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Israel
From A Storehouse of Knowledge
Israel is a nation on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, formed in 1948 as a refuge for Jews following the holocaust in Europe during World War II. Isreal has been locked in a state of either cold or hot war with most of her neighbouring states since inception. Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 in return for Israel withdrawing from the Sinai peninsula, which she had seized in 1967, and the Americans giving both parties $2bln per year in aid, despite their vastly different populations. Jordan followed suit in 1994.
The capital of modern Israel is disputed. Israel claims Jerusalem as its "eternal and indivisible" capital, but this city was within the pre-1967 boundaries of Palestine (and under the 1947 plan, was to be UN administered). Because of this, foreign countries maintain their embassies at Tel Aviv,[1] as do most international businesses.
The country is one of only two (the other being Egypt) that has both a Red Sea and Mediterranean coast, though the Red Sea access is poor, with only 12km of coastline at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba, making it vulnerable to blockades. Nonetheless it does allow Israel to avoid dependency on the Suez Canal, and a naval facility is maintained there[2] along with a modest civilian port. The remainder of the coast is heavily exploited (and polluted) as a tourist resort.
Israel also refers to the northern Kingdom of Hebrews which ruled the former Canaan around 1000 BC, and it refers to the name given to Jacob after he wrestled all night with either Yahweh or his angel, as recounted in Genesis.
