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A country of southwest Asia on the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It was established in 1948 following the British withdrawal from Palestine, which had been divided by recommendation of the United Nations into Jewish and Arab states. Discord with neighboring Arab countries that had rejected the UN partition led to numerous wars, notably in 1948–1949, 1956–1957, 1967, and 1973. In the Six-Day War of 1967 Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jerusalem's Old City, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. The Golan Heights and Jerusalem were later annexed, and the Sinai was returned to Egypt in 1982. A 1993 Israeli-Palestinian accord granted limited Palestinian autonomy in the Gaza Strip, and a similar accord calling for Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank was signed in 1994. Jerusalem is the capital and Tel Aviv–Yafo the largest city. Population: 6,430,000.
For more information on Israel, visit Britannica.com.
Dictionary of Dance:
Israel
Ballet performances date back to the 1920s when Rina Nikova, a Russian émigrée dancer, founded her own company in Jerusalem and staged classically based works with biblical themes. During the 1930s settlers from central Europe like Gertrud Kraus and Tilla Rossler established some modern dance activity via various studios and solo performances and vigorously opposed the establishment of classical dance as being out of sympathy with the country's character. The 1930s also saw the origins of a folk dance movement, by Rivka Sturman, Gurit Kadman, and others, who drew on Arab and Druze steps as well as their own choreographic invention to create dances that symbolized the link between the new Jewish settlers and the land. The most successful use of indigenous dance forms was that of Sara Levi-Tanai who founded the Inbal Dance Theatre in 1949. At the beginning she fused modern ballet technique with the softer, grounded style of Yemenite dance but later drew on a wider range of folk traditions. After the late 1940s American modern dance became a major influence with the arrival of some US dancers in Israel and trips by Israeli dancers to study at New York's Juilliard School and with Graham. Kraus and Talley Beatty formed the short-lived Israel Ballet Theatre in 1951 and Anna Sokolow staged several works for the Lyrical Theatre (1962-4). Most of the latter's dancers joined the Batsheva Dance Company which was founded by Bethsabee de Rothschild in 1964, and was the first permanent professional modern dance company in Israel. Its style was grounded in Graham technique and it had works by Graham, Sokolow, Cranko, Tetley, Robbins, Cohan, Butler, and Morrice in its repertory. It has been sponsored by the State since 1974. Batsheva is currently run by Ohad Naharin whose choreography has a distinctive surreal theatricality. In 1968 Rothschild founded a second company, the Bat-Dor Dance Company, with Jeannette Ordman as its artistic director. Batsheva lost its right to perform the Graham repertoire after Graham died, though Bat-Dor has now been licensed to stage her works.
In 1967 the Classical Ballet Company, now the Israel Ballet, was formed by B. Yampolsky and Hillel Markman and other classical dance was encouraged by the introduction of the English RAD syllabus into dance teaching and the opening of the Russian-oriented Haifa dance centre in 1969 by Lisa Schubert. She also founded the Piccolo Ballet in 1975. In more recent years a number of small dance companies have emerged despite the disruptions caused to arts activity by ongoing hostilities with the Arab states. The Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, based in Tel Aviv from the late 1960s, began as a repertory company but now largely performs work by its resident choreographer Rami Be'er (who was also appointed director in 1997), including the full-length work Black Angels made in 1992 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. In 1993 the company was the first Israeli group to dance in Beijing. Koldemema (Voice of Silence) was founded in 1975 by ex-Batsheva dancer and choreographer Moshe Efrat. In 1992 the performing duo Liat Dror and Nir Ben-Gal expanded to an ensemble and have established an international reputation with their European style of hard-edged risk-taking choreography. The dance scene has been lively and various enough to sustain the annual Karmiel Dance Festival, established in 1987.
Spotlight:
Israel
From our Archives: Today's Highlights, November 4, 2005
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated after speaking at a peace rally in Tel Aviv ten years ago today. A year earlier, Rabin had shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat for the Oslo Accords of 1993. Later in 1994, Rabin and Jordanian King Hussein signed a peace treaty between their two countries. Rabin, Israel's first native-born prime minister, was born in Jerusalem and raised in Tel Aviv.
Columbia Encyclopedia:
Israel
(ĭz'rēəl) , officially State of Israel, republic (2005 est. pop. 6,277,000, including Israelis in occupied Arab territories), 7,992 sq mi (20,700 sq km), SW Asia, on the Mediterranean Sea. (The area figure used above does not include the Golan Heights or the West Bank, which are occupied by Israel.) It is bordered by Lebanon in the north, Syria and Jordan in the east, the Mediterranean Sea on the west, Egypt on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba (an arm of the Red Sea) on the south. The capital and largest city of Israel is Jerusalem. This article deals primarily with the events in Israel from 1948 to the present. For the earlier history of the region, see Palestine.
Land and People
The country is a narrow, irregularly shaped strip of land with four principal regions: the plain along the Mediterranean coast; the mountains, which are east of this coastal plain; the Negev, which comprises the southern half of the country; and the portion of Israel that forms part of the Jordan Valley, in turn a part of the Great Rift Valley. North of the Negev, Israel enjoys a Mediterranean climate, with long, hot, dry summers and short, cool, rainy winters. This northern half of the country has a limited but adequate supply of water, except in times of drought. The Negev, however, is a semiarid desert region, having less than 10 in. (25 cm) of rainfall a year.
The most important river in Israel is the Jordan. Other smaller rivers are the Yarkon, the Kishon, and the Yarmuk, a tributary of the Jordan. Other bodies of water include the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea (part of which belongs to neighboring Jordan and the West Bank). Owing to interior drainage and a high rate of evaporation, the waters of the Dead Sea have about eight times as much salt as the ocean.
The highest point in Israel is Mt. Meron (3,692 ft/1,125 m) near Zefat. The lowest point is the shore of the Dead Sea, which is 1,345 ft (410 m) below sea level, the lowest point on the surface of the earth. In addition to Jerusalem, other important cities include Tel Aviv–Jaffa (see separate entries on Tel Aviv, Jaffa), Haifa, Beersheba, and Netanya).
Israel proper is made up of about 76% Jews, about 18% Arabs, and the rest Druze and others. While the Jewish population as of 1948 consisted mostly of those from central and E Europe (not including Russia), Jews from African and Asian countries came in increasing numbers after 1948. The majority of the current Jewish population was born in Israel. Around 500,000 Russian Jews have arrived in recent years, as have most of the small population of Ethiopian Jews (see Falashas). The Arab population is primarily Sunni Muslim; a smaller proportion are Christians. Hebrew is the official language, while Arabic is used officially for the Arab minority and English is widely spoken.
Economy
Agriculture in Israel largely depends on extensive irrigation to compensate for the shortage of rainfall. Agricultural exports include citrus and other fruits, vegetables, and cut flowers. Other sizable crops are cotton, wheat, barley, peanuts, sunflowers, grapes, and olives. Poultry and livestock also are raised.
