Topic outline of Israel

:"For an alphabetical index of this subject, see the List of Israel-related articles."

Israel, officially known as the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East and Southwest Asia located on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. [harvnb|Skolnik|2007|pp=132–232] The West Bank and Gaza Strip, which are partially administrated by the Palestinian National Authority, are also adjacent. With a population of about 7.2 million, the majority of whom are Jews, Israel is the world's only Jewish state. [cite web |url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2007&country=7199 |work=Country Report |title=Israel |publisher=Freedom House |year=2007 |accessdate=2007-07-15] It is also home to Arab Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Samaritan, as well as other religious and ethnic minority groups.

The modern state of Israel has its roots in the Land of Israel, a concept central to Judaism for over three thousand years. After World War I, the League of Nations approved the British Mandate of Palestine with the intent of creating a "national home for the Jewish people." [cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/palmanda.htm |publisher=Yale University |work=The Avalon Project |title=The Palestine Mandate |date=1922-07-24 |accessdate=2007-09-06] In 1947, the United Nations approved the partition of the Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. [cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/un/res181.htm |publisher=Yale University |title=United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 |accessdate=2007-08-21 |date=1947-11-29 |work=The Avalon Project] The Arab League rejected the plan, but on May 14, 1948, Israel declared its independence. The new country's victory in the subsequent Arab-Israeli War expanded the borders of the Jewish state beyond those in the UN Partition Plan. Since then, Israel has been in conflict with many of the neighboring Arab countries, resulting in several major wars and decades of violence until this day. [cite web |url=http://www.visionofhumanity.com/rankings |title=Global Peace Index Rankings |publisher=http://www.visionofhumanity.com, In cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit |date=2007 |accessdate=2008-02-08] Since its foundation, Israel's boundaries and even the State's very right to exist have been subject to dispute, although Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and efforts are being made to reach a permanent accord with the Palestinians.

Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system and universal suffrage. [harvnb|Rummel|1997|p=257. "A current list of liberal democracies includes: Andorra, Argentina, ... , Cyprus, ... , Israel, ..."] [citeweb |url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=70&release=317 |title=Global Survey 2006: Middle East Progress Amid Global Gains in Freedom |accessdate=2007-07-01 |date=2005-12-19 |publisher=Freedom House] The Prime Minister serves as head of government and the Knesset serves as Israel's legislative body. In terms of nominal gross domestic product, the nation's economy is estimated as being the 44th-largest in the world; [cite web |url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP.pdf |format=pdf |accessdate=2008-03-03 |date=2007-07-01 |title=Total GDP 2006 |publisher=The World Bank] Israel ranks the highiest among Middle Eastern countries on the basis of human development, [cite web |url=http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/ |publisher=United Nations Development Programme |title=Human Development Report 2006 |accessdate=2007-07-15] freedom of the press, [cite web |url=http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24025 |publisher=Reporters Without Borders |title=Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007 |accessdate=2008-02-29] and economy.cite web |url=http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Competitiveness%20Report/index.htm |title=Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007 |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=2007-02-14 |accessdate=2007-07-15] [See Economic Freedom of the World article] Jerusalem is the country's capital, seat of government, and largest city, and Israel's main financial center encompasses Tel Aviv.

The following topic outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to Israel:

__TOC__

* Pronunciation:
* International rankings of Israel
** 151st largest country
** 96th most populous country

Geography of Israel

: "Main article: Geography of Israel"

* Israel is: a country
* Location:
** Northern Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere
** Eurasia
*** Asia
**** Southwest Asia
** Middle East
*** The Levant
** Extreme points of Israel
* Population of Israel: (May 2008) "Total:" 7,282,000 people [http://www.cbs.gov.il/population/new_2007/table3.pdf] "note:" includes over 200,000 people in East Jerusalem, about 270,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and about 20,000 in the Golan Heights (July 2007 estimate) - 96th most populous country
* Area of Israel: unit sqkm|22072|0|lk=on (Including the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem) - 151st largest country
*

Environment of Israel

* Climate of Israel
* Ecology of Israel
** Ecoregions in Israel
** Renewable energy in Israel
* Geology of Israel
* National parks of Israel
* Protected areas of Israel
* Wildlife of Israel
** Flora of Israel
** Fauna of Israel
*** Birds of Israel
*** Mammals of Israel

Natural geographic features of Israel

* Fjords of Israel: None
* Glaciers of Israel: None
* Islands of Israel
* Lakes of Israel
* Mountains of Israel
** Volcanoes in Israel
* Rivers of Israel
** Waterfalls of Israel
* Valleys of Israel
* World Heritage Sites in Israel

Regions of Israel

: "Main article: Regions of Israel"

Ecoregions of Israel

: "Main article: Ecoregions of Israel"

Administrative divisions of Israel

: "Main article: Administrative divisions of Israel"

* Districts of Israel (6)
** Subdistricts of Israel (15)
*** Natural regions of Israel (50)
**** Municipalities of Israel

Districts of Israel

Subdistricts of Israel

Natural regions of Israel

Municipalities of Israel

* Capital of Israel
* Cities of Israel

Demography of Israel

: "Main article: Demographics of Israel"

Government and politics of Israel

: "Main article: Government of Israel and Politics of Israel"

* Form of government: parliamentary representative democratic republic
* Capital of Israel: Capital of Israel

