Info Book

Facts, Figures and Useful Information

about Israel

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTACTS
GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES
DISTRICT COURTHOUSES
IDF/POLICE
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES
LOCAL AUTHORITIES
NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
WOMENS' SHELTERS
INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING / UNIVERSITIES
INTERFAITH/MULTICULTURAL GROUPS
RESEARCH CENTERS AND THINK TANKS
ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES
TV AND RADIO
HOSPITALS
EMBASSIES
GENERAL INFORMATION
HISTORY OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL
WHERE JEWISH HISTORY BEGAN
FIRST KINGS OF ISRAEL
ISRAEL'S CONQUERORS
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
EXTERNAL RULE
DAWN OF A NEW ERA
HISTORY OF THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
FIRST ALIYA
PLANS FOR A JEWISH STATE
SECOND ALIYA
BRITISH MANDATE
THIRD ALIYA
FOURTH ALIYA
FIFTH ALIYA
ARAB OPPOSITION
BRITISH BLOCKADE
PLANS FOR PARTITION
INVASION BY NEIGHBORING ARAB COUNTRIES
EGYPTIAN HOSTILITIES
WAR WITH JORDAN
ATTACKS FROM THE GOLAN
YOM KIPPUR WAR
BUILDING JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN THE DISPUTED TERRITORIES
THE PLO IN LEBANON
FIRST INTIFADA
STEPS TOWARD PEACE
SECOND INTIFADA
ISRAELS SECURITY BARRIER AGAINST TERROR
ISRAELI WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA AND NORTHERN SAMARIA
SECOND LEBANON W AR
OPERATION CAST LEAD AGAINST HAMAS IN GAZA
OPERATION PILLAR OF DEFENSE
OPERATION PROTECTIVE EDGE
HISTORY OF MAJOR ISRAELI-ARAB PEACE TALKS SINCE 1949
RHODES CONFERENCE (1949)
GENEVA PEACE CONFERENCE (1973)
CAMP DAVID ACCORDS (1978)
MADRID CONFERENCE (1991)
OSLO PROCESS (1993)
CAIRO AGREEMENT (1994)
WASHINGTON DECLARATION (1994)
OSLO II (1995)
HEBRON ACCORDS (1997)

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WYE RIVER MEMORANDUM (1998)

SHARM EL-SHEIKH MEMORANDUM (1999)
CAMP DAVID TALKS (2000)
TABA SUMMIT (2001)
ROADMAP TO PEACE (2003)
PEACE SUMMIT AT AQABA (2003)
ANNAPOLIS CONFERENCE (2007)
THE KERRY INITIATIVE (2013-2014)
HISTORY OF PRISONER SWAPS
POLITICAL SYSTEM
ELECTORAL SYSTEM
PARTY DESCRIPTIONS:
ISRAELS GOVERNMENT
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
BASIC LAWS
KNESSET
CABINET
PRESIDENT
JUDICIAL SYSTEM
ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES
JERUSALEM BY THE NUMBERS
HUMAN RIGHTS IN ISRAEL
POLITICAL AND CIVIL RIGHTS COMPARISONS
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
HEALTH
RELIGIONS IN ISRAEL
JUDAISM
ISLAM
CHRISTIANITY
DRUZE
OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN ISRAEL
HOLIDAYS IN ISRAEL
MAIN JEWISH HOLIDAYS
OTHER JEWISH HOLIDAYS (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER):
MUSLIM HOLIDAYS
DRUZE HOLIDAYS
CALENDER OF IMPORTANT CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS, NATIONAL AND HISTORICAL EVENTS
CONFERENCES
HERZLIYA CONFERENCE
SDEROT CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL ISSUES
CAESAREA FORUM
ISRAEL - GENERAL STATISTICS
ECONOMY
POPULATION
HEALTH
EDUCATION
GEOGRAPHY
MILITARY
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY AND THE GAZA STRIP - GENERAL STATISTICS
EDUCATION
ECONOMY
POPULATION
HEALTH
SOURCES
TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS
AL-AQSA MARTYRS BRIGADES
AL-FATAH (NOT FATAH AL-ISLAM)
AL-FATH AL-MUBIN TROOPS
AL-QUDS BRIGADES
DEMOCRATIC FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE (DFLP)
HAMAS
MARTYR ABU-ALI MUSTAFA BRIGADES
PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD (PIJ)
POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE (PFLP)
POPULAR RESISTANCE COMMITTEES (PRC)

