I | INTRODUCTION |
Israel
(country), country in southwestern Asia, formed in 1948 as a Jewish state
in the historic region of Palestine, and located on the eastern shore of the
Mediterranean Sea. Israel is bounded on the north by Lebanon, on the northeast
by Syria, on the east by Jordan, and on the southwest by Egypt. Its southernmost
tip extends to the Gulf of Aqaba, an arm of the Red Sea. Israel’s isolated
position as a Jewish state surrounded by Arab and predominantly Islamic
countries has influenced nearly every aspect of its foreign relations,
demography, and economic policy throughout its history.
The origins of the present-day struggle
between Israel and Arab nations predate the creation of Israel. Throughout the
early 20th century Palestine, as the birthplace of Judaism and site of the
ancient Hebrew Kingdom of Israel, became a center of Jewish immigration,
encouraged and organized by a movement known as Zionism. Jews clashed with the
Palestinian Arab inhabitants of the region throughout the British administration
of Palestine from 1918 to 1948. In the years after World War II (1939-1945) the
United Nations (UN) developed a plan to partition Palestine into separate Jewish
and Arab states. The Arabs rejected the plan, but the Jews accepted it, and the
independent nation of Israel was created in 1948. Five Arab nations—Egypt,
Transjordan (now Jordan), Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq—immediately attacked Israel.
In the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-1949 and subsequent wars with its Arab neighbors
Israel acquired territory beyond its 1948 boundaries. As a result of the Six-Day
War of 1967 Israel took and later annexed the Syrian territory of the Golan
Heights, a claim not recognized by most nations. Israel also occupied the West
Bank (formerly of Jordan) and the Gaza Strip (formerly of Egypt), areas now
partially under Palestinian Arab administration. Even Jerusalem, the city Israel
claims as its capital, remains an area of dispute. Predominantly Jewish West
Jerusalem has been part of Israel since independence in 1948; Israel captured
mostly Arab East Jerusalem in 1967. Israel has since claimed the entire city as
its capital. However, the United Nations does not recognize Jerusalem as
Israel’s capital.
These territorial conflicts, combined with
continued Jewish immigration, have caused major changes in population structure
since Israel’s independence. Much of the Palestinian Arab population in the
territory that became Israel fled during the 1948-1949 war and became refugees
in surrounding Arab countries. Still more Palestinians fled from the areas
captured by Israel in 1967 (known collectively as the Occupied Territories;
often referred to in Israel as “administered territories”), and thousands of
Jews have settled in these areas. Meanwhile, Jewish immigration continued. By
the late 1990s Israel had absorbed 2.1 million immigrants since 1948, four times
the Jewish population before independence.
Economically, the twin challenges of national
security and immigration have been very costly. The economic burden of the
military fosters dependence on foreign economic aid, particularly from the
United States. Further, political conflict has severely isolated Israel
economically from much of the region. Meanwhile, although the absorption and
integration of so many immigrants from all over the world is an immense
financial undertaking, the constant influx of people with many different skills
and backgrounds also contributes to Israel’s economic well-being. Both factors
have stimulated the drive to create a successful industrial economy to help pay
for necessary infrastructure and services.
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
The total area of Israel, based on the
frontiers established at the end of the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-1949, is about
20,700 sq km (about 8,000 sq mi). Areas occupied by Israel as a result of the
Six-Day War included the West Bank (5,860 sq km/2,263 sq mi), the Gaza Strip
(378 sq km/146 sq mi), the Golan Heights (1,250 sq km/483 sq mi), and East
Jerusalem (70 sq km/27 sq mi). Because Israel annexed the Golan Heights and East
Jerusalem in 1981, the country officially includes them in total area and
population figures. The United Nations (UN) and most countries do not recognize
these annexations, however. Israel stretches north to south to a maximum length
of 420 km (260 mi); from east to west it varies from 16 to 115 km (10 to 70
mi).
A | Natural Regions |
There are five major geographical regions
of Israel. The mountainous Galilee region dominates the northern section of
Israel, extending east 40 km (25 mi) from a narrow coastal plain across to the
Sea of Galilee (also called Lake Tiberias). Mount Meron (1,208 m/3,963 ft) in
central Galilee is the highest point in Israel. South of Galilee lies the Plain
of Esdraelon, a densely populated and productive agricultural region 55 km (35
mi) long and 25 km (15 mi) wide. The plain runs across Israel from the vicinity
of Haifa on the Mediterranean coast to the Jordan River, which forms Israel’s
eastern border. The coastal plains, containing most of Israel’s large cities,
industry, and commerce, extend 195 km (120 mi) along the Mediterranean from just
north of Haifa to Gaza. This region ranges in width from less than 1 km (0.6 mi)
to 30 km (20 mi). The Judean and Samarian hills run north and south throughout
most of Israel. The Negev is a triangular desert region in southern Israel
extending north from the Gulf of Aqaba to a line connecting the southern end of
the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean, passing to the north of the city of
Beersheba.
B | Plant and Animal Life |
Israel’s variety of natural
environments—marked by regional differences in elevation, rainfall, topography
and soils, and latitude—produces equally varied plant life. Of about 2,500
species of plants, the majority is xerophytic, or capable of enduring prolonged
dry spells. Three distinct vegetative regions, each comprising many subregions,
cover Israel: Mediterranean in most of the northern reaches, steppe in the
northern Negev, and desert in the rest of the Negev. This variety of
geographical regions supports a wide range of agricultural products, including
citrus fruits, bananas, cotton, tobacco, grapes, dates, figs, olives, almonds,
and avocados. Original evergreen forests largely disappeared because of
centuries of cultivation and herding. Through a reforestation program millions
of trees have been planted, especially in the hilly regions. Today natural
woodlands and reforested areas cover 8 percent of the land.
Animal life is similarly varied. About 100
species of mammals inhabit Israel, including wild boars, gazelles, ibexes,
jackals, hyenas, wildcats, and badgers. There are about 380 species of birds,
including about 100 that migrate seasonally to other areas. Partridges, cuckoos,
bustards, sand grouses, and desert larks inhabit the area. A variety of
reptiles, fishes, and insects (including locusts) also prevail.
C | Rivers, Lakes, and Coastline |
The unnavigable Jordan River forms the
northern portion of the borders between Israel and Jordan and between the West
Bank and Jordan. The river flows through the Sea of Galilee (166 sq km/64 sq
mi), which provides many species of fish and supplies more than half of Israel’s
fresh water. The Jordan empties into the Dead Sea (1,020 sq km/394 sq mi), a
highly saline lake supplying many important minerals. Parts of the Dead Sea lie
in Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank. The Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea lie
below sea level; the shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the Earth’s
surface. Projects by Israel and Jordan to divert water from the Jordan River for
irrigation and other uses have caused the level of the Dead Sea to drop. In 1996
the level was 408 m (1,339 ft) below sea level. Other principal rivers are the
Yarqon, which runs through Tel Aviv-Yafo, and the Qishon River (Nahr al
Muqaţţa‘), which reaches the Mediterranean Sea near Haifa.
The coastline of Israel, including the
country’s western edge on the Mediterranean Sea and its southern tip on the Red
Sea, stretches for 273 km (170 mi). Apart from limited sections of cliffs rising
10 to 40 m (30 to 120 ft), the coast has few headlands or indentations; much of
it is low-lying and backed by sand dunes. Haifa, a natural harbor in the
northern part of the country, and Ashdod, an artificial deepwater port to the
south, serve as the main seaports on the Mediterranean. The port of Elat on the
Gulf of Aqaba provides Israel’s only access to the Red Sea, making it extremely
important to the country’s shipping interests.
D | Natural Resources |
Although much of Israel’s desert regions
contain poor soils, the northern Negev, the coastal plains, and the interior
valleys provide patches of productive soils. An estimated 18 percent of Israel’s
land is used for crops or orchards. Most cultivable soils in Israel require
irrigation and careful management; of 3,920 sq km (1,514 sq mi) under
cultivation, 44 percent is irrigated. The Dead Sea contains valuable minerals
such as potash, bromine, and magnesium, all of which are exploited mainly for
export. The Negev contains deposits of many minerals, including copper,
phosphate, bromine, and clay. Small quantities of oil and natural gas are also
mined from areas near the Dead Sea and south of Tel Aviv-Yafo.
E | Climate |
Israel has a typical Mediterranean climate
with cool, rainy winters and warm, dry summers. Temperatures vary considerably
with elevation, exposure to the sea, and predominant winds. January is normally
the coldest month and August the warmest. In upland regions such as Jerusalem,
January temperatures average 9°C (48°F) while August temperatures average 24°C
(75°F). In the coastal plains, including Haifa and Tel Aviv-Yafo, January
averages 12°C (54°F) and August averages 25°C (77°F). The highest and lowest
elevations are subject to extremes: Frost occurs a few days a year in
mountainous inland regions, while summer temperatures can reach the upper 30°s C
(lower 100°s F) in the Jordan Valley and in southern desert regions.
About 70 percent of annual precipitation
falls as rain between November and February. Amounts of rain decrease from north
to south and from west to east. The upper Galilee receives about 1,000 mm (about
40 in) of rain annually; the Judean Hills, about 700 mm (about 30 in); and most
of the Negev, about 100 mm (about 4 in). Elat, the driest spot in Israel,
receives only 25 mm (1 in) annually. Snow falls occasionally in higher parts of
the hills during the coldest months. Frequent summer droughts, especially in the
southern desert regions, make extensive irrigation a necessity. Heavy rains in
these and other areas can cause flooding and erosion.
F | Environmental Issues |
As a small country experiencing rapid
population growth and industrialization, Israel faces serious air and water
pollution as well as problems disposing of solid and hazardous waste. The
government is taking steps to tackle these problems, such as requiring catalytic
converters for vehicles, phasing out the use of leaded gasoline, initiating
rehabilitation programs for polluted streams, conducting environmental impact
assessments for industry, and supervising the production, handling, and disposal
of hazardous substances.
III | PEOPLE AND SOCIETY |
The estimated population of Israel in 2008,
including residents of the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, was 6,500,389.
Population density, including the area of the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem,
was 320 persons per sq km (828 per sq mi). Israel is one of the most urbanized
countries in the world. Some 92 percent of the population lives in communities
of more than 2,000 people, and over half of Israel’s population lives in the
metropolitan areas of its three largest cities, Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv-Yafo, and
Haifa.
More than one-third of the world’s Jewish
population lives in Israel, where they make up 82 percent of the people. Arabs,
most of whom are Muslims, make up almost the entire remainder of the population.
Because the birth rate is greater for Arabs than for Jews, the Arab proportion
of the population more than doubled between 1950 and the late 1990s.
A | Principal Cities |
With a population of 701,512 in 2004,
Jerusalem is Israel’s largest city. Israel claims that all of Jerusalem is its
capital, but Palestinians dispute the claim and the United Nations has not
recognized it as such. Arabs make up about 30 percent of the population.
Jerusalem’s economy depends on governmental administration, light industry,
tourism, and higher education.
Tel Aviv-Yafo, with 368,635 residents in
2004, is the center of an urban region stretching along 15 km (9 mi) of the
Mediterranean coast and 10 km (6 mi) inland, with a total population of about 2
million. It serves as a commercial and industrial capital and also plays an
important role in the cultural and recreational life of modern Israel. Other
cities in this urban area include Holon, Peta Tiqwa, and Ramat Gan. Farther
north lies Haifa, containing the country’s busiest port and main naval base.
With a population of 269,417, the city serves as a center of heavy industry as
well as religious and educational activities. Beersheba serves as the
administrative, industrial, and cultural center of the northern Negev. It had
about 184,200 residents in 2004.
B | Ethnic Groups |
Although Israel’s Jewish population
shares a common ethnic heritage based on Judaism, it is composed almost entirely
of immigrants and descendants of immigrants from all over the world. In 1997
some 38 percent of Israel’s Jewish population was born outside of Israel.