Most of the land (apart from the land belonging to non-Jews) is held in trust for the people of Israel by the state and the Jewish National Fund. The latter was set up in 1901 to buy land in Palestine for Jews to cultivate, and now implements a wide range of forest and land development activities. The Israel Land Authority leases the land to kibbutzim, which are communal agricultural settlements; to moshavim, which are cooperative agricultural communities; and to other agricultural or rural villages.
High-technology industries are Israel's fastest-growing businesses, with emphasis on computers, software, aviation, telecommunications, biotechnology, medical electronics, and fiber optics. Diamond cutting and polishing is also important, and a number of light industries produce wood and paper products, processed foods, tobacco, precision instruments, metal and plastic goods, chemicals, textiles, and footwear. The Dead Sea has minerals of commercial value, such as potash, magnesium bromide, and salt. Tourism, which is one of Israel's largest sources of revenue, is also important.
Major exports include machinery and equipment, software, high-technology and military products, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and textiles and apparel. Leading imports are raw materials, military equipment, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, and consumer goods. Although Israel imports more than it exports, the balance of trade is far more favorable now than it was in the early years of the state. The United States is by far the country's largest trading partner, as well as its major source of economic and military aid. Other important trading partners are Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, and Hong Kong.
Government
Israel has no constitution; it is governed under the 1948 Declaration of Establishment as well as parliamentary and citizenship laws. The president is head of state, a largely ceremonial role, and is elected by the legislature for a seven-year term with no term limits. The government is headed by the prime minister, generally the leader of the largest party following legislative elections. The unicameral legislature consists of the 120-seat Knesset, whose members are elected by popular vote for four-year terms. The prime minister appoints a cabinet that must be approved by the Knesset; both the prime minister and the president are responsible to the Knesset. Administratively, the country is divided into six districts.
Israel has an intricate party system with a large number of small parties. The two largest are left-of center Labor party, formed in 1968 by the merger of Mapai (founded 1930), Achdut Avoda (1944), and Rafi (1965), and the center-right Likud bloc, consisting of Gahal (the Herut Movement and the Israel Liberal party), the former Free Center party, and other factions. The centrist Kadima party was formed in 2005.
History
Beginnings of the Israeli State
The state of Israel is the culmination of nearly a century of activity in Zionism. Following World War I, Great Britain received (1922) Palestine as a mandate from the League of Nations. The struggle by Jews for a Jewish state in Palestine had begun in the late 19th cent. and had become quite active by the 1930s and 40s. The militant opposition of the Arabs to such a state and the inability of the British to solve the problem eventually led to the establishment (1947) of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, which devised a plan to divide Palestine into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a small internationally administered zone including Jerusalem. The General Assembly adopted the recommendations on Nov. 29, 1947. The Jews accepted the plan; the Arabs rejected it. As the British began to withdraw early in 1948, Arabs and Jews prepared for war.
On May 14, 1948, when the British high commissioner for Palestine departed, the state of Israel was proclaimed at Tel Aviv. Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq invaded Israel, as most Palestinian Arabs were driven from Jewish territory. By the time armistice agreements were reached (Jan., 1949), Israel had increased its holdings by about one-half. Jordan annexed the Arab-held area adjoining its territory, and Egypt occupied the coastal Gaza Strip in the southwest.
The New Nation
A government was formed at Tel Aviv, with Chaim Weizmann as president and David Ben-Gurion as prime minister. The capital was moved (Dec., 1949) to Jerusalem to strengthen Israel's claim to that city. Following the Lausanne Conference of 1949, Israel allowed the return of 150,000 Arab refugees, mostly to reunite families. One major aim of the government was to gather in all Jews who wished to immigrate to Israel. This led to the 1950 Law of the Return, which provided for free and automatic citizenship for all immigrant Jews. Border incidents with Egypt, Syria, and Jordan continued.
Trouble in the Gaza area reached new heights in the mid-1950s despite UN intervention, and in 1956, Egyptian President Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. On Oct. 29, 1956, Israel made a preemptive attack on Egyptian territory and within a few days had conquered the Gaza Strip and the Sinai peninsula, while Britain and France invaded the area of the Suez Canal. Israel eventually yielded to strong pressure from the United States, the USSR, and the United Nations and removed its troops from Sinai in Nov., 1956, and from Gaza by Mar., 1957, as UN forces were sent to the Sinai and Gaza to keep peace between Egypt and Israel. Through this war, Israel succeeded in keeping open its shipping lanes via Elat and the Gulf of Aqaba to the Red Sea.
In 1962, Israel became the scene of the celebrated trial of Adolf Eichmann. In 1963, Ben-Gurion resigned as prime minister and was succeeded in that office by Levi Eshkol. Eshkol had to cope with increased guerrilla incursions into Israel from Syria and the shelling of Israeli villages by the Syrian army from the Golan Heights.
Renewed Hostilities
In May, 1967, Nasser mobilized the Egyptian army in Sinai. The UN then acceded to his demand to withdraw from the Israeli-Egyptian border, where it had been stationed since 1956. Egypt next blockaded the Israeli port of Elat (on the Gulf of Aqaba) by closing the Strait of Tiran.
On June 5, 1967, Israel struck against Egypt and Syria; Jordan subsequently attacked Israel. In six days, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the Sinai peninsula of Egypt, the Golan Heights of Syria, and the West Bank and Arab sector of E Jerusalem (both under Jordanian rule), thereby giving the conflict the name of the Six-Day War. Israel unified the Arab and Israeli sectors of Jerusalem, and Arab guerrillas stepped up their incursions, operating largely from Jordan. After Eshkol's death in 1969, Golda Meir became prime minister. There followed an inconclusive period when there was neither peace nor war in the area.
On Oct. 6, 1973, on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli positions in the Sinai and the Golan Heights. Other Arab states sent contingents of soldiers to aid in the attack on Israel. Egypt succeeded in sending troops in force across the Suez Canal to the east bank before being halted by Israeli troops. Toward the end of the fighting, the Israelis managed to send their own troops across the Suez Canal to the west bank, encircling Egypt's Third Army on the east bank and clearing a path to Cairo. They also drove the Syrians even further back toward Damascus. A cease-fire called for by the UN Security Council on Oct. 22 and 23 went into effect shortly thereafter.
Attempts at Peace
In Dec., 1973, the first Arab-Israeli peace conference opened in Geneva, Switzerland, under UN auspices. An agreement to disengage Israeli and Egyptian forces was reached in Jan., 1974, largely through the “shuttle diplomacy” mediation of U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Israeli troops withdrew several miles into the Sinai, a UN buffer zone was established, and Egyptian forces reoccupied the east bank of the Suez Canal and a small, adjoining strip of land in the Sinai. A similar agreement between Israel and Syria was achieved in May, 1974, again through the efforts of Kissinger. Under its terms, Israeli forces evacuated the Syrian lands captured in the 1973 war (while continuing to hold most of the territory conquered in 1967, such as the Golan Heights) and a UN buffer zone was created.
Golda Meir resigned and was succeeded (1974) by Yitzhak Rabin, who formed a coalition government. In 1977, the Likud party under the leadership of Menachem Begin defeated the Labor party for the first time in Israeli elections. As prime minister, Begin strongly supported the development of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories and opposed Palestinian sovereignty.
