Israel

Israel

Gergraphy

“The geography of Israel is very diverse, with desert conditions in the south, and snow-capped mountains in the north. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, the northeast by Syria, the east by Jordan and the West Bank, and to the southwest by Egypt, with this border also being the border between Asia and Africa.[2] To the west of Israel is the Mediterranean Sea, which makes up the majority of Israel's 273 km (170 mi) coastline[3] and the Gaza strip. Israel has a small coastline on the Red Sea in the south.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Israel)

Turism

Israel offers a plethora of historical and religious sites, beach resorts, archaeological tourism, heritage tourism and ecotourism. Israel has the highest number of museums per capita in the world.[2] In 2009, the two most visited sites were the Western Wall and the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai;[3] the most popular paid tourist attraction is Masada. Jerusalem is the most-visited city with 3.5 million tourist arrivals annually. One of the oldest cities in the world, it is the capital[i], and largest city of Israel if the area and population of occupied East Jerusalem are included. It is a holy city to the three major Abrahamic religions-Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and hosts a myriad of historical, archaeological, religious and sundry other attractions.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Israel)

History

On May 14, 1948, the Jewish People's Council declared the establishment of the State of Israel,[1] following a prolonged campaign beginning in the late 19th century, when the Zionist movementbegan working towards creating a homeland for the Jewish people. About 42% of the world's Jews live in Israel today.

The area of modern Israel is small, about the size of Wales or half the size of Costa-Rica and is roughly located on the site of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. It was the birthplace ofmonotheism, first of Judaism and later of Christianity and contains sites sacred to several Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Druze and Bahai. Although coming under the sway of various empires and home to a variety of ethnicities, it was predominantly Jewish until the Jewish–Roman wars after which Jews became a minority in most regions, except Galilee. The region became increasingly Christian after the 3rd century and then largely Moslem after the 7th Century Arab conquest.

The area became a focal point of conflict between Christianity and Islam between 1096 and 1291 and from 1517 to 1917 was part of the Syrian province of the Ottoman empire.

In the mid-19th century, persecution in Europe led to the creation of the Zionist movement, which was able to win international support for a Jewish-majority state on the site of the ancient kingdoms. Following the British conquest of Syria in the First World War and the formation of the Mandatory state of Palestine, Jewish-Arab tensions gradually evolved into the Arab-Israeli conflict—a collision of the Arab and Jewish nationalist movements.

Israeli independence in 1948 was marked by massive migrations of Jews from both Europe and the Islamic world to Israel, and of Arabs from Israel leading to extensive conflict with the Arab League.

Since about 1970, the United States has become the principal ally of Israel, positioning it as a part of the Western World. In 1979 an uneasy peace was established with Egypt, based on theCamp David Accords and in 1993 peace treaties were signed with the PLO and in 1994 with Jordan. However conflict with the Arab states and the Palestinians, much of whose territory was occupied by Israel during the 1967 war, continues to play a major role in Israeli (and international) political, social and economic life.

The Israeli economy was initially primarily socialist and the country dominated by social democratic parties until the 1970s.

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