Foreign-born and native-born Israeli Jews trace their recent roots to more than
100 different countries, providing Israel with extremely diverse cultural
influences.
The two main groupings of Jews are
Ashkenazim and Sephardim. The Ashkenazim, whose tradition was centered in
Germany in the Middle Ages, now include Jews of Central and Eastern European
origin. The Sephardim, whose tradition grew in Spain in the Middle Ages, now
include Jews with ancestry from the Middle East, North Africa, and the
Mediterranean region. Historically the groups differ in religious rite,
pronunciation of Hebrew, and social customs. Ashkenazic Jews, who formed a
majority at the time of Israeli independence, continue to dominate political
life as well as the upper levels of employment and education. Sephardic Jews
immigrated rapidly to Israel in the decades after independence. The new state’s
lack of resources to handle this flood, combined with cultural differences
between the new immigrants and the Ashkenazic establishment, resulted in
separate and usually poorer Sephardic communities. The Sephardim continue to
struggle for greater economic and political influence. Beginning in the last
years of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in the late 1980s and
continuing well after its breakup, hundreds of thousands of Ashkenazic Jews
immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union.
Arabs, those Palestinians who remained
in the region after Israel’s independence and their descendants, constitute
almost all of Israel’s non-Jewish population. Following Israel’s occupation of
the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights in 1967, Arabs in
Israel had increased contact, and an increased sense of identity, with fellow
Palestinians in those occupied areas. Despite legal equality and increased
integration into Israel’s economy, for the most part Arabs and Jews live in
separate areas, attend separate schools, speak different languages, and follow
different cultural traditions. Although constant tension exists between the two
groups within Israel, it has been overshadowed in recent years by conflicts
involving Israeli occupation and Jewish settlement in Palestinian areas outside
of Israel.
C | Languages |
Hebrew and Arabic are the official
languages. The Jewish majority speaks a modernized derivative of the Hebrew
language, a biblical Semitic language. Immigrants are given intensive
instruction in Hebrew, but many continue to speak their native language at home.
Israeli Arabs speak the Arabic language. Both Hebrew and Arabic are taught in
schools and used in legal affairs and in the legislature. Many Israelis speak
English, Russian, or any of a number of other European languages. Some older
Ashkenazic immigrants speak Yiddish, a Germanic language. Radio broadcasts,
newspapers, and periodicals use several languages in addition to Hebrew and
Arabic.
D | Religion |
For centuries the region of Palestine has
been a focus for three world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Jerusalem, Hebron, Ẕefat, and Tiberias are the four holy cities of Judaism.
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth are sacred to Christians, and Jerusalem, as
the location of the ascent of the prophet Muhammad to heaven, is also sacred to
Islam. Haifa is the world center of the Baha’i religion, although there are few
adherents in Israel today. The level of strict religious observance among all
religions has declined in recent years, but religious affiliation remains very
important socially and politically. Israeli law guarantees religious
freedom.
Varying degrees of religious faith and
practice exist among Israeli Jews. Ultra-Orthodox Jews (haredim) who wish
to impose strict religious law on all aspects of life lie at one end of the
spectrum. At the other end lie those who observe no religious practices. The
majority lie somewhere in between, observing some religious principles some of
the time according to personal preferences and ethnic traditions. Orthodox and
non-Orthodox groups remain at odds, resulting in occasional violent incidents
over observance of the Sabbath, a holy day of rest, and the ways in which it is
acceptable for women to pray at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, the holiest site of
Judaism. In recent years non-Orthodox Jewish groups have struggled against the
exclusive rights of the Orthodoxy to perform conversions and other religious
rites. Religion plays a significant role in politics, and religious parties hold
many seats in the legislature.
About three-quarters of Israel’s
non-Jewish population follows Sunni Islam. Most of the remainder are Christians
or Druze, a distinct religious minority. The largest Christian denominations are
Greek Catholic and Greek Orthodox; many other Christian denominations are also
represented in Israel.
E | Education |
The quality of Israel’s education system
and the high literacy rate of its people reflect the importance of education in
the Jewish tradition. Absorption and integration of immigrant Jewish children
from many countries and cultures continue as the central challenges. The
Compulsory Education Law of 1949 and subsequent amendments provide for free and
compulsory schooling for children aged 5 to 16 and additional free but not
compulsory education to age 18. In practice about 90 percent of school-age
children complete compulsory education. Jewish children attend either state
secular or religious schools, both with instruction in Hebrew. Arab and Druze
children attend separate schools emphasizing their history, religion, and
culture, with instruction in Arabic. Some secondary schools specialize in
technological, agricultural, military, or religious studies. There are also
private religious schools affiliated with ultra-Orthodox groups and Christian
denominations. Literacy rates are very high among youth in both communities and
for both sexes.
Postsecondary educational opportunities
include universities as well as vocational and other adult education. Most
students complete compulsory military service—three years for men and two years
for women—before pursuing higher education. Universities, which operate under
the authority of the Council for Higher Education, include the Technion-Israel
Institute of Technology in Haifa, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Bar-Ilan
University in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv University, Haifa University, and Ben Gurion
University of the Negev in Beersheba. The Open University of Israel, established
in 1974 in Tel Aviv-Yafo, allows students to learn through distance education
and other forms of self-study. Other forms of adult education are especially
important in Israel due to the high number of adult immigrants with varying
levels of education in their home countries. Vocational and adult education
subjects include nursing, teacher training, architecture, Hebrew language, art,
music, and architecture.
F | Way of Life |
Jews and Arabs of Israel lead largely
separate lives, with little social and cultural exchange. Although of varying
backgrounds, Israeli Jews share many unifying influences such as Judaic
tradition, the Hebrew language, the Holocaust (the murder of millions of Jews in
Europe by Nazi Germany), and the socialist ideals of the early Zionist pioneers
in Palestine. Furthermore, most Israeli Jews share the formative experience of
compulsory military service from age 18 and subsequent years of reserve service
for one or two months per year. Nevertheless, lifestyles vary markedly based on
such factors as country of origin, length of residence in Israel, level of
religious observance, and urban or rural location. In general, family life and
religious celebrations play an important role in society. Popular recreational
activities include camping, hiking, and going to the beach, as well as use of
the country’s many sports facilities, libraries, and theaters. Many Israelis
also enjoy traveling abroad.
Many of Israel’s rural Jews live in two
types of cooperative communities, the kibbutz and the moshav. In a
kibbutz, residents own all property collectively and contribute work in exchange
for basic necessities. In a moshav, families own separate farms but cooperate in
some aspects of agricultural marketing.
Israel’s Arab population, although
sharing a common language and many other cultural affinities, is divided along
religious lines. Muslim Arabs, most of whom are Sunnis, live mainly in small
towns and villages and follow many of the traditions of the Islamic world.
Within this group, the Bedouins remain culturally distinct. Traditionally nomads
with a tribal social framework, many Bedouins now live in permanent settlements
in southern Israel. Christian Arabs reside mostly in the cities and follow the
various traditions of Eastern or Western Christianity. The Druze, another
distinct community residing in villages of northern Israel, hold cultural and
religious ties with Druze communities in Lebanon and Syria.
G | Social Services |
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
supervises a comprehensive welfare system and provides 75 percent of its
funding. All workers must contribute to social insurance that provides such
services as child allowances, workers’ compensation, and care for the elderly.
Local authorities are responsible for delivering social services. Workers also
pay a health insurance tax, which along with money from the state budget
provides basic medical services to all residents of Israel.
IV | ARTS |
Richness and variety characterize the
artistic and cultural life of Israel. Drawing inspiration from Jewish tradition,
cultural activity of the Jewish population has been greatly influenced by
Israel’s struggle for independence and survival and by its rapid social change
and state-building. These foundations were enriched by successive waves of
immigration from more than 100 countries, each of which brought an element of
cultural diversity and a wealth of artistic skills and traditions. Jews have
always been prominent in literature, art, and music, but Israeli Jews have made
a conscious effort to create a unique artistic tradition. Israeli Arabs maintain
a rich heritage of music, theater, dance, and art that draws on traditions of
the wider Arab world. Although the majority of Arabs and Jews of Israel remain
separated socially and culturally, there has been significant collaboration
between Arab and Jewish artists and writers in recent years. For example, a 1994
production of Romeo and Juliet by Jewish and Arab actors received
international acclaim.
The following sections deal primarily with
the arts of the Israeli Jewish population.
A | Literature |
The most remarkable achievement of
Israel’s artistic tradition has been the revival and modernization of the Hebrew
language after centuries of disuse. Although biblical Hebrew had only about
8,000 words, modern Hebrew uses about 120,000 words. The Academy of the Hebrew
Language, founded by the Israeli parliament in 1953, guides the continuing
development of the Hebrew language. Hebrew authors have published numerous books
of poetry and prose since Israeli independence. Common themes include the
promise and problems of the new state, Jewish identity, and loneliness and
isolation of the individual. Several Israeli writers have won international
recognition, notably Amos Oz, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, A. B. Yehoshua, Aharon
Appelfeld, David Shahar, David Grossman, and Meir Shalev. Founded in 1962, the
Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature has rendered hundreds of
Hebrew works of fiction, drama, poetry, and books for children into 40 different
languages.
B | Performing Arts |
Israel is one of the world’s most active
and progressive centers for music. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is
world-renowned, as are many Israeli musicians such as Schlomo Mintz, Daniel
Barenboim, and Itzhak Perlman. Musicians compose and perform music of every kind
for audiences all over Israel, and musical education is taken very seriously.
The arrival of more than 600,000 Jews from the former USSR in the 1990s brought
a wave of fresh talent and vitality to the musical scene. Opera and dance are
also extremely active in Israel. Dance includes distinctive Israeli forms
derived from Eastern Europe and elsewhere. Several major professional companies
perform choreographed stage dance. Theater also flourishes in Israel; major
theaters are located in Tel Aviv-Yafo (including the national Habima Theater),
Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beersheba.
C | Visual Arts |
In 1906 the Bezalel School of Arts and
Crafts was founded in Jerusalem to encourage talented Jews to study art in
Palestine. Like the country’s writers and performers, Israeli painters,
sculptors, and photographers have examined personal and social issues relating
to Jewish identity and statehood. Artist studios, galleries, and shops abound in
Ẕefat and Yafo. Many Israeli artists and sculptors, including Yaacov Agam, Dani
Karavan, and Reuvin Rubin, have gained international recognition for their work.
Filmmaking began in Israel in the 1950s and has developed strongly under the
Israel Film Center. Cinema exports are growing, and foreign productions are
sometimes filmed in Israel.
D | Museums and Libraries |
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, founded
in 1965 as the national museum, houses collections of Jewish art, modern
sculpture, and archaeological artifacts. It also houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, a
collection of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts. The Yad Vashem Holocaust
Museum in Jerusalem is dedicated to Jews who died in the Holocaust. Other
important museums include the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Haifa Museum.
Several museums, including the L. A. Mayer Institute for Islamic Art in
Jerusalem, display exhibits about the Arab and Islamic traditions of Palestine
and Israel. Altogether there are more than 120 museums in Israel, which receive
about ten million visitors each year. There are more than 400 libraries in
Israel.
V | ECONOMY |
The challenges of maintaining national
security while absorbing and integrating massive waves of immigrants have
characterized the economy of Israel throughout its statehood. Defense spending
remains one of the world’s highest per capita, and immigration strains the
availability of jobs and housing. Lack of natural resources and economic
isolation from surrounding Arab states add further challenges. In spite of these
factors, Israel’s economy has grown rapidly, and Israelis enjoy a high standard
of living. With a total gross domestic product (GDP) of $140.46 billion in 2006,
Israel’s per capita GDP of $19,926.90 was one of the highest in the world.
