ON MAY 14, 1948, in the city of Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion
proclaimed the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of
Israel. The introductory paragraph affirmed that "Eretz Ysrael (the
Land of Israel) was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here they
first attained statehood, created cultural values of national and
universal significance, and gave the world the eternal Book of
Books." The issuance of the proclamation was signaled by the ritual
blowing of the shofar (ram's-horn trumpet) and was followed by the
recitation of the biblical verse (Lev. 25:10): "Proclaim liberty
throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof." The same
verse is inscribed on the American Liberty Bell in Independence
Hall in Philadelphia.
The reestablishment of the Jewish nation-state in Palestine has
been the pivotal event in contemporary Jewish history. After nearly
two millennia of exile, the Jewish people were brought together in
their ancient homeland. Despite the ancient attachments of Jews to
biblical Israel, the modern state of Israel is more deeply rooted
in nineteenth- and twentieth- century European history than it is
in the Bible. Thus, although Zionism--the movement to establish a
national Jewish entity--is rooted in the messianic impulse of
traditional Judaism and claims a right to Palestine based on God's
promise to Abraham, the vast majority of Zionists are secularists.
For nearly 2,000 years following the destruction of the Second
Temple in A.D. 70, the attachment of the Jewish
Diaspora (see Glossary)
to the Holy Land was more spiritual then physical. The
idea of an ingathering of the exiles and a wholesale return to the
Holy Land, although frequently expressed in the liturgy, was never
seriously considered or acted upon. Throughout most of the exilic
experience, the Jewish nation connoted the world Jewish community
that was bound by the powerful moral and ethical ethos of the
Jewish religion. The lack of a state was seen by many as a virtue,
for it ensured that Judaism would not be corrupted by the
exigencies of statehood. Despite frequent outbreaks of anti-
Semitism, Jewish communities survived and in many cases thrived as
enclosed communities managed by a clerical elite in strict
accordance with Jewish law.
Zionism called for a revolt against the old established order
of religious orthodoxy
(see Origins of Zionism
, this ch.). It
repudiated nearly 2,000 years of Diaspora existence, claiming that
the Judaism of the Exile, devoid of its national component, had
rendered the Jews a defenseless pariah people. As such, Zionism is
the most radical attempt in Jewish history to escape the confines
of traditional Judaism. The new order from which Zionism sprang and
to which the movement aspired was nineteenth-century liberalism:
the age of reason, emancipation, and rising nationalism.
Before Napoleon emancipated French Jewry in 1791, continental
and Central European Jews had been forced to reside in designated
Jewish "ghettos" apart from the non-Jewish community. Emancipation
enabled many Jews to leave the confines of the ghetto and to attain
unprecedented success in business, banking, the arts, medicine, and
other professions. This led to the assimilation of many Jews into
non-Jewish European society. The concomitant rise of ethnically
based nationalisms, however, precluded Jewish participation in the
political leadership of most of the states where they had settled.
Political Zionism was born out of the frustrated hopes of
emancipated European Jewry. Political Zionists aspired to establish
a Jewish state far from Europe but modeled after the
postemancipation European state.
In Eastern Europe, where the bulk of world Jewry lived, any
hope of emancipation ended with the assassination of the reform-
minded Tsar Alexander II in 1881. The pogroms that ensued led many
Russian Jews to emigrate to the United States, while others joined
the communist and socialist movements seeking to overthrow the
tsarist regime and a much smaller number sought to establish a
Jewish state in Palestine. Zionism in its East European context
evolved out of a Jewish identity crisis; Jews were rapidly
abandoning religious orthodoxy, but were unable to participate as
equal citizens in the countries where they lived. This was the
beginning of cultural Zionism, which more than political Zionism
attached great importance to the economic and cultural content of
the new state.
