \|url = https://archive.org/details/internationalrel0000isma \|url-access = registration \|quote = Israel foreign aid 1958 burundi. \| title = International Relations of the Contemporary Middle East: A Study in World Politics \| author = Tareq Y. Ismael \| publisher = Syracuse University Press\| year = 1986 \| page = \|isbn=978-0-8156-2382-3 }}</ref> Israel's foreign aid programme subsequently shifted its focus to Latin America.<ref name="Geldenhuys"/> Since the late 1970s Israel's foreign aid has gradually decreased, although in recent years Israel has tried to reestablish its aid to Africa.<ref name="Yacobi">{{cite book \| title = Israel and Africa: A Genealogy of Moral Geography \| author = Haim Yacobi \| publisher = Routledge \| year = 2016 \| pages = 111–112 }}</ref> There are additional Israeli humanitarian and emergency response groups that work with the Israel government, including ], a joint programme run by 14 Israeli organizations and North American Jewish groups,<ref>Haim Yacobi, Routledge, 2015 p. 113.</ref> ],<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2016-12-01/secretary-generals-remarks-reception-honour-zaka-international \|title=Secretary-General's remarks at reception in honour of ZAKA International Rescue Unit \|last=Ki-moon \|first=Ban \|date=1 December 2016 \|publisher=United Nations \|access-date=20 January 2017}}</ref> The Fast Israeli Rescue and Search Team (FIRST),<ref>Ueriel Hellman,, ] 19 January 2010</ref> Israeli Flying Aid (IFA),<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.israel21c.org/israels-superwoman-takes-flight-to-help-others/\|title=Israel's 'superwoman' takes flight to help others – ISRAEL21c\|website=Israel21c\|date=12 March 2006}}</ref> ] (SACH)<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Wolfson-cardiac-surgeons-save-lives-of-more-Gazan-children-374391\|title=Wolfson cardiac surgeons save lives of more Gazan children\|website=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/earthquake-haiti-latet-organization-deploys-immediate-relief-victims\|title=Earthquake in Haiti – Latet Organization deploys for immediate relief to victims\|website=ReliefWeb}}</ref> Between 1985 and 2015, Israel sent 24 delegations of IDF search and rescue unit, the ], to 22 countries.<ref>{{cite news\|url=http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/26634/Default.aspx\|date=20 May 2015\|access-date=24 November 2015\|newspaper=Israel Today\|title=When catastrophe strikes the IDF is there to help\|archive-date=19 January 2016\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119084926/http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/26634/Default.aspx\|url-status=dead}}</ref> Currently Israeli foreign aid ] low among ] nations, spending less than 0.1% of its ] on development assistance.{{citation needed\|date=January 2019}} The UN has set a target of 0.7%. In 2015 six nations reached the UN target.<ref name="Quinn">{{cite news \|url = https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/04/uk-among-six-countries-hit-un-aid-spending-target-oecd \| title = UK among six countries to hit 0.7% UN aid spending target \| author = Ben Quinn \| publisher = theguardian \| year = 2017 }}</ref> The country ranked 38th in the 2018 ].<ref>{{cite report\|url=https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publications/caf_wgi2018_report_webnopw_2379a_261018.pdf\|title=World Giving Index\|date=October 2018\|publisher=Charities Aid Foundation\|access-date=February 22, 2022}}</ref>

	===Military===
	{{Main\|Israel Defense Forces\|Israeli security forces}}
	{{Further\|List of wars involving Israel\|List of the Israel Defense Forces operations\|Israel and weapons of mass destruction}}
	] fighter jets of the ]]]

	The ] (IDF) is the sole military wing of the ], and is headed by its ], the ''Ramatkal'', subordinate to the ]. The IDF consists of the ], ] and ]. It was founded during the ] by consolidating paramilitary organizations—chiefly the ]—that preceded the establishment of the state.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/about/History/40s/1948/default.htm \|publisher=Israel Defense Forces \|access-date=31 July 2007 \|title=History: 1948 \|year=2007 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412082705/http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/about/History/40s/1948/default.htm \|archive-date=12 April 2008 }}</ref> The IDF also draws upon the resources of the ] (''Aman''), which works with ] and ].<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets \|Henderson \|2003 \|p=97}}</ref> The Israel Defense Forces have been involved in several ] and border conflicts in its short history, making it one of the most battle-trained armed forces in the world.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/State/THE+STATE-+Israel+Defense+Forces+-IDF-.htm \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|title=The State: Israel Defense Forces (IDF) \|access-date=9 August 2007 \|date=13 March 2009 }}</ref>

	Most Israelis are ] at the age of 18. Men serve two years and eight months and ] two years.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts%20About%20Israel/State/The%20Israel%20Defense%20Forces \|title=The Israel Defense Forces \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|access-date=21 October 2006}}</ref> Following mandatory service, Israeli men join the reserve forces and usually do up to several weeks of ] every year until their forties. Most women are exempt from reserve duty. ] (except the ]) and those engaged in full-time religious studies are ], although the ] has been a source of contention in Israeli society for many years.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Stendel\|1997\|pp=191–192}}</ref><ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/cool-law-for-wrong-population-1.220687 \|date=16 May 2007 \|access-date=19 March 2012 \|title=Cool law, for wrong population \|last=Shtrasler \|first=Nehemia \|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref> An alternative for those who receive exemptions on various grounds is '']'', or national service, which involves a programme of service in hospitals, schools and other social welfare frameworks.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.nbn.org.il/aliyahpedia/army/585-sherut-leumi-national-service.html \|publisher=Nefesh B'Nefesh \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|title=Sherut Leumi (National Service)}}</ref> A small minority of Israeli Arabs also volunteer to serve in the army.<ref>{{Cite news \|date=2016-11-08 \|title=Israel's Arab soldiers who fight for the Jewish state \|language=en-GB \|publisher=] \|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37895021}}</ref> As a result of its conscription programme, the IDF maintains approximately 176,500 active troops and an additional 465,000 reservists, giving Israel one of the world's highest ].<ref name=IISS_military>], pp. 339–340</ref>

	] is the world's first operational anti-] defense system.]]
	The nation's military relies heavily on high-tech ] systems ] as well as some foreign imports. The ] missile is one of the world's few operational ] systems.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=56544 \|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post \|title=Arrow can fully protect against Iran \|last=Katz \|first=Yaakov \|date=30 March 2007 \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> The ] air-to-air missile series is often considered one of the most crucial weapons in its military history.<ref>''Israeli Mirage III and Nesher Aces'', By Shlomo Aloni, (Osprey 2004), p. 60</ref> Israel's ] missile is one of the most widely exported ]s (ATGMs) in the world.<ref> army-technology.com</ref> Israel's ] anti-missile air defense system gained worldwide acclaim after intercepting hundreds of ], ] and ] artillery ] from the Gaza Strip.<ref name=Johnson>{{cite news\|title=How Israel Developed Such A Shockingly Effective Rocket Defense System\|author=Robert Johnson\|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/how-israel-developed-the-iron-dome-2012-11?op=1#ixzz2Cme6aQn5\|work=Business Insider\|date=19 November 2012\|access-date=20 November 2012}}</ref><ref name=Tory>{{cite news\|title=A Missile-Defense System That Actually Works?\|author=Sarah Tory\|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/11/israel_iron_dome_defense_how_has_missile_defense_changed_battle_in_gaza.html\|work=Slate\|date=19 November 2012\|access-date=20 November 2012}}</ref> Since the ], Israel has developed a network of ].<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol44no5/html/v44i5a04p.htm \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100426215752/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol44no5/html/v44i5a04p.htm \|url-status=dead \|archive-date=26 April 2010 \|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency \|title=Israel's Quest for Satellite Intelligence \|last=Zorn \|first=E.L. \|date=8 May 2007 \|access-date=19 March 2012}}</ref> The success of the '']'' programme has made Israel ] capable of launching such satellites.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=64499 \|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post \|title=Analysis: Eyes in the sky \|last=Katz \|first=Yaakov \|date=11 June 2007 \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref>

	Israel is widely believed to ]<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/transcripts/2004/alahram27072004.html \|title=Transcript of the Director General's Interview with Al-Ahram News \|first=Mohamed \|last=ElBaradei \|author-link=Mohamed ElBaradei \|publisher=International Atomic Energy Agency \|date=27 July 2004 \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418221656/http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/transcripts/2004/alahram27072004.html \|archive-date=18 April 2012 }}</ref> and per a 1993 report, chemical and biological ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.vaccines.mil/documents/library/proliferation.pdf \|title=Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Assessing the Risks \|publisher=Office of Technology Assessment \|date=August 1993 \|access-date=29 March 2012 \|pages=65, 84 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120528155012/http://www.vaccines.mil/documents/library/proliferation.pdf \|archive-date=28 May 2012 }}</ref>{{update after\|2021\|11}} Israel has not signed the ]<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://www.un.org/en/conf/npt/2005/background.html \|title=Background Information \|date=27 May 2005 \|website=2005 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) \|publisher=United Nations \|access-date=9 April 2012}}</ref> and maintains a ] toward its nuclear capabilities.<ref>Ziv, Guy, "To Disclose or Not to Disclose: The Impact of Nuclear Ambiguity on Israeli Security", Israel Studies Forum, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Winter 2007): 76–94</ref> The Israeli Navy's ] are believed to be armed with nuclear ] missiles, offering ] capability.<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/missile/popeye-t.htm \|title=Popeye Turbo \|publisher=Federation of American Scientists \|access-date=19 February 2011}}</ref> Since the ] in 1991, when Israel was attacked by ], all homes in Israel are required to have a reinforced security room, ], impermeable to chemical and biological substances.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://israelhomeowner.brinkster.net/Glossary.asp \|title=Glossary \|publisher=Israel Homeowner \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120517224030/http://israelhomeowner.brinkster.net/Glossary.asp \|archive-date=17 May 2012 }}</ref>