Economic diversification, high investment, a skilled and educated workforce, and
a commitment to research and development have contributed to Israel’s economic
success. Nevertheless, a steadily increasing trade deficit, high inflation
(averaging 2.1 percent in the period 2006, down from more than 400 percent in
1984), and reliance on foreign loans and aid threatened the economy through the
late 1990s. To offset its trade deficit, Israel continues to pursue the export
of high-technology products. If lasting peace in the Middle East could be
achieved, Israel would undoubtedly benefit from increased trade with its Arab
neighbors and less of a need for defense spending. In 1998 Israel proposed a
plan to phase out economic aid from the United States over a period of 10 to 12
years beginning in the year 2000.
A | Government Role in the Economy |
Because of the pressing nature of Israel’s
economic problems—national security and absorption of immigrants—the government
has played a central role in economic policymaking and intervention throughout
Israel’s history. For example, the government has been heavily involved in
planning, subsidizing, and controlling agriculture since independence. The
government has also taken decisive action to avert economic crises. For example,
in the early 1980s it instituted an emergency program of spending cuts and
austerity measures to counter hyperinflation. The government, including
government-owned businesses, remains the largest employer, particularly in the
public services sector. To reduce government spending and stimulate economic
growth, the government began privatizing many of its enterprises in the
1990s.
B | Labor |
In 2006 Israel’s active civilian labor
force was 2.8 million, including about 250,000 Israeli Arabs. Women account for
47 percent of the workforce. In descending order, public services,
manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade, and financial and business services
employed the largest number of workers. Unemployment was 10.7 percent. About
100,000 foreign workers—mainly from Romania, Thailand, and the
Philippines—worked in such fields as agriculture and construction, largely
replacing Palestinian workers. (After a series of demonstrations, strikes, and
riots known as the intifada began in 1987, many Palestinians in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip were prevented from going to their jobs in Israel.) In addition
to the civilian labor force, about 180,000 Israelis served in the military.
Founded in 1920, the Histadrut
(General Federation of Labor) represents most of Israel’s labor force. Serving
as an umbrella group for separate trade unions, the Histadrut offers health
insurance as well as recreational, educational, and other services to its
members.
C | Agriculture and Fishing |
The earliest Zionist settlers in Palestine
viewed agriculture as a key ingredient of successful colonization, for meeting
food needs and for fostering an ideological bond between Jews and the land.
Since independence the Israeli government has promoted agriculture to attain
self-sufficiency and to provide new immigrants with food and employment. Between
1948 and the late 1990s the land area under cultivation has almost tripled, in
large part because of modern irrigation, mechanization, and other technologies.
About 750 kibbutzim and moshavim, although occupied by only 6 percent of the
total population, produce a large portion of Israel’s crops. While many Israeli
Arab farmers have adopted many Israeli farming methods with considerable
success, others continue to use less mechanized, more traditional methods.
Because of extensive investment in these
methods and technologies, Israel meets most of its food needs through domestic
production and grows several crops for export. Industrial crops (groundnuts,
sugar beets, cotton), cereals, tomatoes, a wide variety of fruit, dairy
products, poultry, and eggs are the main food crops. Primary exports include
citrus and other fruit, cotton, avocados, and potatoes. Flowers account for
almost a quarter of agricultural exports by value. The majority of Israel’s
annual fish catch consists of freshwater fish raised in artificial ponds.
Although in recent decades the relative importance of agriculture has
declined—in terms of GDP, percentage of the population it employs, and
percentage of total export revenues—it remains essential to Israel’s economy. In
1996 agriculture, including forestry and fishing, accounted for about 2 percent
of the GDP and employed about 3 percent of the workforce.
D | Mining |
The chief assets of the Israeli mining
industry are the huge quantities of bromine, potash, magnesium, and other
minerals extracted from the salt deposits of the Dead Sea. Israel is the world’s
largest exporter of bromine. Extensive quarrying of marble and granite fulfills
domestic construction needs. Copper, phosphates, bromine, and clay are mined in
the Negev.
E | Manufacturing |
Despite limited natural resources, Israel’s
manufacturing sector is the most diversified and most technologically advanced
of any country in the Middle East. The needs of the defense industry, together
with a desire to boost export earnings, have encouraged government investment in
industry, especially in research and development. A skilled and educated
workforce, continually renewed by immigration, also aids manufacturing. Israel’s
industrial output is among the fastest growing in the world. In 1996 the
industrial sector, including mining and construction, accounted for 27 percent
of GDP and 80 percent of export earnings, and employed 28 percent of the
workforce.
Until the 1970s manufacturing was
concentrated on traditional branches such as food processing, textiles,
chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and metal products. Since then Israel has moved into
high-technology fields such as medical electronics, telecommunications, computer
hardware and software, and diamond polishing. Cut diamonds and electronic
equipment are now among Israel’s biggest export earners, together with chemical
products, textiles, transport equipment, and machinery. The Tel Aviv-Yafo
metropolitan area and Haifa serve as the primary manufacturing centers.
F | Services |
The service sector remains the largest in
terms of GDP and percentage of labor force it employs. In the late 1990s it
contributed about 60 percent of GDP and employed 69 percent of Israel’s
workforce. Mainly because of the continuing task of absorbing immigration,
public services such as education, health, and welfare remain the primary
service industries. Business and financial services, wholesale and retail trade,
and transportation, storage, and communication services are also important.
G | Tourism |
Historical and religious sites as well as
the favorable Mediterranean climate make Israel a popular tourist destination.
In 2006, 1,825,000 tourists visited Israel, spending $2.8 billion. Tourism tends
to decline after terrorist incidents occur or when political unrest intensifies.
Western European tourists account for more than half of all visitors, followed
by North Americans (20 percent), Eastern Europeans (11 percent), and Asians (10
percent). Many Christian pilgrims visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth, and
many Jews come to see Israel’s Jewish culture and holy sites. Apart from
cultural and religious sites, the Dead Sea region, Elat, and the Mediterranean
coast are popular destinations.
H | Energy |
Imported oil and coal supply almost all of
Israel’s energy, supplemented by very small amounts of locally extracted oil,
natural gas, and oil shale. Egypt and Mexico supply the largest quantities of
oil, while coal comes from South Africa, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Israel is a world leader in the development of solar energy production,
particularly in the use of solar panels for home water heating. Research
continues on alternative sources of energy such as wind power.
I | Transportation |
Israel’s chief means of transportation is
its road network, which totaled 17,446 km (10,840 mi) in 2004. Motor vehicle
ownership has increased rapidly, reaching 234 passenger vehicles per 1,000
persons in 2004. Traffic congestion and accidents can be serious problems. A
national company runs popular, affordable, and frequent bus services in many
areas. State-owned railroads operate 899 km (559 mi) of track. Ben Gurion
International Airport near Tel Aviv-Yafo serves as the major airport. Israel’s
national airline, El Al, provides international service, while Arkia provides
domestic service. Major ports include Haifa in the north, Ashdod on the central
Mediterranean coast, and Elat on the Gulf of Aqaba. Because of boycotts by
neighboring Arab nations, Israeli shipping remains vital to Israel’s trade with
more distant partners by way of the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
J | Communications |
Israel has well-developed networks for
domestic and international communications. On average, houses contain at least
two telephones, and there are 1,120 cellular telephones in use for every 1,000
persons. Internet and electronic mail use has grown rapidly. The Communications
Ministry controls telecommunications, while the Postal Authority operates mail
services. All media enjoy freedom of communication in Israel, and many emphasize
news and politics. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) is responsible for
public radio and television stations. State-run Kol Israel (Voice of Israel)
operates several radio stations, broadcasting in 17 languages. The IBA
completely ran television broadcasting until 1993, when a law was passed that
opened the field to commercial stations. Many Arab households tune into
television broadcasts from neighboring states. Israel has 34 daily newspapers;
about half are in Hebrew and half in other languages, including Arabic and
English. Prominent dailies include Ha’aretz, Davar, Ma’ariv, Yedioth
Ahronoth, and the Jerusalem Post. There are also more than 1,000
periodicals.
K | Foreign Trade |
The cost of Israel’s imports has exceeded
the value of its exports every year since 1948. This trade deficit, while
growing in dollar amount to $12.8 billion in 1996, is decreasing in relative
terms. In 1950 exports financed only 14 percent of imports; in 1996 they
financed 71 percent. Grants and loans from the United States and other
governments, donations from Jewish fund-raising organizations, bank loans, and
funds brought in by immigrants have covered annual deficits. Israel owes the
bulk of its external debt to the United States. Expanding exports has been a
primary goal of the government throughout Israel’s history.
Chief imports include rough diamonds,
machinery, chemicals, vehicles, crude petroleum, and consumer goods. Primary
sources of imports include the United States, Belgium and Luxembourg (which
constitute a single trading entity), Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and
Japan. Main exports include finished diamonds, machinery and parts, chemicals
and chemical products, electronic equipment, and agricultural produce
(especially citrus fruits). Trading partners for exports include the United
States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Belgium and Luxembourg, and Hong Kong.
Israel is a member of the World Trade
Organization and has enjoyed free trade agreements for industrial goods with the
European Union (formerly the European Community) since 1975 and the United
States since 1985. Israel also participates in the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (IBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
L | Currency and Banking |
Israel’s currency is the new Israeli
sheqel (NIS), consisting of 100 agorot (4.50 NIS equal U.S.$1; 2006
average). The Bank of Israel (1954) issues currency and handles government
banking transactions. There is a flourishing banking sector with many
specialized merchant banks, foreign banks, mortgage banks, and banks set up to
aid industry and agriculture. A stock exchange is in Tel Aviv-Yafo.
VI | GOVERNMENT |
Israel is a multiparty parliamentary
republic with ultimate authority vested by the people in the legislature, or
Knesset. There is no written constitution, but a number of basic laws passed by
the parliament over the decades determine government operations and activities.
Israel has a unitary, or nonfederalist, system of government; the central
government in Jerusalem runs most government functions.
Although Israel achieved independence in
1948, its political system derives from the period of British mandate over
Palestine (1922-1948). Under the mandate, awarded by the League of Nations,
Britain temporarily governed the area on behalf of its Jewish and Arab
inhabitants. The mandate established the Jewish Agency for Palestine, a body
that acted as the international diplomatic representative of the Jewish
community in Palestine (Yishuv). During the mandate period the Yishuv
established institutions for self-government, including an assembly that used a
system of proportional representation to distribute the assembly’s seats after
elections. The assembly met annually, electing a council that worked with the
Jewish Agency to administer Yishuv affairs between assembly sessions. After the
United Nations (UN) adopted a plan to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab
states in 1947, a provisional government consisting of a legislature, a cabinet,
and a president was chosen from among the members of the council and the Jewish
Agency. This provisional government functioned from the day of independence (May
14, 1948) until February 14, 1949, at which time its authority was transferred
to the first Knesset.
The Knesset’s first legislative act was to
enact a law, often referred to as the Small Constitution, adopting for the new
government many of the administrative structures and procedures created during
the mandate. Knesset members discussed at length the possibility of drafting a
constitution. Many felt that the constantly changing social conditions caused by
mass immigration after independence made necessary a delay in drafting a
permanent document. Others expressed concern over the relationship between state
and religion and how to incorporate the precepts and ideals of Judaism into the
proposed document. After more than a year of discussion, the Knesset decided to
delay adoption of a formal and comprehensive document. Although Israel remains
without a written constitution, over the years the Knesset has passed many laws,
known as Basic Laws, defining governmental structure and policy. The Basic Laws
are intended to form portions of a comprehensive document in the future.
A | Executive |
The Knesset elects a president, the head
of state, who may serve a maximum of two five-year terms. The president holds
little real power but performs such ceremonial functions as opening the first
session of a new Knesset and receiving foreign diplomatic representatives.