Egypt began peace initiatives with Israel in late 1977, when Egyptian President Sadat visited Jerusalem. A year later, with the help of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, terms of peace between Egypt and Israel were negotiated at Camp David, Md. (see Camp David accords). A formal treaty, signed on Mar. 26, 1979, in Washington, D.C., granted full recognition of Israel by Egypt, opened trade relations between the two countries, returned the Sinai to Egyptian control (completed in 1982), and limited Egyptian military buildup in the Sinai.
The 1980s to the Present
Israeli troops briefly invaded (1979) Lebanon in an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) bases and forces used in raids on N Israel. On June 6, 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon in a second attempt. Israeli troops advanced to Beirut and surrounded the western part of the city, which housed PLO headquarters, and a siege ensued. Israeli troops began a gradual move out of Lebanon (completed in 1985) after PLO forces withdrew from Beirut. A 6-mi (10-km) deep security zone within S Lebanon was established to protect N Israeli settlements.
Begin had been returned to office in 1981, but he resigned in 1983 and was replaced by Likud's Yitzhak Shamir. Undecisive majorities in the 1984 elections led to a sharing of the prime ministership by Shamir and Shimon Peres of the Labor party. Shamir, who regained sole prime ministership after the 1988 elections, strongly upheld the policy of increased Jewish settlement in the occupied territories. Large numbers of emigrants from Ethiopia and, primarily, the Soviet Union increased Israel's population by nearly 10% in three years (1989–92), leading to increased unemployment and a lack of housing.
In Dec., 1987, a popular Arab uprising (Intifada) began against Israeli rule in the occupied territories. During the Persian Gulf War in early 1991, Israel suffered Iraqi missile attacks, as Iraq unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the allied coalition and widen the war. Peace talks between Israel, Syria, Lebanon, and a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation began in Aug., 1991.
Rabin reentered the political scene in 1992, becoming prime minister after the defeat of the Likud party and the establishment of a Labor-led coalition. He pursued Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, in which significant progress was made. In 1993, Israel and the PLO signed an accord providing for joint recognition and for limited Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho. In 1995, Israel and the PLO agreed on a transition to Palestinian self-rule in most of the West Bank, although acts of terrorism continued to darken Israeli-Palestinian relations. In 1994 a treaty with Jordan ended the 46-year-old state of war between the two nations.
In Nov., 1995, Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli extremist who opposed the West Bank peace accord with the PLO; Peres, who was foreign minister, became prime minister. In early 1996, Israel was hit by a series of suicide bombs, and Shiite Muslims launched rocket attacks into Israel from Lebanon. Retaliating, Israel blockaded the port of Beirut and launched a series of attacks on targets in S Lebanon.
The 1996 elections, in which the prime minister was elected directly for the first time, resulted in a narrow victory for Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposed Labor's land-for-peace deals. In an attempt to allay fears about Israel's future policies, Netanyahu pledged to continue the peace process. After setbacks and delays, most of Hebron was handed over to Palestinian control in Jan., 1997, and, under an accord signed in 1998, Israel agreed to withdraw from additional West Bank territory, while the Palestinian Authority pledged to take stronger measures to fight terrorism. Further negotiations over territory, however, were essentially stalled.
In the May, 1999, elections, Labor returned to power under Ehud Barak, a former army chief of staff. He formed a broad-based coalition government, promising to ease tensions between secular and ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, as well as to move the peace process forward. In September, Barak and Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, signed an agreement to finalize their borders and determine the status of Jerusalem within a year; Israel also began implementation of a plan to hand over additional West Bank territory, which was completed in Mar., 2000.
Barak's coalition was weakened in May, 2000, when three right-of-center parties pulled out of the government. In the same month, Israeli forces withdrew from the buffer zone that had long been maintained in S Lebanon. In July, negotiations in the United States between Israel and the Palestinians ended without success, and Israeli-Palestinian relations turned extremely acrimonious when a September visit by Ariel Sharon to the Haram esh-Sherif (the Temple Mount to Jews) in Jerusalem sparked riots that escalated into a new, ongoing cycle of violence in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Israel itself. Barak resigned in Dec., 2000, in an attempt to reestablish a electoral mandate, but he was trounced in the Feb., 2001, election by Ariel Sharon, who formed a national unity government.
Despite Israeli military incursions into Palestinian territory and attacks on Palestinian authorities and forces, Palestinian attacks on Israelis in Israel and the occupied territories did not end, and in 2002 Sharon's government ordered the reoccupation of West Bank towns in a new attempt to stop those attacks. In Oct., 2002, Labor members of the government accused Sharon of favoring Israeli settlers in the occupied territories over the poor, and withdrew their support. Left with a minority government, Sharon called for parliamentary elections in early 2003, and in January Likud won a substantial victory at the polls. The following month Sharon formed a four-party, mainly right-wing coalition government.
In May, 2003, Sharon's government accepted the internationally supported “road map for peace” with some limitations; the plan envisioned the establishment of a Palestinian state in three years. Talks resumed with Palestinian authorities, who also negotiated a three-month cease-fire with Palestinian militants, and Israel made some conciliatory moves in Gaza and the West Bank. Suicide bombings and Israeli revenge attacks resumed, however, in August, and in October Israel attacked Syria for the first time in 20 years, bombing what it termed a terrorist training camp in retaliation for suicide bombings.
Israel's ongoing construction of a 400-mi (640-km) fence and wall security barrier in the West Bank, potentially enclosing some 15% of that territory, brought widespread international condemnation in late 2003, and a July, 2004, advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (requested by Palestinians and the UN General Assembly) termed its construction illegal under international law because it was being constructed on Palestinian lands. Meanwhile, an Israeli court ruling (June) ordered the wall to be rerouted in certain areas because of the hardship it would cause Palestinians.
In March the killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin heightened tensions in the occupied territories, especially the Gaza Strip. Sharon's plan to withdraw from the latter, while supported by most Israelis, was rejected in a nonbinding vote (May, 2004) by Likud party members. The plan then resulted in defections from his coalition, but Sharon vowed to complete the withdrawal, which was being undertaken for security reasons, by the end of 2005. In Oct., 2004, he secured parliamentary approval for the plan. The plan also called for abandoning a few settlements in the West Bank while expanding others there. Sharon formed a new coalition that included the Labor party, which supported the Gaza withdrawal, in Jan., 2005. He subsequently agreed to a truce with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, and in Mar., 2005, Israeli forces began withdrawing from Jericho and other West Bank towns. The planned Gaza withdrawal sparked protests by settlers and their allies beginning in June, but in August the evacuation of the settlements proceeded relatively straightforwardly. Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza the following month.
In Nov., 2005, Shimon Peres lost his Labor party leadership post to Amir Peretz, a trade union leader. Peretz pulled Labor from the government, prompting new elections, and Sharon withdrew from Likud to form the centrist Kadima [Forward] party, in an attempt to force a realignment of Israeli politics and retain the prime ministership. In Jan., 2006, however, Sharon suffered an incapacitating stroke and was hospitalized. Ehud Olmert, the deputy prime minister, became acting prime minister and leader of the new party.
