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Israel definitions

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CIA World Factbook, 2008

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. An Israeli-Palestinian agreement reached at Sharm al-Sheikh in February 2005, along with an internally-brokered Palestinian ceasefire, significantly reduced the violence. 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 in January 2006 to head the Palestinian Legislative Council froze relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Ehud OLMERT became prime minister in March 2006; following an Israeli military operation in Gaza in June-July 2006 and a 34-day conflict with Hizballah in Lebanon in June-August 2006, he shelved plans to unilaterally evacuate from most of the West Bank. OLMERT in June 2007 resumed talks with the PA after HAMAS seized control of the Gaza Strip and PA President Mahmoud ABBAS formed a new government without HAMAS.

Location
total: 20,770 sq km land: 20,330 sq km water: 440 sq km

Area - comparative
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

Coastline
territorial sea: 12 nm continental shelf: to depth of exploitation

Climate
lowest point: Dead Sea -408 m highest point: Har Meron 1,208 m

Natural resources
arable land: 15.45% permanent crops: 3.88% other: 80.67% (2005)

Irrigated land
Total: 2.05 cu km/yr (31%/7%/62%) Per capita: 305 cu m/yr (2000)

Natural hazards
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

Geography - note
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 2007 est.)

Age structure
0-14 years: 26.1% (male 858,246/female 818,690) 15-64 years: 64.2% (male 2,076,649/female 2,046,343) 65 years and over: 9.8% (male 269,483/female 357,268) (2007 est.)

Median age
total: 29.9 years male: 29.1 years female: 30.8 years (2007 est.)

Population growth rate
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.048 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.015 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.754 male(s)/female total population: 0.994 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

Infant mortality rate
total: 6.75 deaths/1,000 live births male: 7.45 deaths/1,000 live births female: 6.02 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
total population: 79.59 years male: 77.44 years female: 81.85 years (2007 est.)

Total fertility rate
noun: Israeli(s) adjective: Israeli

Ethnic groups
definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 97.1% male: 98.5% female: 95.9% (2004 est.)

Country name
conventional long form: State of Israel conventional short form: Israel local long form: Medinat Yisra'el local short form: Yisra'el

Government type
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

Administrative divisions
chief of state: President Shimon PERES (since 15 July 2007) head of government: Prime Minister Ehud OLMERT (since May 2006); Deputy Prime Minister Tzipora "Tzipi" LIVNI (since May 2006); Ehud OLMERT won the right to lead the government when his Kadima Party won 29 seats in elections held on 28 March 2006 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 note: government coalition - Kadima, Labor Party, GIL (Pensioners), ShAS,and Yisrael Beiteinu 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)

Legislative branch
elections: last held 28 March 2006 (next scheduled to be held in 2010) election results: percent of vote by party - Kadima 22%, Labor 15.1%, SHAS 9.5%, Likud 9%, Yisrael Beiteinu 9%, NU/NRP 7.1%, GIL 5.9%, Torah and Shabbat Judaism 4.7%, Meretz-YAHAD 3.8%, United Arab List 3%, Balad 2.3%, HADASH 2.7%, other 5.9%; seats by party - Kadima 29, Labor 19, Likud 12, SHAS 12, Yisrael Beiteinu 11, NU/NRP 9, GIL 7, Torah and Shabbat Judaism 6, Meretz-YAHAD 5, United Arab List 4, Balad 3, HADASH 3

Judicial branch
chief of mission: Ambassador Salai MERIDOR chancery: 3514 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 364-5500 FAX: [1] (202) 364-5607 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco

Diplomatic representation from the US
chief of mission: Ambassador Richard H. JONES embassy: 71 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv 63903 mailing address: PSC 98, Box 29, APO AE 09830 telephone: [972] (3) 519-7575 FAX: [972] (3) 516-4390 consulate(s) general: Jerusalem; note - an independent US mission, established in 1928, whose members are not accredited to a foreign government

Flag description
agriculture: 2.4% industry: 30% services: 67.6% (2007 est.)

Labor force
note: Israel's poverty line is $7.30 per person per day (2005)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.4% highest 10%: 28.3% (2005)

Distribution of family income - Gini index
revenues: $57.08 billion expenditures: $57.81 billion (2007 est.)

