Portal:Israel

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THE ISRAEL PORTAL

Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (help·info); Medinat Yisra'el; Arabic: دَوْلَةْ إِسْرَائِيل‎, Dawlat Isrā'īl), officially the State of Israel, is a small country in Western Asia on the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Lebanon to the north, Syria and Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the south-west and has a population of over seven million people. The capital of Israel is Jerusalem.

The Land of Israel was the birthplace of Judaism in the 10th century BCE or earlier and of Christianity at the beginning of the 1st century CE. The modern State of Israel was founded in 1948.

Today, Israel is the world's only Jewish state, although its population is incredibly diverse, including citizens from many ethnic and religious backgrounds. Israel is a parliamentary democracy with multi-party system and separation of powers, and is consistently rated as "Free" by Freedom House. In 2006 Reporters Without Borders ranked it 50th out of 168 countries in freedom of the press, the highest of any country in the Middle East. Israel has a technologically advanced economy as well as a vibrant cultural life. The country is widely regarded as the most open in the region. Israel was ranked 23rd out of 177 countries in the 2005 United Nations Human Development Index, the highest ranking in the Middle East and 3rd highest in all of Asia.

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Haifa (Hebrew: חֵיפָה‎ Ḥefa; Arabic: حَيْفَا‎ Ḥayfā (help·info)) is the largest city in Northern Israel and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of about 267,800. The city is a seaport located on Israel's Mediterranean coastline in the Bay of Haifa, about 90 km north of Tel Aviv, and is one of the country's major industrial centers.

Haifa is built on the slopes of the historic Mount Carmel. Known in the 3rd century CE as a dye making center, the city is today home to a mixed population of Jews and Arabs, as well as to the Bahá'í World Centre (including the Bahá'í Gardens), and two world-class academic institutions, the University of Haifa and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. High-tech companies such as Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, and Google have opened R&D facilities in Haifa in recent years. (more...)

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History, people, places

The Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace (full name: Treaty of Peace Between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) (Hebrew:הסכם השלום בין ישראל לירדן; transliterated: HaSekhem Ha-Shalom beyn Yisra'el Le-Yarden) (Arabic: معاهدة السلام الأردنية الإسرائيلية; transliterated: Mu'ahadat as-Salam al-'Orduniyah al-Isra'yliyah, and commonly referred to as Araba Valley Treaty) is a peace treaty signed in 1994. The treaty normalized relations between the two countries and resolved territorial disputes between them. The conflict between them had cost roughly 18.3 billion dollars. Its signing is also closely linked with the efforts to create peace between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization representing the Palestinian Authority. It was signed at the southern border crossing of Araba on October 26, 1994, and made Jordan only the second Arab country (after Egypt) to normalize relations with Israel. (more...)

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Culture, arts, cuisine

Israeli music is very versatile and combines elements of both western and eastern music. It tends to be very eclectic and contains a wide variety of influences from the Diaspora and more modern cultural importation: Hassidic songs, Asian and Arab pop, especially by Yemenite singers, and israeli hip hop or heavy metal.

Israel is home to several world-class classical music ensembles such as the Israel Philharmonic, the New Israeli Opera and others.

Also popular are forms of electronic music, including but not limited to trance, hard-trance and goa-trance. Notable artists from Israel popular in this field are limited but a famous example would be the goa-trance duo Infected Mushroom. (more...)

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“ We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries bloom in Israel. ”

—Golda Meir

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Image Credit: User:Deror aviYad Vashem (Hebrew: יד ושם‎; "Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaustestablished in Jerusalemin 1953 through the Memorial Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament. The new Holocaust History Museum (shown above) was built as a prism-like triangular structure. It is 180 meters long, with stark walls made from reinforced concrete. The museum covers an area of more than 4,000 square meters and is mostly situated below ground level. (more...)

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News

Wikinews Israel portal

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Did you know?

...Israel is ranked number 15 in the world in terms of economic competitiveness. That's ahead of Canada, Austria, France, Australia, Belgium and Ireland and the highest in the region by a long way, 17 places ahead of UAE in 32nd?

...National spending in Israel on civilian research and development rose 164% in 1990-2004. In terms of purchasing power, it grew 126% in 1996-2002, while GDP rose 29%?

...An average of 1,549 scientific articles per million residents per year were published by Israel in 1999-2003?

...Israel accounted for 1.28% of all scientific articles worldwide, while being only 0.11% of world population. The leading field in Israel was mathematics, in which Israel accounted for 2.74% of all articles, followed by computer science (2.22%), and physics (1.52%)?

...The proportion of women among R&D workers in Israel was 23.4%. This puts Israel in second place behind Denmark. Women accounted for 37% of all degrees granted in science and engineering in Israel, one of the highest proportions in the world? [1]

...In 2004, Israel ranked eighth in the world in exports per capita, which totalled $5,426.5?

...Israel was the number one exporter of certain goods, including fertilizers (57% share of total world exports,) industrial lubricants (34% share,) and polished diamonds (26%)?

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