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El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. Business Information, Profile, and History

Ben-Gurion Airport
P.O. Box 41
IL-70100 Lod
Israel

Company Perspectives:

Established in 1949 as the national airline of Israel, El Al has grown into a prestigious international carrier, ranked by IATA as one of the world's three most efficient air carriers, boasting a consecutive ten-year profitability record. Productivity. Punctuality. Polished professionalism. In-flight services and indulgences, pampering the passenger with exciting Kosher culinary delights--from Indian tandoori to Japanese teriyaki--and a myriad of audio and video entertainment programs. Uncompromising security. Expanded global coverage. And, incomparable Israeli hospitality. The friendliness and personalized touch that make time fly make El Al more than just a convenient mode of travel. A unique combination of amenities and advantages... earning international appeal, and making El Al a preferred global gateway to every corner of the world.

History of El Al Israel Airlines Ltd.

In its 50-year history El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. has often had to maneuver around terrorists and hostile airspace. El Al flies in the face of danger like no other airline, but with plans to privatize the company underway in 1998, the most serious threats to its survival were financial. As part of its unique character, El Al offers kosher in-flight meals and does not fly passengers on the Jewish Sabbath or certain religious holidays.

To the Skies in 1948

El Al was created as a symbol of national independence. Immediately after its founding on May 14, 1948, Israel found itself embroiled in a battle for survival with neighboring Arab states. The United States and most European countries subsequently imposed an embargo on all combatants. Although Israel's provisional government had already made establishing a civil airline a priority, President Chaim Weizmann's trip to Geneva gave the project impetus. The Israeli government wanted to fly him home in one of its own planes, but its military craft could not make the trip due to the embargo.

A four-engine C-54 military transport was repainted in civilian colors, and outfitted with extra fuel tanks to make the ten-hour flight nonstop--the meandering flight path was also necessitated by the embargo. With a cabin full of fine furnishings, the first plane marked "El Al Ltd./Israel National Aviation Company" departed Israel's Ekron Air Base on September 28, 1948. After returning from Switzerland the next day, the plane was stripped of its civilian luxuries and returned to military service.

Although the flight and its accompanying documentation were hastily arranged, the crew was adorned in tradition. Uniform insignia featured a flying camel, the mascot of early Jewish aviators, and the airline's name itself harkened back even further. Taken from the book of Hosea (11:7), "el al" means "to the skies." The Star of David was also incorporated into the airline's livery. Despite these trappings the airline had existed on paper only a couple of days and would not be formally incorporated until November 15.

Aryeh Pincus, a lawyer originally from South Africa, was chosen to lead the company, which faced impressive challenges from the beginning. Airlifting imperiled Jewish refugees from Yemen and Iraq were among its earliest priorities. El Al borrowed military aircraft until February 1949, when it bought a couple of Douglas DC-4 aircraft (converted military C-54s) from American Airlines. After the necessary clearances were negotiated, the two planes flew to their home base, Lod Airport in Israel. Its first scheduled flights, between Tel Aviv and Paris (refueling in Rome), started in July 1949. By the end of the year, the airline had flown passengers to London and Johannesburg as well. In the fall of 1950, El Al acquired Universal Airways, founded by South African Zionists. A state-run domestic airline, Arkia, was also founded, with El Al half owner.

The Challenging 1950s

The company began shipping freight to Europe using military surplus C-46 transports in 1950. It also initiated its first charter service to the United States; scheduled service soon followed. Disaster struck in February 1950, however, when one of El Al's DC-4s was destroyed attempting at take off in Tel Aviv. There were no casualties. Another DC-4 carrying cargo crashed into a Swiss hillside the next year, killing several crew members. In July 1955 an El Al Constellation returning to Tel Aviv from Vienna was downed in flight by Bulgarian MiG-15 interceptors.

The newly acquired Constellations were superior aircraft with pressurized cabins that could fly above bad weather. However, they were noisy and unreliable, and challenged El Al's ambitious timetables. In 1955 the airline placed a controversial order for two Bristol Britannia turboprops--a bold leap in both technology and cost for the fledgling carrier. El Al became only the second airline to fly the Britannia after the British Overseas Airways Corporation.

In spite of the hopeful purchase, times were hard for the airline, as yet unprofitable, as well as the Israeli government. Both were pressed for qualified professionals, compounded by the challenges of taking on thousands of dispossessed immigrants amid hostile surroundings. During the Sinai War, Egypt blocked Israel's shipping lanes. After Israeli forces invaded the Sinai Peninsula, no foreign airlines would fly into the country. Having an independent civil airline remained an important government priority, and El Al endured.

El Al ended the decade with a capable new leader, Efraim Ben-Arzi, and the capacity to compete in the London-New York route with its swift, and popular, new Britannias--the fastest scheduled Atlantic crossing at the time. The company's bookings increased to impressive levels; the $18 million gamble on the new planes seemed to have paid off. Trans-Atlantic fares increased from 8,000 in 1957, before the turboprop service was introduced, to 32,000 in 1960. However, the de Havilland Comet 4, Boeing 707, and Douglas DC-8 jets, all introduced by 1959, soon eliminated the Britannia's speed advantage. The jet age had arrived.

Reaching New Heights in the Jet Age

El Al posted its first profit in 1960. However, in order to remain competitive, El Al began flying the new Boeing 707 jet. The airline promptly set records in June 1961 for longest nonstop commercial flight (New York to Tel Aviv) and speed (in 9.5 hours). A jet similar to the 707, the Boeing 720B, provided the power and endurance needed to carry the Star of David to Johannesburg via Teheran. Due to airspace restrictions, El Al had previously been forced to lease jets from other airlines to complete the passage, which lasted 16 hours even with the 720B.