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TANZIM
HEZBOLLAH
AL QAEDA
ISLAMIC STATE (ISIS)
JABHAT AL-NUSRA
JEWISH COMMUNITIES (SETTLEMENTS) IN THE DISPUTED TERRITORIES (JUDEA SAMARIA/WEST BANK)
REGIONAL COUNCILS
LOCAL COUNCILS
MUNICIPALITIES
INTERNATIONAL AND ISRAELI ORGANIZATIONS FOCUSED ON JEWISH SETTLEMENTS
MAPS
MAJOR TERROR ATTACKS
JEWISH ATTACKS
HELPFUL CONTACTS
TRAVEL AGENCIES
CAR RENTALS
OTHER RENTAL CAR SERVICES
REAL ESTATE RENTAL AGENCIES
PHONES AND INTERNET
LANDLINE PHONE COMPANIES
CELLULAR TELEPHONE
COMPANIES
INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS
BANKS
OVERNIGHT SHIPPING SERVICES
POST OFFICES
PHARMACIES
HEBREW LANGUAGE
LESSONS
ULPANIM
NONINTENSIVE AND SUMMER ULPANIM
ARABIC LANGUAGE LESSONS
SERVICE PROVIDERS
ACCOUNTANTS
DOCTORS AND DENTISTS
LAWYERS
COMPUTER CUSTOMER SERVICE
TRANSLATION SERVICES
AIRPORTS
BORDER CROSSINGS
PORTS
LOCAL TELEPHONE AND INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY CODES
ENTERTAINMENT AND LEISURE
NIGHTLIFE
RESTAURANTS
CINEMAS
THEATRES
FESTIVALS
GYMS AND HEALTH CLUBS
LIBRARIES
MUSEUMS
RECOMMENDED ATTRACTIONS
HOTELS
B&BS (ZIMMERIM)

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CONTACTS
All the lists that follow are not necessarily the complete lists of the people and organizations that deal with the specific topics
addressed. Also, MediaCentral cannot take responsibility for their opinions and actions

GOVERNMENT
MINISTRIES
Israel Government Portal
www.gov.il/firstgov/English
Prime Ministers Office
Prime Minister:Benyamin Netanyahu
Director: Harel Locker
Tel: 072-275-4231
Foreign Press Spokesperson: Mark Regev
Tel: 02-530-3111
Email: markr@pmo.gov.il
http://www.pmo.gov.il/English
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Minister: Benyamin Netanyahu
Director: Nissim Ben-Shetrit
Tel: 02-530-3519
Spokesperson: Emmanuel Nahshon
Tel: 02-530-3343
Email: pniot@mfa.gov.il
http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/
Ministry of Defense
Minister: Moshe 'Bogie' Ya'alon
Director: Dan Harel
Tel: 03-697-6384
Spokesperson: Orna Ophir-Simhoni
Tel: 03-697-5546
Email: dover@mod.gov.il
www.mod.gov.il
Ministry of Finance
Minister: Moshe Kachlon
Director: Yael Andorn
Tel: 02-531-7202
Spokesperson: Merav Lapidot
Tel: 02-531-7206
Email: dover@mof.gov.il
http://www.financeisrael.mof.gov.il
Ministry of Education
Minister: Naftali Bennet
Director: Michal Cohen
Tel: 02-560-2246
Spokesperson: Hagit Cohen
Tel: 02-560-2710
Fax: 02-560-2238
Email: hagitco@education.gov.il
www.education.gov.il

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural

Development
Minister: Uri Ariel
Spokesperson: Dafna Urista
Tel: 03-948-5436
Email: Dover@moag.gov.il
www.moag.gov.il/english

Ministry of Public Security

Minister: Gilad Arden
Spokesperson: Tal Yamin Volvovich
Tel: 02-542-8003
Email: dovermail@mops.gov.il
http://mops.gov.il/english/

Ministry of Construction and

Housing
Minister: Yoav Galant
Spokesperson: Ariel Rosenberg
Tel: 02-584-7666
Email: dover@moch.gov.il
www.moch.gov.il/

Ministry of Economy
Minister: Aryeh Deri
Spokesperson: Shira Kaveh
Tel: 02-666-2301
Email: Shira.Kaveh@moital.gov.il
www.moital.gov.il

