A parliamentary democracy and the world's only Jewish state, Israel is a Middle Eastern nation covering an area of approximately 20,770 square kilometers (8,019 square miles). Its population (as of April 2007) consists of 7.15 million inhabitants -- including 5.415 million Jews (76 percent) and 1.425 million Arabs (20 percent). Another 310,000 people (4 percent) are classified as "others"; most of these are non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, or people whose Jewish status has not yet been verified by the Interior Ministry. The literacy rate in Israel is 95 percent, and the per capita Gross Domestic Product is $22,200. Israel is bordered to the west by the Mediterranean Sea; to the north by Lebanon; to the east by Jordan; and to the southwest by Egypt.

The name "Israel" has its origin in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, where the prophet Jacob is renamed Israel after wrestling with a mysterious adversary (alternately identified as "a man," "God," and "the angel." The word "Israel" means "he who has wrestled with God." The Egyptian Merneptah Stele (dated to about 1210 BC) contains the earliest known mention of the name "Israel"; this was most likely a reference to a group of people rather than to a geographic place.

Modern-day Israel came into existence as follows: In the 1920s the British and French, in one of their final acts as victors in World War I, created the states that now define the Middle East out of the ashes of the empire of their defeated Turkish adversary. In a region that the Ottoman Turks had controlled for hundreds of years, Britain and France drew the boundaries of the new states: Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. Previously, the British had promised the Jewish Zionists that they could establish a "national home" in a portion of what remained of the area, which was known as the Palestine Mandate. But in 1921 the British separated 80 percent of the Mandate, east of the Jordan River, and created the Arab kingdom of "Transjordan." It was created for the Arabian monarch King Abdullah, who had been defeated in tribal warfare in the Arabian Peninsula and lacked a seat of power. Abdullah's tribe was Hashemite, while the vast majority of Abdullah's subjects were Palestinian Arabs. What was left of the original Palestine Mandate -- between the west bank of the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea -- had been settled by Arabs and Jews. Jews had lived in the area continuously for 3,700 years, even after the Romans destroyed their state in Judea in AD 70. Arabs became the dominant local population for the first time in the 7th Century AD as a result of the Muslim invasions. The Arabs were largely nomads who had no distinctive language or culture to separate them from other Arabs.

In 1948, at the request of the Jews who were living in Palestine, the United Nations voted to partition the remaining quarter of the original Mandate to make a Jewish homeland possible. Under the partition plan, the Arabs were given the Jews' ancient home in Judea and Samaria -- known today as the West Bank. The Jews were allotted three slivers of disconnected land along the Mediterranean Sea and the Sinai desert. They were also given access to their holy city of Jerusalem, but as an island cut off from the slivers, surrounded by Arab land and under international control. Sixty percent of the land allotted to the Jews was the Negev desert. Out of these parts, the Jews created a new state, Israel, in 1948. At the moment of Israel's birth, Palestinian Arabs lived on roughly 90 percent of the original Palestine Mandate -- in Transjordan and in the UN partition area, but also in the new state of Israel itself. There were 800,000 Arabs living in Israel alongside 1.2 million Jews. At the same time, Jews were legally barred from settling in the 35,000 square miles of Palestinian Transjordan, which eventually was renamed simply "Jordan."

This section of DiscovertheNetworks examines in greater depth the origins and evolution of Israel, as well as the causes and history of the Arab-Israeli wars that have plagued the region since the Jewish state was first created.

The category titled Israel's History and "Right to Exist" examines how Israel came into existence, and explains why it is (contrary to the claims of much of the Arab world and the Arab lobby) a nation every bit as legitimate as any other in the world.

The category titled Myths and Facts provides information that dispels popular misconceptions about a variety of topics related to Israel, its history, and its people.