Public debt
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; mobile-cellular teledensity is more than 130 per 100 persons 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)

Radio broadcast stations
total: 30 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 5 1,524 to 2,437 m: 7 914 to 1,523 m: 10 under 914 m: 6 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways
total: 23 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 2 under 914 m: 20 (2007)

Heliports
total: 853 km standard gauge: 853 km 1.435-m gauge (2006)

Roadways
total: 17,446 km paved: 17,446 km (includes 144 km of expressways) (2004)

Merchant marine
total: 18 ships (1000 GRT or over) 716,382 GRT/845,053 DWT by type: cargo 2, container 16 registered in other countries: 51 (Bermuda 3, Cyprus 4, Honduras 1, North Korea 1, Liberia 9, Malta 21, Panama 2, Slovakia 6, St Vincent and The Grenadines 4) (2007)

Ports and terminals
males age 17-49: 1,492,125 females age 17-49: 1,443,916 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service
males age 17-49: 1,255,902 females age 17-49: 1,212,394 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually
males age 18-49: 53,760 females age 15-49: 51,293 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP
IDPs: 150,000-420,000 (Arab villagers displaced from homes in northern Israel) (2006)

Illicit drugs
increasingly concerned about ecstasy, cocaine, and heroin abuse; drugs arrive in country from Lebanon and, increasingly, from Jordan; money-laundering center

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: Jewish republic in southwestern Asia at eastern end of Mediterranean; formerly part of Palestine [syn: Israel, State of Israel, Yisrael, Zion, Sion]
2: an ancient kingdom of the Hebrew tribes at the southeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea; founded by Saul around 1025 BC and destroyed by the Assyrians in 721 BC

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin, from Greek Isra?l, from Hebrew Yi?r?'?l 1. Jacob 2 2. the Jewish people 3. a people chosen by God • Israel adjective II. geographical name 1. kingdom in ancient Palestine comprising the lands occupied by the Hebrew people; established about 1025 B.C.; divided about 933 B.C. into a S kingdom (Judah) & a N kingdom (Israel) 2. (or Northern Kingdom) (or Ephraim) the N portion of the Hebrew kingdom after the division capital Samaria 3. country SW Asia bordering on the Mediterranean; a republic established 1948 capital Jerusalem area 7993 square miles (20,782 square kilometers), population 4,037,620 — see Palestine

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Jacob Ja"cob, n. [Cf. F. Jacob. See 2d Jack.] A Hebrew patriarch (son of Isaac, and ancestor of the Jews), who in a vision saw a ladder reaching up to heaven (--Gen. xxviii. 12); -- also called Israel. And Jacob said . . . with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. --Gen. xxxii. 9, 10. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. --Gen. xxxii. 28. Jacob's ladder. (a) (Bot.) A perennial herb of the genus Polemonium (P. c[oe]ruleum), having corymbs of drooping flowers, usually blue. Gray. (b) (Naut.) A rope ladder, with wooden steps, for going aloft. --R. H. Dana, Jr. (c) (Naut.) A succession of short cracks in a defective spar. Jacob's membrane. See Retina. Jacob's staff. (a) A name given to many forms of staff or weapon, especially in the Middle Ages; a pilgrim's staff. [Obs.] --Spenser. (b) (Surveying) See under Staff.

Hitchcock Bible Dictionary

who prevails with God

Easton's Bible Dictionary

the name conferred on Jacob after the great prayer-struggle at Peniel (Gen. 32:28), because "as a prince he had power with God and prevailed." (See JACOB.) This is the common name given to Jacob's descendants. The whole people of the twelve tribes are called "Israelites," the "children of Israel" (Josh. 3:17; 7:25; Judg. 8:27; Jer. 3:21), and the "house of Israel" (Ex. 16:31; 40:38).

This name Israel is sometimes used emphatically for the true Israel (Ps. 73:1: Isa. 45:17; 49:3; John 1:47; Rom. 9:6; 11:26).

After the death of Saul the ten tribes arrogated to themselves this name, as if they were the whole nation (2 Sam. 2:9, 10, 17, 28; 3:10, 17; 19:40-43), and the kings of the ten tribes were called "kings of Israel," while the kings of the two tribes were called "kings of Judah."

After the Exile the name Israel was assumed as designating the entire nation.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

iz'-ra-el.

See JACOB.