Ministry of Tourism
Minister: Yariv Levin
Spokesperson: Anat Shihor Aronson
Tel: 02-666-4203
Email: anats@tourism.gov.il
www.tourism.gov.il

Ministry of Transportation and

Road Safety
Minister: Yisrael Katz
Spokesperson: Avner Ovadia
Tel: 02-666-3190
Email: dover@mot.gov.il
www.mot.gov.il

Ministry of Communications
Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu
Spokesperson: Dr. Yehuel Shebi
Tel: 02-670-6323
Email: dovrut@moc.gov.il
www.moc.gov.il

Ministry of Aliyah Immigrant

Absorption
Minister: Zeev Elkin
Spokesperson: Elad Sonn
Tel: 02-675-2696
Email: elads@moia.gov.il
http://www.moia.gov.il/
Ministry of National
Infrastructure, Energy and Water
Resources
Minister: Yuval Schteinitz
Spokesperson: Maya Etzioni
Tel: 02-500-6780
Email: dover@energy.gov.il
www.mni.gov.il/mni/en-US
Ministry of the Environment
Minister: Avi Gabay
Spokesperson: Yehudit Mizrachi
Tel: 02-655-3715
Email: yehudit@sviva.gov.il
www.sviva.gov.il
Ministry of Science, Technology
and Space
Minister: Dani Danon
Spokesperson: Libi Oz
Tel: 02-541-1172
Email: libio@most.gov.il
www.most.gov.il/English

Ministry of Interior
Minister: Silvan Shalom
Spokesperson: Lee Lieber
Tel: 02-670-1447
Email: dover@moin.gov.il
www.moin.gov
Ministry of Development of the
Negev and the Galilee
Minister: Aryeh Deri
Spokesperson: Achikam Moshe David
Tel: 03-606-0743
Email: ahikamm@pmo.gov.il
http://negev-galil.gov.il/
Ministry of Social Welfare and
Services
Minister: Haim Katz
Spokesperson: Ronnie Malkai
Tel: 02-675-2803
Email: ronim@molsa.gov.il
www.molsa.gov.il
Minister for Religious Services
Minister: David Azulay
Spokesperson: Daniel Bar
Tel: 02-531-1388
Email: danielb@dat.gov.il
http://dat.gov.il/

Contacts

Ministry of Justice
Minister: Ayelet Shaked
Director: Adv. Emi Palmor
Tel: 02-646-6533
Spokesperson: Adv. Moshe Cohen
Tel: 02-646-6321
Email: dover@justice.gov.il
http://index.justice.gov.il/En

Ministry of Health
Minister: Benyamin Netanyahu
Director: Arnon Afek
Tel: 02-508-1309
Spokesperson: Einav Shimron
Tel: 02-508-1227
Email: dover@moh.health.gov.il
http://www.health.gov.il/English/

Ministery of Strategic Affairs

Minister: Gilad Arden

Director: Yosef Kuperwasser

Tel: 02-477-3767
Email: mosheya@pmo.gov.il
Ministery of Culture and Sports
Minister: Miri Regev
Spokesperson: Or Elis Doron
Tel: 02-636-7205
Email:
http://mcs.gov.il/
Ministery of Elder Citizens
Minister: Gila Gamliel
Spokesperson: Didi Rosenberg
Tel: 02-654-7052
Email:
http://vatikim.gov.il/
Ministery of Local Cooperation
Minister: Benyamin Netanyahu
Director: Orna Hozman-Bechor
Tel: 03-606-0163
Ministers without portfolio
Ofir Akunis
Spokesperson: Omer
Tel: 050-623-3508
Bank of Israel
Governor: Karnit Flug
Spokesperson: Yoav Sofer
Tel: 02-655-2712
Email: spokesman@boi.org.il
http://www.boi.org.il/
Office of the President
President: Reuven (Rubi) Rivlin
3 Hanassi St.
Jerusalem 92188
Spokesperson: Ayelet Frish
Tel: 02-670-7251/56/23
Fax: 02-670-7219/295
Email: spokesperson@president.gov.il
www.president.gov.il
The Supreme Court
1 Sharei Mishpat St.
Kiryat Ben Gurion
Jerusalem
Spokesperson: Ayelet Pilo
Tel: 02-675-0412
Fax: 02-645-0422
Email: Dover@court.gov.il
Hours: 8:30-13:30
www.court.gov.il
Government Press Office
Jerusalem
Director: Daniel Seaman
37 Hillel St., 2nd floor
Foreign Press Liason for Visiting Journalists
Tel: 02-500-7511
Jason@press.pmo.gov.il
English News Department
02-500-7524/12
Fax: 02-623-3388
gponews@netvision.net.il
Visiting Journalists Department:

Tel: 02-500-7515
Fax: 02-623-5897
Arab Journalists Department:
Tel: 02-500-7504
Fax: 02-623-3388
Hours: Sun-Thurs 08:30AM-4PM
www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/PM+Office/
Departments/gpo.htm
Tel Aviv
9 Itamar Ben Avi St.
Tel: 03-521-6222
www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/PM+Office/
Departments/gpo.htm
Journalists who have been granted
government press cards may wish to submit
inquiries and requests directly to the IDF
Spokesperson, or one of the appropriate
officers under his command.
www.idf.il

DISTRICT
COURTHOUSES
Beer Sheva
5 Hatikva St.
Tel: 08-647-0444
Haifa
12 Palyam St.
Tel: 04-869-8000
Jerusalem
40 Tzalach A Din St.
Tel: 02-659-3333
Tel Aviv
1 Weizmann St.
Tel: 03-692-6211
Nazareth Elite
Yitzhak Rabin Square
Tel: 02-659-3333

IDF/POLICE
IDF Military Censorship Office
Tel: 03-7605800
Details: The Military Censor reviews all
material relating to the security of the State
of Israel. All journalists applying for
accreditation from the Government Press
Office are asked to sign a form obliging
them to abide by the rules of the Military
Censor which are designed to safeguard
the countrys security.
Police Department
Sheikh Jarrakh St. Jerusalem
Spokesperson: Raffi Yaffe
Tel: 02-542-8190
Foreign Media Spokesperson: Mickey
Rosenfeld
Tel: 02-5428190
Email: dovrut@police.gov.il
www.police.gov.il/english/default.asp

Government Activities in the

Territories & District
Coordination (COGAT)
The COGAT Unit coordinates the activities
of government ministries, the IDF and police
with the Palestinian population and the
Palestinian Authority. The Civil
Administration in Judea and Samaria, which
belongs to COGAT, has eight liason and
coordination offices in the following districts:
Jerusalem and periphery,Jericho, Efraim
(Jenin and Tulkarm), Nablus, Qalqiliya,
Bethlehem, Ramallah, Hebron
Spokesperson: Hadar Horn
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-697-7611 / 03-6975038
Fax: 03-697-6674
Gaza Liason and Coordination
Civilian issues dealing with
Erez and Karni Crossings
08-6741467
Civil Administration
Judea and Samaria (West Bank) civilian
issues
Tel: 02-9977001

INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS
LOCAL
REPRESENTATIVES
Amnesty International
32b Kibbutz Galuyot St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-525-0005 / 072-2148008
Fax: 03-525-0001
Spokesperson: Idan Itzhaky
Email: media@amnesty.org.il
www.amnesty.org.il

Delegation of the European

Union to the State of Israel
Head of Delegation: Andrew Standley
POB 3513, Ramat Gan
Visitors address:
5-7 Shoham St.
Ramat Gan
Tel: 03-613-7799
Fax: 03-613-7770
Press and Information Manager: David
Kriss
Tel: 03-600-0906
Email: delegation-israel@ec.europa.eu
www.delisr.ec.europa.eu/english
International Committee of
Red Cross
ICRC Delegation Tel Aviv
Head of Delegation: Pierre Wewetach
185 Hayarkon St.
Tel Aviv 63453

Tel: 03-524-5286
Fax: 03-527-0370
Spokesperson: Yael Segev-Eytan

ICRC Mission Jerusalem

Head of Delegation: Barbara Amstad

8 Nabi Shueib St.
Sheikh Jarrah District
P.O.Box 20253
Jerusalem 91202
Tel: 02-591-7900 Fax: 02-5917920

Media Contact

Andrea Koenig
Mobile: 052-601-9150
Languages: English, German
Bana Sayheh
Mobile: 052-601-9148
Languages: English, Arabic
Caspar Landolt
Mobile: 052-601-9149
Languages: English, French, German