	Since Israel's establishment, military expenditure constituted a significant portion of the country's ], with peak of 30.3% of GDP spent on defense in 1975.<ref>{{cite report \|date=29 May 2017 \|title=Defence Expenditure in Israel, 1950–2015 \|url=http://cbs.gov.il/publications17/1680/pdf/t04.pdf \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=22 June 2017 \|archive-date=19 June 2017 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170619053457/http://cbs.gov.il/publications17/1680/pdf/t04.pdf \|url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2021, Israel ranked 15th in the world ], with $24.3 billion, and 6th by defense spending as a percentage of GDP, with 5.2%.<ref>{{cite report \|date=April 2022 \|title=Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2021 \|url=https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/fs_2204_milex_2021_0.pdf \|publisher=Stockholm International Peace Research Institute \|access-date=21 February 2023}}</ref> Since 1974, the United States has been a particularly notable contributor of ].<ref>{{cite report \|last=Sharp \|first=Jeremy M. \|date=22 December 2016 \|title=U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel \|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf \|publisher=Congressional Research Service \|page=36 \|access-date=22 June 2017 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150731092044/http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf \|archive-date=31 July 2015 }}</ref> Under a ] signed in 2016, the U.S. is expected to provide the country with $3.8 billion per year, or around 20% of Israel's defense budget, from 2018 to 2028.<ref>{{cite news \|last=Lake \|first=Eli \|date=15 September 2016 \|title=The U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Misunderstanding \|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-09-15/the-u-s-israel-memorandum-of-misunderstanding \|publisher=Bloomberg \|access-date=17 March 2017}}</ref> Israel ranked 8th globally for ] in 2021.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://armstrade.sipri.org/armstrade/page/toplist.php \|title=Top List TIV Tables \|publisher=Stockholm International Peace Research Institute \|access-date=21 January 2017}}</ref> The majority of Israel's arms exports are unreported for security reasons.<ref> By Gili Cohen \| 9 January 2014, Haaretz</ref> Israel is consistently rated low in the ], ranking 134th out of 163 nations for peacefulness in 2022.<ref name=GPI>{{cite report \|date=June 2022 \|title=Global Peace Index 2022 \|url=https://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/GPI-2022-web.pdf \|publisher=Institute for Economics and Peace \|page=11 \|access-date=21 February 2023}}</ref>

	==Economy==
	{{Main\|Economy of Israel}}
	] in ]]]
	]]]
	Israel is considered the most advanced country in ] and the Middle East in economic and industrial development.<ref name="Chua 2003 219–220">{{Cite book\|title=World On Fire \|last=Chua \|first=Amy \|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing \|year=2003 \|isbn=978-0-385-72186-8 \|pages= \|url=https://archive.org/details/worldonfirehowex00chua_0/page/219 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book\|url={{Google books\|Up_7Bh8SbDcC\|page=\|keywords=%22israel+is+the+most+industrialized%22\|text=%22israel+is+the+most+industrialized%22\|plainurl=yes}}\|title=Northern and Western Asia\|isbn=978-0-8225-2915-6\|last1=Bramwell\|first1=Martyn\|year=2000}}</ref> In recent years Israel has had the highest growth rate in the Western world along with ].<ref>{{Cite web \|title=Israel ranked 4th-best-performing economy among OECD countries in 2022 {{!}} The Times of Israel \|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-ranked-4th-best-performing-economy-among-oecd-countries-in-2022/amp/ \|access-date=2023-02-08 \|website=www.timesofisrael.com}}</ref> In 2023, the IMF estimated Israel's GDP at 564 billion dollars and Israel's GDP per capita at 58,270, a figure comparable to other highly developed and rich countries.<ref>{{Cite web \|title=IMF data mapper Israel 2023 \|url=https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/ISR}}</ref> Israel has the highest average ] in the Middle East.<ref name="CS 2019-1">{{Cite web \|title=Global wealth report \|url=https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html \|access-date=20 September 2022 \|website=credit-suisse.com \|publisher=]}}</ref> '']'' ranked Israel as the 4th most successful economy among the developed countries for 2022.<ref>{{Cite web \|title=Israel ranked 4th-best-performing economy among OECD countries in 2022 {{!}} The Times of Israel \|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-ranked-4th-best-performing-economy-among-oecd-countries-in-2022/amp/ \|access-date=2023-02-08 \|website=www.timesofisrael.com}}</ref> Israel's quality ] and the establishment of a highly motivated and educated populace is largely responsible for spurring the country's high technology boom and rapid economic development.<ref name="David Adler">{{cite web \| url=http://monitor.icef.com/2014/03/ambitious-israeli-students-look-to-top-institutions-abroad/ \| title=Ambitious Israeli students look to top institutions abroad \| publisher=ICEF \| date=10 March 2014 \| access-date=20 January 2015 \| author=David Adler}}</ref> In 2010, it joined the ].<ref name="OECD"/><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.oecd.org/general/listofoecdmembercountries-ratificationoftheconventionontheoecd.htm \|title=List of OECD Member countries — Ratification of the Convention on the OECD \|publisher=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development \|access-date=12 August 2012}}</ref> The country is ranked 20th in the ]'s '']''<ref name="rank 2019">{{cite web\|url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2019.pdf\|title=The Global Competitiveness Report 2019 \|access-date=1 December 2021}}</ref> and 35th on the ]'s ].<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.doingbusiness.org/en/rankings\|title=Rankings\|website=World Bank\|language=en\|access-date=1 December 2021}}</ref> Israel was also ranked fifth in the world by share of people in high-skilled employment.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://reports.weforum.org/global-human-capital-report-2017/dataexplorer/#economy=ISR \|title=Global Human Capital Report 2017 \|date=13 September 2017 \|publisher=World Economic Forum \|access-date=23 April 2018}}</ref> Israeli economic data covers the economic territory of Israel, including the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.{{sfn\|OECD\|2011}}

	Despite limited natural resources, intensive development of the ] and industrial sectors over the past decades has made Israel largely self-sufficient in food production, apart from grains and beef. Imports to Israel, totaling $96.5 billion in 2020, include raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, and consumer goods.<ref name="cia"/> Leading exports include machinery and equipment, software, ], agricultural products, chemicals, and textiles and apparel; in 2020, Israeli exports reached $114 billion.<ref name="cia"/> The ] holds $201 billion of ], the 17th highest in the world.<ref name="cia"/> Since the 1970s, Israel has received ] from the United States, as well as economic assistance in the form of ]s, which now account for roughly half of Israel's ]. Israel has ] external debts in the developed world, and is a lender in terms of net external debt (]), which {{as of\|2015\|alt=in 2015}} stood at a surplus of $69 billion.<ref>{{cite press release \|date=20 September 2015 \|title=Israel's International Investment Position (IIP), June 2015 \|url=http://www.boi.org.il/en/NewsAndPublications/PressReleases/Pages/20-09-2015-IIP-Q2.aspx \|publisher=Bank of Israel \|access-date=29 January 2017 \|archive-date=15 December 2018 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215171824/https://www.boi.org.il/en/NewsAndPublications/PressReleases/Pages/20-09-2015-IIP-Q2.aspx \|url-status=dead }}</ref>{{bsn\|date=February 2023}}

	Israel has the second-largest number of ] in the world after the United States,<ref>{{cite book \|title=Intellectual Capital for Communities: Nations, Regions, and Cities \|last=Bounfour \|first=Ahmed \|author2=Edvinsson, Leif \|year=2005 \|publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann \|isbn=978-0-7506-7773-8 \|page=47 (368 pages)}}</ref> and the third-largest number of ] after the U.S. and China.<ref>{{cite magazine \| url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbehar/2016/05/11/inside-israels-secret-startup-machine/ \| title=Inside Israel's Secret Startup Machine \| magazine=Forbes \| date=11 May 2016 \| access-date=30 October 2016 \| author=Richard Behar}}</ref> It is the world leader for number of start-ups per capita.<ref>{{Cite web \|title=The Israeli technological Eco-system \|url=https://www2.deloitte.com/il/en/pages/innovation/article/the_israeli_technological_eco-system.html \|access-date=2023-02-26 \|website=Deloitte Israel \|language=en}}</ref> ]<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.jpost.com/Business/BusinessNews/Article.aspx?id=52876 \|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post \|date=27 February 2007 \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|title=Intel to expand Jerusalem R&D \|last=Krawitz \|first=Avi}}</ref> and ]<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.microsoftrnd.co.il/about/leadership \|publisher=Microsoft \|access-date=19 March 2012 \|title=Microsoft Israel R&D center: Leadership \|quote=Avi returned to Israel in 1991, and established the first Microsoft R&D Center outside the US ... \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313223906/http://www.microsoftrnd.co.il/about/leadership \|archive-date=13 March 2012 }}</ref> built their first overseas ] facilities in Israel, and other high-tech multi-national corporations, such as ], ], ], ], ], ] and ] have opened ]. In 2007, American investor ]'s holding company ] bought the Israeli company ] for $4 billion, its first ] outside the United States.<ref>{{cite news \|title=Berkshire Announces Acquisition \|work=] \|date=6 May 2006 \|access-date=15 May 2010 \|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E7DB1F3FF935A35756C0A9609C8B63 }}</ref>