The speed and comfort offered by the Boeing 707 helped El Al land more than half of all passengers flying into Israel. (The company subsequently became the country's chief promoter of tourism; only a fraction of its passengers were business travelers.) In spite of the high cost, jet service would boost company profits for years to come. News of these first profits precipitated a series of walk-outs among dissatisfied pilots and mechanics.

Egypt laid siege to Israel's Red Sea port of Eliat in May 1967, prompting El Al to evacuate tourists there. Its planes flew military support missions, and many of its staff were conscripted. In a month, actual hostilities were underway. Though they lasted only a week, the airline lost four of its pilots in battle. Not surprisingly, the only carrier serving Israel was El Al, though it did modify its schedule to mostly night flights.

After the Six-Day War, Israel controlled several new territories, including all of Jerusalem. After an intense public relations effort, tourism returned to Israel in unrelenting waves. Control of the Sinai gave the airline a direct route to Johannesburg, cutting flying time from Tel Aviv by nearly one half.

In order to promote tourism, the Israeli government proposed lifting the five-year-old ban on incoming charter flights. Although El Al was for the most part successful in fighting the charters, chairman Ben-Arzi and president Col. Shlomo Lahat resigned in the wake of this vigorous political contest. Mordechai Ben-Ari, previously the airline's commercial manager, was designated company president.

El Al began flying behind the Iron Curtain with scheduled visits to Bucharest commencing in 1968. Increased demand soon led to dedicated cargo flights to Europe and America. A catering subsidiary, Teshet Tourism and Aviation Services Ltd., was also formed in this year. El Al posted annual profits of approximately $2 million in 1968 and 1969.

New Challenges in the 1970s

During this time the airline was forced to reckon with an alarming new development which would remain a grave concern for commercial aviation: terrorism. An El Al flight from Rome to Tel Aviv was hijacked to Algeria in July 1968; during the next two years attacks by Arab terrorists increased in violence. El Al quickly began developing the tough (and expensive) security measures that would become its trademark, including manning every flight with undercover armed guards and sealing the cockpit area. They proved effective on September 6, 1970, when operatives of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacked four airliners in one day. While Pan Am, TWA, and Swissair saw their planes destroyed, El Al's survived: the pilot plunged the aircraft 14,000 feet to help the crew gain the upper hand on the terrorists.

The stakes increased even more when El Al began operating the colossal 400-seat Boeing 747 "jumbo jet." New facilities were needed to house and service the aircraft, which was twice as large as any of its predecessors. Although the first two jets sold for more than $30 million each, the accompanying preparations required another three times the investment. El Al's first 747, resplendent in a new paint scheme, was delivered in May 1971.

As with its previous investments in new aircraft such as the Constellation and the 707, this purchase did not escape controversy. Critics believed it was simply too risky, given the enormous cost and the already serious threat of terrorism. However, traffic soared with the two 747s, and El Al's relatively small operation (totaling just 12 jets) became one to emulate world wide. A third 747 was delivered in 1973. The airline used it to introduce nonstop service from Tel Aviv to New York. At 13 hours against the prevailing winds, it was the longest scheduled flight in the world. The success of the 747 service inspired plans for expansion, but they were truncated by the surprise attacks of October 1973 that launched the Yom Kippur War. Again El Al aircraft and personnel were mobilized for the country's defense, and again all foreign airlines canceled flights to Israel. Although hostilities lasted only three weeks, El Al was forced to contend with the effects for some time to come. All operations in Ethiopia were halted due to Arab political pressure there. The Arab oil embargo greatly increased the price of jet fuel.

Fighting between Cyprus and Turkey scared all other airlines out of the eastern Mediterranean again in July 1974, adding to El Al's workload. In addition, El Al was plagued with labor unrest. Although a tentative settlement was reached in February 1975, workers walked out for almost three weeks in October. This was repeated in April 1978, further damaging the company's reputation. The company averaged ten work stoppages a year.

In 1977 El Al created a subsidiary to offer nonscheduled flights, El Al Charter Services Ltd., later renamed Sun d'Or International Airlines Ltd. A global recession kept tourists home and in 1975, El Al failed to post a profit for the first time in a dozen years. Delays in replacing the Boeing 707 and 720 jetliners, relatively inefficient and too noisy for some European airports, did not help the bottom line.

Miserable financial results and continuing labor strife prompted the Israeli government to install new management. Mordechai Hod, an air force commander, became president in 1977 but resigned less than two years later. Avraham Shavit, a manufacturing executive, was appointed board chairman, and eventually El Al veteran Itzhak Shander was named president.

In Iran the situation progressively deteriorated in 1978 with the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Despite unstable local fuel supplies and little control tower support, El Al dispatched additional 747s to fly thousands of emigrants out of the country. The company's facilities in Teheran were eventually either burned or confiscated. El Al also scaled back certain operations elsewhere in the world. It canceled a money-losing route to Mexico City in 1979. Some progress was made, however. A historically significant and popular new route to Cairo, El Al's only Arab destination, opened in 1980.

A New El Al for a New Decade

New management succeeded in both negotiating pay cuts and deflating the bloated work force, which had reached 6,000 employees. Some poorly-performing sales offices were closed. The Israeli government privatized the domestic carrier Arkia, in which El Al had a 50 percent share. Morale was also turned around, and the airline's on-time record and customer service again earned world class status. However, after an independent audit recommended further layoffs, labor troubles erupted again.