The president selects the leader of the
largest party in the Knesset to become the prime minister, or head of
government. At the start of a new term the prime minister forms a cabinet of
ministers (known as the government) with as many as 18 members, at least half of
whom must be from the Knesset. As the chief executive officer, the prime
minister determines the agenda of cabinet meetings and has the final word in
policy decisions.
The establishment of a new government
requires a vote of confidence from the Knesset. Because no party has ever held
an absolute majority of Knesset seats, Israel’s governments have always been
coalitions of several political parties. Compromises on policies and positions
are central to coalition bargaining. The prime minister and the government may
be ousted by a majority vote of no confidence in the parliament. The
government’s four-year term may also be shortened by its own resignation, by the
Knesset’s decision to dissolve itself and call for new elections, or by the
resignation or death of the prime minister.
B | Legislature |
The legislature, or Knesset, is a
single-chambered body of 120 members serving a term of four years. As the
supreme authority in the state, the Knesset’s main functions include votes of
confidence or no confidence in the government, legislation, participation in
formulating national policy, approval of budgets and taxes, election of the
president, and general supervision of the administration’s activities. The
cabinet presents most legislation, although Knesset committees and individual
members can initiate bills. Passage of any legislation requires a simple
majority of the members present at the vote. An absolute majority is required
for the election of the president and for changes in the system of proportional
representation and the Basic Laws.
All Israeli citizens 18 or older may
vote. Elections are nationwide with the entire country as a single constituency.
Citizens vote not for individual candidates but for political parties, which
prepare ranked lists of their candidates. Knesset seats are assigned in
proportion to each party’s percentage of the total vote; parties must receive at
least 1.5 percent to gain a seat. The Knesset may dissolve itself and call for
new elections before completion of its term.
C | Judiciary |
The judiciary system consists of both
secular and religious courts. The president—upon the recommendation of a
nominations committee composed of Supreme Court justices, practicing lawyers,
and members of the Knesset and cabinet—appoints judges for both types of courts.
Judges hold office until death, resignation, mandatory retirement at age 70, or
mandatory removal for violations of the law. As the highest court, the Supreme
Court hears appeals from lower courts in civil and criminal cases. It also
serves as the primary guardian of fundamental rights of Israeli citizens and
protects individuals from arbitrary actions by public officials. The Supreme
Court cannot invalidate Knesset legislation, but it may nullify administrative
actions and ordinances it regards as contrary to Knesset legislation. Below the
Supreme Court are district courts and numerous municipal and magistrate courts.
Military courts hear matters involving military establishment and personnel; the
highest of these courts is the Military Court of Appeal, which is responsible to
the Supreme Court.
Religious courts have jurisdiction over
personal status matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, alimony,
guardianship, and inheritance. The High Rabbinical Court of Appeal is the
highest Jewish religious court and is overseen by the Ashkenazic and Sephardic
chief rabbis. Various Christian denominations, Druze, and Muslim sects operate
separate religious courts that handle similar matters.
D | Local Government |
Israel is divided into 6 administrative
districts and 14 subdistricts. The cabinet’s interior minister appoints and
oversees district officials, who in turn oversee municipal and local councils.
Citizens choose mayors and council heads in direct popular elections and other
council members through party lists similar to those in national elections.
District officials draft legislation pertaining to local government, approve and
control local tax rates and budgets, review and approve bylaws and ordinances
passed by locally elected councils, approve local public works projects, and
distribute grants and loans to local governments. Although local government is
highly dependent on the national government for its budget, it acts as an
important mechanism for providing services to communities. Adhering to national
standards, local governments handle matters of education, culture, health,
social welfare, road maintenance, public parks, water, and sanitation.
E | Political Parties |
Despite a wide range of secular and
religious political parties, two parties with origins in the prestate period
dominate contemporary Israeli politics. The Israel Labor Party, formed in 1968
when three previous labor parties merged, supports Zionist and socialist
policies such as continued Jewish immigration, a social welfare state, and a
primarily state-planned and regulated economy. The Labor Party also supports
separation of religion and state, equality for minorities, and negotiated
settlement between Israel and the Arab states concerning the land seized in the
1967 Six-Day War, known collectively as the Occupied Territories. The other
major party, Likud, emerged in 1973 from an alliance of several right-of-center
parties. It has focused on retaining the Occupied Territories and privatizing
the economy, and it remains strongly nationalist and assertive in foreign and
security matters. Whereas neither party has achieved an absolute majority in the
Knesset since independence, the Israel Labor Party and its predecessors
predominated until 1977, when Likud became the largest party. Labor regained the
lead in the Knesset in 1992, but lost it again in 2003, when its coalition,
known as One World, won only 19 seats to Likud’s 38. The Kadima party was
established by former Likud leader Ariel Sharon in 2005. The party was
established primarily to support Sharon’s decision to withdraw from the Gaza
Strip, a decision that was opposed by some within Likud. Sharon took many former
Likud supporters with him in forming Kadima. In the 2006 parliamentary elections
Kadima won the single largest bloc of seats and set up a coalition with Labor,
the Shas Party, and the newly formed Pensioners Party, which is concerned with
the rights of the elderly. The remaining supporters of Likud won only 12 seats
in the Knesset as opposed to 38 in the previous parliament.
Various other political parties play
significant roles and are sometimes pivotal in sustaining or opposing the
government in power. Shinui, formed in 1974, is a secular liberal party that
opposes the influence of the ultra-Orthodox religious establishment. Meretz was
formed in 1992 as a coalition of leftist groups. Formed in 1995, the Third Way
supports a centrist alternative to Likud and Labor, combining a willingness to
compromise over the Occupied Territories with an insistence on keeping areas
deemed vital to Israel’s security (especially the Golan Heights) and preserving
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Yisrael Ba’aliya was founded by Natan Sharansky
to compete in the 1996 parliamentary elections and to encourage Jewish
immigration from the former Soviet Union, while promoting the needs of new
immigrants to Israel. In 2003 it merged with Likud. Another party based largely
among Russian or former Soviet Union immigrants is Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Is
Our Home), led by Avigdor Lieberman, an immigrant to Israel from Kishinev,
Moldova.
Arab political parties have been involved
in Israeli politics since independence. The Progressive List for Peace (PLP), an
Arab-Jewish party formed in 1984, advocates Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and
the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. The Arab
Democratic Party (ADP), made up entirely of Arab candidates, formed in 1988 to
support moderate policies more acceptable to Zionists in order to exert
influence within the political system. Many Arabs support communist parties,
often more as a form of dissent against the establishment than from ideological
commitment.
Religious parties generally play a
crucial role in forming and maintaining governments. Shas, a party of Orthodox
Sephardic Jews stressing ethnic pride and traditional values, maintains a
conciliatory position on Middle East peace. United Torah Judaism, a party of
Orthodox Ashkenazi Jews, seeks to enhance the role of religion in the state and
opposes all forms of secularism. The National Religious Party (NRP) advocates
legislation based on Judaic religious law. It promotes rapid Jewish settlement
of Israeli-occupied territories based on divine right to inhabit biblical
lands.
F | Defense |
Founded in 1948, the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) acts as a unified command over all of Israel’s air, land, and sea forces.
In 2004 Israel maintained a standing army of 168,300 with an additional 430,000
in reserve forces. Most Israelis are inducted into the army at age 18. Jewish
and Druze men serve for three years, and unmarried Jewish women serve for 21
months. Men continue in reserve duty until age 55 for up to 45 days a year (or
longer in the event of emergency). Women are rarely called for reserve duty, but
technically, unmarried women may be called until age 50. Arabs are exempt but
may serve voluntarily. By an agreement dating from the late 1940s, Israel’s
minister of defense could grant religious Jews exemptions from military service.
However, in December 1998 the Supreme Court ruled that this agreement was
illegal and instructed the Knesset to pass legislation to regularize the
situation within one year. A government-appointed chief of staff heads the IDF
and is responsible to the cabinet minister of defense. Although the IDF as an
institution has no formal or informal role in the political process, retired
senior officers have become significant political figures.
G | International Organizations |
Israel has been a member of the UN since
1949 and is a member of many other international organizations. It participates
in a wide range of UN activities, including nongovernmental organizations
addressing issues such as aviation, immigration, communications, meteorology,
trade, and the status of women. Israel’s relationship with the UN has varied
considerably. The UN partition plan created the state, and UN resolutions in
1967 and 1973 called for acknowledgement of Israel’s sovereignty by all states
in the region. However, Israel has been excluded from regional UN caucusing
groups, and hundreds of UN resolutions have been critical of Israeli policies
and activities. For example, in 1975 the UN General Assembly adopted a
resolution that labeled Zionism as a form of racism; the General Assembly
repealed the resolution in 1991. In 1998 the General Assembly passed a
resolution acknowledging anti-Semitism (hostility toward Jews) as a form of
racism.
Israel is a member of many agencies
within the UN, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Israel also
participates in other international organizations such as the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Israel is excluded from many regional
organizations uniting surrounding Arab nations, such as the Organization of the
Islamic Conference, which embraces every Middle Eastern nation except Israel and
Cyprus, and the Arab League, which promotes the common interests of Middle
Eastern and North African Arab states. Through the 1980s most Arab nations did
not recognize Israel. After peace talks began in the 1990s, many began tentative
diplomatic relations.
VII | HISTORY |
Although the modern state of Israel came
into being in 1948, its history is based on an ancient Jewish connection to the
region, a recurrent theme in Jewish tradition and writing since the 2nd
millennium bc. King Saul
established the first Hebrew state, the Kingdom of Israel, in the region of
Palestine in the 11th century bc.
Saul’s successors, David and Solomon, further consolidated the kingdom. The
southern part soon became the independent kingdom of Judah. When both kingdoms
were defeated by the 6th century bc,
most Jews were exiled from Palestine. The desire of the exiled Jews,
known collectively as the Diaspora, to return to their historical homeland is
recorded in the Bible and became a universal Jewish theme after Roman rulers
destroyed the ancient city of Jerusalem in ad 70. For the history of Palestine
before the 19th century, see Palestine: History.
The modern concept of a Jewish homeland in
Palestine began in the late 19th century, when the region was part of the
Ottoman Empire. In 1880 Palestine had a Jewish population of about 25,000,
composing about 5 percent of the total population in the predominantly Arab
region. Jews resided primarily in Jerusalem and in other holy cities such as
Ẕefat, Tiberias, and Hebron. In the early 1880s Eastern European Jews, primarily
from Russia and Poland, began to immigrate to the region to escape persecution
(see Pogrom). Beginning in the mid-1890s Zionism, the movement to unite
Jews of the Diaspora and settle them in Palestine, further bolstered
immigration. In his book The Jewish State (1896), Hungarian-born Jewish
journalist Theodor Herzl analyzed the causes of anti-Semitism and proposed as a
solution the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. In 1897 Herzl convened the
first Zionist Congress, representing Jewish communities and organizations
throughout the world, in Basel, Switzerland. The congress formulated the Basel
Program, which defined Zionism’s goal: “to create for the Jewish people a home
in Palestine secured by public law.” The congress also established the
movement’s administrative body, the World Zionist Organization (WZO).
By 1914 the Jewish population of Palestine
had grown to about 85,000, or about 12 percent of the total population. In 1917,
during World War I, the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, which
expressed Britain’s support for the establishment of a national home for the
Jewish people in Palestine. By issuing the declaration Britain apparently hoped
to generate support from both American and Russian Jews for the Allied war
effort and to preempt efforts by its rival, Germany, to win Jewish support by
issuing a similar declaration. Britain’s main long-term goal was to retain
Palestine as a strategic territory after the war. Despite these underlying
motives, the Zionist movement saw the declaration as an important achievement
promoting Jewish settlement and development in Palestine. However, the British
had already made two previous agreements to others in the region. In the
Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 Britain had agreed to split the Ottoman lands into
British, French, and Russian areas of control upon defeating the Ottomans. The
British had also made vague promises in 1915 and 1916 to support Arab
independence in the lands of the former Ottoman Empire in return for Arab
support of British forces against the Ottomans. Aided by the Arabs, the British
captured Palestine from the Ottomans in 1917 and 1918.
