srael is a country in the Middle East on the east coast of the Mediterranean. Since its inception in 1948, defines it as the state of the Jewish people, heir to the biblical Israel. He is the only country where the official language is Hebrew, its political regime is typical parliamentary democracy. The State of Israel has known since its inception in 1948, successive armed conflicts with Arab neighbors.

Summary [hide]
1 Name
2 History
3 Politics
4 Businesses
5 Geography
5.1 Capital of Israel
5.1.1 position of international institutions
5.1.2 The position of various state and national bodies
6 Territory
6.1 Borders
6.2 Army
7 Demography
7.1 Geographic distribution of the population
8 Languages and Culture
8.1 Official Languages
8.2 Israeli Newspapers
8.3 Literature
8.4 Major Museums and Memorials Israeli
National holidays Israeli 8.5
9 Codes
10 Notes and References
11 See also
11.1 External Links
 


Name
The name of Israel appears for the first time on the Merneptah stele around 1200 BC The name is worn by the ancient Kingdom of Israel.

The biblical tradition relates the origin of the name in the book of Genesis (verse 32:28), when the third of the Hebrew patriarchs, Jacob, is renowned Israel (who added against God [2]) after battling with an angel of God. Jacob is considered the father of the twelve tribes that came out of Egypt, the nation is constituted biblical known as the "children of Israel" or "Israelites".

As agreed in the declaration of independence, the modern state created in 1948 took the name Israel, rejecting other possible names of Zion or Judea [3], and its citizens are Israeli.


History
  Article: History of Israel.
The history of this state is a continuation of the history of the Jewish people and history of Zionism. Its independence is seen by its founding fathers as the implementation of the promises of the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The first years of the country are marked by the arrival of Holocaust survivors and large waves of Jewish immigration from many countries around the world.

The country borders have greatly evolved since the partition plan for Palestine in 1947 voted by the UN by 33 votes in favour, 13 against and 10 abstentions, according to the Arab-Israeli wars, armistices and peace treaties.

Some UN resolutions have become paramount importance for Israel, including resolution 181 which supports the establishment of a Jewish state, then resolutions 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967 and 338 of 22 October 1973 Council Security, which proposed a framework for settling the Arab-Israeli conflict.

So far, Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania and the Palestinian Authority recognized the State of Israel, but not other Arab countries. Syria, Iran and groups hostile policies that do not recognize the existence of Israel as Hamas, designate by the expressions "Zionist entity" and refuses any official contact with Israel.


Politics
  Article: Politics of Israel.
 
The Knesset, the parliament is located JérusalemIsraël Israel is a parliamentary republic and a multiparty liberal democracy that has adopted universal suffrage.

The single chamber parliament is the Knesset, whose 120 members serve in Jerusalem, which is renewed every 4 years.

The Head of State is the President of Israel, which has a mainly ceremonial function. It means the Prime Minister in the party or coalition majority in the Knesset so that it consists his government.

Israel has no written constitution but is based on the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence of 1948 and the 14 Basic Laws adopted by the Knesset. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body of Israel. The judgments are made by professional judges laity. The religious courts of each confession manage matrimonial matters.

Israel is not a member of the International Criminal Court. The Rome Statute was signed on December 31, 2000 but not ratified.


Economy
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  Articles detailed: Economy of Israel and Israeli companies list.
 
The Azrieli towers in Tel Aviv, a symbol of the economic dynamism of paysCe country is distinguished by its rich cultural life, its economy industrially and technologically advanced, and its level of development which places the 23rd largest in the world according to the human development index of UN, is at the forefront of countries in the Middle East and the third largest in Asia.

The Israeli economy is a modern capitalist system of a young country and is characterized by a relatively large public sector and a sector of the high-tech rapid growth over ten years. The limited natural resources of the country and the high level of education of Israelis have played in the development of advanced technologies. The Israeli companies, mainly in this area are very popular on world financial markets. Israel is the second country in number of companies on the NASDAQ côtées and receives large foreign investments. The country has the largest number of start-ups in the world and its spending on research and development are considerable. However, despite the good economic development, 11% of the population lives rations distributed by non-governmental organizations, according to the integrated network of regional information (IRIN) of the United Nations [4].

The Israeli contributions to science are significant in medicine, physics and agriculture and especially genetics, computing, electronics and optics. Nobel Prizes in science and economics were awarded to four Israelis since 2002. The number of scientific publications per capita (109 publications by 10 000 persons) [5] and patents per capita are among the highest in the world.

In 2007, Israel was ranked 17th human development index of 177 countries by the United Nations.


Geography
  Article: Geography of Israel.
 
Photo satellite - Israel in January 2003Le climate of coastal areas may be very different from that mountainous country, especially during the winter months. The regions of Tel Aviv and Haifa have a typical Mediterranean climate with mild and rainy winters and summers hot and humid. The mountains to the north are often against a snowy winter, and Jerusalem may also experience episodes of snow in some years.


Capital of Israel
The designation by the Israeli law of Jerusalem as its capital is currently contested by almost all of the international community. This position date of early history of Israel, in 1949 when Israel decides that its capital is the western part of Jerusalem [6] and installs the government and the Knesset. The international community does not accept this state of affairs that does not take into account the recommendations of the UN and are therefore embassies in Tel Aviv or even in other cities (until 1973, there were, however, Jerusalem some African embassies and sat there until 1980 as embassies of 13 countries of Latin America and the Netherlands). The proclamation of Jerusalem as its capital reunited, following the Six Day War, was not accepted because the annexation is not recognised by the international community.