	The days which are allocated to working times in Israel are Sunday through Thursday (for a five-day ]), or Friday (for a six-day workweek). In observance of '']'', in places where Friday is a work day and the majority of population is Jewish, Friday is a "short day", usually lasting until 14:00 in the winter, or 16:00 in the summer. Several proposals have been raised to adjust the work week with the majority of the world, and make Sunday a non-working day, while extending working time of other days or replacing Friday with Sunday as a work day.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.themarker.com/career/1.1739743 \|newspaper=The Marker \|title=Instead of 4 work days: 6 optional days to be considered half day-outs \|last=Koren \|first=Orah \|date=26 June 2012 \|access-date=26 June 2012}} (in Hebrew)</ref>

	===Science and technology===
	{{Main\|Science and technology in Israel\|List of Israeli inventions and discoveries}}
	] high-tech park in Haifa]]

	Israel's development of cutting-edge technologies in software, communications and the life sciences have ] with ].<ref>{{cite news\|title=Israel keen on IT tie-ups \|date=10 January 2001 \|newspaper=Business Line \|url=http://www.hindu.com/businessline/2001/01/11/stories/151139ue.htm \|access-date=19 March 2012 \|location=Chennai, India \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116074212/http://www.hindu.com/businessline/2001/01/11/stories/151139ue.htm \|archive-date=16 January 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news \|title=Israel's technology industry: Punching above its weight \|date=10 November 2005 \|newspaper=The Economist \|url=http://www.economist.com/node/5149411 \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> Israel is first in the world in ] as a percentage of GDP.<ref name=OECD_R&D>{{cite web\|url=https://data.oecd.org/rd/gross-domestic-spending-on-r-d.htm\|title=Research and development (R&D) – Gross domestic spending on R&D – OECD Data\|website=data.oecd.org\|access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref> It is ranked sixteenth in the ] in 2022, down from tenth in 2019 and fifth in the 2019 ].<ref>{{Cite book \|last=WIPO \|title=Global Innovation Index 2022, 15th Edition \|url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2022/index.html \|access-date=2022-11-16 \|website=www.wipo.int \|series=Global Innovation Index \|year=2022 \|publisher=World Intellectual Property Organization \|doi=10.34667/tind.46596 \|isbn=9789280534320 \|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Release of the Global Innovation Index 2020: Who Will Finance Innovation?\|url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2020/index.html\|access-date=2021-09-02\|publisher=World Intellectual Property Organization\|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Global Innovation Index 2019\|url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2019/index.html\|access-date=2021-09-02\|publisher=World Intellectual Property Organization\|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=RTD – Item\|url=https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/rtd/items/691898\|access-date=2021-09-02\|website=ec.europa.eu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|date=2013-10-28\|title=Global Innovation Index\|url=https://knowledge.insead.edu/entrepreneurship-innovation/global-innovation-index-2930\|access-date=2021-09-02\|website=INSEAD Knowledge\|language=en\|archive-date=2 September 2021\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902101622/https://knowledge.insead.edu/entrepreneurship-innovation/global-innovation-index-2930\|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Bloomberg_innovation>{{Cite news\|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-22/germany-nearly-catches-korea-as-innovation-champ-u-s-rebounds\|title=These Are the World's Most Innovative Countries\|website=Bloomberg.com\|date=22 January 2019\|access-date=24 January 2019}}</ref> Israel has 140 scientists, technicians, and engineers per 10,000 employees, the highest number in the world, for comparison the U.S. has 85 per 100,000.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://sun.inc.hse.ru/sites/default/files/Shteinbuk.pdf \|title=R&D and Innovation as a Growth Engine \|last=Shteinbuk \|first=Eduard \|date=22 July 2011 \|publisher=National Research University – Higher School of Economics \|access-date=11 May 2013 \|archive-date=8 August 2019 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808102137/http://sun.inc.hse.ru/sites/default/files/Shteinbuk.pdf \|url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.investinisrael.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/61BD95A0-898B-4F48-A795-5886B1C4F08C/0/israelcompleteweb.pdf\|title=InvestinIsrael}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.nyjtimes.com/Heritage/News/2003/Aug/InvestinginIsrael.htm\|title=Investing in Israel\|publisher=New York Jewish Times\|access-date=29 October 2016\|archive-date=9 May 2013\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509230619/http://www.nyjtimes.com/Heritage/News/2003/Aug/InvestinginIsrael.htm\|url-status=dead}}</ref> Israel has produced six ] scientists since 2004<ref name="nobel">{{cite news \|author=Haviv Rettig Gur \|date=9 October 2013 \|title=Tiny Israel a Nobel heavyweight, especially in chemistry \|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/tiny-israel-a-nobel-heavyweight-especially-in-chemistry/ \|website=The Times of Israel \|access-date=30 January 2017}}</ref> and has been frequently ranked as one of the countries with the highest ratios of ] per capita in the world.<ref>{{cite news \|last=Heylin \|first=Michael \|date=27 November 2006 \|title=Globalization of Science Rolls On \|work=Chemical & Engineering News \|pages=29–31 \|url=http://www.achem.univ.kiev.ua/news/pdf/globalization_of_science_rolls_on.pdf \|access-date=5 February 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=32635 \|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post \|last=Gordon \|first=Evelyn \|title=Kicking the global oil habit \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|date=24 August 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news \|title=Israel's scientific fall from grace: Study shows drastic decline in publications per capita \|author=Yarden Skop \|newspaper=Haaretz \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.544767\|date=2 September 2013 }}</ref> Israel has led the world in ] research papers per capita since 2000.<ref name="scell">{{cite news \|title=Stem cell density highest in Israel \|first=Ned \|last=Stafford \|url=http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/23830 \|newspaper=The Scientist \|date=21 March 2006 \|access-date=18 October 2012}}</ref> ] are ranked among the top 50 world universities in computer science (] and ]), mathematics (]) and chemistry (]).<ref name="ARWU"/>

	In 2012, Israel was ranked ninth in the world by the Futron's ].<ref>{{cite web\|title=Futron Releases 2012 Space Competitiveness Index\|url=http://spaceref.biz/2012/08/futron-releases-2012-space-competitiveness-index.html\|access-date=21 December 2013\|archive-date=24 December 2013\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224114215/http://spaceref.biz/2012/08/futron-releases-2012-space-competitiveness-index.html\|url-status=dead}}</ref> The ] coordinates all Israeli space research programmes with scientific and commercial goals, and have indigenously designed and built at least 13 commercial, research and spy satellites.<ref>{{cite news \|title=Israel's domestic satellite industry saved \|first=Arieh \|last=O'Sullivan \|url=http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?id=276757 \|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post \|date=9 July 2012 \|access-date=9 December 2012 \|quote=The Amos 6 will be IAI's 14th satellite}}</ref> Some of Israel's satellites are ranked among the world's most advanced space systems.<ref>{{cite news \|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jan/21/iran.marktran \|title=Israel launches new satellite to spy on Iran \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|date=21 January 2008 \|newspaper=The Guardian \|location=London \|first=Mark \|last=Tran}}</ref> ] is a space ] produced by Israel to launch small ]s into ].<ref>{{cite web\|title=Space launch systems – Shavit\|url=http://www.deagel.com/Space-Launch-Systems/Shavit_a001901001.aspx\|publisher=Deagel\|access-date=19 November 2013}}</ref> It was first launched in 1988, making Israel the ] to have a space launch capability. In 2003, ] became Israel's first astronaut, serving as payload specialist of ], the ] of the ].<ref>{{cite news\|url=http://m.jpost.com/PromoContent/Learning-Hebrew-Online-Colonel-Ilan-Ramon#article=0OTBDN0ZDNEMyQTAzMDUyNTZCQTAxQzhERUM4OTczMkQ= \|title=Learning Hebrew Online – Colonel Ilan Ramon \|author=e-Teacher \|newspaper=] \|date=9 February 2010 \|access-date=1 December 2015 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208124754/http://m.jpost.com/PromoContent/Learning-Hebrew-Online-Colonel-Ilan-Ramon \|archive-date=8 December 2015 }}</ref>

	The ongoing shortage of ] has spurred innovation in ] techniques, and a substantial ], ], was ]. Israel is also at the technological forefront of ] and ]. The ] is the largest seawater ] (SWRO) ] in the world.<ref>{{cite magazine \|url=https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534996/megascale-desalination/ \|title=Megascale Desalination \|last=Talbot \|first=David \|date=2015 \|magazine=MIT Technology Review \|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref> By 2014, Israel's desalination programmes provided roughly 35% of Israel's drinking water and it is expected to supply 40% by 2015 and 70% by 2050.<ref>{{cite news\|url=https://news.yahoo.com/israel-solves-water-woes-desalination-053359192.html \|title=Israel solves water woes with desalination \|author=Federman, Josef \|agency=Associated Press \|date=30 May 2014 \|access-date=30 May 2014 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140602041312/http://news.yahoo.com/israel-solves-water-woes-desalination-053359192.html \|archive-date=2 June 2014 }}</ref> {{as of\|2015}}, more than 50 percent of the water for Israeli households, agriculture and industry is artificially produced.<ref name="Kershner">{{Cite news\|title = Aided by the Sea, Israel Overcomes an Old Foe: Drought\|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/30/world/middleeast/water-revolution-in-israel-overcomes-any-threat-of-drought.html\|newspaper = The New York Times\|date = 29 May 2015\|access-date = 31 May 2015\|first = Isabel\|last = Kershner}}</ref> The country hosts an annual Water Technology and Environmental Control Exhibition & Conference (WATEC) that attracts thousands of people from across the world.<ref>{{cite web \|title=What You Israelis Have Done With Water Tech is Simply Amazing \|date=16 November 2011 \|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/149829 \|publisher=Arutz Sheva \|access-date=16 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|title=Ashkelon, Israel \|url=http://www.water-technology.net/projects/israel/ \|publisher=water-technology.net}}</ref> In 2011, Israel's ] was worth around $2 billion a year with annual exports of products and services in the tens of millions of dollars. As a result of innovations in reverse osmosis technology, Israel is set to become a net ] in the coming years.<ref>{{cite news \|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-desalination-idUSTRE7B50V520111206 \|title=Desalination plant could make Israel water exporter \|newspaper=Reuters \|location=Jerusalem \|date=6 December 2011 \|first=Ari \|last=Rabinovitch}}</ref>