ICRC Gaza Office

Head of Office: Antony Dalziel

50 Jalaa St.
P.O.Box 29
Tel: 08-282-2644

Media Contact

Suheir Zaqout
Mobile: 059-8255381
Languages: English, Arabic
Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development
(OECD)
OECD Coordinator: Marc Luban
Ministry of Finance
1 Kaplan St.
Jerusalem 91036
Tel: 02-531-7084 Fax: 02-569-5349
Email: il-oecd@mof.gov.il or
mark@mof.gov.il
www.oecd.gov.il
UNESCO
Representative in Israel: Mrs. Dalit Atrakchi
Tel: 02-560-3746, 02-560-3747
Fax: 02-560-3745
Email: dalitat@education.gov.il
www.unesco.org

United Nations Relief and Works

Agency for Palestine Refugees in
the Near East (UNRWA)
Commissioner-General: Karen
Koning Abu Zayd

P.O.Box 140157
Gamal Abdul Nasser St.
Gaza
Tel: 08-677-7333, 08-282-4508,
1-212-963-9571-3 (UN satellite network)
Fax: 08-677-7555

West Bank Field Office

Director of West Bank UNRWA
Operations: Barbara Shenstone
P.O.Box 19149
Sheikh Jarrah
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-589-0400
Fax: 02-589-0744
www.unrwa.org

LOCAL AUTHORITIES
Union of Local Authorities in
Israel
Spokesperson: Moti Danos
19 Haarbaa St. 10th Floor
Tel Aviv 64739,
Tel: 03-684-4210
Mobile: 050-545-2044
www.ulai.org.il
Jerusalem Municipality
Spokesperson: Gidi Shmerling
1 Safra Square
Jerusalem, 91007
Tel: 02-629-7777, 02-629-7744
www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_main/
defaultnew.asp?lng=2
Tel Aviv Municipality
Spokesperson: Hillel Partok
71 Ibn Gvirol St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-521-8666
www.tel-aviv.gov.il/English/home.asp
Haifa Municipality
Spokesperson: Tzahi Terno
14 Hassan Shukri St.
Haifa, 33105
Tel: 04-835-6356/ 04-835-6755
www.haifa.muni.il/Cultures/en-US
Maaleh Adumim Municipality
Spokesperson: Hizki Zisman
1 Derech Kedem
Maaleh Adumim
Tel: 02-541-8851
Fax: 02-541-8850
www.maale.adummim.muni.il
Beer Sheva Local Municipality
Spokesperson: Amnon Yosef
1 Menachem Begin Square
Beer Sheva
Tel: 08-646-3660
www.beer-sheva.muni.il/openning.
asp?Lang=1

Um El Fahum Municipality
P.O.Box 1090
Um El Fahem 30010
Tel: 04-611-9000
www.moit.gov.il/CmsTamat/
MunicipalCard.aspx?M_id=1
Samaria Regional Council
Spokesperson: Ahuva Shilo
P.O.Box 1
Barkan Industrial Zone
M.P. Efraim 44820
Tel: 03-906-6444/400/404
Fax: 03-906-6407
www.shomron.org.il/Index.
asp?CategoryID=53
Mateh Yehuda Regional Council
Spokesperson: Moshe Dadon
Hartuv Regional Center
M.P. Shimshon 99700
Tel: 02-990-0888
Tel: 02-990-0960
www.m-yehuda.org.il/openning.asp
Kiryat Shmona Municipality
Spokesperson: Doron Shnaper
Beit Edelshtein
Herzel St.
Kiryat Shmona 10200
Tel: 04-698-8444, 04-694-2610
Mobile: 050-867-5052
www.moit.gov.il/CmsTamat/
MunicipalCard.aspx?M_id=30
Eilat Municipality
Spokesperson: Dana Venati
Beit Hatamar
P.O.Box 14
Eilat 88100
Tel: 08-636-7111, 08-636-7293
www.eilat.muni.il/html/?lang=he
Upper Galilee Regional
Council Spokesperson: Yaraa Kadosh
P.O.Box 90000
Rosh Pina 12100
Tel: 04-681-6611
Mobile: 050-522-6312
Email: yaarak@galil-elion.org.il
www.galil-elion.org.il
Golan Regional Council
Spokesperson: Dalia Amos
P.O. Box 13
Katzrin 12900
Tel: 04-696-9777
Mobile: 050-743-8444
Email: dalia@golan.org.il
www.m.e.golan.org.il
Sderot Municipality
Spokesperson: Yosef Cohen
8 Kikar Hanasi St.
Sderot
Tel: 08-662-0206
Fax: 08-668-0230
Email: yosefc@ladpc.gov.il
www.e-sderot.org.il/Openning.asp