The government grounded El Al after a flight steward strike in September 1982, canceling all but a handful of flight operations. The government appointed Amram Blum receiver, with ultimate authority for running the company. Rafi Harlev was named president. Employee and management representatives were able to produce an agreement under the glare of bankruptcy court. An end to strikes was negotiated, although a thousand more workers were to be furloughed.

The Israeli government provided El Al with two new Boeing 737 mid-size airliners and also agreed to purchase four state-of-the-art Boeing 767 long-range jets worth $200 million. El Al could begin flying again in January 1983, but the damage seemed grave indeed. For the fiscal year ending in April, the airline lost $123.3 million. Fortunately, its customers proved loyal and eager to return to the skies. Within a couple of years the airline was again the model of productivity. Profitability returned in 1987, in spite of increased terrorism in Europe. The route system of the revived carrier expanded quickly. In May 1988 El Al surpassed its old record by flying 7,000 miles from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles nonstop. Due to glasnost, flights to Poland and Yugoslavia were able to commence in 1989.

At the end of the decade, the airline seemed likely to recover from receivership, although increased terrorism again dampened tourism. In 1988 the carrier eked out a small $19 million profit on total revenues of $665 million. The government planned to sell about half of the company to employees and investors. El Al operated 20 aircraft in 1990, including nine 747 jumbo jets, and had begun replacing its aging Boeing 707s with the state-of-the-art 757 model.

New Partnerships for a New Century

El Al continued to operate profitably throughout the Gulf War by concentrating on cargo flights. Cargo operations experienced one of the company's worst disasters in October 1992 when a 747 freighter crashed into a Dutch apartment building.

In cooperation with Aeroflot, El Al conducted another airlift of Jewish refugees in January 1990. The airline transported more than 400,000 Soviet Jews from Moscow within three years. In May 1991 more than a thousand Ethiopian immigrants were airlifted on a single Boeing 747. In contrast, El Al usually seated only ten passengers in the first class section of these planes.

El Al's wings stretched next to Asia, first with charter flights. Harlev boasted of the airline's exclusive "wall to wall" service: i.e., from the Wailing Wall to the Great Wall of China. The company also increased efficiency, investing in a 24.9 percent share of North American Airlines to give it flexibility in carrying passengers within the United States. In November 1995 El Al entered its first code-sharing agreement, with American Airlines.

The Israeli government began adopting "open skies" policies in the mid-1990s, exposing the airline to severe competition at home. Approximately 40 scheduled airlines and 40 charter airlines served the market at the time. In 1996 Arkia and Royal Jordanian Airlines began connecting Tel Aviv with Amman. Nevertheless, after nearly ten consecutive years of profits, the airline emerged from receivership status in 1995. Unfortunately, the next year El Al posted the considerable loss of $83.1 million, due in part to a new wave of terrorism.

In order to keep all its planes in the sky, El Al introduced flights "to nowhere": passengers would enjoy various in-flight entertainments while circling the Mediterranean. It also promoted day trips for shopping in London or visiting newly accessible sites of religious importance in eastern Europe. With routes connecting East and West and decades of experience flying the longest routes, El Al hoped to develop Ben-Gurion Airport into a hub for intercontinental travel. The North American market remained responsible for nearly one-third of the carrier's revenues.

Harlev resigned in March 1996, frustrated by government privatization plans that had dragged on over a decade. Joel Feldschuh took over as president in October. El Al carried nearly three million passengers per year and more than 270,000 tons of cargo on 27 jets, including three state of the art Boeing 747-400s. The Israeli government planned to sell all shares of the company, not just 50 percent as previously planned, in a public offering in 1998.

Principal Subsidiaries:Teshet Tourism and Aviation Services Ltd.; Larrome Hotels (Int.) Company; Borenstein Caterers; Sun D'Or International Airlines Ltd.; Near East Tours (Holland); Tammam (77%); Air Consolidators (50%); Maman (26%); Israel Tours (Denmark; 76%); Fox Travel (Switzerland; 26%); T.C.D. Travel Bureau (Hungary; 50%); North American Airlines, Inc. (USA; 24.9%).