	] at the ].<ref name=Register>{{cite news \|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/25/faiman_negev_solar_plan/ \|title=Giant solar plants in Negev could power Israel's future \|first=John \|last=Lettice \|newspaper=The Register \|date=25 January 2008}}</ref>]]

	Israel has embraced ]; its engineers are on the cutting edge of solar energy technology<ref name=NPR>{{cite news \|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15503716 \|title=Israel Pushes Solar Energy Technology \|publisher=NPR \|first=Linda \|last=Gradstein \|author-link=Linda Gradstein \|date=22 October 2007}}</ref> and its solar companies work on projects around the world.<ref name=CBC>{{cite news\|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/parry/20070815.html \|title=Looking to the sun \|first=Tom \|last=Parry \|date=15 August 2007 \|newspaper=] \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924093635/http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/parry/20070815.html \|archive-date=24 September 2008 }}</ref><ref name=BW>{{cite news \|title=At the Zenith of Solar Energy \|first=Neal \|last=Sandler \|url=http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-03-26/at-the-zenith-of-solar-energybusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice \|newspaper=Bloomberg Businessweek \|date=26 March 2008 \|access-date=12 August 2012}}</ref> Over 90% of Israeli homes use solar energy for hot water, the highest per capita in the world.<ref name="Solar energy">{{cite web \|url=http://www.neaman.org.il/Neaman2011/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&TMID=581&LNGID=1&FID=646&IID=7974 \|title=Solar energy for the production of heat Summary and recommendations of the 4th assembly of the energy forum at SNI \|last1=Grossman \|first1=Gershon \|last2=Ayalon \|first2=Ofira \|last3=Baron \|first3=Yifaat \|last4=Kauffman \|first4=Debby \|publisher=Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology \|access-date=12 August 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116083312/http://www.neaman.org.il/Neaman2011/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&TMID=581&LNGID=1&FID=646&IID=7974 \|archive-date=16 January 2013 }}</ref><ref name="Environment California SWH">{{cite web \|last1=Del Chiaro \|first1=Bernadette \|last2=Telleen-Lawton \|first2=Timothy \|title=Solar Water Heating: How California Can Reduce Its Dependence on Natural Gas \|publisher=Environment California \|url=http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/reports/cae/solar-water-heating-how-california-can-reduce-its-dependence-natural-gas \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|format=PDF}}</ref> According to government figures, the country saves 8% of its electricity consumption per year because of its solar energy use in heating.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://roma.mfa.gov.il/mfm/Data/156237.pdf \|title=Solar, what else?! \|last=Berner \|first=Joachim \|date=January 2008 \|website=Sun & Wind Energy \|publisher=Israel Special \|page=88 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721141348/http://roma.mfa.gov.il/mfm/Data/156237.pdf \|archive-date=21 July 2011 \|access-date=15 May 2010}}</ref> The high annual incident ] at its geographic ] creates ideal conditions for what is an internationally renowned solar research and development industry in the ].<ref name=NPR/><ref name=CBC/><ref name=BW/> Israel had a modern ] involving a countrywide network of ]s to facilitate the charging and exchange of car batteries. It was thought that this would have lowered Israel's oil dependency and lowered the fuel costs of hundreds of Israel's motorists that use cars powered only by electric batteries.<ref>{{cite magazine\|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2066975,00.html \|title=Will Israel's Electric Cars Change the World? \|magazine=Time \|access-date=11 April 2012 \|date=26 April 2011 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415081103/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0%2C8599%2C2066975%2C00.html \|archive-date=15 April 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news \| url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c0ef35cc-c06a-11df-8a81-00144feab49a.html \| title=Electric cars are all the rage in Israel \|newspaper=Financial Times \| date=17 September 2010 \| access-date=11 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news \| url=http://www.haaretz.com/business/israel-to-keep-electric-car-recharging-fees-low-1.418128 \| title=Israel to keep electric car recharging fees low \| newspaper=Haaretz \| access-date=11 April 2012\| date=13 March 2012 }}</ref> The Israeli model was being studied by several countries and being implemented in Denmark and Australia.<ref>{{cite web \| url=http://www.jpost.com/JerusalemReport/Science/Article.aspx?ID=258744&R=R1 \| title=Baby you can drive my electric car \| publisher=Jpost \| access-date=11 April 2012}}</ref> However, Israel's trailblazing electric car company ] shut down in 2013.<ref>{{cite news \| url=http://www.businessinsider.com/better-place-folds-2013-5 \|title=Electric Car Company Folds After Taking $850 Million From GE And Others \|work=Business Insider \|date=26 May 2013}}</ref>

	===Energy===
	{{Main\|Energy in Israel}}
	Israel began producing natural gas from its own offshore gas fields in 2004. Between 2005 and 2012, Israel had imported gas from Egypt via the al-], which was terminated due to ]. In 2009, a ] reserve, ], was found near the coast of Israel. A second natural gas reserve, ], was discovered in 2010.<ref>{{cite news\|title=Israel Billionaire Tshuva Strikes Gas, Fueling Expansion in Energy, Hotels \|first1=David \|last1=Wainer \|first2=Calev \|last2=Ben-David \|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-04-21/israel-billionaire-tshuva-strikes-gas-fueling-expansion-in-energy-hotels.html \|publisher=Bloomberg News \|date=22 April 2010 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112194937/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-04-21/israel-billionaire-tshuva-strikes-gas-fueling-expansion-in-energy-hotels.html \|archive-date=12 January 2011 }}</ref> The natural gas reserves in these two fields (Leviathan has around 19 trillion cubic feet) could make Israel energy secure for more than 50 years. In 2013, Israel began commercial production of natural gas from the Tamar field. {{as of\|2014}}, Israel produced over 7.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of ] a year.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2249rank.html\|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency\|website=www.cia.gov\|access-date=11 May 2018\|archive-date=15 March 2016\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315051210/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2249rank.html\|url-status=dead}}</ref> Israel had 199 billion cubic meters (bcm) of proven reserves of natural gas as of the start of 2016.<ref>{{cite web\|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2253rank.html#is\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615230151/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2253rank.html#is\|url-status=dead\|archive-date=15 June 2013\|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency\|website=www.cia.gov}}</ref> The Leviathan gas field started production in 2019.<ref>{{cite news \|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-natgas-leviathan/israel-gets-first-gas-from-leviathan-with-exports-to-follow-idUSKBN1YZ0H9 \|publisher=Reuters \|title=Israel gets first gas from Leviathan with exports to follow \|last1=Cohen \|first1=Tova \|last2=Ari \|first2=Rabinovitch \|date=31 December 2019 \|access-date=26 June 2022}}</ref>

	] is Israel's first commercial solar field. Built in early 2011 by the ] on ], Ketura Sun covers twenty acres and is expected to produce green energy amounting to 4.95 ] (MW). The field consists of 18,500 ] panels made by ], which will produce about 9 ]s (GWh) of electricity per year.<ref>{{cite web \|url= http://www.aravapower.com/Technical%20Figures \|title= Ketura Sun Technical Figures \|access-date= 26 June 2011 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120309003501/http://www.aravapower.com/Technical%20Figures \|archive-date= 9 March 2012}}</ref> In the next twenty years, the field will spare the production of some 125,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.<ref>{{cite web\|url= http://www.aravapower.com/Environmental%20Figures\|title= Ketura Sun Environmental Figures\|access-date= 26 June 2011}}{{dead link\|date=September 2017 \|bot=Triggerhippie4 \|fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The field was inaugurated on 15 June 2011.<ref>{{cite web \|url= http://www.aravapower.com/
	\|title= Arava Power Company\|access-date=27 June 2011\| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110707154923/http://www.aravapower.com/\| archive-date= 7 July 2011 \| url-status=live}}</ref> On 22 May 2012 ] announced that it had reached financial close on an additional 58.5 MW for 8 projects to be built in the Arava and the Negev valued at 780 million NIS or approximately $204 million.<ref>{{Citation\| last = Roca\| first = Marc\| title = Arava Closes Funding For $204 Million Israeli Solar Plants\| newspaper = Bloomberg\| date = 22 May 2012\| url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-22/arava-closes-funding-for-204-million-israeli-solar-plants-1-.html\| access-date = 3 June 2012}}</ref>

