A densely-populated country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel is the
only state in the world with a majority Jewish population.
It has been locked in conﬂict with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbours over ownership of
land considered holy by many Jews, Christians and Muslims since its creation in 1948.
The division of the former British Mandate of Palestine and the creation of the State of Israel in
the years after the end of the Second World War was the culmination of the Zionist movement,
whose aim was a homeland for Jews hitherto scattered all over the world.
Israel timeline - key dates
Leaders
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After the Nazi Holocaust, pressure grew for the international recognition of a Jewish state, and
in 1948 Israel declared its independence following a UN vote to partition Palestine.
At a glance
Politics: Security concerns over the conﬂict with the Palestinians are a constant factor in a
political environment marked by volatile coalition governments
Economy: Israel has a diverse and sophisticated economy
Foreign relations: Israel faces hostility from much of the Arab region. The US provides
crucial diplomatic and military support. Some borders remain in dispute.
Country proﬁles compiled by BBC Monitoring
Much of the history of the area since that time has been one of conﬂict between Israel on one
side and Palestinians - represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation - and Israel's Arab
neighbours, on the other.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs were displaced in the ﬁghting in 1948, during which
Israel's Arab neighbours came to the aid of the Arab Higher Committee in Palestine. Israel lost
one percent of its population in the ﬁghting, which ended in a series of uneasy armistices.
A Jewish man takes part in a ceremony in Jerusalem
Israel has developed from an agrarian state run along collectivist lines into a hi-tech economy in
the past 60 years. It has absorbed Jewish immigrants from Europe, the rest of the Middle East,
North America and, most recently, the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia along the way.
Its political life has nonetheless been dominated by the conﬂict with its Arab neighbours,
including full-scale regional wars in 1948, 1967 and 1973, and many smaller-scale conﬂicts
including the 1956 invasion of Egypt and the Lebanon wars of 1982 and 2006.
Relations with the Palestinians have been a major factor in foreign and security policy. The
Palestinians in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem have lived under Israeli occupation since
1967. The settlements that Israel has built in the West Bank are home to nearly 500,000 people
and are deemed to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
Gaza conﬂict
Israel evacuated its settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and withdrew its forces, ending almost
four decades of military presence inside Gaza. Israel continues to control Gaza's air space and
coastal approaches, on the basis of which the international community considers Gaza still to be
occupied territory.
After the militant Islamic group Hamas reinforced its power in Gaza in June 2007, Israel
intensiﬁed its economic blockade of the Strip. In 2008 and in 2014 it launched major military
assaults on Gaza to halt cross-border rocket attacks.
In 1979 Egypt and Israel signed a peace agreement, but it wasn't until the early 1990s, after
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years of an uprising known as the intifada, that a peace process began with the Palestinians.
Despite the handover of Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control, a ﬁnal
agreement has yet to be reached.
The main stumbling blocks include the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and
their descendants, Jewish settlements, and attacks by Palestinian armed groups.
The ancient hilltop fortress of Masada is one of many historical sites to be found in Israel
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