The most important Zionist movement in Palestine was Labor
Zionism, which developed after 1903. Influenced by the Bolsheviks,
the Labor movement led by David Ben-Gurion created a highly
centralized Jewish economic infrastructure that enabled the Jewish
population of Palestine
(the Yishuv--see Glossary)
to absorb waves
of new immigrants and to confront successfully the growing Arab and
British opposition during the period of the British Mandate (1920-
48). Following independence in May 1948, Ben-Gurion's Labor Zionism
would guide Israel through the first thirty years of statehood.
The advent of Zionism and the eventual establishment of the
State of Israel posed anew a dilemma that has confronted Jews and
Judaism since ancient times: how to reconcile the moral imperatives
of the Jewish religion with the power politics and military force
necessary to maintain a nation-state. The military and political
exigencies of statehood frequently compromised Judaism's
transcendent moral code. In the period before the Exile, abuses of
state power set in rapidly after the conquests of Joshua, in the
reign of Solomon, in both the northern and southern kingdoms, under
the Hasmoneans, and under Herod the Great.
In the twentieth century, the Holocaust transformed Zionism
from an ideal to an urgent necessity for which the Yishuv and world
Jewry were willing to sacrifice much. From that time on, the bulk
of world Jewry would view Jewish survival in terms of a Jewish
state in Palestine, a goal finally achieved by the creation of the
state of Israel in 1948. The Nazi annihilation of 6 million Jews,
on whose behalf the West proved unwilling to intervene, and the
hostility of Israel's Arab neighbors, some of which systematically
evicted their Jewish communities, later combined to create a sense
of siege among many Israelis. As a result, the modern State of
Israel throughout its brief history has given security priority
over the country's other needs and has considerably expanded over
time its concept of its legitimate security needs. Thus, for
reasons of security Israel has justified the dispossession of
hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs, the limited rights
granted its Arab citizens, and harsh raids against bordering Arab
states that harbored Palestinian guerrillas who had repeatedly
threatened Israel.
In contrast to the euphoria that erupted in June 1967, the
heavy losses suffered in the October 1973 War ushered in a period
of uncertainty. Israel's unpreparedness in the early stages of the
war discredited the ruling Labor Party, which also suffered from a
rash of corruption charges. Moreover, the demographic growth of
Oriental Jews (Jews of African or Asian origin), a large number of
whom felt alienated from Labor's blend of socialist Zionism, tilted
the electoral balance for the first time in Israel's history away
from the Labor Party
(see Jewish Ethnic Groups
, ch. 2). In the May
1977 elections Menachem Begin's Likud Bloc unseated Labor.
The early years of the Begin era were dominated by the historic
peace initiative of President Anwar as Sadat of Egypt. His trip to
Jerusalem in November 1977 and the subsequent signing of the Camp
David Accords and the Treaty of Peace between Egypt and Israel
ended hostilities between Israel and the largest and militarily
strongest Arab country. The proposed Palestinian autonomy laid out
in the Camp David Accords never came to fruition because of a
combination of Begin's limited view of autonomy--he viewed the West
Bank as an integral part of the State of Israel--and because of the
refusal of the other Arab states and the Palestinians to
participate in the peace process. As a result, violence in the
occupied territories increased dramatically in the late 1970s and
early 1980s.
Following Likud's victory in the 1981 elections, Begin and his
new minister of defense, Ariel Sharon, pursued a harder line toward
the Arabs in the territories. After numerous attempts to quell the
rising tide of Palestinian nationalism failed, Begin, on the advice
of Sharon and Chief of Staff General Raphael Eitan, decided to
destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) major base of
operations in Lebanon. On June 6, 1982, Israeli troops crossed the
border into Lebanon initiating Operation Peace for Galilee. This
was the first war in Israel's history that lacked wide public
support.