The Zionism category examines the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland. As the article "A History of Zionism and Modern Israel" explains: "Zionism was a natural product of the culture of the Jewish people in exile. It did not spring full blown from a void with the creation of the Zionist movement in 1897. Jews had lived in 'Eretz Yisrael' (the land of Israel, called 'Palestine' by the Romans and Greeks) since about 1200  B.C.E. The land of Israel was at a crossroads of the Middle East and the Mediterranean and was therefore conquered many times: by Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Seleucid Greeks and Romans, as well as invading Philistines. Of these, only the Jews made the land into their national home."

The category titled Israel's "Occupation" and Settlements explains that both of these terms convey the false impression that Israel has pursued an aggressive, expansionist policy against its Arab neighbors. As Efraim Karsh writes in "What Occupation?": "No term has dominated the discourse of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict more than 'occupation.' For decades now, hardly a day has passed without some mention in the international media of Israel's supposedly illegitimate presence on Palestinian lands. This presence is invoked to explain the origins and persistence of the conflict between the parties, to show Israel's allegedly brutal and repressive nature, and to justify the worst anti-Israel terrorist atrocities. The occupation, in short, has become a catchphrase, and like many catchphrases it means different things to different people."

The category titled Palestinians and Palestine examines the origins and history of the people commonly called "Palestinians." In the article "Palestinians: Aggressors, Not Victims," David Meir-Levi writes: "[T]he biggest lie of all is the existence of a 'Palestinian People.' … The term 'Palestine' (Falastin in Arabic) was an ancient name for the general geographic region that is more or less today's Israel. The name derives from the Philistines, who originated from the eastern Mediterranean, and invaded the region in the 11th and 12th centuries B.C. … There was never a nation of 'Palestine,' never a people known as the 'Palestinians' nor any notion of 'historic Palestine.'"

The category titled Israel's Treatment of Palestinians and Arabs explains that, contrary to the claims of Palestinian activists and their supporters, Palestinians who reside in Israel enjoy more freedom, education, economic opportunity, and civil rights than do any comparable Arab populations anywhere in the Arab world.

The category titled Palestinian Refugees / "Right Of Return" examines the origins of the ongoing Palestinian refugee crisis, as well as the Arab call for permitting those refugees to settle permanently in Israel. In his article "The Big Arab Lie: The Political Abuse of the Refugee Issue," David Meir-Levi writes: "In 1947, the UN partition plan mandated the creation of ... the State of Israel for the Jews, and another state for the Arabs. The Arabs rejected their state, and launched a war against Israel. This is the primal cause of the Arab refugee problem. The Arab refugees were roughly 725,000 people who fled because of the war that the Arab states -- not the Palestinian Arabs -- started." Today the Arab lobby calls not only for the return of the relatively few remaining survivors who were among the 725,000 original refugees, but also for the admittance of more than 5 million of their descendants (most of whom have never lived in Israel). This would render the Jews a permanent minority in their own country, and would thus spell the end of Israel.

The category titled Palestinian Poverty demonstrates that the primary cause of the Palestinians' economic hardship is their own corrupt leadership and their own pursuit of terrorism as a way of life.

The category titled Separation Barrier examines the justifications for, and criticisms of, the anti-terrorism barrier that Israel is currently erecting in the West Bank, in an effort to stop the once-relentless barrage of Palestinian suicide bombings that were aimed at Israeli civilians. In those areas where the barrier already has been completed, it has dramatically reduced the number of such attacks.

The category titled Arab-Israeli Wars explores the origins and history of the ongoing conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors. As David Horowitz explains in one article: "[T]he Arab League ... declared war on Israel on the day of its creation, and five Arab armies invaded [Israel] with the aim of destroying the infant Jewish state.... [T]he five Arab armies ... were repelled. Yet there was no peace. Even though their armies were beaten, the Arab states were determined to carry on their campaign of destruction, and to remain formally at war with the Israeli state.... In 1967, Egypt, Syria and Jordan attacked Israel for a second time and were again defeated.... [T]he Arab aggressors once again refused to make peace. Instead, they declared themselves still at war with Israel ... In 1973 ... the Arab armies again attacked Israel.... Israel again defeated the Arab forces." Notwithstanding these defeats, much of the Arab/Muslim world -- most notably such terrorist organizations as Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- remains formally at war with Israel and determined to destroy the Jewish State.