The Kadima party won a plurality in the Mar., 2006, elections, with Labor placing second. In April, Sharon was declared permanently incapacitated; Olmert became prime minister, and in May formed a new coalition government. Escalating rocket attacks from Gaza and the capture by Hamas guerrillas of an Israeli soldier led to an Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip in June, 2006, as well as other actions against Hamas and the Palestinians. Israel continue to mount attacks into Gaza in the succeeding months.
In July, Lebanese Hezbollah forces captured two Israeli soldiers, and Israel launched air attacks against targets throughout Lebanon and sent troops as far as 18.5 mi (30 km) into S Lebanon; Hezbollah responded mainly with rocket attacks against N Israel, including Haifa and Tiberias, but also offered resistance on the ground against Israeli forces. A UN-mediated cease-fire took effect in mid-August, and by early October Israel had essentially withdrawn from Lebanon. The invasion's aim of disarming Hezbollah and winning the release of the captured Israeli soldiers was in the main unattained, and Hezbollah's sustained resistance to Israeli forces enhanced the group's prestige in the Arab world. Amnesty International accused both sides of war crimes in the fighting, mainly because of their attacks on civilians.
As a result of the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon and the rise of Hamas in the Palestinian Authority, Olmert suspended his planned unilateral withdrawal from parts of the West Bank, and brought (Oct,. 2006) a far-right party into his government to strengthen the coalition in the Knesset. Also in October, Israeli police accused Israeli President Moshe Katsav of sexual assault and other crimes, prompting an investigation and leading to calls for Katsav to resign (which he refused to do). The Israeli group Peace Now asserted in November that, according to government documents, nearly 40% (and perhaps more) of the land on which Israel's West Bank settlements were built was privately owned Palestinian land, in violation of Israeli law. More current information given by the government to the group in Mar., 2007, indicated that private land made up more than 30% of the settlements but did not indicate how much was Palestinian-owned (the vast bulk of the private land in the first set of documents was Palestinian).
In Jan., 2007, the head of the Israeli armed forces resigned, taking responsibility for the unsuccessful anti-Hezbollah campaign of 2006; his resignation led the opposition to call for the prime minister and defense minister to resign as well. (An independent report, released in Apr., 2007, was critical of the prime minister's and defense minister's handling of the invasion.) Late in Jan., 2007, Katsav secured a suspension of his duties as president after Israel's attorney general said he was considering charging Katsav with rape and other crimes; a plea deal in June allowed him to plead guilty to lesser charges and avoid prison but forced him to resign. Shimon Peres was elected president earlier the same month.
The takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas forces (also in June, 2007) led to increased talks with the Palestinian Authority and other moves designed to strengthen President Abbas. In September, Israeli jets attacked a military site in N Syria that some reports suggested was part of nuclear program.
Bibliography
See J. García-Granados, The Birth of Israel (1948); D. Ben-Gurion, Israel: Years of Challenge (1965); S. N. Eisenstadt, Israeli Society (1971); A. Perlmutter, The Military and Politics in Israel (2d ed. 1977); H. M. Sachar, A History of Israel (1979); E. Orni and E. Efrat, The Geography of Israel (4th rev. ed. 1980); C. Herzog, The Arab-Israeli Wars (1982); S. McBride, ed., Israel in Lebanon (1983); A. Arian, Politics in Israel (1985); Y. Ben-Porath, ed., The Israeli Economy (1986); S. Segev, 1949: The First Israelis (1986); B. Kimmerling, ed., The Israeli State and Society (1988); M. Mandelbaum, Israel and the Occupied Territories (1988); T. Parker, The Road to Camp David (1989); T. Segev, Crossing the Jordan: Israel's Hard Road to Peace (1998); B. Morris, Righteous Victims (rev. ed. 2001); B. Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949 (rev. ed. 2004); G. Gorenberg, The Accidental Empire (2006).
Psychoanalysis:
Israel
Reflecting the intense struggle of generations not only for survival but also for the establishment of a new social order, Israeli psychoanalysis is intertwined with modern Israeli history, the reestablishment of a nation. After the publication of the 1917 Balfur Declaration, which provided the basis for establishing a Jewish state in Palestine, the British Zionist Commission was appointed. Among its members was David Eder, the first secretary of the British Psychoanalytical Society, founded in 1913. He stayed in Palestine from 1918 to 1922, during which time he urged cooperation between Jews and Arabs and proposed extending medical and social services to all segments of the population. Together with A. Feigenbaum, who immigrated to Palestine from Vienna in 1920, he worked with teachers and educators, applying psychoanalytic theories.
After both had left Palestine, there was little or no active psychoanalytical work in Palestine until the arrival of Max Eitingon (1881-1943) in Jerusalem in 1933, following Hitler's rise to power. He proceeded to found the Palestine Psychoanalytic Society (later the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society) with the help of other refugees who, like himself, came to Palestine via Berlin (Moshe Wulff, Ilja Schalit, Anna Smelianski, Gershon and Gerda Barag, Vicky Ben-Tal, Ruth Jaffe, and others).
Eitingon hoped to set up the first chair of psychoanalysis at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where Freud had been a member of the first board of governors. But the university authorities considered the inclusion of psychoanalysis in the university setting to be premature, as a chair of psychology had yet to be established. On December 5, 1933, Freud wrote to Judah Magnes, the rector of the university, "The plan to establish a chair for psychology indicates a barely disguised rejection of psychoanalysis and the University of Jerusalem would thus have followed the example of other official teaching institutions. It is then comforting to bear in mind that Dr. Eitingon is determined to pursue the practice of psychoanalysis in Palestine also independently of the University." Nonetheless, the attempt to introduce psychoanalysis into the university was a historic first.
Eitingon then decided to create an independent psychoanalytic institute modeled after the Berlin institute. In 1934 he founded a polyclinic and the Palestine Institute of Psychoanalysis, which became the eleventh member institute of the International Psychoanalytical Association. As in Berlin, the purpose was to offer treatment, training and supervision, and a forum for discussing psychoanalytic theory. The Israeli clinic still functions according to this model to the present (2004).
Eitingon served as president of the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society (Hachevra Hapsychoanalytit be Israel) during its first ten years. The formative years of the society and the institute were characterized by idealism, devotion, and hard work, often overshadowed by political and economic difficulties. Eitingon's spirit continued to prevail after him, and within a few years there were twenty analysts practicing in Palestine. Three groups were formed in the three major cities, and all three participated in the institute. Eitingon's concern and compassion for those who needed psychoanalytic treatment was maintained and handed down from one generation of analysts to the next (the first pioneer group even raised a small fund called the "Institute's Loan Fund" to offer needy patients a daily meal, as an empty stomach is not conducive to analysis). It should be noted that in the first ten years the language used at meetings was German, and for a while later as well, some analyses were carried out in a language in which either the analyst, the patient, or both were not fluent, and they sometimes even used different languages. Eitingon left a legacy of interdisciplinary and multicultural relations and interests that made the institute a vibrant intellectual and cultural center.