Related information about Israel

Official name State of Israel, Heb Medinat Yisrael

Local names Yisra'el (Hebrew), Isr達'挑l (Arabic) Timezone GMT +2 Area 20 770 km族/8017 sq mi (within boundaries defined by 1949 armistice agreements) population total (2002e) 6 394 000 (excluding E Jerusalem and Israeli settlers in occupied territories) Status Republic Date of independence 1948 Capital Jerusalem Languages Hebrew and Arabic (official), also European languages spoken Ethnic groups Jewish (83%), Arab (11%) Religions Jewish (85%), Muslim (11%), Christian and others (4%) Physical features Extends 420 km/261 mi N-S; width varies from 20 km/12 mi to 116 km/72 mi; mountainous interior, rising to 1208 m/3963 ft at Mt Meron; mountains near Galilee (Lake Tiberius) and Samaria in the West Bank, dropping E to below sea-level in the Jordan-Red Sea rift valley; R Jordan forms part of E border; Dead Sea, between Israel and Jordan, 400 m/1286 ft below sea level, is the largest lake and has no outlet; Negev desert (S) occupies c.60% of the country's area. Climate Mediterranean climate in N and C, with hot, dry summers and warm, wet winters; average annual temperature 9属C (Jan), 23属C (Jul) in Jerusalem; rainfall 528 mm/21 in. Currency 1 New Israeli Shekel (ILS/NIS) = 100 agorot Economy Over 90% of exports are industrial products; major tourist area, primarily to the religious centres; copper, potash, phosphates, citrus fruits, cotton, sugar beet, bananas, beef and dairy products; a world leader in agrotechnology, with areas of intensive cultivation; the kibbutz system produces c.40% of food output, but in recent years has turned increasingly towards industry. GDP (2002e) $117揃4 bn, per capita $19 500 Human Development Index (2002) 0揃896 History Zionist movement founded by Theodor Herzl, end of 19th-c; thousands of Jews returned to Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire; Britain given League of Nations mandate to govern Palestine and establish Jewish national home there, 1922; British evacuated Palestine, and Israel proclaimed independence, 1948; invasion by Arab nations, resulting in armistice, 1949; Israel gained control of the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula (as far as the Suez Canal), West Bank of the R Jordan (including E sector of Jerusalem), and the Golan Heights in Syria, during the Six-Day War, 1967; Camp David conference between Egypt and Israel, 1978; Israeli withdrawal from Sinai, 1979; invasion of Lebanon, forcing the PLO to leave Beirut, 1982–5; renewed tension with uprising of Arabs in occupied territories (the Intifada), 1988; peace agreement with PLO, and planned recognition of Palestine, 1993; withdrawal from Gaza and Jericho, 1994; conflict with Jordan formally ended, 1994; assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, 1995; Arafat elected President in first Palestine general election, Jan 1996; withdrawal from S Lebanon, 2000; escalating reprisal attacks on Palestinian targets, 2001; siege of Bethlehem, 2002; conflict ongoing, 2003– Geneva Accord peace plan launched, December 2003; fresh talks with new Palestinian government following death of Arafat, 2005; army evacuated Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip (Aug–Sep 2005) in line with Prime Minister Sharon's disengagement plan; Islamic militant group HAMAS win Palestine election (Jan 2006) posing serious threat to continuation of peace talks with Israel; Sharon suffers serious stroke in late 2005 and power transferred to vice premier Ehud Olmert; Olmert wins election for the Kadima party, Mar 2006; air and sea blockade imposed on Lebanon in major offensive after hostile action by militant group Hezbollah (Jul 2006), fighting escalates; UN broker ceasefire (Aug); air blockade lifted (Nov); parliamentary democracy, with a Prime Minister, a Cabinet, and a unicameral Parliament (Knesset); President elected for a maximum of two five-year terms.sprotected

|government_type = Parliamentary democracy
|leader_title1 = President
|leader_title2 = Prime Minister
|leader_name1 = Moshe Katsav
|leader_name2 = Ehud Olmert
|largest_city = Jerusalem
|area = 22,145¹
|areami² = 8,550¹
|area_rank = 151th
|area_magnitude = 1 E10
|percent_water = ~2%
|population_estimate = 7,026,000²
|population_estimate_year = May 2006
|population_estimate_rank = 98th
|population_census = 5,548,523
|population_census_year = 1995
|population_density = 324
|population_densitymi² = 787
|population_density_rank = 34th
|GDP_PPP_year = 2005
|GDP_PPP = $163.45 billion
|GDP_PPP_rank = 53rd
|GDP_PPP_per_capita = $23,416
|GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 28th
|HDI_year = 2003
|HDI = 0.915
|HDI_rank = 23rd
|HDI_category = high
|sovereignty_type = Independence
|sovereignty_note = From the United Kingdom
|established_event1 = Declaration
|established_date1 = 14 May 1948 (05 Iyar 5708)
|currency = New Israeli sheqel (?)
|currency_code = ILS
|time_zone = IST
|utc_offset = +2
|time_zone_DST =
|utc_offset_DST = +3
|cctld = .il
|calling_code = 972
|footnotes=¹Includes the Golan Heights (UN figure)
²Includes Israeli population living in the West Bank
|}}
Israel (Hebrew: ; It is the Middle East's only parliamentary democracy and the nation state of the indigenous people of Eretz Yisrael (Hebrew: ??? As such, it is the world's only Jewish state, though its population includes citizens from many ethnic and religious backgrounds. (See also Israelis.)

Israel is bordered by Lebanon in the north, Syria and Jordan in the east, and Egypt in the south-west. It has a population of over seven million people, in an area of around 22,000 square kilometres (8500 square miles).

Israel has a technologically advanced economy and is ranked 23rd on the 2005 United Nations Human Development Index.

Name

The name "Israel" is rooted in the Hebrew Bible, Genesis 32:28, where Jacob is renamed Israel after successfully wrestling with a mysterious adversary.this adversary was "a man", and later "God" according to Genesis 32:24?30; or "the angel", according to Hosea 12:4 The biblical nation fathered by Jacob was then called "The Children of Israel" or the "Israelites."

The modern country was named State of Israel, and its citizens are referred to as Israelis in English. "Popular Opinion" column. The use of the term Israeli to refer to a citizen of Israel was decided by the Government of Israel in the weeks immediately after independence and announced by Foreign Minister Moshe Shertok.

History

Historical roots

The first historical record of the word "Israel" comes from an Egyptian stele documenting military campaigns in Canaan. Although this stele which referred to a people (the determinative for 'country' was absent) is dated to approximately 1211 BCE, Jewish tradition holds that the Land of Israel has been a Jewish Holy Land and Promised land for 3,000 years. including the remains of the First and Second Temples of the Jewish King, Solomon. Starting around the 11th century BCE the first of a series of Jewish kingdoms and states established intermittent rule over the region that lasted more than a millennium.
Under Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and (briefly) Sassanian rule, Jewish presence in the region dwindled because of mass expulsions. In particular, the failure of the Bar Kochba Revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE resulted in a large-scale expulsion of Jews. It was during this time that the Romans gave the name Syria Palaestina to the geographic area, in an attempt to erase Jewish ties to the land. The Mishnah and Jerusalem Talmud, two of Judaism's most important religious texts, were composed in the region during this period. The Muslims conquered the land from the Byzantine Empire in 638 CE. The area was ruled by various Muslim states (interrupted by the rule of the Crusaders) before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Waves of Rabbinical students occurred in 1808 - 1809, who settled in Tiberias, Safed and then in Jerusalem.