The category titled Six-Day War (1967) examines the causes of, and the continuing significance of, the 1967 Arab-Israeli clash. As David Horowitz writes in one article: "It was in repelling these [Arab] aggressors that Israel came to control the West Bank and the Gaza strip, as well as the oil-rich Sinai desert. Israel had every right to annex these territories captured from the aggressors -- a time-honored ritual among nations, and in fact the precise way that Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan had come into existence themselves. But Israel did not do so. On the other hand, neither did it withdraw its armies or relinquish its control. The reason was that the Arab aggressors once again refused to make peace. Instead, they declared themselves still at war with Israel, a threat no Israeli government could afford to ignore."

The category titled Text and Meaning of U.N. Resolution 242 explores this vital document, which was drafted by the United Nations Security Council to guide the actions of both the Arabs and Israelis in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War. The Resolution addressed such issues as the withdrawal of Israel's armed forces from newly occupied areas; the termination of all belligerency and all threats to national sovereignty in the region; and a just settlement of the refugee issue. Since 1967, Resolution 242 has been invoked as the centerpiece of negotiation efforts in virtually all Mideast peace intitiatives.

The category titled Israel's Withdrawal from Gaza and West Bank examines primarily Israel's 2005 decision to dismantle all its settlements in Gaza and to relocate all Israelis who had been living in the region -- in hopes of fostering a peaceful coexistence with Palestinians. As the Jewish Virtual Library explained in August 2005: "If the Palestinians were sincere about their desire for peace in exchange for land, they would do everything possible to allow for a peaceful transition. Instead, terrorists continue to attack Israeli soldiers and Jews in Gaza, try to infiltrate Israel to carry out suicide attacks, and fire deadly rockets at communities inside Israel."

The category titled Mideast War 2006 examines the causes, events, and legacy of the 2006 conflict between Israel and its Hamas and Hezbollah adversaries, in Gaza and Lebanon respectively.

The category titled Proportionality in War addresses the notion -- put forth by critics of Israel -- that Israel should have restricted the severity of its military response to attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah. As Michael Medved wrote in "Why Seek "Proportional" Warfare?": "... The obsession with 'proportionality' represents one more misguided contemporary attempt to substitute the bogus application of 'objective,' numerical analysis for value judgments -- the necessary distinctions between good and evil, decent and corrupt -- which still constitute the core of all contemporary conflicts."

The category titled Operation Cast Lead (Israel-Gaza War, 2008-2009) explores not only the factors that led to war in December 2008, but also the events of that war and the manner in which hostilities ultimately ceased.

The category titled Proportionality in War addresses those critics of Israel who accuse the Jewish state of using an excessive amount of military force against its enemies in the region.

The category titled Continuous Arab Attacks on Israel examines how, even in putatively peaceful times, Arab attacks against Israeli civilians continue unabated while drawing virtually no attention from the mainstream media. In her December 13, 2007 article, "Israel: Rockets Hit Sderot, Inflame the Israeli Blogosphere," Maya Norton writes: "Despite the fact that [the Israeli town of] Sderot has been under nearly constant attack from qassam rockets for the past 7 years, its tenuous position in the buffer zone of Israel and Gaza is conspicuously ignored in mainstream news channels.... Since the barrage began in 2001, over 6,300 rockets have slammed Sderot."

The Peace Initiatives category contains resources pertaining to the many proposals that have been made in hopes of bringing the Arab-Israeli conflict to an end.