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Background | | Following World War II, the British withdrew from their mandate of Palestine, and the UN partitioned the area into Arab and Jewish states, an arrangement rejected by the Arabs. Subsequently, the Israelis defeated the Arabs in a series of wars without ending the deep tensions between the two sides. The territories Israel occupied since the 1967 war are not included in the Israel country profile, unless otherwise noted. On 25 April 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations were conducted between Israel and Palestinian representatives and Syria to achieve a permanent settlement. Israel and Palestinian officials signed on 13 September 1993 a Declaration of Principles (also known as the "Oslo Accords") guiding an interim period of Palestinian self-rule. Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 26 October 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. In addition, on 25 May 2000, Israel withdrew unilaterally from southern Lebanon, which it had occupied since 1982. In April 2003, US President BUSH, working in conjunction with the EU, UN, and Russia - the "Quartet" - took the lead in laying out a roadmap to a final settlement of the conflict by 2005, based on reciprocal steps by the two parties leading to two states, Israel and a democratic Palestine. However, progress toward a permanent status agreement was undermined by Israeli-Palestinian violence between September 2003 and February 2005. In the summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip, evacuating settlers and its military while retaining control over most points of entry into the Gaza Strip. The election of HAMAS to head the Palestinian Legislative Council froze relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Ehud OLMERT became prime minister in March 2006 and presided over a 34-day conflict with Hizballah in Lebanon in June-August 2006 and a 23-day conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip during December 2008 and January 2009. OLMERT, who in June 2007 resumed talks with PA President Mahmoud ABBAS, resigned in September 2008. Prime Minister Binyamin NETANYAHU formed a coalition in March 2009 following a February 2009 general election. Peace talks are currently stalled.
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Location | | Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Lebanon
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Area(sq km) | | total: 22,072 sq km
land: 21,642 sq km
water: 430 sq km
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Geographic coordinates | | 31 30 N, 34 45 E
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Land boundaries(km) | | total: 1,017 km
border countries: Egypt 266 km, Gaza Strip 51 km, Jordan 238 km, Lebanon 79 km, Syria 76 km, West Bank 307 km
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Coastline(km) | | 273 km
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Climate | | temperate; hot and dry in southern and eastern desert areas
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Elevation extremes(m) | | lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m
highest point: Har Meron 1,208 m
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Natural resources | | timber, potash, copper ore, natural gas, phosphate rock, magnesium bromide, clays, sand
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Land use(%) | | arable land: 15.45%
permanent crops: 3.88%
other: 80.67% (2005)
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Irrigated land(sq km) | | 1,940 sq km (2003)
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Total renewable water resources(cu km) | | 1.7 cu km (2001)
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) | | total: 2.05 cu km/yr (31%/7%/62%)
per capita: 305 cu m/yr (2000)
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Natural hazards | | sandstorms may occur during spring and summer; droughts; periodic earthquakes
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Environment - current issues | | limited arable land and natural fresh water resources pose serious constraints; desertification; air pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions; groundwater pollution from industrial and domestic waste, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides
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Environment - international agreements | | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation
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Geography - note | | there are about 340 Israeli civilian sites - including 100 small outpost communities in the West Bank - as well as 42 sites in the Golan Heights, 0 in the Gaza Strip, and 29 in East Jerusalem (July 2008 est.); Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee) is an important freshwater source
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Population | | 7,233,701
note: includes about 187,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, about 20,000 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and fewer than 177,000 in East Jerusalem (July 2009 est.)
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Age structure(%) | | 0-14 years: 27.9% (male 1,031,629/female 984,230)
15-64 years: 62.3% (male 2,283,034/female 2,221,301)
65 years and over: 9.9% (male 311,218/female 402,289) (2009 est.)
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Median age(years) | | total: 29.1 years
male: 28.4 years
female: 29.8 years (2009 est.)
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Population growth rate(%) | | 1.671% (2009 est.)
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Birth rate(births/1,000 population) | | 19.77 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Death rate(deaths/1,000 population) | | 5.43 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
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Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population) | | 2.37 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Urbanization(%) | | urban population: 92% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 1.7% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
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Sex ratio(male(s)/female) | | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
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Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births) | | total: 4.22 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 4.39 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 4.05 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
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Life expectancy at birth(years) | | total population: 80.73 years
male: 78.62 years
female: 82.95 years (2009 est.)
