Israel is a small country in the Middle East, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, in a region of profound significance to several of the world's major religions. Established as a modern state in 1948 as a homeland for the Jewish people, it sits on land of deep historical and religious meaning. A developed, high-technology nation, it is also at the centre of one of the world's most enduring and contested conflicts.
The land has been inhabited for many thousands of years and was home in antiquity to Israelite and Judean kingdoms, central to the origins of Judaism. It later came under the rule of empires including the Romans, who dispersed much of the Jewish population, followed by Byzantine, Islamic, Crusader, and Ottoman rule. In the late nineteenth century the Zionist movement sought to re-establish a Jewish homeland, and after the end of British rule the State of Israel was declared in 1948.
Much of the earliest history of the region is known through the Hebrew Bible, which describes patriarchs, an exodus from Egypt, and a united kingdom under David and Solomon. These narratives are foundational to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim tradition. How much of the earliest of them reflects documented history, as opposed to later tradition, is genuinely debated among archaeologists and historians, with the evidence for the most ancient events remaining limited and contested.
Despite its small size, Israel holds a striking variety of landscapes, from the Mediterranean coastal plain where most people live, to green hills and valleys in the north, the Jordan River and the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the Earth's land surface, in the east, and the arid Negev Desert across the south. This compact diversity, set in a dry region, has made water and land central concerns throughout its history.
The flag of Israel is white with two horizontal blue stripes and, at its centre, a blue Star of David, the six-pointed star that is a long-standing symbol of Judaism and the Jewish people. The design is based on the traditional Jewish prayer shawl, the tallit, with its stripes, linking the modern state to religious and cultural tradition. The flag was adopted soon after the state was established.
Israel was founded as a Jewish state, and the majority of its citizens are Jewish, spanning a wide range from the secular to the strictly religious. It is also home to a significant Arab minority, most of them Muslims, along with Christians and the Druze. The land contains sites of the highest importance to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, above all in Jerusalem, which makes the country a focus of religious devotion and of deep contention.
Israeli cuisine is a vibrant blend, drawing on the food traditions of Jewish communities gathered from around the world and on the cooking of the surrounding Middle East. Dishes such as falafel and hummus, shakshuka of eggs poached in tomato sauce, and fresh salads are everyday staples, alongside foods brought by immigrants from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The result is a varied and fast-evolving food culture.
Israel is known for innovative, technologically advanced agriculture that has made productive use of a dry and difficult environment, pioneering techniques such as drip irrigation that are now used worldwide. The country grows citrus fruits, of which it was long a famous exporter, along with dates, vegetables, and flowers, often in the desert. The communal farming settlements known as kibbutzim played an important role in its early agricultural development.
The establishment of Israel in 1948 was a landmark in modern history, following the Holocaust and the long Zionist movement. It also marked the beginning of a prolonged conflict with neighbouring Arab states and with the Palestinians over the same land, including several wars and an unresolved dispute over territory, borders, and the status of Jerusalem. This Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains one of the most consequential and contested issues in world affairs.
Israel has a population of around 9.8 million people. The majority are Jewish, drawn from communities across the world and speaking Hebrew, the revived national language, while a substantial minority are Arabs, most of them citizens of the state. The population is highly urban, concentrated along the coast around Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem. Israeli society is marked by deep internal diversity and by the long shadow of the surrounding conflict.
