Israel
Israel is a small country in the Middle East about the size of the state of New Jersey.
GEOGRAPHY
Israel has a diverse climate with snowy mountains in the north and hot deserts in the south. The countries of Syria and Jordan border Israel to the east. Lebanon borders on the north, and Egypt to the west and south. Three Occupied Territories that are controlled by Israel—the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem—are within the country’s borders.
More than half of the population lives on the narrow coastal plain near the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The Dead Sea between Israel and Jordan is about 1,300 feet below sea level, the lowest point on Earth's surface.
The Dead Sea is warm year-round. The water is extremely salty and stuffed with mineral deposits, so most plants and animals can’t survive. (Microscopic bacteria are the only living things scientists have discovered there.) In fact, the water is so salty that nearly anyone can float in it.
In the south and east, land is hot and dry. The Negev Desert in southern Israel receives only a few inches of rain a year. In the north, Galilee is believed to have the most fertile farmland in the country.
PEOPLE AND CULTURE
About two-thirds of the population were born in Israel. All other Israelis come from over 100 different countries.
Israel's population is about 74 percent Jewish; most of the rest of the population is Muslim, people who follow the religion of Islam.
Most Muslims live in the Occupied Territories. Of the five million people who live in the territories, about 81 percent are Muslim and known as Palestinians; the remaining are Jewish or non-religious.
About 13 percent of Israeli Jews strictly follow about 600 rules from their religion that guide them on how to live their daily lives. Other Jewish people observe some but not all of the rules.
One rule states that Jews can eat only kosher food, which is prepared and certified according to the religious laws. For instance, pork and shellfish are not considered kosher; kosher rules also mean that meat and dairy products can’t be mixed together. So pepperoni-and-cheese pizza and cheeseburgers are not kosher.
Traditional Jewish people take off Shabbat, or a day of rest, which begins on Friday at sundown and continues through Saturday evening. Stores are closed and work isn't permitted on Shabbat.
When Jewish boys turn 13, they have a large celebration called a bar mitzvah. Girls turning 12 celebrate their own version of this rite of passage, called bat mitzvah.
Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, is considered a holy city by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike. This city is the historical center of all three religions. Jews believe the Messiah (their savior) will one day appear here, Muslims believe that their prophet, Muhammad, ascended to heaven from here, and Christians believe that this is where Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
NATURE
Even though the country is only slightly larger than New Jersey, its diverse terrain and climate means a large variety of animals live in Israel. Boars roam the damp oak woodlands in the northeast. Caspian turtles live in the marshlands along the coast. And hyenas prowl in the Negev Desert region in southern Israel.
A 3,900-foot-long coral reef glimmers along the southern shore of the Red Sea in Elat. It’s covered in coral polyps, and crabs, turtles, octopuses, and sharks make their home in the reef.
Even big cities like Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, teem with wildlife. Fruit bats flit around the trees in parks. Snakes like the red whip and the Asian racer slither through gardens. Mediterranean house geckos are common pretty much everywhere—including in the cracks of old brick buildings.
Much of what is now Israel was originally covered in woodlands. But in the early 1900s, many trees were cut for timber and land was cleared for fields. Israel is now replanting trees to bring back the woodlands. Over 200 million trees have been planted in the last 60 years. Nature reserves have also been created to protect wolves, foxes, endangered Arabian leopards, ostriches, and other species, as well as to breed threatened animals.GOVERNMENT
Israel is the only fully democratic country in the Middle East. Elections are held for seats in the Knesset, or parliament, every four years. If a party wins two percent of the votes, the party gets one or more seats in parliament. No one party has control, so all groups must work together. The leader of the largest party becomes prime minister.
The prime minister appoints a cabinet of ministers that runs the country. The 120 members of the Knesset elect a president, who is the head of state.
Even though Israel controls access to the Occupied Territories, the people living there are still governed by Palestinian political organizations: Fatah, part of the Palestine Liberation Organization; and Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
ANCIENT HISTORY
The Israelites fought for 200 years for control of Canaan. Eventually, King David conquered Jerusalem, a city in Canaan, around 1010 B.C. About 80 years later, the Israelites split in two small kingdoms: Israel, north of what is now Galilee and the West Bank; and Judah, the city of Jerusalem. Today both are considered modern-day Israel.
Around 5 B.C., this land became known as Palestine; the people who called it home were known as Palestinians. Because so many ancient cultures and religious groups claimed this region as their own, many people have fought over the land for thousands of years.
MODERN HISTORY
Between 1920 and 1948, the United Kingdom controlled Palestine, which then had a population that was mostly Arab (people who speak Arabic). Many Jews, who believed that this was their homeland, moved to the region during this time. But Palestinians believed that this was their homeland, too. As more Jews came to the region, fighting between the two groups increased.
During the Holocaust of World War II (1939-1945), when Nazi soldiers murdered six million Jewish people, Jews who could fled Europe. Many went to live with other Jews in British-controlled Palestine, where over one million Arabs were also living.
Because so many Jews had been forced to leave Europe, they believed that they needed their own country. In 1948, the British withdrew, and—with the support of the United Nations—Jews living in Palestine created the State of Israel. But Palestinians believed that the region should be run by Arabs, and a year-long conflict erupted.
Even though the Palestinians were backed by armies from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria, the Israelis won the war. In 1949, the territory was divided into the State of Israel for Jewish people, and the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip for Arabs. (At the time, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were controlled by Jordan, and Gaza by Egypt.)
But dividing the region didn’t lead to peace, and disputes over land boundaries and shipping routes escalated. In 1967—after a war between Israel and neighboring Arab countries that lasted just six days—Israel took control of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.(Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem remained citizens of Jordan until 1988, when Jordan cut all ties to those territories.) Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting over the areas ever since.
Most Palestinians believe that they are mistreated by the Israeli government. They aren’t protected by Israeli law, and many can’t freely move between the territories and Israel, or from one Palestinian territory to the other. Israel also allowed Jewish settlers to live in the West Bank, which led Palestinians to feel like their land was being taken away from them. This led to many armed conflicts between the Arabs and Jews.
In 2005, the country pulled Israeli troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip, where they had been for 38 years, in an attempt to bring peace. But Israel still maintained control over the movement of people and goods through Gaza’s borders, which angered Palestinians. Two years later, the political party Hamas—considered by many a terrorist group—won an election there and kicked out the more moderate group, Fatah.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israelis. They took hundreds of Jews hostage and left about 1,400 people dead and around 3,400 injured.
In retaliation, the Israeli government declared war on Hamas and launched its own strikes, killing and injuring many more. Israel also closed off the border to Gaza, preventing essential goods from entering. A ground operation launched into the territory in late October.
Countries around the world have called on both sides to protect innocent people from the fighting. Until a peaceful end can be reached, organizations such as the United Nations are trying to bring food, medical supplies, and clean water into Gaza for the two million people living there.
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