	===Transport===
	{{Main\|Transport in Israel}}
	]]]
	Israel has a modern transport system. The country has {{convert\|19224\|km\|mi}} of paved ],<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st24_10&CYear=2016 \|title=Roads, by Length and Area \|date=1 September 2016 \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref> and 3 million motor vehicles.<ref name="vehicles">{{cite web \|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/newhodaot/hodaa_template.html?hodaa=201627085 \|title=3.09 Million Motor Vehicles in Israel in 2015 \|date=30 March 2016 \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref> The ] is 365, relatively low with respect to developed countries.<ref name="vehicles"/> Israel has 5,715 buses on scheduled routes,<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton60/st24_04.pdf \|title=Bus Services on Scheduled Routes \|year=2009 \|publisher=Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=5 February 2010 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610053142/http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton60/st24_04.pdf \|archive-date=10 June 2011 \|url-status=dead }}</ref> operated by several carriers, the largest and oldest of which is ], serving most of the country.<ref>{{cite news\|last=Stub\|first=Zev\|title=Egged's monopoly ends, Superbus taking over Jerusalem lines in late 2021\|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/eggeds-monopoly-ending-superbus-to-take-over-j-m-bus-lines-in-late-2021-657673\|access-date=2021-12-01\|work=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref> ] stretch across {{convert\|1277\|km\|mi}} and are operated solely by government-owned ].<ref name="cbs_rails">{{cite web \|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st24_03&CYear=2016 \|title=Railway Services \|date=1 September 2016 \|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics \|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref> Following major investments beginning in the early to mid-1990s, the number of train passengers per year has grown from 2.5 million in 1990, to 53 million in 2015; railways are also transporting 7.5 million tons of cargo, per year.<ref name="cbs_rails"/>

	Israel is served by two international ], ], the country's main hub for international air travel near Tel Aviv, and ], which serves the southernmost port city of Eilat. Ben Gurion, Israel's largest airport, handled over 15 million passengers in 2015.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.iaa.gov.il/en-US/airports/bengurion/Pages/Statistics.aspx \|title=Statistics \|publisher=Israel Airports Authority \|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref> The country has three main ports: the ], the country's oldest and largest, on the ] coast, ]; and the smaller ] on the ].

	===Tourism===
	{{Main\|Tourism in Israel}}
	{{see also\|List of archaeological sites in Israel and Palestine}}
	] fortress, one of the ] in Israel<ref>{{cite news \|last=Surkes \|first=Sue \|date=7 December 2022 \|title=New nature chief aims for tourists to see more of Israel's national parks, reserves \|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/tourists-see-too-few-of-israels-national-parks-and-nature-reserves-says-official/ \|work=The Times of Israel \|access-date=19 February 2023}}</ref>]]
	Tourism, especially ], is an important industry in Israel, with the country's temperate climate, ], ], other ] and ] sites, and unique geography also drawing tourists. Israel's security problems have taken their toll on the industry, but the number of incoming tourists is on the rebound.<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=71992 \|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post \|title=Tourist visits above pre-war level \|last=Burstein \|first=Nathan \|date=14 August 2007 \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> In 2017, a record of 3.6 million tourists visited Israel, yielding a 25 percent growth since 2016 and contributed NIS 20 billion to the Israeli economy.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-01/03/c_136867704.htm \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124195618/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-01/03/c_136867704.htm \|url-status=dead \|archive-date=24 January 2018 \|title=Israel sees record 3.6 mln inbound tourists in 2017 \|last=Yan \|date=3 January 2018 \|website=Xinhua}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=https://www.israel21c.org/israel-sets-new-record-with-3-6-million-tourists-in-2017/ \|title=Israel sets new record with 3.6 million tourists in 2017 \|last= Amir \|first= Rebecca Stadlen \|date=3 January 2018 \|website=Israel21}}</ref><ref>{{cite news\|url=http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-record-36m-tourists-visit-israel-in-2017-1001217309 \|title=Record 3.6m tourists visit Israel in 2017 \|last= Raz-Chaimovich \|first=Michal \|date=27 December 2017 \|newspaper=Globes}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.atlantajewishtimes.timesofisrael.com/israel-sees-record-3-6-million-tourists-in-2017 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180111022050/http://atlantajewishtimes.timesofisrael.com/israel-sees-record-3-6-million-tourists-in-2017/ \|url-status=dead \|archive-date=11 January 2018 \|title=Israel Sees Record 3.6 Million Tourists in 2017 \|date=4 January 2018 \|website=Atlanta Jewish Times }}</ref>

	===Real estate===
	{{main\|Housing in Israel}}
	Housing prices in Israel are listed in the top third,<ref>{{cite web \|title=Housing prices \|url=https://data.oecd.org/price/housing-prices.htm \|website=OECD \|language=en}}</ref> with an average of 150 salaries required to buy an apartment.<ref>{{cite web \|title=Average salary in Israel \|url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2022/002/26_22_002b.pdf \|website=Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel \|access-date=4 January 2022}}</ref> As of 2022, there are about 2.7 million properties in Israel, with an annual increase of more than 50,000.<ref>{{cite web \|title=Dwellings and Buildings in Israel \|url=https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/mediarelease/DocLib/2021/030/04_21_030b.pdf \|website=Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel \|access-date=26 January 2022}}</ref> However, the demand for housing exceeds supply, with a shortage of about 200,000 apartments as of 2021,<ref>{{cite news \|last1=Tsion \|first1=Hila \|title=Housing crisis: about 200,000 apartments are missing \|url=https://www.ynet.co.il/economy/article/S1KYZ9kh00 \|work=Ynet \|date=23 June 2021 \|language=he}}</ref> and thus rising house prices. As a result, by 2021 housing prices rose by 5.6%.<ref>{{cite web\|title=Israeli housing prices show largest increase in the world\|url=https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-housing-prices-show-largest-increase-in-the-world/\|website=israel21c.org\|date=15 September 2021\|access-date=28 January 2022 \|language=en}}</ref> High prices do not stop Israelis from buying properties. In 2021, Israelis took a record of NIS 116.1 billion in mortgages, an increase of 50% from 2020.<ref>{{cite web \|title=Report on housing loans \|url=https://www.boi.org.il/he/BankingSupervision/Data/Pages/HousingLoan.aspx \|website=Bank of Israel \|access-date=26 January 2022 \|archive-date=26 January 2022 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126140617/https://www.boi.org.il/he/BankingSupervision/Data/Pages/HousingLoan.aspx \|url-status=dead }}</ref>

	==Culture==
	{{Main\|Culture of Israel}}
	Israel's diverse culture stems from the diversity of its population. Jews from diaspora communities around the world brought their cultural and religious traditions back with them, creating a melting pot of Jewish customs and beliefs.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.hse.ru/en/news/28331917.html \|publisher=National Research University Higher School of Economics \|title=Asian Studies: Israel as a 'Melting Pot' \|access-date=18 April 2012}}</ref> Arab influences are present in many cultural spheres,<ref name="MendelRanta2016p137">{{cite book\|last1=Mendel\|first1=Yonatan\|last2=Ranta\|first2=Ronald\|title=From the Arab Other to the Israeli Self: Palestinian Culture in the Making of Israeli National Identity\|url={{Google books\|dD_7CwAAQBAJ\|page=\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|year=2016\|publisher=Routled\|isbn=978-1-317-13171-7\|page=137\|quote= early settlers found it useful and suitable to imitate, adopt, adapt and later appropriate local customs, traditions, symbols and words. This was the principal process that we have unearthed in the book, and which changed in style, volume and recognition with time and with the shifting political environment in Palestine/Israel, yet was kept in the DNA of what Jewish-Israelis perceive as 'Israeliness'. It was an ongoing love-hate tango with the Arab-Palestinian 'other', which on the one hand represented the opposite of the 'self', and on the other hand, its presence was a mandatory ingredient in the creation of many of the customs, traditions and practices considered as local and as Israeli the line of thinking according to which the Arab-Palestinian influence on Hebrew culture has been dramatically reduced following the creation of Israel as an independent state in 1948, is simply inaccurate and does not reflect the reality of Jewish-Arab-Palestinian relations. Not only were the early relations between settlers and Arab-Palestinians important – we would say essential – to our understanding of modern life in Israel and to Jewish-Israeli identity and culture, but the fascination leading to adaptation of Arab and Arab-Palestinian cultures did not end in 1948, it is in fact an ongoing process many of the customs and traditions, which Jewish-Israelis define as belonging to the Israeli way of life and that represent 'Israeliness', are based on those early relations and cultural appropriations.}}</ref><ref name="MendelRanta2016p140">{{cite book\|last1=Mendel\|first1=Yonatan\|last2=Ranta\|first2=Ronald\|title=From the Arab Other to the Israeli Self: Palestinian Culture in the Making of Israeli National Identity\|url={{Google books\|dD_7CwAAQBAJ\|page=\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|date=2016\|publisher=Routledge\|pages=140–141\|isbn=978-1-317-13171-7\|quote= Jewish-Israeli identity and culture have had a wide range of influences, among these were also Arab and Arab-Palestinian elements. When we looked at them in greater detail through Israeli food, Israeli dance, Israeli music, or Israeli symbols, we found – somewhere in their very root – also an Arab component. This is a unique influence not only because the Arab-Palestinian influence is common in different cultural fields, but because it seems that these influences are the least noted Arab and Arab-Palestinian influence is much more important in understanding Jewish-Israeli identity and culture than given credit or recognised, and that it had an effect – at times basic and at times more profound – on the deferent cultural fields that constitute what Jewish-Israelis perceive as 'Israeliness' and the Israeli way of life. We believe that due to political reasons, the Arab influence on Israeli culture has been underestimated and overlooked presentation of the Jewish and Arab identity and culture as two binaries is misleading. The two identities should be viewed more accurately as a scale with overlapping points, while acknowledging that – despite the conflict and at times because of the conflict – it is hard to admit that at the end of many Hebrew sentences sits an Arab smoking a 'nargilah' and that the Arab-Palestinian 'Other' is actually at the very heart of the Jewish-Israeli 'Self'... Jewish-Israelis and Arab-Palestinians share a number of similarities and points of contact that allow for easier diffusion of culture and symbols. These include, for example the presence of large communities of Jews who have originated in Arab countries and the increasing visibility and involvement of Arab-Palestinians in Israeli politics, economy and society. It is therefore expected that this proximity will result in constant cultural diffusion.}}</ref> such as ],<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFA+Publications/Photo+exhibits/Encounters-+The+Vernacular+Paradox+of+Israeli+Arch-+Intro.htm \|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|title=Encounters: The Vernacular Paradox of Israeli Architecture \|last=Ran \|first=Ami \|access-date=6 September 2007 \|date=25 August 1998 }}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite news \|url=http://www.israel21c.org/culture/israeli-palestinian-and-jordanian-djs-create-bridge-for-peace \|title=Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian DJs create bridge for peace \|last=Brinn \|first=David \|date=23 October 2005 \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|newspaper=ISRAEL21c}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern%20History/Israel%20at%2050/The%20International%20Israeli%20Table \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|title=The International Israeli Table \|access-date=26 June 2009 }}</ref> Israel is the only country in the world where life revolves around the ]. ] are determined by the ]s, and the official day of rest is Saturday, the ].<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts%20About%20Israel/People/Jewish%20Festivals%20in%20Israel \|publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs \|title=Jewish Festivals and Days of Remembrance in Israel \|access-date=16 September 2007 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814055003/http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/facts%20about%20israel/people/jewish%20festivals%20in%20israel \|archive-date=14 August 2007 }}</ref>