A | The British Mandate Period |
In July 1922 the League of Nations, an
alliance of world powers formed in 1920 to preserve peace, issued a mandate
granting control over Palestine to Britain, entrusting it to facilitate the
establishment of a Jewish national home. Encouraged by British support of the
Zionist cause, waves of Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine between 1919 and
1939, each contributing to the developing Jewish community (Yishuv).
About 35,000 came between 1919 and 1923, mainly from Russia. These pioneers laid
the foundations of a comprehensive social and economic infrastructure, developed
agriculture, established kibbutzim and moshavim, and provided labor for
construction of housing and roads. Another 60,000 Jews, primarily from Poland,
arrived between 1924 and 1932. This group developed and enriched urban life.
These immigrants settled and established businesses in Tel Aviv (now part of Tel
Aviv-Yafo), Haifa, and Jerusalem. As German dictator Adolf Hitler and his Nazi
Party rose to power, about 144,000 Jews, primarily from Germany, immigrated to
Palestine in the early 1930s to escape increasingly ruthless persecution.
Increased momentum internationally of the Zionist movement, combined with
economic recession in Europe, brought thousands more Jews from elsewhere in
Western and Central Europe to Palestine in the late 1930s. Many were
professionals and academics whose education, skills, and experience raised
business standards, improved urban and rural life, and broadened the community’s
cultural life.
The mandate authorities allowed Jewish
and Arab communities to run their own internal affairs. The Jewish community
elected a self-governing assembly, which in turn elected a council to implement
its policies and programs. Financed by local resources and funds raised by
worldwide Jewish organizations, these bodies developed and maintained a network
of educational, religious, health, and social services for the Jewish
population. Meanwhile the Jewish Agency, established by the mandate, handled
matters of immigration, settlement, and economic development. The Arab
Executive, a coalition of leading Muslim and Christian Arabs against Zionism,
handled political, administrative, and economic affairs of the Arab community
until 1934, when more activist groups emerged.
Through the 1920s and 1930s economic and
cultural development of the country gained momentum. Yishuv leaders expanded
agriculture, established factories, set up hydroelectric facilities on the
Jordan River, built new roads throughout the country, and began tapping the
mineral resources of the Dead Sea. The Histadrut (General Federation of
Labor) advanced workers’ welfare and provided employment by setting up
cooperative industrial enterprises and marketing services for the communal
agricultural settlements. Art, music, theater, and dance developed gradually
with the establishment of professional schools and studios. Galleries and halls
were set up for exhibitions and performances. The Hebrew language became one of
three official languages of the mandated area; it was used for documents, coins
and stamps, and radio broadcasts. Publishing and Hebrew literary activity
flourished.
During the mandate the British realized
that their World War I promises to the Jews and Arabs had led to conflicting
expectations of the two communities in Palestine: Each community felt entitled
to the territory. Anti-Jewish attacks occurred in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the
1920s. Attempting to placate both communities, Britain issued periodic policy
statements that reaffirmed support for a Jewish national home but also limited
Jewish immigration and land purchases. But the Arabs, viewing any British
support of Jewish statehood as a threat to Arab independence, continued
demonstrations, protests, and attacks on the Jewish community. Arab resistance
culminated in a full-scale revolt between 1936 and 1939. Britain issued a policy
statement called a White Paper in 1939 imposing drastic restrictions on Jewish
immigration and providing for the establishment within ten years of a single
independent state with Jewish and Arab government participation in proportion to
the population. Zionists, who saw the White Paper as a reversal of the Balfour
Declaration and a denial of mandate obligations, emphatically rejected the
document.
During World War II (1939-1945) the Nazi
regime carried out a systemic plan to murder the European Jewish population. As
German armies swept through Europe, Jews were herded into ghettos and eventually
transported to concentration camps. Experts estimate that between 5.6 million
and 5.9 million Jews had died at the hands of the Nazis (see Holocaust)
by the end of the war. During the war the United States became a center of
Zionist activity. A Zionist conference in New York in May 1942 resulted in the
Biltmore Program, which rejected British restrictions, called for the
fulfillment of the Balfour Declaration and the mandate, and urged the
establishment of Palestine as a Jewish commonwealth. Nevertheless, British
restrictions on Jewish immigration continued throughout the war and intensified
in the years after. The Jewish community responded by instituting a network of
illegal immigration activities. Between 1945 and 1948 about 85,000 Holocaust
survivors were brought to Palestine by secret immigration routes.
Exhausted by the war, Britain sought to
reassess its position and policy in Palestine and other locations in the
mid-1940s. After efforts to negotiate with the Arabs and the Zionists, the
British government referred the Palestine issue to the United Nations in
February 1947. After extensive evaluation of the situation, the United Nations
Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) proposed that the territory of the
British mandate west of the Jordan River be partitioned into Jewish and Arab
states with Jerusalem under international control. On November 29, 1947, the UN
adopted a partition plan. Both the United States and the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics voted in favor, while Britain abstained. Zionists
reluctantly accepted the plan as the best resolution they could expect given
political circumstances, but the Arab world denounced and rejected it. The Arabs
felt that the UN had no right to make such a decision and that Arabs should not
be made to pay for Europe’s crimes against the Jews. Fighting in Palestine
escalated rapidly in the months after the plan was adopted.
B | Independence and War |
On May 14, 1948, when the British mandate
over Palestine expired, Jewish authorities declared the establishment of the
State of Israel. The declaration recalled the religious and spiritual
connections of the Jewish people to the land of Israel, without mention of
specific boundaries; guaranteed “freedom of religion and conscience, of
language, education, and culture”; provided a framework for a democratic Jewish
state founded on liberty, justice, and peace; and called for peaceful relations
with Arab neighbors. The state declared itself open for Jewish immigration. A
provisional government was established, with Jewish Agency chairman David
Ben-Gurion as prime minister and former Jewish Agency president Chaim Weizmann
as president. The United States and the USSR, along with many other states,
quickly recognized the new government.
The Arab League declared war on the new
state, and Egypt, Transjordan (now Jordan), Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq announced
that their armies would enter the area to restore order. The newly established
Israel Defense Forces (IDF), formed from prestate defense organizations,
successfully repelled Arab forces. Fighting continued into early 1949, when
Israel and each of the bordering states signed truce agreements that established
the borders of the new state. Iraq, which shared no borders with Israel, did not
sign any agreements.
The agreements left Israel in control of
territory beyond what the partition plan allocated to it. Portions of territory
that the UN plan had allocated to Palestinian Arabs came under Egyptian and
Jordanian control (Egypt took over Gaza Strip, and Jordan gained control of the
West Bank). Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan. Several hundred
thousand Arabs fled Israel for more secure areas in the Gaza Strip, the West
Bank, and in neighboring Arab states. Of the original Arab population in
Palestine only about 160,000 remained in the territory that was now Israel.
Permanent peace negotiations were supposed to follow the armistice agreements
but did not. The Arabs refused to recognize or negotiate with Israel.
C | The Postwar Period |
With the end of hostilities, Israel soon
moved to function as a regular state. In elections in early 1949, Israelis chose
the first Knesset, which replaced the provisional government. The Zionist labor
party Mapai emerged as the largest party in the Knesset, and Ben-Gurion, its
leader, formed a coalition government with religious and centrist parties.
Ben-Gurion and Weizmann retained their positions as prime minister and
president. Israel became the 59th member of the UN in May 1949.
Israel affirmed the right of every Jew to
live in Israel and promoted unrestricted immigration by drafting the Law of
Return in 1950. In the first four months of independence, about 50,000
immigrants, mainly Holocaust survivors, arrived in Israel. By the end of 1951
about 687,000 had arrived—including more than 300,000 refugees from Arab lands
such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya—doubling the Jewish population.
Meanwhile a small number of Arabs returned to Israel to be reunited with family
members who had chosen to remain in the country, bringing the total Arab
population to about 167,000.
This mass immigration compounded the
economic strain caused by the 1948-1949 war. The government was hard-pressed to
feed, house, and find employment for the new immigrants. It implemented
austerity programs and accepted substantial aid from abroad, particularly from
the United States and Jewish communities worldwide. In 1952, after bitter
political controversy, Israel negotiated agreements providing reparation
payments from the West German government to the state and to individual victims
as partial restitution for Nazi theft of Jewish property during World War II.
The massive amount of aid made it possible for Israel to maintain a strong army
while initiating economic and social development projects, including many new
agricultural settlements for recent immigrants.
Israeli politics remained relatively
stable through the 1950s. Ben-Gurion remained prime minister until 1953, when he
temporarily retired from politics to work on a kibbutz in the Negev to serve as
an example to Israeli youth. He returned to the post of prime minister in 1955.
Weizmann died in 1952 and was replaced by Itzhak Ben-Zvi, a veteran Mapai
leader, who served until his death in 1963.
D | The Suez Crisis |
The lack of comprehensive peace
settlements between Israel and the bordering states after the 1949 armistice
agreements caused continual tensions in the region. The Arab states continued to
regard the establishment of Israel as an injustice and sustained a political and
economic boycott on the new state. Egypt refused Israel access to the Suez
Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, and in 1951 Egypt
blockaded the Strait of Tiran, Israel’s only direct access to the Red Sea.
Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip began raiding Israeli
communities near the borders. Israel held Jordan and Egypt responsible for these
attacks and launched retaliatory raids. Further conflicts arose over control of
demilitarized zones along the border and over Israeli use of water from the
Jordan River—which borders Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank—for domestic
development. Syria soon became involved as well.
In February 1955 Israel launched a raid
against an Egyptian army base in the Gaza Strip. In response Gamal Abdel Nasser
of Egypt organized further Palestinian guerrilla operations against Israel, and
he intensified military buildup. In September Egypt concluded an arms deal with
the Communist government of Czechoslovakia (acting for the USSR). Israel found
these developments, along with Nasser’s emergence as the leader of a new Arab
nationalist movement, threatening and began to prepare for war. In July 1956
Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, transferring ownership of the company that
controlled its daily operations from British and French shareholders to the
Egyptian government. Through secret negotiations with Britain and France, who
sought to regain control of the canal and topple the Nasser regime, Israel
planned a military offensive against Egypt.
In October 1956 Israel invaded the Gaza
Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, quickly capturing these areas and advancing
toward the Suez Canal. As planned in the meetings with Israel, the British and
the French issued an ultimatum demanding withdrawal of both Israeli and Egyptian
forces from the canal. When Nasser refused, British and French forces bombed
Egyptian bases. The United States and the USSR demanded an immediate cease-fire,
and a UN resolution soon forced the British, French, and Israelis to withdraw
from Egyptian territory. The United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) stationed
troops on the frontier between Israel and Egypt, which helped ensure quiet along
the border for the next decade. The Egyptian government reopened the canal, and
Israel gained access to the Strait of Tiran. However, no comprehensive
Arab-Israeli peace talks followed the Suez Crisis, and sporadic border incidents
continued.
In a period of relative peace in the
decade after the 1956 war, Israel’s economy developed rapidly. Industrial and
agricultural development allowed the government to end its austerity measures,
unemployment almost disappeared, and living standards gradually improved.
Exports doubled and the gross domestic product increased dramatically. Israel
now manufactured previously imported items such as paper, tires, radios, and
refrigerators. The most rapid growth occurred in the manufacture of metals,
machinery, chemicals, and electronics. Farms began to grow a larger variety of
crops for the food-processing industry and fresh produce for export. To handle
the increased volume of trade, a deep-water port was built on the Mediterranean
coast at Ashdod.
Foreign relations expanded steadily.