Small waves of modern immigration occurred during the 18th and the 19th century out of religious motives. In 1878, the first modern agricultural settlement was founded in the form of Petah Tikva.

The first big wave of modern immigration to Israel, or Aliyah (?????) started in 1881 as Jews fled growing persecution, or followed the Socialist Zionist ideas of Moses Hess and others of "redemption of the soil." The following year he helped convene the first World Zionist Congress.

The establishment of Zionism led to the Second Aliyah (1904 ? In 1920, Palestine became a League of Nations mandate administered by Britain.

Jewish immigration resumed in third (1919 ? A massacre of Jews by Arabs in 1929 killed 133 Jews, including 67 in Hebron.

The rise of Nazism in 1933 led to a fifth wave of Aliyah. By the end of World War II, the number of Jews in Palestine was approximately 600,000.

In 1939, the British introduced a White Paper of 1939, which limited Jewish immigration over the course of the war to 75,000 and restricted purchase of land by Jews, perhaps in response to the Great Arab Uprising (1936-1939). www.israeltoday.co.il/Default.aspx?tabid=139&view=item&idx=726 These attempts by Jews to circumvent the blockade and flee Europe became known as Aliya Beth.

Jewish Underground groups

As tensions grew between the Jewish and Arab populations, and with little apparent support from the British Mandate authorities, the Jewish community began to rely on itself for defense.

Arab nationalists, opposed to the Balfour declaration, the mandate, and the Jewish National Home, instigated riots and pogroms against Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron, Jaffa, and Haifa. Unlike the Irgun, they refused any co-operation with the British during World War II and even attempted to work with the Nazis to secure European Jewry's emigration to Israel.
These groups had an enormous impact on events and procedures in the period preceding the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, such as Aliya Beth ? the clandestine immigration from Europe, the forming of the Israel Defense Forces, and the withdrawal of the British, as well as to a great degree forming the foundation of the political parties which exist in Israel today. The UN General Assembly approved the 1947 UN Partition Plan dividing the territory into two states, with the Jewish area consisting of roughly 55% of the land, and the Arab area roughly 45%. Jerusalem was planned to be an international region administered by the UN to avoid conflict over its status.

Immediately following the adoption of the Partition Plan by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947, David Ben-Gurion tentatively accepted the partition, while the Arab League rejected it. Scattered attacks on civilians of both sides soon turned into widespread fighting between Arabs and Jews, this civil war being the first "phase" of the 1948 War of Independence.

The State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14 1948, one day before the expiry of the Palestine Mandate.

Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations on May 11, 1949.

War of Independence and migration

Following the State of Israel's establishment, the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq joined the fighting and began the second phase of the 1948 Arab ? Jordan, for its part, held the large mountainous areas of Judea and Samaria, which became known as the West Bank. Egypt took control of a small strip of land along the coast, which became known as the Gaza Strip.

During and after the war, then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion set about establishing order by dismantling the Palmach and underground organizations like the Irgun and Lehi. Those two groups were classified as terror organizations after the murder of Folke Bernadotte, a Swedish diplomat.

Large numbers of the Arab population fled the newly-created Jewish State during the Palestinian exodus, which is referred to by many Palestinian groups and individuals as the Nakba (Arabic: ??????), meaning "disaster" or "cataclysm". to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel the full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions, but many refused.

Estimates of the final refugee count range from 600,000 to 900,000 with the official United Nations count at 711,000.General Progress Report and Supplementary Report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Covering the Period from 11 December 1949 to 23 October 1950, published by the United Nations Conciliation Commission, October 23 1950. Over the following years approximately 850,000 Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews fled or were expelled from surrounding Arab countries and Iran. See: Jewish exodus from Arab lands

1950s and 1960s

Between 1954 and 1955, under Moshe Sharett as prime minister, the Lavon Affair, a failed attempt to bomb targets in Egypt, caused political disgrace in Israel. Compounding this, in 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, much to the chagrin of the United Kingdom and France. After the Suez Crisis, the three collaborators faced international condemnation, and Israel was forced to withdraw its forces from the Sinai Peninsula.

In 1955, Ben-Gurion once again became prime minister and served as such until his final resignation in 1963. After Ben-Gurion's resignation, Levi Eshkol was appointed to the post.

In 1961, the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who had been largely responsible for the Final Solution, the planned extermination of the Jews of Europe, was captured in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and brought to trial in Israel. When Egypt closed the strategic Straits of Tiran to Israeli vessels, Israel deemed it a casus belli for pre-emptively attacking Egypt on June 5. Territorially, Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights. The Green Line of 1949 became the administrative boundary between Israel and her Occupied Territories, also called Disputed Territories. American and Israeli investigations into the incident concluded that the attack was a tragic accident involving confusion over the identity of the Liberty.

In 1969 Golda Meir, Israel's first and, to date, only female prime minister was elected.