	===Literature===
	{{Main\|Israeli literature}}
	], laureate of the ]]]
	] is primarily ] and prose written in ], as part of the ] of Hebrew as a spoken language since the mid-19th century, although a small body of literature is published in other languages, such as English. By law, two copies of all printed matter published in Israel must be deposited in the ] at the ]. In 2001, the law was amended to include audio and video recordings, and other non-print media.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://jnul.huji.ac.il/eng/lgd.html \|publisher=Jewish National and University Library \|title=Depositing Books to The Jewish National & University Library \|access-date=21 August 2007 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120529153016/http://jnul.huji.ac.il/eng/lgd.html \|archive-date=29 May 2012 }}</ref> In 2016, 89 percent of the 7,300 books transferred to the library were in Hebrew.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/English/library/depositing/statistics/Pages/lgd-statistics-2016.aspx \|title=The Annual Israeli Book Week Report 2016 \|publisher=National Library of Israel \|access-date=26 April 2018}}</ref>

	In 1966, ] shared the ] with German Jewish author ].<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1966/index.html \|publisher=Nobel Foundation \|title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1966 \|access-date=12 August 2007 }}</ref> Leading Israeli poets have been ], ], ], and ].{{citation needed\|date=January 2023}} Internationally famous contemporary Israeli novelists include ], ] and ].{{citation needed\|date=January 2023}} The Israeli-Arab satirist ] (who writes in Hebrew) is also internationally known.{{Citation needed\|date=March 2016}} Israel has also been the home of ], whose novel '']'', and other writings, won him the Israel prize for Arabic literature.<ref>{{cite web\|title=Emile Habibi, Encyclopædia Britannica\|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/250792/Emile-Habibi\|access-date=21 June 2014}}</ref><ref name=prize>{{cite web\| title = Israel Prize Official Site – Recipients in 1992 (in Hebrew)\| url = http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashmag/Tashnab_Tashmag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashnab}}</ref>

	===Music and dance===
	{{Main\|Music of Israel\|Dance in Israel}}
	] conducted by ]\|alt=Several dozen musicians in formal dress, holding their instruments, behind a conductor]]
	] contains musical influences from all over the world; ] and ], ] melodies, ], ], and ] are all part of the music scene.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets \|Broughton \|Ellingham \|Trillo \|1999 \|pp=365–369}}</ref><ref>{{cite web\|url=http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/country/content.country/israel_36 \|publisher=National Geographic Society \|title=Israel \|website=World Music \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210070052/http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/country/content.country/israel_36 \|archive-date=10 February 2012 }}</ref> Among Israel's world-renowned<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Ben-Sasson\|1985\|p=1095}}</ref><ref>{{cite book \|title=Whose Master's Voice?: The Development of Popular Music in Thirteen Cultures \|last=Ewbank \|first=Alison J. \|author2=Papageorgiou, Fouli T. \|year=1997 \|publisher=Greenwood Press \|isbn=978-0-313-27772-6 \|page=117}}</ref> orchestras is the ], which has been in operation for over seventy years and today performs more than two hundred concerts each year.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Israel+beyond+politics/Israel+Philharmonic+Orchestra+celebrates+70th+anniversary+5-Feb-2007.htm \|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (from Israel21c) \|title=Israel Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates 70th anniversary \|date=5 February 2007 \|access-date=13 August 2007 \|last=Davis \|first=Barry \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206190159/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Israel%2Bbeyond%2Bpolitics/Israel%2BPhilharmonic%2BOrchestra%2Bcelebrates%2B70th%2Banniversary%2B5-Feb-2007.htm \|archive-date=6 February 2007 }}</ref> ], ] and ] are among the internationally acclaimed musicians born in Israel. ] in the ] nearly every year since 1973, winning the competition four times and hosting it twice.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-country/country?country=18 \|title=Israel \|website=Eurovision Song Contest \|publisher=European Broadcasting Union \|access-date=31 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/year \|title=History \|website=Eurovision Song Contest \|publisher=European Broadcasting Union \|access-date=31 May 2013}}</ref> ] has hosted its own international music festival, the ], every summer since 1987.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.redseajazzeilat.com/en/about/ \|publisher=Red Sea Jazz Festival \|title=About the Red Sea Jazz Festival \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312202659/http://www.redseajazzeilat.com/en/about/ \|archive-date=12 March 2012 }}</ref> The nation's canonical ], known as "Songs of the Land of Israel," deal with the experiences of the pioneers in building the Jewish homeland.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/israeli_folk_735/en_US \|publisher=National Geographic Society \|title=Israeli Folk Music \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|website=World Music \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103145812/http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/israeli_folk_735/en_US \|archive-date=3 January 2012 }}</ref>

	===Cinema and theatre===
	{{Main\|Cinema of Israel}}

	Ten Israeli films ] for ] at the ] since the establishment of Israel. The 2009 movie '']'' was the third consecutive nomination of an Israeli film.<ref>{{cite news \|title='Ajami' nominated for Oscar \|first=Hannah \|last=Brown \|work=The Jerusalem Post \|date=2 February 2010 \|url=http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Entertainment/Article.aspx?id=167582}}</ref> Palestinian Israeli filmmakers have made a number of films dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict and the status of Palestinians within Israel, such as ]'s 2002 film '']'' and '']''.{{Citation needed\|date=March 2016}}

	Continuing the strong theatrical traditions of the ] in Eastern Europe, Israel maintains a vibrant theatre scene. Founded in 1918, ] in Tel Aviv is Israel's oldest ] company and national theater.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.habima.co.il/ \|script-title=he:התיאטרון הלאומי הבימה \|publisher=Habima National Theatre \|access-date=13 August 2007 \|language=he }}</ref>

	===Media===
	{{Main\|Media of Israel}}
	The 2017 '']'' annual report by ] ranked Israel as the ]'s most free country, and 64th globally.<ref>{{cite report \|date=April 2017 \|title=Freedom of the Press 2017 \|url=https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FOTP_2017_booklet_FINAL_April28.pdf \|publisher=Freedom House \|page=26 \|access-date=30 September 2017}}</ref> In the 2017 ] by ], Israel (including "Israel extraterritorial" since 2013 ranking)<ref>{{cite news \|last=Diab \|first=Khaled \|date=11 February 2013 \|title=Preaching – and Practicing – Media Freedom in the Middle East \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/preaching-8211-and-practicing-8211-media-freedom-in-the-middle-east.premium-1.502769 \|newspaper=Haaretz \|access-date=9 January 2017}}</ref> was placed 91st of 180 countries, first in the Middle East and North Africa region.<ref>{{cite web \|url=https://rsf.org/en/ranking \|title=2017 World Press Freedom Index \|date=2017 \|publisher=Reporters Without Borders \|access-date=30 September 2017}}</ref> Reporters Without Borders noted that "Palestinian journalists are systematically subjected to violence as a result of their coverage of events in the West Bank".<ref>{{cite web \| title=Israel \| website=RSF \| date=2022-01-01 \| url=https://rsf.org/en/country/israel \| access-date=2022-05-15}}</ref> More than fifty Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel since 2001.<ref name="Guyer 2022">{{cite web \| last=Guyer \| first=Jonathan \| title=The killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, explained \| website=Vox \| date=2022-05-11 \| url=https://www.vox.com/2022/5/11/23067365/shireen-abu-akleh-palestinian-journalist-killed-israel \| access-date=2022-05-15}}</ref>