The second president of the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society was Moshe Wulff (1943-1953). Wulff was born in 1878 in Odessa, Russia, and later settled in Tel Aviv. He made many important contributions to psychoanalysis, one of them being "Fetishism and Object Choice in Early Childhood" (1946). On the basis of his findings, Wulff formulated a theory about the transition from infantile narcissism to the first genuine libidinal cathexis of an outside object. He also promoted the acceptance of analysis in Israel, especially in educational circles. After Wulff, the presidency of the society rotated for almost twenty years between Heinz Winnik, founder of the Israel Annals of Psychiatry and Related Sciences and a pioneer of psychiatric education in Israel, and Erich Gumbel, the first graduate of the institute.
In the 1950s Israeli analysts became increasingly involved in education and training. Heinz Winnik and Ruth Jaffe were the first psychoanalysts to head psychiatric hospitals. Erich Gumbel led an effort that began a three-year program in psychotherapy for non-analysts, and it still continues in 2004. Analysts began teaching at the School of Medicine in Jerusalem.
In the 1960s New Yorker Mortimer Ostow set up a group in the United States of corresponding members of the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society. These American analysts maintained a special relationship with the Israeli society through visits, symposiums, and financial assistance.
Almost as a rule, members of the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society have been continuously involved in social issues. A topic of special interest to analysts is the special conditions under which children were raised in kibbutzim. Shmuel Golan, a leading theoretician and practitioner in the kibbutzim, based his educational and developmental theories on psychoanalysis (1959). Shmuel Nagler, another psychoanalyst involved in work with kibbutzim, wrote of his clinical observations of kibbutz children (1963).
In the Six-Day War (1967), Yom-Kippur War (1973), Lebanon War (1982), and Gulf War (1991), psychoanalysts assumed a significant role in treating and researching combat-stress reactions and the consequences of social violence (Raphael Moses, Gad Tadmor). Other societal issues of great interest to Israeli analysts were the Israeli-Arab conflict, immigration, and survivors of the Holocaust and their children (Hillel Klein, Shamai Davidson, Raphael Moses, Dan Hertz, Ilani Kogan, Shalom Robinson, Martin Wangh, and Yolanda Gampel). The Israeli Psychoanalytic Society and the Freud Center cosponsored conferences and dialogues between Israeli and German analysts. Prominent in this dialogue was Hillel Klein, a survivor of Auschwitz. This dialogue has evolved into a working conference held under the title "Germans and Israelis: The Past and the Present."
In 1977 the International Psychoanalytical Association held its thirtieth congress in Jerusalem. This was the first IPA congress held outside Europe. At this time, after efforts by numerous analysts throughout the world, among them Martin Wangh, Hebrew University established a chair of psychoanalysis, thus realizing Freud's dream. Joseph Sandler was the first person to hold this chair. He stayed in Jerusalem with Anne-Marie Sandler, his wife, and contributed greatly to the further development of psychoanalysis in Israel. After Sandler, a number of distinguished psychoanalysts were appointed to this chair, including Albert Solnit, who developed psychoanalytical thought in the Ben Gurion University Medical School. In the 1990s the chair was held by Shmuel Erlich, a senior psychoanalyst and academician.
Over the past twenty years, among those who made major theoretical and clinical contributions to psychoanalysis through the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society were Pinchas Noy (who contributed to psychoanalysis in the fields of art and creativity), Rivka Eiferman, Rina Moses-Hrushevski, Emanuel Berman, Ruth Stein, and Shmuel Erlich. Those who contributed to the development of child analysis in Israel include Naomi Weiss, Eliezer Ilan (who was the director of the child guidance clinic in Jerusalem), Yecheskiel Cohen (who directed a residential treatment center where boys receive psychoanalytic treatment and education), Raanan Kulka, and Yolanda Gampel.
A theme that Israeli psychoanalysts are very involved with is the consequences of social violence. Psychoanalysis at the political border (Rangell and Moses-Hrushovski, 1996), presents, among other topics, the contributions of Israeli psychoanalysts to compelling issues confronting groups and nations.
In 2004 the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society has more than 100 members, and the Israeli Psychoanalytic Institute, as it is now called, has more than 70 candidates. The number of applicants has been five times higher than can be accepted. Throughout the years, analysts who completed their training in different institutes have immigrated from Argentina, France, Holland, and the United States, bringing different outlooks and perspectives from a variety of paradigms in psychoanalysis. If influence initially emanated from European, especially classical Freudian Berliner and Viennese, psychoanalysts, current major influences are Melanie Klein's model and Heinz Kohut's ideas. During the mid-1990s Donald Winnicott's and Wilfred Bion's concepts have achieved prominence in teaching and discussion in the society. The society and institute are growing and developing creatively; its members hold leading positions in psychiatry, psychology, and particularly academia.
Bibliography
Cohen, Yecheskiel. (1988). The "golden fantasy" and countertransference: Residential treatment of the abused child. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 43, 337-350.
Golan, Shmuel. (1959). Collective education in the kibbutz. Psychiatry, 22, 167-177.
Kulka, Raanan. (1988). Narcissism and neurosis—an opportunity for integration in psychoanalytic theory and technique. International Journal of Psycho-analysis, 69, 521-531.
Moses, Raphael. (1998). Psychoanalyse in Israel. Psychoanalytische Blätter, 9.
Moses-Hrushovski, Rina. (1994). Deployment: Hiding behind power struggles as a character defense. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Noy, Pinhas. (1973). Symbolism and mental representation. Annual of Psychoanalysis, 1, 125-158.
Rangell, Leo, and Moses-Hrushovski, Rena (Eds.). (1996). Psychoanalysis at the political border. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Wulff, Moshe. (1946). Fetishism and object choice in early childhood. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 15, 450-471.
—YOLANDA GAMPEL
This entry consists of the following articles:
Geography:
Israel
- The state of Israel, a homeland for Jews worldwide, was proclaimed in 1948. Since then, conflict has arisen because of opposition by the surrounding Arab peoples to the formation of a Jewish state on what they consider Arab territory (see Arab-Israeli conflict).
- As a move toward permanent peace between Israel and the Arab states, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat met with U. S. President James Earl Carter in the United States and signed a peace treaty in 1979.
- The United States has been Israel's major supporter, but Israeli settlements on the West Bank strained U.S.-Israel relations.
- Periodic Palestinian intifadas against Israeli domination of the West Bank and Gaza Strip continue.