1970s

Between 1968 and 1972, a period known as the War of Attrition, numerous scuffles erupted along the border between Israel and Syria and Egypt. Furthermore, in the early-1970s, Palestinian groups embarked on an unprecedented wave of attacks against Israel and Jewish targets in other countries. The climax of this wave occurred at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, when, in the Munich massacre, Palestinian militants held hostage and killed members of the Israeli delegation. Israel responded with Operation Wrath of God, in which agents of Mossad assassinated most of those who were involved in the massacre.

Finally, on October 6 1973, on the Jewish fast day of Yom Kippur, the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched a surprise attack against Israel. The new Likud party, led by Menachem Begin, became the new ruling party.

Then, in November of that year, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, making a historic visit to the Jewish State, spoke before the Knesset ? It was also agreed to lend autonomy to Palestinians across the Green Line.

1980s

On July 7 1981, the Israeli Air Force bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osiraq in an attempt to foil Iraqi efforts at producing an atomic bomb. This operation was known as Operation Opera.

In 1982, Israel launched an attack against Lebanon, which had been embroiled in the Lebanese Civil War since 1975. Israeli forces expelled Palestinian Liberation Organization forces from the country, forcing the organization to relocate to Tunis. Though Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon in 1986, a buffer zone was maintained until May 2000 when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon.

The rest of the 1980s were spent constantly shifting from the right, led by Yitzhak Shamir, to the left under Shimon Peres. Following the outbreak, Shamir once again was elected prime minister, in 1988.

1990s

During the Gulf War, Iraq hit Israel with 39 Scud missiles, even though Israel was not a member of the coalition and was not involved in the fighting. The missles didn't kill Israeli citizens directly, but there were some deaths from wrong use of the gas masks provided, one Israeli died from a heart attack following a hit, and one Israeli died from a Patriot missile hit. During the war, Israel also provided gas masks for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Court ruling Israeli High Court of Justice ruling mentioning how it enforced handing masks to all Palestinians during the Gulf War as a principle of equality he icon The PLO however supported Saddam Hussein. Mideast Mirror, August 6, 1990 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza marched and famously stood on their rooftops while Skads were falling and cheered Saddam Hussein calling for him to bomb Israel with chemical weapons Associated Press, August 12, 1990 article An article in Ha'artez talking about the Palestinians' support for Nasrallah mentioning that in the 90's Saddam captivated the hearts of the Palestinians because of his goal to eradicate Israel. he icon www.nrg.co.il/online/archive/ART/271/591.html An article in Ma'ariv talking about an anti Israel wide demonstration of Arabs citing their famous song from the Gulf War era: "Ya Saddam Ya Habib - destroy Tel Aviv". he icon

The early 1990s were marked by the beginning of a massive immigration of Soviet Jews, who, according to the Law of Return, were entitled to become Israeli citizens upon arrival. By the end of 1993 the government abandoned the framework of Madrid and signed the Oslo Accords with the PLO. In 1994, Jordan became the second of Israel's neighbours to make peace with it.
The initial wide public support for the Oslo Accords began to wane as Israel was struck by an unprecedented wave of attacks supported by the militant Hamas group, which opposed the accords. On November 4, 1995, a Jewish nationalist militant named Yigal Amir assassinated Rabin.

Public dismay with the assassination created a backlash against Oslo opponents and significantly boosted the chances of Shimon Peres, Rabin's successor and Oslo architect, to win the upcoming 1996 elections. However, a new wave of suicide bombings combined with Arafat's statements extolling the Muslim nationalist militant Yahya Ayyash, made the public mood swing once again and in May 1996 Peres narrowly lost to his challenger from Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Although seen as a hard-liner opposing the Oslo Accords, Netanyahu withdrew from Hebron and signed the Wye River Memorandum giving wider control to the Palestinian National Authority. Barak and Yassir Arafat once again conducted negotiations with President Clinton at the July 2000 Camp David summit. www.mideastweb.org/campdavid2.htm www.mideastweb.org/campdavid%20orient.htm

After the collapse of the talks, Palestinians began a second uprising, known as the Al-Aqsa Intifadah, just after the leader of the opposition Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The failure of the talks and the outbreak of a new war caused many Israelis on both the right and the left to turn away from Barak, and also discredited the peace movement.

Ariel Sharon became the new prime minister in March 2001 and consequently was re-elected, along with his Likud party in the Knesset elections of 2003. This disengagement was executed between August and September 2005.

Israel also is building a West Bank Barrier to defend the country from attacks by Palestinian armed groups. The barrier, which is planned to measure 681 kilometers, meanders past the Green Line and effectively annexes 9.5% of the West Bank.B'Tselem separation barrier statistics The barrier has been met with some criticism from the international community and numerous protest demonstrations by the Israeli left.

After Ariel Sharon suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke, the powers of the office were passed to Ehud Olmert, who was designated the "Acting" Prime Minister. On April 14, 2006, Olmert was elected Prime Minister after his party, Kadima, Hebrew for "forward," won the most seats in the 2006 legislative elections.

On June 28, 2006, Hamas militants dug a tunnel under the border from the Gaza Strip and attacked an IDF post, capturing an Israeli soldier and killing two others. In response, Israel began Operation Summer Rains, which consisted of heavy bombardment of Hamas targets as well as bridges, roads, and the only power station in Gaza. Israel argues that they have no other option to get their soldier back and put an end to the rocket attacks into Israel.