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Total fertility rate(children born/woman) | | 2.75 children born/woman (2009 est.)
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Nationality | | noun: Israeli(s)
adjective: Israeli
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Ethnic groups(%) | | Jewish 76.4% (of which Israel-born 67.1%, Europe/America-born 22.6%, Africa-born 5.9%, Asia-born 4.2%), non-Jewish 23.6% (mostly Arab) (2004)
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Religions(%) | | Jewish 76.4%, Muslim 16%, Arab Christians 1.7%, other Christian 0.4%, Druze 1.6%, unspecified 3.9% (2004)
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Languages(%) | | Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language
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Country name | | conventional long form: State of Israel
conventional short form: Israel
local long form: Medinat Yisra'el
local short form: Yisra'el
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Government type | | parliamentary democracy
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Capital | | name: Jerusalem
geographic coordinates: 31 46 N, 35 14 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Friday in March; ends the Sunday between the holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur
note: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, but the US, like nearly all other countries, maintains its Embassy in Tel Aviv
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Administrative divisions | | 6 districts (mehozot, singular - mehoz); Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, Tel Aviv
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Constitution | | no formal constitution; some of the functions of a constitution are filled by the Declaration of Establishment (1948), the Basic Laws of the parliament (Knesset), and the Israeli citizenship law; note - since May 2003 the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee of the Knesset has been working on a draft constitution
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Legal system | | mixture of English common law, British Mandate regulations, and, in personal matters, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim legal systems; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
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Suffrage | | 18 years of age; universal
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Executive branch | | chief of state: President Shimon PERES (since 15 July 2007)
head of government: Prime Minister Binyamin NETANYAHU (since 31 March 2009)
cabinet: Cabinet selected by prime minister and approved by the Knesset
elections: president is largely a ceremonial role and is elected by the Knesset for a seven-year term (one-term limit); election last held 13 June 2007 (next to be held in 2014 but can be called earlier); following legislative elections, the president assigns a Knesset member - traditionally the leader of the largest party - the task of forming a governing coalition
election results: Shimon PERES elected president; number of votes in first round - Shimon PERES 58, Reuven RIVLIN 37, Colette AVITAL 21; PERES elected president in second round with 86 votes (unopposed)
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Legislative branch | | unicameral Knesset (120 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 10 February 2009 (next scheduled election to be held in 2013)
election results: percent of vote by party - Kadima 23.2%, Likud-Ahi 22.3%, YB 12.1%, Labor 10.2%, SHAS 8.8%, United Torah Judaism 4.5%, United Arab List 3.5%, NU 3.4%, Hadash 3.4%, The Jewish Home 3%, The New Movement-Meretz 3%, Balad 2.6%; seats by party - Kadima 28, Likud-Ahi 27, YB 15, Labor 13, SHAS 11, United Torah Judaism 5, United Arab List 4, NU 4, HADASH 4, The Jewish Home 3, The New Movement-Meretz 3, Balad 3
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Judicial branch | | Supreme Court (justices appointed by Judicial Selection Committee - made up of all three branches of the government; mandatory retirement age is 70)
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Political pressure groups and leaders | | B'Tselem [Jessica MONTELL, Executive Director] monitors human rights abuses; Peace Now [Yariv OPPENHEIMER, Secretary General] supports territorial concessions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; YESHA Council of Settlements [Danny DAYAN, Chairman] promotes settler interests and opposes territorial compromise
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International organization participation | | BIS, BSEC (observer), CERN (observer), EBRD, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, OAS (observer), OECD (accession state), OPCW (signatory), OSCE (partner), Paris Club (associate), PCA, SECI (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
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Flag description | | white with a blue hexagram (six-pointed linear star) known as the Magen David (Shield of David) centered between two equal horizontal blue bands near the top and bottom edges of the flag
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Economy - overview | | Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial, though diminishing, government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel imports substantial quantities of grain but is largely self-sufficient in other agricultural products. Cut diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable trade deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the US, its major source of economic and military aid. Israel's GDP, after contracting slightly in 2001 and 2002 due to the Palestinian conflict and troubles in the high-technology sector, has grown by about 5% per year since 2003. The economy grew an estimated 3.9% in 2008, slowed by the global financial crisis. The government's prudent fiscal policy and structural reforms over the past few years have helped to induce strong foreign investment, tax revenues, and private consumption, setting the economy on a solid growth path.