Maps:
Israel
Local Time:
Israel
Local Time: Aug 22, 2:11 AM
Statistics:
Israel
Introduction
| Background: | Following World War II, the British withdrew from their mandate of Palestine, and the UN partitioned the area into Arab and Jewish states, an arrangement rejected by the Arabs. Subsequently, the Israelis defeated the Arabs in a series of wars without ending the deep tensions between the two sides. The territories Israel occupied since the 1967 war are not included in the Israel country profile, unless otherwise noted. On 25 April 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Israel and Palestinian officials signed on 13 September 1993 a Declaration of Principles (also known as the "Oslo Accords") guiding an interim period of Palestinian self-rule. Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 26 October 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. In addition, on 25 May 2000, Israel withdrew unilaterally from southern Lebanon, which it had occupied since 1982. In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations were conducted between Israel and Palestinian representatives and Syria to achieve a permanent settlement. In April 2003, US President BUSH, working in conjunction with the EU, UN, and Russia - the "Quartet" - took the lead in laying out a roadmap to a final settlement of the conflict by 2005, based on reciprocal steps by the two parties leading to two states, Israel and a democratic Palestine. However, progress toward a permanent status agreement was undermined by Israeli-Palestinian violence between September 2003 and February 2005. An Israeli-Palestinian agreement reached at Sharm al-Sheikh in February 2005, along with an internally-brokered Palestinian ceasefire, significantly reduced the violence. In the summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip, evacuating settlers and its military. The election of HAMAS in January 2006 to head the Palestinian Legislative Council froze relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Ehud OLMERT became prime minister in March 2006; following an Israeli military operation in Gaza in June-July 2006, he shelved plans to unilaterally evacuate from most of the West Bank. The kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Lebanese Hizballah led to a 34-day conflict in Lebanon in June-August 2006. |
Geography
| Location: | Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Lebanon |
| Geographic coordinates: | 31 30 N, 34 45 E |
| Map references: | Middle East |
| Area: | total: 20,770 sq km land: 20,330 sq km water: 440 sq km |
| Area - comparative: | slightly smaller than New Jersey |
| Land boundaries: | total: 1,017 km border countries: Egypt 266 km, Gaza Strip 51 km, Jordan 238 km, Lebanon 79 km, Syria 76 km, West Bank 307 km |
| Coastline: | 273 km |
| Maritime claims: | territorial sea: 12 nm continental shelf: to depth of exploitation |
| Climate: | temperate; hot and dry in southern and eastern desert areas |
| Terrain: | Negev desert in the south; low coastal plain; central mountains; Jordan Rift Valley |
| Elevation extremes: | lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m highest point: Har Meron 1,208 m |
| Natural resources: | timber, potash, copper ore, natural gas, phosphate rock, magnesium bromide, clays, sand |
| Land use: | arable land: 15.45% permanent crops: 3.88% other: 80.67% (2005) |
| Irrigated land: | 1,940 sq km (2003) |
| Natural hazards: | sandstorms may occur during spring and summer; droughts; periodic earthquakes |
| Environment - current issues: | limited arable land and natural fresh water resources pose serious constraints; desertification; air pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions; groundwater pollution from industrial and domestic waste, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides |
| Environment - international agreements: | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation |
| Geography - note: | there are 242 Israeli settlements and civilian land use sites in the West Bank, 42 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 0 in the Gaza Strip, and 29 in East Jerusalem (August 2005 est.); Sea of Galilee is an important freshwater source |
People
| Population: | 6,426,679 note: includes about 187,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, about 20,000 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and fewer than 177,000 in East Jerusalem (July 2007 est.) |
| Age structure: | 0-14 years: 26.1% (male 858,246/female 818,690) 15-64 years: 64.2% (male 2,076,649/female 2,046,343) 65 years and over: 9.8% (male 269,483/female 357,268) (2007 est.) |
| Median age: | total: 29.9 years male: 29.1 years female: 30.8 years (2007 est.) |
| Population growth rate: | 1.154% (2007 est.) |
| Birth rate: | 17.71 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Death rate: | 6.17 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Net migration rate: | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
| Sex ratio: | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.048 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.015 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.754 male(s)/female total population: 0.994 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate: | total: 6.75 deaths/1,000 live births male: 7.45 deaths/1,000 live births female: 6.02 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth: | total population: 79.59 years male: 77.44 years female: 81.85 years (2007 est.) |
| Total fertility rate: | 2.38 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: | 0.1% (2001 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: | 3,000 (1999 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths: | 100 (2001 est.) |
| Nationality: | noun: Israeli(s) adjective: Israeli |
| Ethnic groups: | Jewish 76.4% (of which Israel-born 67.1%, Europe/America-born 22.6%, Africa-born 5.9%, Asia-born 4.2%), non-Jewish 23.6% (mostly Arab) (2004) |
| Religions: | Jewish 76.4%, Muslim 16%, Arab Christians 1.7%, other Christian 0.4%, Druze 1.6%, unspecified 3.9% (2004) |
| Languages: | Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language |
| Literacy: | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 97.1% male: 98.5% female: 95.9% (2004 est.) |
Government
| Country name: | conventional long form: State of Israel conventional short form: Israel local long form: Medinat Yisra'el local short form: Yisra'el |
| Government type: | parliamentary democracy |
| Capital: | name: Jerusalem geographic coordinates: 31 46 N, 35 14 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Friday in March; ends the Sunday between the holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur note: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, but the US, like nearly all other countries, maintains its Embassy in Tel Aviv |
| Administrative divisions: | 6 districts (mehozot, singular - mehoz); Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, Tel Aviv |
| Independence: | 14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration) |
| National holiday: | Independence Day, 14 May (1948); note - Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, but the Jewish calendar is lunar and the holiday may occur in April or May |
| Constitution: | no formal constitution; some of the functions of a constitution are filled by the Declaration of Establishment (1948), the Basic Laws of the parliament (Knesset), and the Israeli citizenship law; note - since May 2003 the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee of the Knesset has been working on a draft constitution |
| Legal system: | mixture of English common law, British Mandate regulations, and, in personal matters, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim legal systems; in December 1985, Israel informed the UN Secretariat that it would no longer accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Suffrage: | 18 years of age; universal |
| Executive branch: | chief of state: President Shimon PERES (since 15 July 2007) head of government: Prime Minister Ehud OLMERT (since May 2006); Deputy Prime Minister Tzipora "Tzipi" LIVNI (since May 2006); Ehud OLMERT won the right to lead the government when his Kadima Party won 29 seats in elections held on 28 March 2006 cabinet: Cabinet selected by prime minister and approved by the Knesset elections: president is largely a ceremonial role and is elected by the Knesset for a seven-year term (no term limits); election last held 13 June 2007 (next to be held in 2014 but can be called earlier); following legislative elections, the president assigns a Knesset member - traditionally the leader of the largest party - the task of forming a governing coalition note: government coalition - Kadima, Labor Party, GIL (Pensioners), Shas,and Yisrael Beiteinu election results: Shimon PERES elected president; number of votes in first round - Shimon PERES 58, Reuven RIVLIN 37, Colette AVITAL 21; PERES elected president in second round with 86 votes (unopposed) |
| Legislative branch: | unicameral Knesset (120 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 28 March 2006 (next scheduled to be held in 2010) election results: percent of vote by party - Kadima 22%, Labor 15.1%, SHAS 9.5%, Likud 9%, Yisrael Beiteinu 9%, NU/NRP 7.1%, GIL 5.9%, Torah and Shabbat Judaism 4.7%, Meretz-YAHAD 3.8%, United Arab List 3%, Balad 2.3%, HADASH 2.7%, other 5.9%; seats by party - Kadima 29, Labor 19, Likud 12, SHAS 12, Yisrael Beiteinu 11, NU/NRP 9, GIL 7, Torah and Shabbat Judaism 6, Meretz-YAHAD 5, United Arab List 4, Balad 3, HADASH 3 |
| Judicial branch: | Supreme Court (justices appointed by Judicial Selection Committee - made up of all three branches of the government; mandatory retirement age is 70) |