The 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict refers to the military conflict in Lebanon and northern Israel, primarily between Hezbollah and Israel, which started on 12 July 2006. Israel held the Lebanese government responsible for the attack, as it was carried out from Lebanese territory, and initiated an air and naval blockade, airstrikes across much of the country, and ground incursions into southern Lebanon. A ceasefire came into effect at 05:00 UTC, 14 August 2006, although violations of the ceasefire have occurred from both sides. The conflict killed over 1000 Lebanese civilians, 440 Hezbollah militantswww.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060906-045027-8532r, and 119 Israeli soldiers, as well as 44 Israeli civilians, and caused massive damage to the civilian infrastructure and cities of Lebanon and damaged thousands of buildings across northern Israel, many of which were completely destroyed.

Geography and Climate

Israel is bordered by Lebanon in the north, Syria and Jordan in the east, and Egypt in the south-west. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean in the west and the Gulf of Eilat (also known as the Gulf of Aqaba) in the south.

During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, Gaza Strip (which was under Egyptian occupation), and Sinai from Egypt. It withdrew all troops and settlers from Sinai by 1982 and from the Gaza Strip by September 12 2005. including the military-controlled and Palestinian-governed territory of the West Bank ? The coastal regions, where Tel Aviv and Haifa are located, have a typical Mediterranean climate with cool, rainy winters and hot, dry summers.

Metropolitan areas

As of 2006, The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics defines three metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv (population 3 million), Haifa (population 980,600) and Jerusalem, the Capital (population 706,368).

Government

Israel is a democratic republic with universal suffrage that operates under the parliamentary system.

Legislature

Israel's unicameral legislative branch is a 120-member parliament known as the Knesset. Twelve parties currently hold seats.

Executive

The President of Israel is Head of State, serving as a largely ceremonial figurehead. The President selects the leader of the majority party or ruling coalition in the Knesset as the Prime Minister, who serves as head of government.For a short period in the 1990s the Prime Minister was directly elected by the electorate. Above them are District Courts, serving both as appellate courts and as courts of first instance, situated in five cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Be'er Sheva and Nazareth.

At the top of the judicial pyramid is the Supreme Court of Israel seated in Jerusalem.

Military

Israel's military consists of a unified Israel Defense Forces (IDF), known in Hebrew by the acronym Tzahal (??"?). The IDF was based on paramilitary underground armies, chiefly Haganah.
The IDF is one of the best funded military forces in the Middle East and ranks among the most battle-trained armed forces in the world, having been involved in five major wars and numerous border conflicts. Since the middle of the 20th century, the Negev Nuclear Research Center has been operational and capable of producing weapons grade nuclear material. It depends on imports of fossil fuels (crude oil, natural gas, and coal), grains, beef, raw materials, and military equipment. Israel possesses extensive facilities for oil refining, diamond polishing, and semiconductor fabrication.

Roughly half of the government's external debt is owed to the United States, which is its major source of economic and military aid. A relatively large fraction of Israel's external debt is held by individual investors, via the Israel Bonds program. The influx, coupled with the opening of new markets at the end of the Cold War, energized Israel's economy, which grew rapidly in the early 1990s. As of 2005, 20.5% of Israeli families (and 34% of Israeli children) are living below the poverty line, though around 40% of those are lifted above the poverty line through transfer payments.fact

Israel's GDP per capita, as of 28 July, 2005, was $20,551.20 per person (42nd in the world). Israel's overall productivity was $54,510.40, and the amount of patents granted was 74/1,000,000 people.

As of May 2006 average monthly wages per employee were: 7,333 shekels or 1,655 USD.
Percent of unemployed persons - first quarter 2006: 8.7%

Science and technology

Israeli contributions to science and technology have been significant. Israeli scientists have contributed in the areas of genetics, computer sciences, electronics, optics, engineering and other high-tech industries. Israel has a high reputation in theoretical physics and is also known for its well-developed and revolutionary medicine.

Four Israelis have won science Nobel Prizes. Biologists Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover of the Technion shared the Chemistry prize in 2004. In 2005 Robert Aumann from The Hebrew University also won the prize in Economics.

High technology industries have taken a pre-eminent role in the economy, particularly in the last decade. Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world after the U.S. Outside the U.S. and Canada, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies. Tourism in Israel includes a rich variety of historical and religious sites in the Holy Land, as well as modern beach resorts, archaeological tourism, heritage tourism and ecotourism. See also .

Population

Demographics

According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, as of May 2006, of Israel's 7 million people, 77% were Jews, 18.5% Arabs, and 4.3% "others". PDFlink Among Jews, 68% were Sabras (Israeli-born), mostly second- or third-generation Israelis, and the rest are olim ? 22% from Europe and the Americas, and 10% from Asia and Africa, including the Arab countries. Other languages spoken in Israel include Russian, Yiddish, Ladino, Romanian, Polish, French, Italian, Dutch, German, Amharic and Persian. Newspapers can be found in all languages listed above as well as others.

As of 2004, 224,200 Israeli citizens lived in the West Bank in numerous Israeli settlements, (including towns such as Ma'ale Adummim and Ariel, and a handful of communities that were present long before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and were re-established after the Six-Day War such as Hebron and Gush Etzion). About 8,500 Israelis lived in settlements built in the Gaza Strip, prior to their forcible removal by the government in the summer of 2005 as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem houses the Dead Sea Scrolls along with an extensive collection of Jewish religious and folk art.

Israel has artist colonies in Safed, Jaffa, and Ein Hod.

Of the three major repertory companies, the most famous, Habima Theater, was founded in 1917.

Sports

Sports in Israel, as in other countries, are an important part of the national culture. Every year thousands of new books are published in Hebrew and most of them are original to the Hebrew language.

Shmuel Yosef Agnon won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1966. Hassidic songs, Asian and Arab pop, especially Yemenite singers, and hip hop or heavy metal.