Contacts

UNICEF
Israel Spokesperson: Rina Yitzhaki
Mailing address:
Israeli Fund for UNICEF
125 Rothschild Blvd., 2nd Floor
Tel Aviv 66881
Visitors address:
Tel: 074-7034449 Fax: 074-7033441
Email: info@unicef.org.il
www.unicef.org.il

Gaza Headquarters

Rahat Municipality
Spokesperson: Marduk Elkatanani
P.O.Box 8
Raat
Tel: 08-991-4811
Fax: 08-991-9513
Mobile: 050-821-3111
Northern Negev Regional Council
Spokesperson: Michal Kotzer
Ashkelon Coast 78100
Tel: 08-680-6217
Fax: 08-680-6260
Mobile: 054-675-5115
Email: michals@sng.org.il
www.sng.org.il/eng

NON
GOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATIONS
Adalah The Legal Center for
Arab Minority Rights in Israel
P.O.Box 510
Shafaram 20200
Tel: 04-950-1610, Fax: 04-950-3140
Email: adalah@adalah.org
Adalah is an independent human rights
organization registered in Israel.
www.adalah.org/eng/index.php
America Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC)
Israel Director: Wendy Singer
38 Keren Hayesod
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-561-8010
Works to build American support for
Israel
http://www.aipac.org/
American Jewish Committee (AJC)
P.O. Box 37068
Jerusalem 91370
Phone : 02-625-5281
Fax: 02-625-6527
Email: israel@ajc.org
Promotes security for Jews worldwide and
strengthens ties between American and
Israeli Jews.
http://www.ajc.org
Amcha
23 Hillel St.,
P.O.Box 2930
Jerusalem 91029
Tel: 02-625-0634, Fax: 02-625-0669
Email: amcha@netvision.net.il
Amcha offers a range of social services and
mental health assisance to Holocaust
survivors.
www.amcha.org/indexEn.htm

AntiDefamation League
21 Jabotinsky St.
Jerusalem 92141
Tel: 02-556-7741
Fax: 02-566-7742
www.adl.org
Association for Civil Rights in
Israel (ACRI)
Jerusalem
P.O.Box 43510
Jerusalem 91000
Tel: 02-652-1218
Email: mail@acri.org.il
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-560-8185
Haifa
Tel: 04-852-6333
An organization that campaigns for human
rights and liberties in Israel and in the
disputed territories.
www.acri.org.il/english-acri/engine/
index.asp
Association of Americans and
Canadians in Israel (AACI)
P.O.Box 4337
Jerusalem 91042
Tel: 02-566-1181
Email: info@aaci.org.il
A voluntary, Zionist organization serving
approximately 120,000 North Americans
living in Israel and dedicated to their
successful absorption into
Israeli society.
www.aaci.org.il
Bnai Brith
10 Kaplan Street
Tel Aviv 64734
Phone: 03-691-8289 Fax: 03-695-5847
Email: bneibis@zahav.net.il
A Jewish humanitarian, human rights and
advocacy organization.
www.bnaibrith.org
BTselem
P.O. Box 53132
Jerusalem 91531
Tel: 02-673-5599
BTselem advocates on human rights issues
in the disputed territories.
www.btselem.org/English
BTerem Childrens Safety
Foundation
18 Sivim St.
Petach Tikva 49170
Mailing Address: P.O.Box 7050
Petach Tikva 49170
Tel: 03-926-3111
A nonprofit organization aiming to create a
world safe for children.
Email: telecenter@beterem.org
http://www.beterem.org