* Elections in Israel
** (specific elections)
* Political parties in Israel
* Political scandals of Israel
* Taxation in Israel

Branches of the government of Israel

Executive branch of the government of Israel

* Head of state: President of Israel, Shimon Peres
* Head of government: Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert
* Cabinet of Israel

Legislative branch of the government of Israel

* Knesset (unicameral parliament)

Judicial branch of the government of Israel

* Supreme Court of Israel
* District Courts serves as the appellate courts and also serve as the court of first instance for some cases;
* Magistrate Courts serves as the court of first instance

Foreign relations of Israel

* Diplomatic missions of Israel
* United States-Israel relations

International organization membership

Israel is a member of:
* United Nations

Law and order in Israel

: "Main article: Law of Israel"

* Capital punishment in Israel
* Constitution of Israel
* Crime in Israel
* Human rights in Israel
** LGBT rights in Israel
** Freedom of religion in Israel
* Law enforcement in Israel

Military of Israel

: "Main article: Military of Israel"

* Command
** Commander-in-chief:
*** Ministry of Defence of Israel
* Forces
** Army of Israel
** Navy of Israel
** Air Force of Israel
** Special forces of Israel
* Military history of Israel
* Military ranks of Israel

Local government in Israel

History of Israel

: "Main article: History of Israel, Timeline of the history of Israel, and

* Military history of Israel

Culture of Israel

: "Main article: Culture of Israel"

* Architecture of Israel
* Cuisine of Israel
* Ethnic minorities in Israel
* Festivals in Israel
* Humor in Israel
* Languages of Israel
* Media in Israel
* National symbols of Israel
** Coat of arms of Israel
** Flag of Israel
** National anthem of Israel
* People of Israel
* Prostitution in Israel
* Public holidays in Israel
* Records of Israel
* Religion in Israel
** Buddhism in Israel
** Christianity in Israel
** Hinduism in Israel
** Islam in Israel
** Judaism in Israel
** Sikhism in Israel
* World Heritage Sites in Israel

The Arts in Israel

* Art in Israel
* Cinema of Israel
* Literature of Israel
* Music of Israel
* Television in Israel
* Theatre in Israel

Sports in Israel

: "Main article: Sports in Israel"

* Football in Israel

Economy of Israel

: "Main article: Economy of Israel"

* Economic rank (by nominal GDP):

* Agriculture in Israel
* Banking in Israel
** National Bank of Israel
* Communications in Israel
* Companies of Israel
* Currency of Israel: Israeli new sheqel
* Economic history of Israel
* Energy policy of Israel
* Mining in Israel
* Oil industry in Israel
* Tourism in Israel
* Transport in Israel

* Israel Stock Exchange

Education in Israel

: "Main article: Education in Israel"

Infrastructure of Israel

* Communications in Israel
** Internet in Israel
* Energy in Israel
* Health care in Israel
* Transportation in Israel
** Airports in Israel
** Rail transport in Israel
** Roads in Israel
* Water supply and sanitation in Israel

See also

* List of basic geography topics
* List of Israel-related articles (alphabetical index)
* List of international rankings

References

External links

; Government
* (Hebrew) [http://www.gov.il/ Israel Government Portal] (with links to English, Arabic versions)
* (Hebrew) [http://www.pmo.gov.il/ Prime Minister's Office] , official site (with links to English, Arabic versions)
* (Hebrew) [http://www.president.gov.il/ President of the State of Israel] , official site (with links to English, Arabic versions)
* [http://www.knesset.gov.il/ The Knesset] , official site of Israel's parliament
* (Hebrew) [http://www.court.gov.il/ The Supreme Court] , official site (with links to English, Arabic versions)
* [http://www.mfa.gov.il/ Ministry of Foreign Affairs] , official site
* (Hebrew) [http://www.cbs.gov.il/ Central Bureau of Statistics] , official site (with links to English, Arabic versions)
* [http://www.goisrael.com/ Ministry of Tourism] , official site
* [http://www.moit.gov.il/ Ministry of Industry Trade & Labor] Official Site
* [http://www.dat.gov.il/ Ministry of Religion]
* [http://www.moch.gov.il/moch/ Ministry of construction and Housing]

; General reference
*
* Encyclopædia Britannica entry on [http://www.britannica.com/nations/Israel Israel]
* BBC country profile of [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/803257.stm Israel]
* Library of Congress Country Studies entry on [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html Israel]
* Columbia University library related to [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/mideast/cuvlm/Israel.html Israel]
* [http://www.hweb.org.uk/content/view/69/3/ hWeb - Israel-Palestine in Maps] dead link|date=May 2008

;Media
* [http://www.jpost.com/ "The Jerusalem Post"]
* [http://www.ynetnews.com/ Ynet News] , based on Tel Aviv
* [http://www.iba.org.il/ Israel Broadcasting Authority] , state broadcasting network he icon (with link to English version)
* [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/ Israel National News]
* [http://www.kolisrael.com/ Kol Israel] Voice of Israel
* [http://www.haaretz.com/ "HaAretz"]

; Other
*
* [ [http://wikimapia.org/#lat=31.625321&lon=35.145264&z=7&l=0&m=a&v=2 Israel] at WikiMapia] Geo Links for Topical outline of Israel
*
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