The category titled Divestment from Israel explores the origins and objectives of the movement to divest all funds from companies based in Israel, or from companies that do business with Israel -- as a form of protest against Israel's alleged human rights abuses. The movement's goal is to depict Israel as a pariah state that practices apartheid and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians, and to cripple its economy. According to DivestmentWatch: "Like the 80s campaign to create an adult population that accepted the notion of a Palestinian state, the desired results of the divest-from-Israel campaign in twenty years is their next campaign -- dismantlement."

The category titled World Opinion / Double Standards gives evidence that a majority of the world's political leaders, NGOs, and populations at large tend to judge Israel with unique severity, particularly when compared to their judgments of other nations and peoples, most notably the Palestinians. In his article "'World Opinion' is Worthless," Dennis Prager observes: "'World opinion' has little or nothing to say about the world's greatest evils and regularly condemns those who fight evil.... The moment one recognizes 'world opinion' for what it is -- a statement of moral cowardice, one is no longer enthralled by the term."

The category titled Arab / Muslim Hatred, Anti-Semitism, & Intolerance examines the phenomenon of virulent anti-Semitism in the Arab and Muslim world. As Andrew Bostom writes in his article, "Apocalyptic Muslim Jew Hatred": "Examples of ... archetypal Jew hatred from the sacred Islamic texts ... include: Koranic verses labeling Jews as malevolent enemies of Islam (5:82) and disobedient slayers of their own prophets who suffered justifiable abasement (2:61), including, for some, transformation into apes and swine (5:60); or the more profoundly hateful narratives ... which maintain that the perfidious Jews fomented sectarian strife in early Islam by promoting heresies ... that threatened the unity of the Muslim community (umma), and the canonical hadith ... that the Jews caused Muhammad's protracted, excruciating death  from poisoning.... Hizbollah and Hamas have constructed core ideologies based upon this Islamic theology of Jew hatred."

The category titled Indoctrinating Arab/Muslim Children to Hate Jews examines the manner in which such youngsters are educated in their homes, schools, and mosques. As David Bedein writes in his September 2006 article, "Erasing Israel": "the new school books ... in the Palestinian Authority school system ... represent a curriculum that prepares a new generation of Palestinians to destroy Israel.... [These] books mention Israel only as an enemy ...; present Zionism only as an enemy movement ...; teach that the only ancient inhabitants of Israel were Arabs, ignoring any ancient Jewish presence ...; teach that Palestinians must use war and violence -- especially martyrdom -- to accomplish their goals ...; [and] feature children with names such as Jihad (holy war) and Nidal (struggle)."

The category titled Anti-Israel Jews examines the mindset of Jews who view Israel as an evil nation, and who in many cases believe that it has no right to exist. In the article, "Jews Who Hate Israel," interviewee Edward Alexander notes that after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war, "the Arabs ... ceased telling the world that they wanted to reduce Israel to sandy wastes and redefined their struggle as the search for a homeland for homeless Palestinian Arabs. This change in their rhetoric ... was a shrewd appeal to liberals, not least to Jewish liberals. The more Israel was cast in a negative role by 'progressive' opinion for its alleged misdeeds, the more eager were Jewish intellectuals to escape the taint, the embarrassment of association with the state and Zionism."

The category titled Collaborators in the Campus War Against Israel profiles a number of Jewish professors who support campaigns (such as divestment and boycotts) that are aimed at delegitimizing and demonizing the State of Israel.

The category titled Israel's Academic Fifth Column focuses specifically on anti-Israel activist professors who are based in Israel itself. These include people who justify and celebrate Arab terrorism against Jews; who help initiate campaigns of boycott and "divestment" directed against their own country in time of war; who collaborate with anti-Semites around the world; who attempt to get Israeli military officers indicted as "war criminals" in courts outside of Israel; who fashionably claim to favor the "one-state solution," in which Israel's existence would be enfolded inside a larger state with an Arab/Muslim government and majority; and who openly advocate the so-called "Palestinian Right of Return," which would similarly end Israel's existence.