Israel

Israel is a country located in the Southern Levant region of West Asia.

It sits on the western coast of the Mediterranean Sea. To its north, it is bordered by Lebanon. Syria lies to the northeast. Jordan is located to the east. Egypt borders the country to the southwest.

The territory includes the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Syrian Golan Heights. The southern tip of the nation reaches the Red Sea. To the east, the land reaches the Dead Sea. This area is the lowest point on Earth.

The history of this land reaches back millions of years. Archaic humans were present at the Ubeidiya site 1.5 million years ago.

Later, the Natufian culture lived there around 10,000 BCE. They were notable for adopting sedentism, which means living in one place, before the advent of agriculture. Ancient Canaanites lived in independent city-states around 2000 BCE. From these people, the Israelites eventually branched out. They developed a distinct religion centered on Yahweh. They spoke Biblical Hebrew, an archaic form of the language. By 900 BCE, the northern Kingdom of Israel existed. The Kingdom of Judah existed by about 850 BCE.

Many different empires controlled the region over many centuries. The Neo-Assyrian Empire conquered the Kingdom of Israel around 720 BCE. Later, the Neo-Babylonian Empire destroyed Jerusalem in 587/6 BCE. This event ended the kingdom and exiled many people to Babylon. After Cyrus the Great captured Babylon, he allowed the Judeans to return. They built the Second Temple around 520 BCE. Eventually, Alexander the Great conquered the region in 332 BCE. The area then fell under the control of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires. Later, the Hasmoneans established an independent Jewish kingdom. However, the Roman Empire eventually took control. The Romans destroyed the Second Temple during the First Jewish-Roman War. They later renamed the province Syria Palaestina.

Different religious and political systems shaped the region during late antiquity and the medieval period. In the 4th century CE, Christianity became the state religion under the Byzantine Empire. Later, the Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Levant between 634 and 641 CE. Control of the land shifted between various Islamic dynasties. These included the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates. The region also saw the era of the Crusades. Christian crusaders attempted to take control of the Holy Land. Eventually, the Mamluk sultans of Egypt restored Muslim rule in 1291. By 1516, the Ottoman Empire conquered the region. They ruled it as part of Ottoman Syria for centuries. Under the Ottoman millet system, religious communities had some autonomy.

The modern state of Israel emerged from the end of the British Mandate. In the 19th century, the Zionist movement grew due to European antisemitism. This movement sought a Jewish homeland. The 1917 Balfour Declaration showed British support for this goal. After World War I, Britain occupied the region as Mandatory Palestine. Tensions between Arabs and Jews grew during British rule. The United Nations proposed a Partition Plan in 1947. This plan led to a civil war. Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948.

This declaration was followed by an invasion by Arab states. The 1949 armistice expanded Israel's borders beyond the UN plan. In 1967, the Six-Day War resulted in Israel occupying the West Bank, Gaza, and the Sinai.

Israel has established several significant political and diplomatic connections. It signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979. The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in 1982.

Israel also signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994. The 1993 Oslo Accords introduced limited Palestinian self-rule. More recently, the 2020 Abraham Accords normalized ties with more Arab states. The government is structured around the Knesset. The Knesset is a proportionally elected parliament. It shapes the government, which is led by a prime minister. A largely ceremonial president is also elected.

Today, Israel is a major global economic and technological power. It has one of the largest economies in the Middle East. The country ranks 26th globally in nominal GDP. It also ranks 14th in nominal GDP per capita. Israel is one of the most technologically advanced nations. It allocates a larger share of its economy to research and development than any other state. The culture is a unique mix of Jewish traditions and Arab influences. It is the only country with a revived official language, Hebrew.

Jerusalem serves as the government seat and proclaimed capital.

Tel Aviv is the largest urban area and an economic center.