Israel developed ties with the United States, the British Commonwealth
countries, most Western European nations, and nearly all the countries of Latin
America and Africa. Hundreds of Israeli experts and specialists shared their
knowledge and experience with people in other developing countries in Africa,
Asia, and Latin America. Israel strengthened its military and political
cooperation with France, the United States agreed to supply Israel with arms in
1962, and West Germany continued to provide economic and military aid. In 1965
Israel exchanged ambassadors with West Germany, a move that had been delayed
because of bitter memories of the Holocaust.
Ben-Gurion resigned as prime minister in
1963 and was succeeded by his minister of finance, Levi Eshkol. Two years later
Ben-Gurion formed a new opposition party, Rafi, to distance himself and his
followers from the old guard of Mapai. Many prominent members of Mapai,
including Moshe Dayan and Shimon Peres, joined the new party.
E | The Six-Day War |
Unresolved issues from previous conflicts
caused continual tension between Israel and the Arabs, which flared up yet again
in the mid-1960s. Israeli and Syrian efforts to divert water from the Jordan
River and disputes over the use of the demilitarized zone between the two
nations led to numerous border incidents. In 1964 the Arab League created the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to promote Palestinian nationalist
activities and sought to coordinate Arab military efforts. In 1965 Palestinians
began armed attacks against Israel; Israel responded with raids against Syria
and Jordan. Border incidents became progressively more serious, inspiring
nationalistic fervor throughout the Arab world. In May 1967 Nasser called for
the removal of UN forces from the Suez Canal region. He also organized a
military alliance with Syria, Jordan, and Iraq and moved Egyptian troops and
equipment into the Sinai Peninsula. In addition, Nasser closed the Strait of
Tiran to Israeli shipping.
After efforts at mediation by the UN and
the Western powers failed, Israel launched a preemptive military strike against
Egypt in early June. Jordan, Syria, and Iraq joined the fighting against Israel.
The Egyptian air force was destroyed on the ground within hours of the start of
the Six-Day War, and Israeli forces quickly seized the Gaza Strip and the Sinai
Peninsula. Israel also took East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan and the
Golan Heights from Syria. Many Arabs fled these areas, which became known as the
Occupied Territories. Israel placed the 1 million who remained under military
administration. The USSR, which had supported the Arab alliance, and its allies
immediately severed diplomatic relations with Israel.
In November 1967 the UN Security Council
adopted Resolution 242, which called for Israeli withdrawal from territories
occupied in the recent conflict in return for Arab recognition of Israel’s
independence, peace, and secure borders. Although neither side met these
demands, the trade of “land for peace” has been the central concept of all
subsequent peace efforts.
Although Israel’s victory inaugurated
another period of economic growth and prosperity, it also politically polarized
citizens into two groups: those who favored withdrawal from the Occupied
Territories and peace with the Arabs, and those who sought Jewish settlement and
annexation. Others favored positions in between, and most supported the
annexation of East Jerusalem; the government formally united both parts of
Jerusalem a few days after the war ended. Despite the merger of Mapai and other
labor parties to form the Israel Labor Party in 1968, as well as the election of
its secretary general, Golda Meir, as prime minister in 1969, the party’s
dominance gradually broke down from failure to reach a consensus on the peace
issue. The controversy also led in 1973 to the formation of Likud, a coalition
of parties opposed to Israel’s withdrawal from the Occupied Territories.
In 1969 President Nasser of Egypt
launched the War of Attrition against Israel along the Suez Canal in an effort
to continue the conflict and wear down the enemy. The USSR provided Egypt with
advanced military equipment, advisers, and pilots. Israel responded with air and
artillery attacks against Egypt. The conflict was ended by a cease-fire
sponsored by the United States in August 1970, but there was no substantial
movement toward peace.
F | The War of 1973 |
Nasser died in 1970; soon after, newly
elected Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat attempted to regain the Sinai
Peninsula from Israel through diplomatic means. Negotiations to resolve the
dispute failed, and on October 6, 1973, Egyptian and Syrian military forces
launched a surprise attack on Israeli positions along the Suez Canal and in the
Golan Heights. Despite initial Egyptian and Syrian advances, Israel pushed Syria
back beyond the 1967 cease-fire line and crossed the Suez Canal to take a
portion of its west bank in Egypt. During the fighting, the USSR supplied arms
to Egypt and Syria, and the United States provided arms to Israel. The
Arab-Israeli War of 1973 (called the Yom Kippur War by Israel and the Ramadan
War by Arabs) ended with a cease-fire in late October. Israel suffered heavy
losses in the fighting despite its ultimate military successes. Parliamentary
elections were postponed until December. The Labor Party remained in power, and
Golda Meir retained her position as prime minister.
Traveling back and forth between the
countries in a process known as shuttle diplomacy, U.S. secretary of
state Henry Kissinger helped negotiate a military disengagement between Israeli
and Egyptian forces in January 1974 and another between Israel and Syria in May.
Kissinger arranged a second agreement between Egypt and Israel in 1975. A tense
but relatively peaceful stalemate resulted. Israel agreed to withdraw from the
canal zone, and Israel and Syria returned to the 1967 cease-fire
boundaries.
The costly war caused increased unrest in
Israel and growing criticism of the country’s leaders. The government appointed
a commission of Supreme Court justices, the state comptroller, and two former
military chiefs to investigate Israel’s lack of preparedness for the Arab
strike. The commission’s report was highly critical of the military. Meir
resigned following the report in the spring of 1974 and was replaced by Yitzhak
Rabin, a member of her cabinet. Economic problems and turmoil within the Labor
Party undermined Rabin’s tenure. The 1977 Knesset elections brought the Likud
bloc to power and Menachem Begin to the office of prime minister, ending almost
three decades of Labor Party dominance. Begin attracted strong support from
Sephardic Jews who resented the treatment they had received under the Labor
establishment.
G | Peace with Egypt |
In 1977 Sadat announced his willingness
to meet with Israel publicly and openly to discuss peace. In November he arrived
in Israel to address the Knesset, calling on Begin to negotiate peace. After
nearly a year of stalled negotiations, U.S. president Jimmy Carter brought the
parties together at Camp David, Maryland, in September 1978 to break the
stalemate. Carter, Begin, and Sadat concluded the Camp David Accords, agreements
that provided the outline and basis for a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel
and for a comprehensive Middle East peace focusing on the Palestinian issues and
the future of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In March 1979 Egypt and Israel
signed a peace treaty calling for Israel’s gradual withdrawal from the Sinai
Peninsula and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two
countries.
Egypt and Israel opened their borders,
established direct communication links, opened embassies, and exchanged
ambassadors in 1980. Israel completed its Sinai withdrawal in 1982. The treaty
eliminated the threat of Israel’s primary Arab adversary with the largest
military capacity. It also led to increased U.S. economic and military
assistance to both Israel and Egypt. However, it failed to bring about a
comprehensive Middle Eastern peace. On the contrary, the Arab League condemned
Egypt and suspended its membership.
Despite peace with Egypt, hostilities
continued between Israel and other Arab nations. In June 1981 Begin sent
Israel’s air force to destroy an Iraqi nuclear reactor near Baghdād, claiming it
was being used for development of nuclear weapons. Later that year Israel
effectively annexed the Golan Heights by extending Israeli civil law to the
region; Syria refused to recognize Israel’s authority. Begin continued to push
for Israeli settlement in all of the Occupied Territories, heightening tensions
in those regions.
H | Invasion of Lebanon |
The Lebanon border, which had been
relatively quiet through the preceding Arab-Israeli wars, became the focus of
Israeli security concerns in the early 1980s. Tensions between Lebanese Muslims
and Christians had been heightened when the PLO, which had been expelled from
Jordan in 1970, arrived in Lebanon. The situation was further complicated by the
presence since 1976 of Syrian forces, who had originally intervened on behalf of
Christians but soon allied with the PLO and other Muslims. PLO raids from
Lebanon into Israel and the presence of Syrian missiles in Lebanon since early
1981 prompted Israel to launch a major military action, called “Operation Peace
for Galilee,” into southern Lebanon in June 1982. The objectives of the raid
were to ensure security for northern Israel and to destroy PLO infrastructure in
Lebanon. Israel allied with Lebanese Christians, who also sought to expel the
PLO. Under orders from Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, the Israeli military
pushed north to Beirut, defeating PLO and Syrian forces. United States envoy
Philip Habib negotiated a cease-fire, and the PLO withdrew its forces from
Lebanon in August 1982.
After the cease-fire, Bashir Gemayel,
leader of a Maronite Christian party, was elected president of Lebanon but was
assassinated on September 14. Subsequently, right-wing Lebanese Christian
militiamen entered Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila near Beirut
and massacred hundreds of Palestinians in the camps. The Israeli government
established a commission of inquiry to investigate events pertaining to the
massacre and to determine whether Israel held any responsibility for it. The
commission’s report, issued in early 1983, found Israeli military leaders
indirectly responsible for failing to anticipate or prevent the massacre. It
recommended the resignation of Sharon and other military leaders. In May 1983
Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement confirming that “the states of war”
between them had been terminated. However, under pressure from Syria, which held
considerable political and military influence in Lebanon, Lebanese president
Amin Gemayel nullified the agreement in March 1984. Israel withdrew most of its
forces from Lebanon in 1985, leaving a small force in the south to maintain
security along the border.
In the fall of 1983 Begin resigned from
office. Affected by the death of his wife and the costs and continuing
casualties to Israel of the war in Lebanon, Begin apparently believed that he
could no longer perform his tasks as he felt he should. He was replaced by his
foreign minister, Yitzhak Shamir. In the 1984 Knesset elections no party
achieved a clear victory. The major parties agreed to the formation of a
national unity government made up of the two major political blocs, Likud and
Labor. The arrangement provided for the rotation of the leaders—Shamir for Likud
and Shimon Peres for Labor—in the positions of prime minister and foreign
minister, which each would hold for 25 months, beginning with Peres as prime
minister. The government withdrew Israel’s forces from Lebanon, leaving a small
component in a security zone along the Lebanon-Israel border. It also acted to
control inflation, which had risen to more than 400 percent per year, by
imposing cuts in government expenditures and freezing wages and the exchange
rate. It then worked to smooth the way for economic growth, entering a free
trade agreement with the United States in 1985 that improved Israel’s
international trade position.
I | The Intifada and the Persian Gulf War |
The relative quiet in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip ended in December 1987 when a series of widespread demonstrations,
strikes, riots, and violence known collectively as the intifada broke out.
Encompassing the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the intifada began as a
spontaneous expression of frustration and resentment at 20 years of Israeli rule
and Jewish settlement in the Occupied Territories. As the movement expanded and
became more violent, Israel responded with increasingly harsh reprisals, which
drew international criticism. Efforts by Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin to stop
the riots and demonstrations failed, as did an attempt by U.S. secretary of
state George Shultz to initiate peace negotiations. The United States excluded
the PLO from negotiations as long as the PLO refused to accept Israel’s right to
exist, and Palestinians would not participate in negotiations that excluded the
PLO. The PLO’s claim to be the representative of the Palestinian people was
further strengthened when Jordan ceded to the PLO its territorial claim to the
West Bank in July 1988.
The 1988 Israeli elections were again
inconclusive, and a new national unity government was installed, but this time
Shamir was to remain as prime minister throughout the tenure of the government.
Peres became finance minister while Rabin remained as defense minister. At this
time PLO chairman Yasir Arafat acknowledged Israel’s right to exist by accepting
UN Security Council Resolution 242 (originally adopted by the UN in 1967), and
Arafat renounced terrorism. As a result the United States and the PLO began a
formal dialogue. In the spring of 1989 the Israeli government proposed a
comprehensive peace initiative, but efforts to work out the details soon failed.
Negotiations suffered a further setback when the United States suspended its
dialogue with the PLO following Arafat’s refusal to condemn a terrorist raid on
a beach near Tel Aviv by a group affiliated with the PLO.