| Political parties and leaders: | Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (HADASH) [Muhammad BARAKA]; GIL (Pensioners) [Rafael EITAN]; Kadima [Ehud OLMERT]; Labor Party [Ehud BARAK]; The Likud [Binyamin NETANYAHU]; Meretz-YAHAD [Yossi BEILIN]; National Democratic Assembly (Balad) [Azmi BISHARA]; National Union (NU)/National Religious Party (NRP) [Binyamin ELON]; SHAS [Eliyahu YISHAI]; Torah and Shabbat Judaism [Yaakov LITZMAN]; United Arab List [Ibrahim SARSOUR]; Yisrael Beiteinu [Avigdor LIEBERMAN] |
| Political pressure groups and leaders: | Israeli nationalists advocating Jewish settlement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip; Peace Now [Yariv OPPENHEIMER, Secretary General] supports territorial concessions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; Yesha Council of Settlements [Bentzi LIEBERMAN, Chairman] promotes settler interests and opposes territorial compromise; B'Tselem monitors human rights abuses |
| International organization participation: | BIS, BSEC (observer), CERN (observer), EBRD, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, OAS (observer), OPCW (signatory), OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO |
| Diplomatic representation in the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador Salai MERIDOR chancery: 3514 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 364-5500 FAX: [1] (202) 364-5607 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco |
| Diplomatic representation from the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador Richard H. JONES embassy: 71 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv 63903 mailing address: PSC 98, Box 29, APO AE 09830 telephone: [972] (3) 519-7575 FAX: [972] (3) 516-4390 consulate(s) general: Jerusalem; note - an independent US mission, established in 1928, whose members are not accredited to a foreign government |
| Flag description: | white with a blue hexagram (six-pointed linear star) known as the Magen David (Shield of David) centered between two equal horizontal blue bands near the top and bottom edges of the flag |
Economy
| Economy - overview: | Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial, though diminishing, government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel imports substantial quantities of grain, but is largely self-sufficient in other agricultural products. Cut diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable trade deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the US, which is its major source of economic and military aid. The bitter Israeli-Palestinian conflict; difficulties in the high-technology, construction, and tourist sectors; and fiscal austerity in the face of growing inflation led to small declines in GDP in 2001 and 2002. The economy rebounded in 2003-05, growing at a 4% to 5.2% rate each year, as the government tightened fiscal policy and implemented structural reforms to boost competition and efficiency in the markets. The conflict with Lebanon in summer 2006 slightly dampened GDP growth, but continuing strong foreign investment, tax revenue, and private consumption levels helped the economy recover quickly. |
| GDP (purchasing power parity): | $170.3 billion (2006 est.) |
| GDP (official exchange rate): | $140.3 billion (2006 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate: | 5.1% (2006 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 2.5% industry: 30.3% services: 67.2% (2006 est.) |
| Labor force: | 2.81 million (2006 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation: | agriculture, forestry, and fishing 1.8%, manufacturing 15.7%, construction 5.3%, wholesale and retail trade 12.9%, transport, storage, and communications 6.3%, finance and business 16.9%, personal and other services 11.5%, public services 28.6% (1996) |
| Unemployment rate: | 8.3% (2006 est.) |
| Population below poverty line: | 21.6% (2005) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: 2.4% highest 10%: 28.3% (2005) |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index: | 38.6 (2005) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 2.1% (2006 est.) |
| Investment (gross fixed): | 17.1% of GDP (2006 est.) |
| Budget: | revenues: $48.38 billion expenditures: $49.62 billion (2006 est.) |
| Public debt: | 84.9% of GDP (2006 est.) |
| Agriculture - products: | citrus, vegetables, cotton; beef, poultry, dairy products |
| Industries: | high-technology projects (including aviation, communications, computer-aided design and manufactures, medical electronics, fiber optics), wood and paper products, potash and phosphates, food, beverages, and tobacco, caustic soda, cement, construction, metals products, chemical products, plastics, diamond cutting, textiles, footwear |
| Industrial production growth rate: | 8.6% (2006 est.) |
| Electricity - production: | 46.85 billion kWh (2005) |
| Electricity - consumption: | 43.28 billion kWh (2005) |
| Electricity - exports: | 1.663 billion kWh (2005) |
| Electricity - imports: | 0 kWh (2005) |
| Oil - production: | 100 bbl/day (2006 est.) |
| Oil - consumption: | 249,500 bbl/day (2006 est.) |
| Oil - exports: | NA bbl/day |
| Oil - imports: | NA bbl/day |
| Oil - proved reserves: | 2 million bbl (1 January 2006) |
| Current account balance: | $7.99 billion (2006 est.) |
| Exports: | $43.73 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Exports - commodities: | machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel |
| Exports - partners: | US 38.4%, Belgium 6.5%, Hong Kong 5.9% (2006) |
| Imports: | $46.96 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
| Imports - commodities: | raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, consumer goods |
| Imports - partners: | US 12.4%, Belgium 8.2%, Germany 6.7%, Switzerland 5.9%, UK 5.1%, China 5.1% (2006) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: | $29.15 billion (2006 est.) |
| Debt - external: | $83.01 billion (2006 est.) |
| Economic aid - recipient: | $240 million from US (FY06) |
| Currency (code): | new Israeli shekel (ILS); note - NIS is the currency abbreviation; ILS is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) code for the NIS |
| Exchange rates: | new Israeli shekels per US dollar - 4.4565 (2006), 4.4877 (2005), 4.482 (2004), 4.5541 (2003), 4.7378 (2002) |
| Fiscal year: | calendar year |
Transportation
| Airports: | 53 (2007) |
| Airports - with paved runways: | total: 30 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 5 1,524 to 2,437 m: 7 914 to 1,523 m: 10 under 914 m: 6 (2007) |
| Airports - with unpaved runways: | total: 23 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 2 under 914 m: 20 (2007) |
| Heliports: | 3 (2007) |
| Pipelines: | gas 193 km; oil 442 km; refined products 261 km (2006) |
| Railways: | total: 853 km standard gauge: 853 km 1.435-m gauge (2006) |
| Roadways: | total: 17,446 km paved: 17,446 km (includes 144 km of expressways) (2004) |
| Merchant marine: | total: 18 ships (1000 GRT or over) 716,382 GRT/845,053 DWT by type: cargo 2, container 16 registered in other countries: 51 (Bermuda 3, Cyprus 4, Honduras 1, North Korea 1, Liberia 9, Malta 21, Panama 2, Slovakia 6, St Vincent and The Grenadines 4) (2007) |
| Ports and terminals: | Ashdod, Elat (Eilat), Hadera, Haifa |
Military
| Military branches: | Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel Naval Forces (INF), Israel Air Force (IAF) (2007) |
| Military service age and obligation: | 17 years of age for compulsory (Jews, Druzes) and voluntary (Christians, Muslims, Circassians) military service; both sexes are obligated to military service; conscript service obligation: 36 months for men, 24 months for women, 48 months for officers; reserve obligation to age 41-54 for men and 24 for women (2007) |
| Manpower available for military service: | males age 17-49: 1,492,125 females age 17-49: 1,443,916 (2005 est.) |
| Manpower fit for military service: | males age 17-49: 1,255,902 females age 17-49: 1,212,394 (2005 est.) |
| Manpower reaching military service age annually: | males age 18-49: 53,760 females age 15-49: 51,293 (2005 est.) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP: | 7.3% (2006) |
Transnational Issues
| Disputes - international: | West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; Israel continues construction of a "seam line" separation barrier along parts of the Green Line and within the West Bank; Israel withdrew its settlers and military from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the West Bank in August 2005; Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied (Lebanon claims the Shab'a Farms area of Golan Heights); since 1948, about 350 peacekeepers from the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) headquartered in Jerusalem monitor ceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated incidents from escalating, and assist other UN personnel in the region |
| Refugees and internally displaced persons: | IDPs: 150,000-420,000 (Arab villagers displaced from homes in northern Israel) (2006) |
| Illicit drugs: | increasingly concerned about ecstasy, cocaine, and heroin abuse; drugs arrive in country from Lebanon and, increasingly, from Jordan; money-laundering center |
Local Cuisine:
Israel
Typical Foods
Typical Menu for Passover Seder |
Recipes
Fresh OrangesBlintzes
Shakshooka (Egg-and-Tomato Dish)
Fava Bean Spread
Sesame Candy
Felafel
Tahini Sauce
Israeli Vegetable Salad
New Year's Honey Cake
Charoseth
Pita Sandwiches
Mandelbrot (Almond Cookies)
Geographic Setting and Environment
Located in the Middle East along the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel is slightly larger than the state of New Jersey. Although it is not extremely large, Israel has several different climates that are home to a wide variety of plants and animals.