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GDP (purchasing power parity) | | $203.4 billion (2008 est.)
$195.2 billion (2007 est.)
$185.6 billion (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
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GDP (official exchange rate) | | $202.1 billion (2008 est.)
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GDP - real growth rate(%) | | 4.2% (2008 est.)
5.2% (2007 est.)
5.3% (2006 est.)
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GDP - per capita (PPP) | | $28,600 (2008 est.)
$27,900 (2007 est.)
$27,000 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
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GDP - composition by sector(%) | | agriculture: 2.6%
industry: 32.4%
services: 65% (2008 est.)
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Labor force | | 2.957 million (2008 est.)
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Labor force - by occupation(%) | | agriculture: 2%
industry: 16%
services: 82% (30 September 2008)
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Unemployment rate(%) | | 6.1% (2008 est.)
7.3% (2007 est.)
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Population below poverty line(%) | | 21.60%
note: Israel's poverty line is $7.30 per person per day (2005)
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Household income or consumption by percentage share(%) | | lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 24.2% (2007)
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Distribution of family income - Gini index | | 38.6 (2005)
35.5 (2001)
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Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP) | | 18.1% of GDP (2008 est.)
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Budget | | revenues: $59.98 billion
expenditures: $64.21 billion (2008 est.)
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Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%) | | 4.6% (2008 est.)
0.5% (2007 est.)
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Stock of money | | $NA (31 December 2008)
$15.36 billion (31 December 2006)
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Stock of quasi money | | $NA (31 December 2008)
$154.3 billion (31 December 2007)
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Stock of domestic credit | | $NA (31 December 2008)
$113.4 billion (31 December 2006)
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Market value of publicly traded shares | | $134.5 billion (31 December 2008)
$236.4 billion (31 December 2007)
$173.3 billion (31 December 2006)
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Economic aid - recipient | | $240 million from US (FY06)
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Public debt(% of GDP) | | 76.8% of GDP (2008 est.)
104.5% of GDP (2004 est.)
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Agriculture - products | | citrus, vegetables, cotton; beef, poultry, dairy products
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Industries | | high-technology projects (including aviation, communications, computer-aided design and manufactures, medical electronics, fiber optics), wood and paper products, potash and phosphates, food, beverages, and tobacco, caustic soda, cement, construction, metals products, chemical products, plastics, diamond cutting, textiles, footwear
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Industrial production growth rate(%) | | 3.5% (2008 est.)
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Current account balance | | $2.213 billion (2008 est.)
$4.185 billion (2007 est.)
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Exports | | $57.16 billion (2008 est.)
$50.07 billion (2007 est.)
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Exports - commodities(%) | | machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel
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Exports - partners(%) | | US 32.5%, Belgium 7.5%, Hong Kong 6.7% (2008)
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Imports | | $64.4 billion (2008 est.)
$55.93 billion (2007 est.)