In March 1990 the Knesset terminated the
Shamir government with a vote of no confidence, the first such successful vote
in Israel’s history. After efforts by former Finance Minister Peres to form a
government failed, Shamir succeeded in establishing a coalition of Likud and
several right-wing and religious parties in June 1990. The Iraqi invasion of
Kuwait in August 1990 and the subsequent Persian Gulf War in 1991 further
postponed efforts to seek an Arab-Israeli peace. During the war the United
States and other members of an international coalition against Iraq excluded
Israel from participation so as not to alienate the coalition’s Arab members.
Soon after hostilities broke out in January 1991, Iraq fired Scud missiles at
Israel and Saudi Arabia in an effort to split the coalition by diverting Arab
attention from its anti-Iraqi stance to its opposition to Israel. The plan
failed because Israel, at the request of the United States, did not
retaliate.
Another area of international affairs
also affected Israel dramatically during this period. Beginning in 1989, when
the Soviets relaxed restrictions on Jewish emigration, a massive wave of
immigrants arrived in Israel. Between 1989 and 1998 more than 700,000 Jews
emigrated from the Soviet Union (and, after the breakup of the Soviet Union in
late 1991, parts of the former Soviet Union). Successfully absorbing newcomers
into all facets of the country’s life once again became one of the main
challenges facing Israeli society. Many of these immigrants were highly educated
and trained, enhancing Israel’s skill base.
J | The Peace Process |
The end of the Cold War, a 45-year period
of tense relations between the United States and the USSR, and the success of
the Gulf War coalition suggested new possibilities in the quest for an
Arab-Israeli peace. After months of shuttle diplomacy by U.S. secretary of state
James Baker, the United States and the USSR issued invitations to Israel,
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the Palestinians to a peace conference in Madrid,
Spain, in the fall of 1991. Israel continued to exclude the PLO, insisting on
meeting instead with a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation.
The Madrid conference convened in October
1991 and was followed by bilateral negotiations in Washington, D.C., several
months later. Despite months of negotiations between Israel and the Lebanese,
Syrian, and Jordanian-Palestinian delegations, no agreements emerged.
Nevertheless, the conference was an important step on the road to peace because
it involved direct, bilateral, public, and official peace negotiations between
Israel and its Arab neighbors on the central political issues of the
conflict.
In the midst of the Washington sessions,
Labor emerged as the leading party in the Knesset elections in June 1992. As
prime minister, Labor leader Yitzhak Rabin formed a coalition government of
center and leftist parties. As the Washington sessions continued, Israel and the
PLO began secret negotiations in Oslo, Norway, resulting in a breakthrough in
the peace process. In 1993 the parties reached several important agreements and
exchanged letters in which the PLO affirmed Israel’s right to exist in peace and
security, and Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian
people. The PLO renounced the use of terrorism and other forms of violence and
committed itself to resolve the conflict with Israel through peaceful
negotiations.
On September 13, 1993, Rabin and Arafat
witnessed the signing of a historic accord between Israel and the PLO at the
White House in Washington. This Declaration of Principles (DOP), outlined a
proposal for limited Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and in the West
Bank town of Jericho. It also stated that within five years the two sides were
to reach a comprehensive peace settlement regarding all remaining issues in
dispute, including the status of Jerusalem. The agreement also set the stage for
the establishment of an interim body, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA),
to administer these regions. Despite the general euphoric mood created by the
agreement, right-wing Israeli parties and dissident Palestinian groups expressed
dissent, sometimes in the form of terrorist attacks.
Shortly after the signing of the
Declaration of Principles, Israel and Jordan entered into separate negotiations
that led to the signing of a peace treaty in October 1994. The treaty addressed
security, boundary demarcations and border crossings, control of water
resources, police cooperation, environmental issues, and the establishment of
normalized relations. Both parties agreed not to join, aid, or cooperate with
any party intending to attack the other side and to prohibit military forces or
equipment that could harm the other side from entering their territories. They
pledged to cooperate in combating terrorism and to solve the problem of
Palestinian refugees. They also agreed to cooperate on economic matters,
including trade, development, and tourism. Finally, Israel recognized Jordan’s
special role as guardian of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem, which angered
Palestinians because it undermined their agreement with Israel to negotiate the
status of Jerusalem at a later date.
Amid this initial progress toward peace,
Israel was able to forge new diplomatic and trade relations with a large number
of states in Africa and Asia, including China and India. Israel became more
acceptable to the international community, and foreign trade grew dramatically,
producing greater prosperity and an improved standard of living.
Meanwhile, Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations continued. After reaching further agreements with the PLO
concerning transfer of much of the Gaza Strip and Jericho to PNA administration,
Israel completed its withdrawal from these areas in May 1994. The PNA, which was
headed by Arafat and staffed primarily by PLO members, assumed control of civil
matters in the Gaza Strip and Jericho and deployed a Palestinian police force to
maintain internal security. Israel retained control over Jewish settlements in
the Gaza Strip as well as over security of the region’s borders. An interim
agreement in September 1995 focused on Israeli withdrawals from the remaining
Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank and set the date of elections for
the PNA’s president and its legislature, the Palestinian Legislative Council.
The agreement also stated that after PNA elections, Israel would redeploy from
Palestinian rural areas of the West Bank. Israel was to retain control over
Jewish settlements and military installations until final status
negotiations—including discussion of the status of Jerusalem, refugees,
settlements, borders, and security arrangements—were completed.
K | Assassination of Rabin and Election of Netanyahu |
In November 1995 Yigal Amir, an Israeli
student who opposed the peace process, assassinated Rabin at a peace rally in
Tel Aviv, claiming it was his religious duty to prevent the return of biblical
lands to the Arabs. Shimon Peres, who as foreign minister under Rabin had been
instrumental in peace negotiations, became Labor leader and prime minister.
Peres proclaimed his desire to continue the peace process and carried out the
terms of the interim agreement. Over the next several months Israel turned over
civil administration of all other West Bank cities and most Palestinian towns
and villages to the PNA, thus ending Israeli administration, established after
the Six-Day War in 1967, over most of the Palestinian residents in the West
Bank. In the cities, the PNA also assumed responsibility for internal security.
The exception was Hebron, sacred to Jews as the site of King David’s capital
prior to Jerusalem and the burial place of the Jewish patriarchs Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. Negotiations concerning Israel’s withdrawal from Hebron continued for
another year. In Palestinian towns and villages, security came under joint
control of a Palestinian police force and Israeli troops, with Israel’s
authority predominant. As in the Gaza Strip, Israel retained control over Jewish
settlements and over security of the West Bank’s borders, as well as over the
travel routes between Palestinian settlements. In January 1996 Palestinians
elected Yasir Arafat as president of the PNA and chose the members of the
Palestinian Legislative Council.
Despite Rabin’s assassination it
appeared that the peace process was progressing as planned. However, terrorist
attacks against Israel in early 1996, including suicide bombings by Palestinian
militants, helped sway Israeli public opinion toward a position of fewer
compromises. In May Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu became Israel’s first
popularly elected prime minister and formed a coalition government determined to
assure security for Israel. The government insisted that the PNA meet its
obligations to prevent terrorism before Israel would make any more withdrawals.
The peace process stalled despite efforts by the United States and others to
restart it.
Negotiations between Israel and Syria,
which had continued sporadically since the 1991 Madrid conference, were also
affected by Likud’s return to power. Syrian president Hafez al-Assad believed
progress had been made in the mid-1990s and wished to continue negotiations from
where he and Israel’s former leaders had left off. However, Netanyahu and his
coalition partners sought to reassess the situation and renegotiate the central
issues, and the process stalled.
Although peace negotiations under the
new Likud government had stalled, an agreement involving Hebron was completed
and signed in January 1997. Israel withdrew from 80 percent of the city,
maintaining control over Jewish settlements there. However, Israel decided the
following month to proceed with a Jewish housing project in eastern Jerusalem,
which the Palestinians viewed as a violation of preceding agreements.
Negotiations again deadlocked. Terrorist attacks by Islamic groups, particularly
by the Palestinian group Hamas, prompted Israel to demand more action by
Palestinian leaders against terrorism. In September Mossad, Israel’s
intelligence agency, attempted unsuccessfully to assassinate Hamas political
leader Khaled Meshal in Jordan’s capital. The action strained Israeli-Jordanian
relations.
Terrorist attacks by Islamic groups from
Lebanon on the security zone and into northern Israel also plagued Israel. In
1998 Israel offered to withdraw from its security zone in southern Lebanon,
which Israel had maintained since 1985, in return for Lebanon’s guarantee to
prevent attacks on northern Israel by terrorist groups. Lebanon refused the
offer, calling for an unconditional withdrawal.
By mid-1998 Netanyahu faced increasing
criticism in the Knesset from both the right and the left. In October he signed
a U.S.-brokered accord providing for Israeli withdrawals from an additional 13
percent of the West Bank. In return, the Palestinian leadership promised to
improve security to prevent attacks on Israelis by Palestinian terrorist groups,
and to remove from their national charter the clauses calling for the
destruction of Israel. Netanyahu’s action drew harsh criticism from members of
Likud and others opposed to land-for-peace agreements.
In December 1998, after the first
Israeli withdrawal, Netanyahu froze the accord, citing Palestinian violations
and placing new conditions on further withdrawals. This angered Labor and other
parties that sought to move forward with the peace process. Netanyahu also faced
defections of key coalition partners. That month the Knesset voted to call for
elections in May 1999, a year before Netanyahu’s term was due to expire. In
these elections, 15 parties, including 6 new parties, won seats. Labor, which
had formed a coalition known as One Israel, won the largest number of seats, and
Likud came in second. However, both parties wound up with fewer seats than they
had held before the elections. Shas, a religious party consisting primarily of
Sephardic Jews, came in third, while Meretz, a strongly pro-peace leftist party,
placed fourth. Ehud Barak, leader of the Labor Party and the One Israel bloc,
defeated Netanyahu in elections for prime minister.
L | Barak’s Tenure |
Barak took office in July 1999 and
created a broad center-left coalition government. He pledged to take “bold
steps” to help forge a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. He focused his
attention on negotiations with the Palestinians, but he also expressed eagerness
to reach a peace agreement with Syria. In addition, he promised to withdraw
Israeli troops from southern Lebanon within one year.
These steps led to increased optimism
regarding the peace process. Barak transferred some West Bank territory to the
authority of the PNA and also hinted that he might return virtually all of the
Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for peace. Barak met with U.S. president Bill
Clinton in July 1999 and set a 15-month deadline for a final peace settlement
with the Palestinians. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians began in
November 1999 but soon bogged down over further transfers of land in the West
Bank to Palestinian control.
In December 1999 Israel and Syria agreed
to resume peace negotiations. Talks held in January 2000 were inconclusive,
however, and a summit meeting between Assad and Clinton in April of that year
failed to end the stalemate.
Exasperated by the failure of the Syrian
talks and concurring with growing Israeli dismay with further casualties in
southern Lebanon, Barak unilaterally ordered the withdrawal of all Israeli
forces from Lebanon to the countries’ international border as confirmed by the
United Nations. The withdrawal was completed by June 2000.
In an effort to move the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process forward, the United States convened a summit
at Camp David, Maryland, in the summer of 2000, at which Clinton, Barak, and
Arafat focused on a comprehensive peace agreement. Despite intense efforts and
some areas of accord, no ultimate agreement was reached. The failure of the
summit led to the outbreak of a second intifada (known as the Al Aqsa intifada,
after the holy Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem) in September 2000. Violent clashes
between Palestinians and Israelis rocked Israel. The failure of the Camp David
summit and the ensuing violence brought the peace process to a halt and eroded
Barak’s political support. Barak suddenly resigned as prime minister in December
2000, and called for a new election for prime minister in February 2001.
