ISRAEL

By Fintan Murphy-Britton
INTRODUCTION
The State of Israel is a relatively new country, being established in 1948 by the UK
as a safe have for Jews after the holocaust. It is located in the Middle East region of
Asia, so it is mostly desert. It is just east of the Sinai desert, in Egypt. Israels capital
city is Jerusalem, but Tel Aviv is also a very popular city. Israel has a stable
government, but there are many wars between the Palestinians and the Jews. It has
a President called Reuven Rivlin, and a Prime Minister called Benjamin Netanyahu.
It has a population of approximately 171,000. It has a hot climate as it is mostly
desert. Its currency, the New Israeli Shekel () is worth about 33 cents.
Israel was inhabited by Jews as far back as 1000 BC. In 646, Israel was taken by the
Arabic philistines, and became Palestine. After being established the state of Israel,
the Palestinians fought for separation from Israel. The UN recognises them as
Palestine, but they are still part of Israel. Over time, the Jewish Israelis began to
take more land from Palestine. This has caused many wars and has led to huge walls
being built across the Israeli-Palestine borders.

HISTORY
LANDMARKS
There are many famous landmarks, a large majority being religious. Many
Christians, Jews and Muslims visit Israel to see places such as:
The Western Wall
The Dead Sea
Masada
Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum)
FOOD
Israel has a wide variety of food, being both Hebrew and Arabic. Some of its
favourite foods are:
Falafel (Balls of ground chickpea)
Blintzes (Wholemeal pancakes)
Shawarma (Spit roast meat)

TRADE
Israel has many trade partners. Many of its exports include refined petroleum
(4.9%), diamonds (4.9%), medicines (20.5%) and telephones (3%). It mainly exports
to the US (23%), UK (8.6%), Netherlands (6.5%), China (5.1%) and India (5.1%).
Israel tends to import natural resources such as crude petroleum (14%), coal (4%)
and diamonds (3.8%) from places such as China (9.1%), US (8.3%), Germany (7.3%)
and Italy (4.6%). Israel has an economic complexity index of 1.40398, which makes
it the 15
th
most complex economy. Israel exports 1.7% ($712,600,000) to Australia,
its 17
th
favourite trade partner. The currency of Israel, the New Israeli Shekel (), is
equal to 33 Australian cents.

Shekels
TOURISM
Israels economy relies a lot on tourism, mainly as Jews, Christians and Muslims visit
Israel on pilgrimages. Many of their tourists come from countries with strong
religious beliefs. The places these people tend to visit are Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv,
Bethlehem and Nazareth. There are many benefits of tourism in Israel, including
jobs, money, and worldwide recognition. A lot of Australians go, mainly including
priests and religious figures. In 2012, Israel received 30,000 Australian tourists,
making up 1% of all tourists visiting Israel.

Tel-Aviv
Jerusalem
HEALTH
Israel is a relatively healthy country, as the most common causes of death are the
same as most rich countries. Some of the common causes of death in Israel include
cancer, with 10,000 deaths per year, heart disease, with 6,700 deaths, and diabetes,
with 2,500 deaths. The average life span of Israel is 82, and the infant mortality per
1000 is 39. Israel has a force of 32,000 physicians, 9,000 dentists and 6,000
pharmacists.

SECURITY
Israel is not a very secure country as there have been many wars. In 1948 the UK
took some of the land from the Palestinians, who occupied what is now called
Israel, and the Jews and Palestinians fought over the land. Currently there is a war
between Israel and the Palestinian-occupied Gaza strip. It is very unsafe as they are
firing missiles at each other. Israel has a police force of 35,000, and a border patrol
of about 8,000. Israel receives aid from the US because of the war.

SECURITY CONTINUED
Recently Israel has had many wars, both within and outside the country, including
the 6 day war, 1948 Palestine war and the Suez Crisis. There is currently a war going
on between Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

Suez Crisis
Six Day War
THANKS FOR WATCHING!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Western Wall Image commons.wikimedia.org 5/8/14
Dead Sea Image en.wikipedia.org 5/8/14
Shawarma no.wikipedia.org 7/8/14
Falafel en.wikipedia.org 7/8/14
Masada de.wikipedia.org 7/8/14
Israel map: en.wikipedia.org 8/8/14
Israel flag: openclipart.org 8/8/14
Palestine map: en.wikipedia.org 18/8/14
Websites:
www.israel-food-guide.com/israeli-food.php
http://www.factmonster.com/country/israel.html
http://visionsof.org/israel/
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/is.html
BIBLIOGRAPHY - CONTINUED
Six Day War image www.glogster.com 10/9/14
Suez Crisis - www.bbc.co.uk 10/9/14
Israel-Gaza Conflict - www.bbc.co.uk 10/9/14
Red Cross - www.vectorportal.com 10/9/14
New Israeli Shekel www.virtualjerusalem.com 10/9/14
Jerusalem - www.travelpulse.com 10/9/14
Cityscape - smartrip-israel.com 10/9/14
www.thejerusalemconnection.us 18/9/14
www.tours4theworld.com 18/9/14
www.cbs.gov.il/engindex.htm 10/9/14