Despite varied climatic conditions across the country, the climate is generally temperate. Temperatures rarely dip below 40°F and may reach as high as 120°F, depending on the location. Mild temperatures by the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River (which borders the country of Jordan to the east) allow citrus trees to grow fruits such as oranges, grapefruits, and lemons. Other areas grow figs, pomegranates, and olives. Animals such as jackals, hyenas, and wild boars roam in some areas of Israel.
Throughout the 1900s, about 200 million trees were planted in an effort to restore forests that were destroyed. Reforestation is helping to conserve the country's water resources and prevent soil erosion, making it easier for farmers to grow healthy crops for food.
History and Food
Israel's diverse population makes its cuisine unique. People from more than seventy different countries, with many different food and customs, currently live in Israel. Many people began arriving in 1948, when the country, then known as Palestine, gained its independence from Great Britain. At this time, large numbers of Eastern European Jews hoped to establish a Jewish nation in Israel. They brought traditional Jewish dishes to Israel that they had prepared in countries such as Poland, Hungary, and Russia. The Palestinians, most of whom were of Arab descent, enjoyed a cuisine adapted from North Africa and the Middle East.
The struggle to establish a Jewish nation heavily impacted the Israeli diet. People lived in small, crowded homes without most modern conveniences, including refrigerators. Because of the turmoil, Israel was not known for the quality of its food. Fresh fruit was considered one of the country's best meals. Israel's orchards produce some of the world's best citrus fruits. U.S. grocery stores often carry grapefruit and oranges with stickers identifying them as "grown in Israel."
See Fresh Oranges recipe.
See Blintzes recipe.
See Shakshooka (Egg-and-Tomato Dish) recipe.
Foods of the Israelis
Typical foods of the Middle East include flat bread, lentils, fresh fruit and nuts, raw vegetables, lamb, beef, and dairy products, including goat cheese and many types of yogurt. Some dishes feature grilled meats and fish, stuffed vegetables, and traditional spicy Mediterranean salads and spreads, such as fava bean spread. Typical dishes are stews, schnitzel (veal, chicken, or turkey cutlets), cheese-filled crepes (blintzes), matzo balls (dumplings eaten with chicken soup), and latkes (potato pancakes). Israel was called the "land of milk and honey" in the Bible. Sweets, such as candy made from honey and sesame seeds, are favorites among school children.
See Fava Bean Spread recipe.
See Sesame Candy recipe.
See Felafel recipe.
See Tahini Sauce recipe.
See Israeli Vegetable Salad recipe.
Food for Religious and Holiday Celebrations
More than 80 percent of Israelis are Jewish. Of these, a small percentage observe a set of dietary laws called kashruth (or "keeping kosher"). Although only a small percentage of Israel's population strictly observes these laws, the laws affect the availability of certain non-kosher foods throughout the country. The laws also affect both food preparation and availability of certain foods in some restaurants.
According to the rules of kashruth, meat and milk products cannot be served at the same meal. Also, the consumption of certain types of animals is banned. Meat must come from animals that have cleft (divided) hooves and chew their cud. Pork and other products that come from pigs are not to be eaten. Also, an animal must be slaughtered quickly and under supervision of religious authorities for its meat to be considered kosher.
Other restrictions include bans on the consumption of shellfish and of carrion birds (flesh-eating birds). Kosher households have two different sets of dishes and silverware, one for meat meals and the other for dairy meals, which must be kept separate at all times. Some households even have separate sinks for washing the two sets of dishes.
Another religious dietary restriction observed by Jews in Israel is the set of guidelines for the holiday of Passover, which occurs every spring. Leavened bread and many other foods are prohibited during this period, so unleavened bread (called matzo) is substituted. Some Jewish households may eliminate all banned foods from their homes every year before Passover and use a special set of dishes and cooking utensils throughout the holiday. Seder is the time during Passover when lavish meals and family gatherings are enjoyed.
See New Year's Honey Cake recipe.
See Charoseth recipe.
Mealtime Customs
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, breakfast was the most popular meal in what is modern-day Israel. Pioneer farmers from Russia and Poland would begin their work at dawn to beat the hot midday sun. After working for several hours, they would eat a hearty breakfast composed of bread, olives, cheese, and raw vegetables. This meal became famous as the "Israeli breakfast," and hotels still serve this type of meal to tourists. However, for many Israelis this breakfast has become increasingly rare, especially for those living in cities.
Main meals typically begin with a large assortment of appetizers, called mezze in Arabic, one of Israel's official languages. Meals may include dips and stuffed vegetables. In a full dinner, soup and a main dish that usually contains chicken or lamb follow the appetizers. Fresh fruit or Middle Eastern pastries, such as baklava, are delicious after-dinner treats.
Many restaurants offer alfresco (out-door) dining, where guests order appetizers and main dishes for the entire table to share. Cafés and outdoor food vendors are numerous throughout the country. The most popular Israeli fast food is felafel (a pita pocket filled with various pickles and fried balls of ground chickpeas), followed by shwarma (sliced turkey or lamb wrapped in pita bread). Another ve