M | Sharon Becomes Prime Minister |
In the February 2001 election, voters
were presented with a choice between Barak and Ariel Sharon of Likud for the
post of prime minister. Leading up to the election, Sharon’s campaign stressed
two factors: first, that the security of Israelis would be his administration’s
paramount concern; and second, that the peace process initiated in Oslo in 1993
was “dead.” Sharon stated unequivocally that the violence must stop before the
negotiations could continue, and that negotiations should then not be restricted
by the agreements reached in Oslo. Sharon won the election by an overwhelming
margin, reflecting the growing pessimism among Israelis regarding the peace
process and Arafat’s power to curtail violence.
Sharon assembled a broad-based
government that included people with differing views on the peace process.
Several noted Labor figures were appointed to cabinet positions, including
Shimon Peres as foreign minister. The government’s clear first objective was to
stop the violence and restore security to the average Israeli. However, violence
continued across the country.
Israeli-Palestinian relations were
further soured in January 2002 when Israeli forces seized a large shipment of
weaponry allegedly purchased by a high-ranking Palestinian official. The peace
process seemed to be moving in reverse as Palestinian terrorist attacks on
Israeli civilians, and Israeli military responses to these attacks, continued to
grow in severity and lethality.
In response to mounting Israeli death
tolls from Palestinian suicide bombings, in 2002 Israeli forces swept into the
West Bank and occupied key urban centers. During the operation, which was
vehemently denounced by Palestinian leaders, Israeli forces arrested hundreds of
alleged terrorists and seized or destroyed large quantities of weapons. Violence
escalated in late 2002. In October the Labor Party withdrew from the government
when funds were allocated to Jewish settlements in the West Bank in the
government’s 2003 budget.
After the 2001 election the Knesset
voted to revert to Israel’s pre-1996 system of having the leader of the party
with the most parliamentary seats named prime minister. In January 2003
parliamentary elections, Likud emerged as the dominant party, and Sharon
retained the post of prime minister.
In the spring of 2003 U.S. president
George W. Bush unveiled what was referred to as a “road map” toward the goal of
independent Israeli and Palestinian states living side by side in peace and
security. The PNA and, eventually, Israel accepted the road map, and Hamas
agreed to a cease-fire. Summit meetings followed. However, violence surged in
August with a bloody Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem followed by
Israeli missile strikes against top Hamas leaders.
In late 2003 Sharon announced that
Israel would take unilateral steps to ensure the country’s security in the
perceived absence of a Palestinian partner for peace. These steps included a
unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the dismantling of Gaza
Strip settlements. Israel continued to build a fence, sometimes referred to as a
security barrier, to separate Israel from the West Bank. Israel has been
criticized by Palestinians and international organizations for building the
barrier within West Bank territory in some stretches. Palestinian terrorist
attacks against Israel continued and Israeli forces also continued to target
Hamas leadership. An Israeli missile strike in March 2004 killed Hamas founder
Ahmed Yassin, and another strike killed the new Hamas leader the following
month.
In early 2005 the Labor Party formed a
coalition with Likud after Likud lost support from coalition members who opposed
the planned withdrawal from Gaza. Labor Party leader Peres assumed the position
of deputy premier under Sharon.
N | Formation of Kadima and 2006 Elections |
In August 2005 Israel evacuated about
9,000 settlers from all 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and some others
from 4 settlements in the northern West Bank. The evacuation met with opposition
from a minority of Israelis. Some settlers from Gaza and the northern West Bank
had to be forcibly removed. Former prime minister Netanyahu opposed the pullout.
He resigned from his position as finance minister and announced that he would
challenge Sharon for leadership of the Likud Party. The Israeli troop
withdrawal from Gaza was largely completed by October. In November Peres lost
the leadership of the Labor Party to Amir Peretz, the head of Israel’s trade
union federation. Peretz pledged to withdraw Labor from the Likud coalition. The
same month Sharon, frustrated by opposition from within Likud to the Gaza
withdrawal, resigned from the party and formed a new centrist party, known as
the Kadima party. Netanyahu became the leader of Likud, and Peres joined Kadima.
The Knesset dissolved itself, paving the way for parliamentary elections in the
spring of 2006.
In January 2006 Sharon suffered an
extensive stroke. His powers as prime minister were transferred to Deputy
Premier Ehud Olmert, who also became the leader of Kadima.
In the March 2006 parliamentary
elections, the newly established Kadima party, under Olmert’s leadership, won
the single largest number of seats, 29, but fell short of a majority in the
Knesset, as have all parties throughout Israel’s history. Labor, led by the
Moroccan-born Peretz, won 19 seats to come in second. Likud suffered a
significant setback, securing only 12 seats. Israel’s right-wing parties did not
do well enough to form an opposition coalition that could block Olmert’s plan
for continued Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories. In May Olmert
formed a coalition with Labor, the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, and the newly
formed Pensioners Party to control 67 of the 120 seats in the Knesset. As part
of the coalition agreement, Olmert became the prime minister, and Labor secured
a number of Cabinet positions, including the defense ministry to be headed by
Peretz.
Olmert reportedly regarded the elections
as a referendum on his plans to establish permanent borders for Israel, either
through negotiations with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) or by
withdrawing unilaterally from parts of the West Bank. Several factors
complicated a withdrawal, however. The Labor Party favored a negotiated
settlement, but Olmert refused to negotiate with Hamas, the militant Islamic
group. Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, calls for Israel's
replacement by an Islamic Palestinian state, and refuses to renounce
terrorism. Although Mahmoud Abbas remained president of the PNA, Hamas
won the Palestinian legislative elections in the West Bank and Gaza in January
2006 and established the PNA’s Cabinet in March 2006.
O | Conflict with Lebanon |
The lack of movement in the Arab-Israeli
peace process and continued tensions along Israel’s borders with Lebanon and the
Gaza Strip was replaced in the summer of 2006 by conflict. On June 26,
Palestinians tunneled under the international border between Israel and Gaza,
attacked an Israeli patrol, killed two soldiers, and kidnapped a third one.
Israel responded by attacking a series of terrorist and infrastructure targets
in the Gaza Strip, but the kidnapped Israeli soldier remained in captivity
somewhere in Palestinian territory.
In July 2006 Hezbollah militia fighters
crossed the internationally recognized border from Lebanon into Israel, attacked
and killed eight Israeli soldiers, and kidnapped two others. Prime Minister
Olmert called this an “act of war,” and Israeli forces launched an attack on
targets in Lebanon. Israel bombed Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon,
destroying the organization’s headquarters. To prevent any supply of arms from
Syria and Iran from reaching Hezbollah, Israel launched air attacks against
Beirut’s airport and major land routes, while a naval blockade prevented
shipping from entering or leaving the ports. Thousands of foreign nationals
eventually were evacuated from the war zone.
Israeli attacked Hezbollah targets,
including weapons storehouses and missile launching points, across the country.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah responded with rocket attacks on northern Israeli cities,
including attacks on Haifa. Israel called up reservists, and a military
incursion led to the taking of villages and towns south of the Līţānī River, but
Israeli forces met fierce resistance from Hezbollah fighters entrenched in
underground tunnels and caves and armed with sophisticated antitank weapons that
appeared to have been supplied by Iran and Syria.
The fighting lasted for 34 days until a
UN Security Council resolution achieved a ceasefire on August 14, 2006, and an
agreement was reached for a “robust” version of the United Nations Interim Force
in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to be installed in southern Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah
from reestablishing itself there and using the area to attack Israel.
Estimates of the number of Lebanese
killed varied from about 850 to 1,200. The number of Israelis killed was put at
43 civilians and 117 soldiers between July 12 and August 14, with more than
4,000 wounded. UN officials estimated that a million Lebanese and 300,000
Israelis had been displaced by the fighting. More than a million Israelis were
forced to live in shelters as some 4,000 rockets landed on Israel. Israel’s army
completed its withdrawal from Lebanon on October 1, 2006.
As with previous wars that ended without
overwhelming success for Israel, there developed a series of problems within
Israel concerning performance and outcomes. When the war ended, the captured
Israeli soldiers remained in their captors’ hands, and the image of Israel as an
overwhelmingly successful military power seemed diminished. This led to protests
and demonstrations, calls for commissions to evaluate the handling of the
conflict, and for a reevaluation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel’s
political leadership. Some called for change in the government, while others
demanded changes at the top of the IDF leadership.
Internationally, Israel came under
criticism for its use of cluster bombs in populated areas of Lebanon. Although
cluster bombs are not an outlawed weapon, critics of their use in populated
areas note that children can easily mistake them for harmless objects. The
United Nations emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, condemned Israel’s use
of cluster bombs as “completely immoral.” In January 2007 Israeli deputy prime
minister Shimon Peres said the use of cluster bombs was a regrettable mistake
and apparently occurred without the prior knowledge of the IDF’s chief-of-staff.
Within Israel the Olmert government came
under harsh criticism for its handling of the conflict and the related
diplomacy. Many Israelis believed the government responded ineptly to the
Hezbollah attacks by relying almost solely on air power at the beginning of the
fighting, rather than launching a full-scale invasion into southern Lebanon.
Critics of the government cited the lack of military experience of both Olmert
and the newly appointed defense minister, Amir Peretz, the leader of the Labor
Party. The Olmert government called for an investigation into the military
response, but the inquiry itself, known as the Winograd Commission, came under
challenge because it was not an official state inquiry. Discontent and concern
lingered into the winter.
On October 30, 2006, Prime Minister
Olmert won approval of Israel’s cabinet for the parliamentary faction Yisrael
Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) to join the government. Led by Avigdor Lieberman,
Israel Our Home is a right-wing party that advocates annexation of parts of the
West Bank and the transfer of some Arab towns in Israel to a future Palestinian
state. By inviting Israel Our Home into the government, Olmert increased to 78
(out of 120) the number of legislators supporting the coalition, giving it a
substantial majority. The move also suggested a more rightward and hardline
shift for Israel in the wake of the Hamas and Hezbollah attacks. With Hezbollah
being supported by Syria and Iran, many Israelis were reminded of statements by
Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has organized conferences within Iran
denying the existence of the Holocaust and opposing Zionism.
In January 2007 the head of the Israel
Defense Forces (IDF), Lieutenant General Dan Halutz, resigned just weeks before
the Winograd Commission was due to issue an interim report. Halutz became the
third Israeli general to resign in the wake of the war against Hezbollah. He had
been criticized in particular for taking the time to sell stock during the first
hours of the war. Peretz, too, took the brunt of much of the criticism and
resigned as defense minister. He was replaced by former prime minister and Labor
Party leader Ehud Barak. When the Winograd Commission issued its final report in
January 2008, it placed most of the blame for Israel’s losses in the fighting
with Hezbollah on the IDF and largely exonerated Olmert.
P | Clashes with Hamas over Gaza |
Meanwhile, Israel continued to struggle
with Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad Party, which continued to launch rocket
attacks from the Gaza Strip on the Israeli southern border town of Sederot.
Hamas had won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in 2006 and ever
since Israel had attempted to undercut its growing popularity among
Palestinians, especially in Gaza. Soon after the elections, Israel withheld tax
revenues that it continued to collect for the Palestinian National Authority
(PNA), apparently in the hope of undermining Hamas. Instead, Hamas appeared to
secure its hold on Gaza, even staging a coup and ousting Fatah from Gaza in June
2007.
An informal ceasefire that had existed
between Hamas and Israel broke down. Israel resumed its policy of targeted
assassinations against Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants after Hamas reportedly
failed to control rocket attacks by Islamic Jihad on southern Israel and then
began to initiate its own attacks. The relatively small and inaccurate Qassam
rockets were responsible for only two Israeli deaths in 2007 but they made life
miserable for the residents of Sederot who bore the brunt of thousands of rocket
attacks.
In September 2007 Israel declared Gaza a
“hostile territory.” Israel began to impose sanctions such as cutting off fuel
and electricity and making it more difficult for Gazans to cross the borders
into Israel or Egypt.
Bernard Reich contributed the Government
and History sections of this article.
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