Israel

Official name: the State of Israel

The State of Israel is a small country with an area of ​​more than 20,000 km 2. Located in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, which share a long coastline. In 2012, its population stood at 7.9332 million million, of which 5.9786 million Jews million and 1.6366 million million Palestinians (Central Bureau of Statistics in Israel). Because of lack of display of the country enjoys a temperate maritime climate.

Since the end of the nineteenth century, including claims resulted in here we refer to historical Palestine (now Israel and Palestine), where the Jewish kingdoms hundreds of years before the Christian calendar, to the settlement of the region by the organizers Zionist Jews in the Zionist movement.

After World War II, which killed six million Jews during which he has been at the hands of the Nazis, the League of Nations and approved by a majority of votes on the Jewish state in historic Palestine. During the war that broke out after the announcement of the state of Israel on May 14 / May 1948 between Israel and a number of neighboring Arab states, the Israeli armed forces managed to occupy 78% of historic Palestine, including West Jerusalem. During that war, it was expelled or escape of more than 80% of the indigenous Palestinian population.

During the June 1967 war, it was captured on the remaining part of them (the West Bank to Jordan, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip). Since then, not only the occupation of these areas by Israel, but also settled intensively. At the present time, live half a million Jewish settlers, spread over about 150 Jewish settlements in the West Bank to Jordan, including East Jerusalem.

The fate of the Jews in World War II contributed greatly to strengthening the military and economic support for Israel, the West on a large scale. In addition to the financial assistance of the Jewish community in the world, it grew the country after 1948 to become a great military and economic power in the region. Israel currently meet the standards of the modern state in many ways. Building has been accompanied by a systematic dismantling of the State of Israel of Palestinian society.

As a result, in particular mass migration, the number of Jewish population six times since 1949. Although the indigenous Palestinian still make up 20% of the population of the State of Israel, but the number of Jews who currently live in a region stretching between the Mediterranean region and the Jordan River is approximately equal the number of Palestinians.