Country Information on Israel 

Terrain

Israel has four topographical regions: the plains along the Mediterranean coast; the central region of hills and mountains where the country’s highest peak Mt. Hermon (1,200 metres) is situated; the Jordan depression that runs from north to south in the east of the country and drops to 200 metres below sea level, and the Negev desert in the south, which covers about 50% of the land. The Jordan is the biggest river with the largest continual flow of water.

Climate

Israel has a Mediterranean climate with long, hot and dry summers and winters that are short and warm. Around 17% of the annual precipitation falls between November and February in violent storms. Further inland, there is more rainfall than the annual average and snow sometimes falls.

Fauna/Flora

Northern Israel is wet and mountainous, which provides good conditions for laurel forests and otters live in the streams there. The desert in the south is characterized by wild tulips, black irises and date palms. Israel is the second largest flyway for migratory birds. Israel has around 300 national parks that cover a fifth of the country.

History/Politics

The first to inhabit the region of Palestine, where the State of Israel is located, were the Canaanites who reached the area around the 3rd millennium BC. Soon afterwards, the region fell into the hands of the Egyptians and it was invaded by different peoples over the course of the centuries that followed. The Hebrews, Semitic tribes from Mesopotamia who had clashed with the Philistines, reached the region in the 15th century BC. The defeats suffered at their hands led to the Hebrew states becoming one unified monarchy.

King David defeated the Philistines in 1000 BC and the kingdom enjoyed great prosperity under his successor Solomon. After his death, Israel was divided in two. First it was conquered by the Assyrians and the Babylonians; then it was conquered by the Persians in the 6th century BC; by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC and by the Romans in the 2nd century BC.

Over the centuries that followed there were various Israeli revolts against Rome, which were repressed each time. The last of them, which was in AD 135, led to the Jewish Diaspora and Judaea was later named Palestine. After the fall of Rome, the region became part of the Byzantine Empire until 637 when it was conquered by Muslims. The Ottoman Turks conquered Palestine in 1517. It controlled Palestine until the end of the First World War.

England and France divided the Ottoman territories and Palestine was incorporated into the mandate that was awarded by the League of Nations to Great Britain in 1922. Over the years that followed, the Jewish migration increased, which meant that there was an increase in the number of conflicts between Zionists and Arabs. In 1947, there was a military conflict between the Arabs and the Israelis; the Israelis won.

That same year, the United Nations approved the partition of Palestine, a decision that was rejected by the Arabs. Finally, in May 1948, the State of Israel was officially proclaimed with David Ben-Gurion as Prime Minister.

The conflicts between the Palestinians and their Arab neighbours intensified over the decades that followed, which led to Israel occupying territories such as the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsular and the Gaza Strip. After long negotiations, the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Rabin signed a peace treaty in 1993. This earned them the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. Rabin was however assassinated a year later by a Jewish extremist. In 2001, Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister and despite many difficulties, he attempted to restart the peace process.

The "Road Map" that the United States proposed for this purpose was accepted by the Palestine and Israeli government, which was why Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas, the successor of Yasser Arafat, signed a treaty in January 2005 to bring an end to four years of violent fighting between the two states.

Economy

In recent years, Israel has turned into the centre of development for high technology products, software in particular, for the world market. Because of it, the industrial sector currently contributes 17% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Agriculture is almost significant at 2%, whilst the tertiary sector creates 81%. In 2003, the unemployment rate was 11.3% and the inflation rate was 1.6%.

Culture

Israel essentially has a religious culture, which is why most of its festivals are of a religious nature. Despite there being Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews, everyone celebrates the different festivals together. The most important ones are Hanukkah (or the Festival of Lights), Yom Kippur (or the Day of Atonement) and Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). Some of Israel’s most famous artists are the violinist Yitzhak Perlman, who is well-known in the world of classical music, and Amos Oz and David Grossman, who are two of the country’s most famous writers.