	===Museums===
	{{Main list\|List of Israeli museums}}
	], repository of the ] in Jerusalem]]
	The ] in Jerusalem is one of Israel's most important cultural institutions<ref name="imj">{{cite web \|url=http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/page_1465?c0=14896&bsp=14393 \|publisher=The Israel Museum, Jerusalem \|title=About the Museum \|access-date=13 March 2013 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302154234/http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/page_1465?c0=14896&bsp=14393 \|archive-date=2 March 2013 }}</ref> and houses the ],<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.imj.org.il/eng/shrine/index.html \|publisher=The Israel Museum, Jerusalem \|title=Shrine of the Book \|access-date=13 August 2007 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709044752/https://www.imj.org.il/eng/shrine/index.html \|archive-date=9 July 2007 }}</ref> along with an extensive collection of ] and ].<ref name="imj"/> Israel's national ] museum, ], is the world central archive of Holocaust-related information.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/index.asp \|publisher=Yad Vashem \|title=About Yad Vashem \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314132026/http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/index.asp \|archive-date=14 March 2012 }}</ref> ] on the campus of ], is an interactive museum devoted to the history of Jewish communities around the world.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.bh.org.il/about-us.aspx \|publisher=Beth Hatefutsoth \|title=Museum Information \|access-date=13 August 2007 }}</ref> Apart from the major museums in large cities, there are high-quality art spaces in many towns and ]im. Mishkan LeOmanut in kibbutz ] is the largest art museum in the north of the country.<ref>{{cite news \|date=25 March 2008 \|title=Mishkan LeOmanut \|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/travel/mishkan-leomanut-1.242533 \|work=Haaretz \|access-date=4 November 2017}}</ref>

	Israel has the highest number of museums per capita in the world.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://travel.cnn.com/best-israel-museums-361281/ \|title=10 of Israel's best museums \|last=Ahituv \|first=Netta \|date=29 January 2013 \|publisher=CNN \|access-date=9 January 2017}}</ref> Several Israeli museums are devoted to Islamic culture, including the ] and the ], both in Jerusalem. The Rockefeller specializes in archaeological remains from the Ottoman and other periods of Middle East history. It is also the home of the first ] fossil skull found in Western Asia, called ].<ref>{{cite book\|url={{Google books\|4Z0YrPfeHa8C\|page=\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|title=Through the Ages in Palestinian Archaeology: An Introductory Handbook\|page=50\|first=Walter E.\|last=Rast\|year=1992\|isbn=978-1-56338-055-6\|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group}} "Galilee man" (lowercase "m") in this source is a typo – ref. ], ] and so forth.</ref> A cast of the skull is on display at the Israel Museum.<ref>{{cite web \|title=The Israel Museum Permanent Exhibitions: Archaeology Wing – The Dawn of Civilization \|id=Skull (cast) Zuttiyeh Cave Lower Palaeolithic \|url=http://www.imj.org.il/imagine/galleries/viewItemE.asp?case=1&itemNum=359979\|publisher=The Ridgefield Foundation \|location=New York \|year=1995 \|access-date=13 March 2013}}</ref>

	===Cuisine===
	{{Main\|Israeli cuisine}}
	], ], ] and ]]]
	] includes local dishes as well as ] brought to the country by immigrants from the ]. Since the establishment of the state in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, an Israeli ] has developed.<ref name=raviv/> Israeli cuisine has adopted, and continues to adapt, elements of the ], ], and ] styles of cooking. It incorporates many foods traditionally eaten in the ], ], ] and ] cuisines, such as ], ], ], ], and ]. ], ], ]s, ], ] and ] are also common in Israel.{{Citation needed\|date=March 2016}}

	Roughly half of the Israeli-Jewish population attests to keeping ] at home.<ref>Uzi Rebhun, Lilakh Lev Ari, Brill, 2010 pp. 112–113.</ref><ref name="Bernstein" >Julia Bernstein, Campus Verlag, 2010 pp. 227, 233–234.</ref> ]s, though rare in the 1960s, make up around a quarter of the total {{As of\|2015\|lc=y}}, perhaps reflecting the largely secular values of those who dine out.<ref name=raviv>Yael Raviv, University of Nebraska Press, 2015</ref> Hotel restaurants are much more likely to serve kosher food.<ref name=raviv/> The non-kosher retail market was traditionally sparse, but grew rapidly and considerably following ] during the 1990s.<ref name=bernstein/> Together with non-kosher fish, rabbits and ostriches, ]—often called "white meat" in Israel<ref name=bernstein>Bernstein, .</ref>—is produced and consumed, though ] by both Judaism and Islam.<ref>{{cite news\|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/life/faithbased/2012/08/israel_s_pork_problem_and_what_it_means_for_the_country_s_christian_arabs_.single.html\|title=Israel's Pork Problem\|work=]\|location=New York\|date=8 August 2012\|access-date=28 December 2015}}</ref>

	===Sports===
	{{Main\|Sport in Israel}}
	] fans at ] in the city of Haifa]]
	The most popular spectator sports in Israel are ] and ].<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets\|Torstrick\|2004\|p=141}}</ref> The ] is the country's premier football league, and the ] is the premier basketball league.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.basket.co.il/Data.asp?id=1&lang=en \|publisher=Winner Basketball Super League \|title=Basketball Super League Profile \|access-date=13 August 2007 }}</ref> ], ], ] and ] are the largest ]. Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv have competed in the ] and Hapoel Tel Aviv reached the ] quarter-finals. Israel hosted and won the ]; in 1970 the ] qualified for the ], the only time it participated in the World Cup. The ], held in Tehran, were the last Asian Games in which Israel ], plagued by the Arab countries that ] to compete with Israel. Israel was excluded from the ] and since then has not competed in Asian sport events.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.jta.org/1976/07/26/archive/israel-barred-from-asian-games \|title=Israel Barred from Asian Games \|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency \|date=26 July 1976 \|access-date=11 April 2014}}</ref> In 1994, ] agreed to admit Israel, and its football teams now compete in Europe.{{Citation needed\|date=March 2016}} ] has won the ] in basketball six times.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.euroleague.net/final-four/milan-2014/maccabi-electra-tel-aviv \|title=Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv – Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL \|access-date=30 October 2014 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625083458/http://www.euroleague.net/final-four/milan-2014/maccabi-electra-tel-aviv \|archive-date=25 June 2014 }}</ref> In 2016, the country was chosen as a host for the ].

	Israel has won ] since its first win ], including a gold medal in ] at the ].<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.olympic.org/israel \|publisher=International Olympic Committee \|title=Israel \|access-date=20 March 2012}}</ref> Israel has won ] gold medals in the ] and is ranked 20th in the ]. The ] were hosted by Israel.<ref>{{cite web\|url=http://www.paralympic.org/paralympic-games/tel-aviv-1968 \|title=Tel Aviv 1968 \|publisher=International Paralympic Committee \|access-date=20 March 2012 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320024849/http://www.paralympic.org/paralympic-games/tel-aviv-1968 \|archive-date=20 March 2012 }}</ref> The ], an Olympic-style event for ] and Israeli athletes, was inaugurated in the 1930s, and has been held every four years since then. Israeli tennis champion ] ranked 11th in the world on 31 January 2011.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=100012630 \|title=Shahar PEER \|publisher=International Tennis Federation \|access-date=19 February 2017 \|archive-date=3 June 2017 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603141858/http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=100012630 \|url-status=dead }}</ref> ], a martial art developed by Jewish ghetto defenders during the struggle against ] in Europe, is used by the Israeli security forces and police. Its effectiveness and practical approach to self-defense, have won it widespread admiration and adherence around the world.<ref>{{cite magazine \|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988284,00.html\|url-access=subscription\|title=Choke! Gouge! Smash!\|last=Ellis\|first=Judy\|magazine=] \|date=4 May 1998\|access-date=1 January 2017}}</ref>

	], chess ]]]
	] is a leading sport in Israel and is enjoyed by people of all ages. There are many Israeli grandmasters and ] have won a number of youth world championships.<ref>{{cite news \| url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/pawn-stars-shine-in-new-national-sport-1.317002 \| title=Pawn stars shine in new 'national sport' \| newspaper=Haaretz \| access-date=21 May 2012\| date=4 October 2010 }}</ref> Israel stages an annual international ] and hosted the ] in 2005. The Ministry of Education and the ] agreed upon a project of teaching chess within Israeli schools, and it has been introduced into the curriculum of some schools.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://cis.fide.com/en/reports/186-chess-in-schools-in-israel-progress-report \|title=Chess in Schools in Israel: Progress report \|date=28 May 2012 \|publisher=FIDE \|access-date=7 January 2017 \|archive-date=8 January 2017 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170108193104/http://cis.fide.com/en/reports/186-chess-in-schools-in-israel-progress-report \|url-status=dead }}</ref> The city of ] has become a national chess center, with the game being taught in the city's kindergartens. Owing partly to Soviet immigration, it is home to the largest number of ] of any city in the world.<ref>{{cite news \|title=Chess masters set to blitz Rishon Letzion \|first=Eitan \|last=Bekerman \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=4 September 2006 \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/chess-masters-set-to-blitz-rishon-letzion-1.196475}}</ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/9-other/2182-673-world-team-championship-in-beer-sheva-israel\|title=World Team Championship in Beer Sheva, Israel \|publisher=World Chess Federation \|access-date=13 March 2009 \|date=1 November 2005 }}</ref> The Israeli chess team won the silver medal at the ]<ref>{{cite news \|title=Israel takes silver medal in Chess Olympiad \|first=Uri \|last=Tzahor \|newspaper=Ynetnews \|date=26 November 2008 \|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3628765,00.html}}</ref> and the bronze, coming in third among 148 teams, at the ]. Israeli grandmaster ] won the ]<ref>{{cite news \|title=Israeli grand master Boris Gelfand wins Chess World Cup \|first=Eli \|last=Shvidler \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=15 December 2009 \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/israeli-grand-master-boris-gelfand-wins-chess-world-cup-1.2120}}</ref> and the ] for the right to challenge the world champion. He lost the ] to reigning world champion ] after a speed-chess tie breaker.

