Introducing Israel Israel is a small country in southwest Asia on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea It has a wide variety of landscapes including mountains deserts fertile valleys and coastline Arab Neighbors Israel has borders with four countries Lebanon to the north Syria and Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest All of them are Arab states whose people are mostly followers of the Islamic faith Some parts of Israel’s borders are not as easy to define In wars since 1948 Israel has seized large areas of territory from its neighbors Among them are the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip home to Palestinian Arabs Despite many years of talks and protests no decision has been made about the future of these areas which are known as the Palestinian Territories 쑺 Israel borders the Mediterranean Sea in the west It also has short stretches of coastline along the landlocked Dead Sea in the east and the Red Sea in the south LEBANON SYRIA Sea of Galilee Haifa Mediterranean Sea Tel Aviv WEST BANK r e v i R n a d r o J Jerusalem GAZA STRIP Sderot Dead Sea Masada ISRAEL NEGEV DESERT JORDAN NN WW EE SS KeyKey Capital city Capital city Other cities Other cities Eilat 00 00 milesmiles 5050 kilometers kilometers 5050 Red Sea SAUDI ARABIA EGYPT 4
INTRODUCING ISRAEL The Birth of Israel Modern Israel covers much of the same area as the ancient Kingdom of Israel described in the Bible This was where the faith called Judaism began nearly 4,000 years ago When the Romans conquered the region in 63 AD they called it Palestine Over the centuries the Jews were driven out and scattered across the world It was not until 1948 that Israel was created as a national Jewish home Palestine was divided into two states one for Jews and one for Palestinian Arabs IT’S A FACT Israel is the only Jewish state in the world It was founded in 1948 as a homeland for the Jewish people Today about three out of every four Israelis are Jews The rest of the population are mainly Arabs and Muslim 쑽 The ruins of the 2,000-year-old fortress at Masada overlook the desert and the Dead Sea
ISRAEL IN OUR WORLD A Violent History The division of Palestine made many Arab governments angry They believed the Palestinian Arabs had been robbed of their homeland Armies from five Arab countries launched an invasion in 1948 aimed at destroying the new state of Israel There have been several wars between the two sides since then Israel heavily supported by the United States has usually been the winner but the violence goes on In 2000 the Palestinians began another uprising against Israel This led to an Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2009 At least 6,000 people on both sides were killed in this latest conflict 쑽 Israeli soldiers in Sderot a city close to the Gaza Strip The Israeli army invaded the region in 2009 BASIC DATA Official name State of Israel Capital Jerusalem Size 8,522 sq miles 22,072 sq km Population 7,473,052 2010 est Currency Israeli new shekel 6
INTRODUCING ISRAEL 쒀 Jewish immigrants arriving in Israel in 1948 the first of a million settlers that would arrive there in the next 10 years A Flood of Immigrants Many Jews came to Palestine from Europe and the USSR in the 1930s to escape persecution After the foundation of the new state immigrants arrived in even greater numbers More than one million Jews settled in Israel between 1948 and 1958 and have since been followed by nearly two million more Because these immigrants have come from many countries they share a religion but have their own traditions and language 7 IT STARTED HERE Judaism The Jewish religion is one of the oldest in the world It was founded nearly 4,000 years ago by the Hebrew leader Abraham in the land that is now Israel Jews believe there is one God and that a person should study the scriptures and practice what they teach Judaism has spread to many parts of the world and now has about 13 million followers
