Landeninformatie: Israel en de Palestijnse gebieden
The division of the former British mandate of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel in the years after the end of World War II have been at the heart of Middle Eastern conflicts for the past half century.
The creation of Israel was the culmination of the Zionist movement, whose aim was a homeland for Jews scattered all over the world following the Diaspora. After the Nazi Holocaust, pressure grew for the international recognition of a Jewish state, and in 1948 Israel came into being.
Overview
Much of the history of the region 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 Palestinians were displaced, and several wars were fought involving Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
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 Jerusalem's Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif
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Palestinians in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, have lived under Israeli occupation since 1967. The settlements that Israel has built in the West Bank are home to around 400,000 people and are deemed to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
Israel evacuated its settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and withdrew its forces, ending almost four decades of military occupation.
In 1979 Egypt and Israel signed a peace agreement, but it wasn't until the early 1990s, after 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 status" agreement has yet to be reached.
The main stumbling blocks include the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlements.
Facts
ISRAEL FACTS
- Full name: State of Israel
- Population: 6.9 million (UN, 2007)
- Seat of government: Jerusalem, though most foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv
- Area: Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics cites 22,072 sq km (8,522 sq miles), including Jerusalem and Golan
- Major languages: Hebrew, Arabic
- Major religions: Judaism, Islam
- Life expectancy: 79 years (men), 83 years (women) (UN)
- Monetary unit: 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot
- Main exports: Computer software, military equipment, chemicals, agricultural products
- GNI per capita: US $18,620 (World Bank, 2006)
- Internet domain: .il
- International dialling code: +972
PALESTINIAN FACTS
- Population: 4 million (UN, 2007)
- Intended seat of government: East Jerusalem
- Area: Palestinian Ministry of Information cites 5,970 sq km (2,305 sq miles) for West Bank territories and 365 sq km (141 sq miles) for Gaza
- Major language: Arabic
- Major religion: Islam
- Life expectancy: 72 years (men), 75 years (women) (UN)
- Monetary unit: 1 Jordan dinar = 1,000 fils, 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot
- Main exports: Citrus
- GNI per capita: US $1,120 (World Bank, 2006)
- Internet domain: .ps
- International dialling code: +970
Leaders
Israeli president: Shimon Peres
The Israeli president has a mainly ceremonial role; executive power is vested in the cabinet, headed by the prime minister.
Israel's elder statesman: Shimon Peres |
On 13 June 2007, the Israeli parliament chose the veteran politician Shimon Peres to succeed Moshe Katsav, who had taken leave of absence from the presidency earlier in the year after being accused of various sexual offences. Mr Katsav formally resigned on 29 June after agreeing to plead guilty to several of the offences as part of a plea bargain that removed two rape charges against him.
Though the post is largely ceremonial, the president has in the past been seen by many Israelis as the nation's moral compass, and many hoped that Mr Peres would restore dignity to what they saw as a tarnished office.
Mr Peres was a leading member of the Labour party for decades, but left in 2005 and later joined the centrist Kadima party.
He has twice been prime minister, and in 1994 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his role in bringing about the signing of Israel's first interim peace accord with the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Oslo the previous year.
Israeli prime minister: Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert, from the centrist Kadima party, leads a four-party coalition which includes the centre-left Labour party and the ultra-orthodox Shas party. Kadima emerged as the largest party in parliament in elections in March 2006.
Ehud Olmert inherited the Kadima leadership |
He faced his first real test in July, when Israel waged a weeks-long military campaign against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. Political opponents alleged shortcomings in the conduct of the war. The prime minister said the offensive had destroyed much of Hezbollah's weaponry and infrastructure.
Mr Olmert says he wants to fix permanent borders for Israel. This would involve a withdrawal from parts of the West Bank and the absorption into Israel of several big Jewish settlement blocs in the occupied territories. The plan would be implemented with or without a deal with the Palestinians.
As deputy premier, Mr Olmert assumed the powers of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon when the latter suffered a major stroke in January 2006. Elections had been called before Mr Sharon became ill.
Kadima was founded by Mr Sharon after he left the right-wing Likud party in late 2005. He said peace with the Palestinians and Israeli security would be its main goals. Mr Olmert too left Likud to join the new party. Likud suffered heavy losses in the elections.
Ariel Sharon had been prime minister since 2001.
In 2002 his government decided to build a 640-km (440-mile) West Bank barrier, saying the structure was necessary to protect Israel from Palestinian suicide bombers. The International Court of Justice said the barrier breached international law.
Mr Sharon also pursued a plan to evacuate more than 8,000 Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip. He said the August 2005 pullout, which stoked anger among pro-settlement activists, was aimed at making Israel safer and could help to revive an international peace plan.
Palestinian leader: Mahmoud Abbas
Former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, the candidate of the Fatah faction, won the January 2005 poll to replace the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas |
Mr Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, had already succeeded Yasser Arafat as leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), having been Mr Arafat's deputy since 1969.
The surprise victory of the militant Islamic movement Hamas in parliamentary polls in January 2006 led to heightened tension between the Palestinian factions. There were recurring bouts of violence between Hamas and Mr Abbas's Fatah faction, raising fears of civil war. In February 2007, Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a government of national unity.
However, in June 2007 Hamas took control of the Gaza strip, seriously challenging the concept of a coalition, which Abbas subsequently dissolved.
Many analysts regard Mahmoud Abbas as a moderate. He has condemned the armed Palestinian uprising and favours the resumption of negotiations with Israel. But he faces the challenge of persuading armed groups to stop their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks.
Mahmoud Abbas was born in 1935 in Safed, a town in present-day northern Israel. He co-founded Fatah - the main political grouping within the PLO - with Yasser Arafat in the late 1950s.
He established contacts with left-wing Israelis in the 1970s and was the main Palestinian architect of the 1993 Oslo accords, which led to the foundation of the Palestinian Authority.
His brief stint as premier was plagued by power struggles with Mr Arafat over the control of the Palestinian security apparatus and over planned reforms. Mr Abbas resigned in September 2003.
The former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in a French hospital on 11 November 2004, aged 75.
(Informatie van de BBC)