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Imports - commodities(%) | | raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, consumer goods
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Imports - partners(%) | | US 12.3%, Belgium 6.5%, China 6.5%, Switzerland 6.1%, Germany 6% (2008)
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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | | $42.51 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$28.52 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
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Debt - external | | $86.08 billion (31 December 2008)
$89.58 billion (31 December 2007)
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Stock of direct foreign investment - at home | | $56.93 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$55.7 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
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Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad | | $54.55 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$48.47 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
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Exchange rates | | new Israeli shekels (ILS) per US dollar - 3.56 (2008 est.), 4.14 (2007), 4.4565 (2006), 4.4877 (2005), 4.482 (2004)
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Currency (code) | | new Israeli shekel (ILS); note - NIS is the currency abbreviation; ILS is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) code for the NIS
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Telephones - main lines in use | | 2.9 million (2008)
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Telephones - mobile cellular | | 8.902 million (2008)
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Telephone system | | general assessment: most highly developed system in the Middle East although not the largest
domestic: good system of coaxial cable and microwave radio relay; all systems are digital; four privately-owned mobile-cellular service providers with countrywide coverage
international: country code - 972; submarine cables provide links to Europe, Cyprus, and parts of the Middle East; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) (2008)
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Internet country code | | .il
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Internet users | | 2.106 million (2008)
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Airports | | 47 (2009)
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Pipelines(km) | | gas 176 km; oil 442 km; refined products 261 km (2008)
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Roadways(km) | | total: 17,870 km
paved: 17,870 km (includes 146 km of expressways) (2007)
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Ports and terminals | | Ashdod, Elat (Eilat), Hadera, Haifa
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Military branches | | Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel Naval Forces (INF), Israel Air Force (IAF) (2009)
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Military service age and obligation(years of age) | | 18 years of age for compulsory (Jews, Druzes) and voluntary (Christians, Muslims, Circassians) military service; both sexes are obligated to military service; conscript service obligation - 36 months for enlisted men, 21 months for enlisted women, 48 months for officers; reserve obligation to age 41-51 (men), 24 (women) (2008)
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Manpower available for military service | | males age 16-49: 1,717,362
females age 16-49: 1,636,574 (2008 est.)
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Manpower fit for military service | | males age 16-49: 1,474,966
females age 16-49: 1,404,712 (2009 est.)
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Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually | | male: 61,223
female: 58,219 (2009 est.)
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Military expenditures(% of GDP) | | 7.3% of GDP (2006)
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Disputes - international | | West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; Israel continues construction of a "seam line" separation barrier along parts of the Green Line and within the West Bank; Israel withdrew its settlers and military from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the West Bank in August 2005; Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied (Lebanon claims the Shab'a Farms area of Golan Heights); since 1948, about 350 peacekeepers from the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) headquartered in Jerusalem monitor ceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated incidents from escalating, and assist other UN personnel in the region
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Refugees and internally displaced persons | | IDPs: 150,000-420,000 (Arab villagers displaced from homes in northern Israel) (2007)
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Electricity - production(kWh) | | 50.41 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - production by source(%) | | fossil fuel: 99.9%
hydro: 0.1%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
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Electricity - consumption(kWh) | | 46.15 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - exports(kWh) | | 2.081 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - imports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
|
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Oil - production(bbl/day) | | 5,246 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
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Oil - consumption(bbl/day) | | 235,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
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Oil - exports(bbl/day) | | 69,580 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
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Oil - imports(bbl/day) | | 318,900 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
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Oil - proved reserves(bbl) | | 1.94 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
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Natural gas - production(cu m) | | 1.19 billion cu m (2008 est.)
|
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Natural gas - consumption(cu m) | | 1.19 billion cu m (2008 est.)
|
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Natural gas - exports(cu m) | | 0 cu m (2008)
|
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Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m) | | 30.44 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%) | | 0.1% (2007 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | | 5,100 (2007 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - deaths | | fewer than 200 (2007 est.)
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Literacy(%) | | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97.1%
male: 98.5%
female: 95.9% (2004 est.)
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School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)(years) | | total: 15 years
male: 15 years
female: 16 years (2006)
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Education expenditures(% of GDP) | | 6.9% of GDP (2004)
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![[GIF]](/images/frd/cs/israel/il01_00a.gif)