	==See also==
	* ]
	* ]

	==References==
	===Notes===
	{{Reflist\|group=fn}}
	{{notelist}}

	===Citations===
	{{reflist}}

	===Sources===
	{{Refbegin\|2}}
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	* {{cite book\|title=The Original Story: God, Israel and the World\|last1=Barton\|first1=John\|last2=Bowden\|first2=Julie \|author-link=John Barton (theologian)\|isbn=978-0-8028-2900-9\|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company\|year=2004}}
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	* {{cite book\|title=World Music: The Rough Guide\|last1=Broughton\|first1=Simon\|last2=Ellingham\|first2=Mark\|last3=Trillo\|first3=Richard\|isbn=978-1-85828-635-8\|publisher=Rough Guides\|year=1999 \|url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetoworl00simo}}
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	* {{cite book \| last=Fischbach \| first=Michael \| title=Jewish Property Claims Against Arab Countries \| publisher=Columbia University Press \| year=2008 \|isbn=978-0-231-51781-2 \| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38xyBIqKgkwC&pg=PA27 }}
	* {{cite book \|last1=Faust \|first1=Avraham \|chapter=The Exodus Group \|editor-last1=Levy \|editor-first1=Thomas E. \|editor-last2=Schneider \|editor-first2=Thomas \|editor-last3=Propp \|editor-first3=William H. C. \|title=Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective: Text, Archaeology, Culture, and Geoscience \|date=28 March 2015 \|publisher=Springer \|isbn=978-3-319-04768-3 \|language=en}}
	* {{cite book \|last1=Finkelstein \|first1=Israel \|last2=Silberman \|first2=Neil Asher \|title=The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts \|date=6 March 2002 \|publisher=Simon and Schuster \|isbn=978-0-7432-2338-6 \|language=en}}
	* {{cite book\|last=Fraser\|first=T.G.\|title=The Arab-Israeli Conflict\|url={{Google books\|IBJrQgAACAAJ\|page=\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}}\|access-date=12 May 2013\|year=2004\|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan Limited\|isbn=978-1-4039-1338-8}}
	* {{cite book\|title=The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War\|last=Gelvin\|first=James L.\|author-link=James L. Gelvin\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|year=2005\|isbn=978-0-521-85289-0}}
	* {{cite book\|title=The Routledge Atlas Of The Arab–Israeli conflict\|last=Gilbert\|first=Martin\|isbn=978-0-415-35900-9\|year=2005\|publisher=Routledge\|edition=8th}}
	* {{cite book\|title=The Climate of Israel: Observation, Research and Application\|last=Goldreich\|first=Yair\|isbn=978-0-306-47445-3\|year=2003\|publisher=Springer}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Warfare and the Third World\|last1=Harkavy\|first1=Robert E.\|last2=Neuman\|first2=Stephanie G.\|year=2001\|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan\|isbn=978-0-312-24012-7}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Brassey's International Intelligence Yearbook\|edition=2003\|last=Henderson\|first=Robert D'A.\|publisher=Brassey's Inc.\|year=2003\|isbn=978-1-57488-550-7}}
	* {{cite book\|title=The Jewish State\|last=Herzl\|first=Theodor\|author-link=Theodor Herzl\|publisher=American Zionist Emergency Council\|year=1946\|isbn=978-0-486-25849-2}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Israel and the Palestinian Territories: The Rough Guide\|last=Jacobs\|first=Daniel\|publisher=Rough Guides\|edition=2nd revised\|year=1998\|isbn=978-1-85828-248-0 \|url=https://archive.org/details/israelpalestinia00jaco}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Society and Settlement: Jewish Land of Israel in the Twentieth Century\|last=Kellerman\|first=Aharon\|year=1993\|publisher=State University of New York Press\|isbn=978-0-7914-1295-4 \|url-access=registration\|url=https://archive.org/details/societysettlemen0000kell}}
	* {{cite book \|last=Killebrew \|first=Ann E. \|title=Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, and Early Israel, 1300-1100 B.C.E. \|location=Atlanta, Georgia \|publisher=Society of Biblical Literature \|year=2005 \|isbn=1-58983-097-0 \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VtAmmwapfVAC}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Theodor Herzl: From Assimilation to Zionism\|last=Kornberg\|first=Jacques\|isbn=978-0-253-33203-5\|publisher=Indiana University Press\|year=1993}}
	* {{cite book\|title=For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel\|last=Lustick\|first=Ian\|isbn=978-0-87609-036-7\|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations Press\|year=1988 \|url=https://archive.org/details/forlandlordjewis0000lust}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Israel's Higher Law: Religion and Liberal Democracy in the Jewish State\|last=Mazie\|first=Steven\|publisher=Lexington Books\|year=2006\|isbn=978-0-7391-1485-8}}
	* {{cite book \|last=McNutt \|first=Paula M. \|date=1999 \|title=Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel \|url={{Google books\|hd28MdGNyTYC\|page=\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|publisher=Westminster John Knox \|isbn=978-0-664-22265-9}}
	* {{cite book \|last=Miller \|first=Robert D. \|date=2012 \|orig-year=First published 2005 \|title=Chieftains of the Highland Clans \|url={{Google books\|P35NAwAAQBAJ\|page=\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|isbn=978-1-62032-208-6}}
	* {{cite book \|last=Morris \|first=Benny \|author-link=Benny Morris \|date=2008 \|title=1948: A History of the First Arab–Israeli War \|url={{Google books\|J5jtAAAAMAAJ\|page=\|keywords=\|text=\|plainurl=yes}} \|publisher=Yale University Press \|isbn=978-0-300-14524-3}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Triumph of the File: The Media's War in the Persian Gulf — A Global Perspective\|last1=Mowlana\|first1=Hamid\|last2=Gerbner\|first2=George\|last3=Schiller\|first3=Herbert I.\|year=1992\|publisher=Westview Press\|isbn=978-0-8133-1610-9 \|url=https://archive.org/details/triumphofimageme0000unse}}
	* {{citation\|author-link=OECD\|author=OECD\|date=2011\|title=Study on the Geographic Coverage of Israeli Data\|publisher=OECD Statistics Directorate\|url=https://www.oecd.org/els/48442642.pdf}}
	* {{cite book \|last1=Redmount \|first1=Carol A. \|chapter=The Literary and Historical Character of the Exodus Narrative \|editor-last1=Coogan \|editor-first1=Michael D. \|title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World \|date=7 June 2001 \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|isbn=978-0-19-988148-2 \|language=en}}
	* {{cite journal\|last=Roberts\|first=Adam\|author-link=Adam Roberts (scholar)\|title=Prolonged Military Occupation: The Israeli-Occupied Territories Since 1967\|journal=The American Journal of International Law\|volume=84\|issue=1\|year=1990\|pages= 44–103\|doi=10.2307/2203016\|jstor=2203016\|s2cid=145514740\|url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/8aaa455b51d4c49285089a97a08496071e322877}}
	* {{cite book\|title=A Historical Atlas of Israel\|last=Romano\|first=Amy\|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group\|year=2003\|isbn=978-0-8239-3978-7 \|url-access=registration\|url=https://archive.org/details/historicalatlaso0000roma_r5h5}}
	* {{cite book\|title=The Economic Consequences of Zionism\|last=Rosenzweig\|first=Rafael\|year=1997\|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers\|isbn=978-90-04-09147-4}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Power Kills: Democracy As a Method of Nonviolence\|last=Rummel\|first=Rudolph J.\|year=1997\|publisher=Transaction Publishers\|author-link=R. J. Rummel\|isbn=978-0-7658-0523-2}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Understanding Jewish History\|last=Scharfstein\|first=Sol\|isbn=978-0-88125-545-4\|year=1996\|publisher=KTAV Publishing House}}
	* {{cite book\|title=1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East\|last=Segev\|first=Tom\|isbn=978-0-8050-7057-6\|year=2007\|publisher=Henry Holt and Company}}
	* {{cite book \|title=Palestine: A Guide \|last=Shahin \|first=Mariam \|year=2005 \|url=https://archive.org/details/palestine00mari \|publisher=Interlink Books \|via=] \|isbn=1-56656-557-X}}
	* {{cite book\|title=The Land Beyond Promise: Israel, Likud and the Zionist Dream\|last=Shindler\|first=Colin \|isbn=978-1-86064-774-1\|year=2002\|publisher=I.B.Tauris Publishers}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Encyclopedia Judaica\|last=Skolnik\|first=Fred\|isbn=978-0-02-865928-2\|publisher=Macmillan\|year=2007\|volume=9\|edition=2nd}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Deterring America: Rogue States and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction\|isbn=978-0-521-86465-7\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|year=2006\|last=Smith\|first=Derek \|url=https://archive.org/details/deterringamerica0000smit}}
	* {{cite book\|title=The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel\|last=Stein\|first=Leslie\|year=2003\|publisher=Greenwood Press\|isbn=978-0-275-97141-0 \|url=https://archive.org/details/hopefulfilledris00lesl}}
	* {{cite book\|title=The Arabs in Israel\|last=Stendel\|first=Ori\|isbn=978-1-898723-23-3\|year=1997\|publisher=Sussex Academic Press \|url=https://archive.org/details/arabsinisrael00sten}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Critical Essays on Israeli Social Issues and Scholarship\|last1=Stone\|first1=Russell A.\|last2=Zenner\|first2=Walter P.\|isbn=978-0-7914-1959-5\|publisher=SUNY Press\|year=1994}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Culture and Customs of Israel\|last=Torstrick\|first=Rebecca L.\|isbn=978-0-313-32091-0\|year=2004\|publisher=Greenwood Press}}
	{{Refend}}

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