Israel

Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35

State of Israel מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל‎ (Hebrew) دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل‎ (Arabic)
Flag Emblem
Anthem: Hatikvah (English: "The Hope")
Location of Israel (in dark green) and the Israeli-occupied territories (in light green) on the globe.
1949 armistice border (Green Line)
Capital and largest city	Jerusalem (limited recognition)[fn 1][fn 2] 31°47′N 35°13′E / 31.783°N 35.217°E / 31.783; 35.217
Official languages	Hebrew
Recognized languages	English[9] Arabic[fn 3]
Ethnic groups (2019)[14]	74.2% Jews 20.9% Arabs 4.8% Others
Religion (2019)[14]	74.2% Judaism 17.8% Islam 2.0% Christianity 1.6% Druze 4.4% Others
Demonym(s)	Israeli
Government	Unitary parliamentary republic
• President	Isaac Herzog
• Prime Minister	Naftali Bennett
• Alternate Prime Minister	Yair Lapid
• Knesset Speaker	Mickey Levy
• Chief Justice	Esther Hayut
Legislature	Knesset
Independence following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine
• Declaration	14 May 1948
• Admission to the United Nations	11 May 1949
• Basic Laws	1958–2018
Area
• Total	20,770–22,072 km2 (8,019–8,522 sq mi)[a] (149th)
• Water (%)	2.71 (as of 2015)[15]
Population
• 2022 estimate	9,536,540[16][fn 4] (93rd)
• 2008 census	7,412,200[17][fn 4]
• Density	432/km2 (1,118.9/sq mi) (35th)
GDP (PPP)	2022[18] estimate
• Total	$478.01 billion[fn 4] (49th)
• Per capita	$50,200[fn 4] (34th)
GDP (nominal)	2022[18] estimate
• Total	$520.7 billion[fn 4] (29th)
• Per capita	$54,690[fn 4] (15th)
Gini (2018)	34.8[fn 4][19] medium
HDI (2019)	0.919[fn 4][20] very high · 19th
Currency	New shekel (₪) (ILS)
Time zone	UTC+2 (IST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (IDT)
Date format	יי-חח-שששש (AM) dd-mm-yyyy (CE)
Driving side	right
Calling code	+972
ISO 3166 code	IL
Internet TLD	.il
^ 20,770 km2 is Israel within the Green Line. 22,072 km2 includes the annexed Golan Heights (c. 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi)) and East Jerusalem (c. 64 km2 (25 sq mi)).

Israel (/ˈɪzri.əl, -reɪ-/; Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל, romanized: Yīsrāʾēl; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل, romanized: ʾIsrāʾīl), officially the State of Israel (מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat ʾIsrāʾīl), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea, and shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the southwest; it is also bordered by the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively. Tel Aviv is the economic and technological center of the country, while its seat of government is in its proclaimed capital of Jerusalem, although Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem is unrecognized internationally.^{[21][fn 5]}

Inhabited since the Middle Bronze Age by Canaanite tribes,^[22][23] the land held by present-day Israel was once the setting for much of Biblical history, beginning with the 9th-century Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah,^[24][25] which fell, respectively, to the Neo-Assyrian Empire (c. 720 BCE) and Neo-Babylonian Empire (586 BCE).^[26][27] Later rulers included the Achaemenid Empire, Alexander the Great, the Seleucid Empire, the Hasmonean dynasty, and, from 63 BCE, the Roman Republic and later Roman Empire.^[28][29] From the 5th century CE, it was part of the Byzantine Empire, up until the 7th century Rashidun Caliphate's conquest of the Levant. With the First Crusade of 1096–1099, Crusader states were established. Muslim rule was then restored in 1291 by the Mamluk Sultanate, which later ceded the territory to the Ottoman Empire.

During the 19th century, the Zionist movement began promoting the creation of a Jewish homeland in Ottoman Syria. Following World War I, Britain was granted control of the region by League of Nations mandate, in what became known as Mandatory Palestine. After World War II, the newly formed United Nations adopted the Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947, recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states, and an internationalized Jerusalem.^[30] Following a civil war within Mandatory Palestine between Yishuv and Palestinian Arab forces, Israel declared independence at the termination of the British Mandate. The war internationalized into the 1948 Arab–Israeli War between Israel and several surrounding Arab states and concluded with the 1949 Armistice Agreements that saw Israel in control of most of the former mandate territory, while the West Bank and Gaza were held by Jordan and Egypt respectively.

Israel has since fought wars with several Arab countries,^[31] and since the 1967 Six-Day War has occupied the Golan Heights and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, though whether Gaza remains occupied following the Israeli disengagement is disputed. Israel has effectively annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, though these actions have been rejected as illegal by the international community, and established settlements within the occupied territories, which are also considered illegal under international law. While Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and has normalized relations with a number of other Arab countries, it remains formally at war with Syria, as well as Lebanon, and efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have thus far stalled.

In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish and democratic state, and as the nation-state of the Jewish people.^[32] The country has a parliamentary system, proportional representation, and universal suffrage. The prime minister serves as head of government and the Knesset is the unicameral legislature.^[33] Israel is a developed country and an OECD member,^[34] with a population of over 9 million people as of 2021^[update].^[35] It has the world's 29th-largest economy by nominal GDP,^[18] and ranks nineteenth in the Human Development Index.^[20]

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