The National/folk songs are very canonical and often deal with Zionist hopes and dreams and glorify the life of idealistic Jewish youth who intend on building a home and defending their homeland.

Israel is well known for its famous classical orchestras and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra under the management of Zubin Mehta has a worldwide reputation. Dudu Fisher, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman are some of the more renowned classical musicians from Israel.

Music styles popular in Israel include Pop, Rock, Heavy Metal, Hip hop and rap, Trance (especially Goa trance and psychedelic trance), Oriental Mizrahi music and Ethnic music.

Israel has won the Eurovision Song Contest 3 times.

Religion in Israel

According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2005, 76% of Israelis were Jews by religion (Judaism), 19.7% were Arabs (including Muslims, Christians and Druze) and the remaining 4.3% "others" (including mostly family members of FSU immigrants and some ethnic Jews which were not classified by religion, as well as non-Arab Christians) . Elazar (JCPA)

Israelis tend not to align themselves with a movement of Judaism (such as Reform Judaism or Conservative Judaism) but instead tend to define their religious affiliation by degree of their religious practice.

Among Arab Israelis, 82.6% were Muslim, 8.8% were Christian and 8.4% were Druze.

The Baha'i world centre, which includes the Universal House of Justice, in Haifa attracts pilgrimage from all over the world. and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations."wikiquote:Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel However, like many democracies, Israel often struggles with issues of minority rights, especially when it comes to the often contentious issues surrouinding the treatment of Israel's large Arab minority, which constitutes 15% of Israel's population.

Various countries, international bodies, non-governmental organizations and individuals have evaluated and often criticized Israel's human rights record, often in relation to the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Groups such as Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch
are highly critical of Israel's policies. In turn, these groups were accused of anti-Israel bias: in the AI, in the HRW.
According to 2005 US Department of State report on Israel, "The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas..."
In 2006, the Freedom House rated political rights in Israel as "1" (1 representing the most free and 7 the least free rating), civil liberties as "2" and gave it the freedom rating of "Free".
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See also Freedom in the World 2006, List of indices of freedom}}

Within Israel, policies of its government are often subjected to criticism by its press (the only country ranked "Free" (28 on the scale 1-100) in the region in 2005 by Freedom House) as well as a vast variety of political, human rights and watchdog groups such as Association for Civil Rights in Israel, B'Tselem, Machsom Watch, Women in Black, Women for Israel's Tomorrow, among others. According to the Reporters Without Borders, "The Israeli media were once again in 2005 the only ones in the region that had genuine freedom to speak out."

Foreign relations

High priorities in the foreign policy of Israel include seeking an end to hostilities with Arab forces and gaining wide acceptance as a sovereign state with an important international role.

The State of Israel joined the United Nations on May 11, 1949 (See also Israel and the United Nations). Today, Israel has diplomatic relations with 161 states.
Israel's Diplomatic Missions Abroad (Israeli MFA)

Annotated list of Israeli media sources

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General references to the Israeli media:

List of Israeli newspapers

English-language periodicals:

Azure www.azure.co.il/ English edition of the quarterly journal offering essays and criticism on Israeli and Jewish public policy, culture and philosophy
Globes www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/nodeView.asp?fid=942 English-language website of Israel's business and technology daily
Haaretz www.haaretz.com/ Online English edition of the relatively highbrow Hebrew-language newspaper, Haaretz has a liberal editorial stance similar to that of The Guardian.
IsraelInsider www.israelinsider.com/ - Independent, right wing outlet. Target audience is American Jewry.
Jerusalem Newswire Independent, right-wing Christian-run news outlet
The Jerusalem Post www.jpost.com/ Israel's oldest English-language newspaper, considered to have a right-of-center editorial slant
The Jerusalem Report www.jrep.com/ Left-of-center English weekly newspaper
YNetNews www.ynetnews.com/ English-language website of Israel's largest newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth

Hebrew-language periodicals:

Globes business daily
Haaretz www.haaretz.co.il/ Relatively highbrow Israeli newspaper with a liberal editorial stance similar to that of The Guardian
Hamodia Daily newspaper serving Israel's Haredi community. Hamodia is not available online.
Hazofe www.hazofe.co.il/ daily newspaper with a religious Zionist point of view
Maariv www.NRG.co.il/ Second largest Israeli newspaper, centrist.
Makor Rishon www.makorrishon.net/ highbrow conservative weekly newspaper, conceived as a right-wing alternative to Ha'aretz

Hebrew-language periodicals (continued):

Tchelet www.tchelet.org.il/ Hebrew edition of Azure, a quarterly journal covering Israeli public policy
Yated Ne'eman Daily newspaper serving the Haredi community
Yedioth Ahronoth www.ynet.co.il/ Israel's largest newspaper, centrist

German-language periodicals:

Israel Nachrichten www.imh-deutschland.de/service/index.php?rubrik=0010&id=0038 The German-language daily from Tel Aviv for the 100,000 German-speaking Jews in Israel

Arabic-language periodicals:

Al-Ittihad Arabic-language daily newspaper

Israeli broadcast media:

Israelisms Podcast www.israelisms.com Weekly podcast about everyday life and politics in Israel (English)

Notable Internet sources:

DailyAlert www.dailyalert.org/ daily digest of Israeli and world media reports on Israel and the Middle East prepared by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs for The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
IsraPunditisrapundit.com Pro-Israel news and views from right-wing perspective.

Relevant non-Israeli media:

Jewish Telegraphic Agency www.jta.org/, New York-based news agency covering worldwide Jewish news, centrist (English)

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References and footnotes

Additional topics

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