Elem
Youth in Distress in Israel
7 Kehilat Saloniki St., Neot Afeka
Tel Aviv 69513
Tel: 03-768-6666
A nonprofit organization helping at risk
youth become productive citizens.
www.elem.org.il/lm/english.
asp?catid=137&parentid=0
Eshel
Givat Joint
P.O. Box 3489
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-655-7129
A nonprofit organization working to improve
the status of the elderly population in Israel.
www.eshelnet.org.il/en/index.php
Friends of the Earth, Middle East
85 Nahalat Binyamin St.
Tel Aviv 65791
Tel: 03-560-5383 Fax: 03-5604-693
Email: info@foeme.org
An alliance of Jordanian, Palestinian and
Israeli environmentalists. Their primary
objective is the promotion of cooperative
efforts to protect a shared environmental
heritage.
www.foeme.org
Greenpeace Israel
4 Haarbaa St
P.O.Box 14423
Tel Aviv 61143
Tel: 03-561-4014 Fax: 03-561-0415
Email: gpmedisr@il.greenpeace.org
Campaigns to promote a nuclear-free
Middle East and the preservation of the
Mediterranean Sea.
www.greenpeace.org/mediterranean
Israel Democracy Institute
4 Pinskar st.
Jerusalem 9104602
Tel: 02-530-0888
Email: press@idi.org.il
The Israel Democracy Institute is an
independent, non-partisan "think and do
tank" dedicated to strengthening the
foundations of Israeli democracy.
http://en.idi.org.il/
JAFI - Jewish Agency for Israel
48 King George St.
P.O.Box 92
Jerusalem 91000
Acting Jewish Agency
Spokesperson: Hagit Halali
Tel: 02-620-2215
Fax: 02-620-4013
E-mail:hagith@jafi.org
Helping Diaspora Jews make aliyah,
providing educational enrichment programs
and promoting equal opportunities within
Israel.

http://www.jewishagency.org
American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee (AJC)
Tel: 02-655-7400
Email: press@jdc.org
Sponsors programs of relief, rescue and
renewal and helps Israel address its most
urgent social challenges.
http://www.jdc.org
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish
Campus Life
Israel Division
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905
Tel: 02-588-2484
Fax: 02-581-1140
Director General of Hillel Israel: Rabbi
Yossie Goldman
Tel: 02-588-2483
Email: goldman@hillelnet.org.il
The largest Jewish campus organization in
the world, Hillel aims to inspire
Jewish students to make an enduring
commitment to Jewish life.
www.hillelisrael.org.il
Rabbis for Human Rights
9 Harekhavim St.
Jerusalem 93462
Tel: 02-648-2757
Email: info@rhr.israel.net
Rabbis for Human Rights is a rabbinic voice
of conscience in Israel, founded on the
Jewish tradition of human rights.
www.rhr.israel.net
HRA The Arab Association for
Human Rights
Marys Well St.
P.O.Box 215
Nazareth 16101
Tel: 04-656-1923
Email: Hra1@arabhra.org
A nonprofit organization that promotes the
rights and status of the Arab minority in
Israel.
www.arabhra.org

Israel Project
23 Hillel St.
P.O.Box 31
Jerusalem 93254
Tel: 02-623-6427

Israel Religious Action Center

33 Jaffa St.
P.O.Box 31936
Jerusalem 91319
Tel: 02-625-6261
Email: irac@irac.org
The public advocacy arm of the Jewish
Reform Movement in Israel (known as the
Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism).
www.irac.org
Konrad Adenauer Foundation
Director: Dr. Lars Hnsel
6 Lloyd George St. Jerusalem
Tel: 02-567-1830
Fax: 02-567-1831
Email: office@kasisrael.org
The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) has
been active in Israel for more than 25 years
promoting relations between Germany and
Israel.
www.kas.de/proj/home/home/24/2
Latet Israeli Humanitarian Aid
32B Kibbutz Galuyot Rd.
Tel Aviv, 66550
Tel: 1-700-504-033, 03-683-3388
Email: latet@latet.org.il
Latet provides assistance to needy
populations in Israel and around the world.
www.latet.org.il/english/
Let Animals Live
Moshav Talmei Menashe
Tel: 03-624-1776
Provides immediate aid to stray animals in
distress.
www.letlive.org.il/english/home.php
Machsom Watch
Womens Fund for Human Rights Ltd
Contact person: Micky Fischer
Mobile: 054-530-0385
Email: machsomwatch@gmail.com
Machsom Watch was founded in January
2001 to observe and promote humane
treatment of Palestinians and all others at
army and border police checkpoints.
www.machsomwatch.org
Metuna The Organization for
Road Safety
P.O.Box 700
Netanya 42120
Tel: 09-884-4667
Email: metuna@netvision.net.il
www.metuna.org/e_default.asp
National Council for the Child
38 Pierre Koenig St.
Jerusalem 93469

Tel: 02-678-0606
Email: ncc@children.org.il
Advocating for childrens rights and legislation to
protect them; representing their interests in
education, health, abuse, delinquency, media
and consumerism.
www.children.org.il
New Israel Fund
P.O. Box 53410
Jerusalem 91534
Tel: 02-672-3095
Fax: 02-672-3099
Email: nif@nif.org.il
An organization promoting social justice and
equality within Israel.
www.nif.org
Yesha Council of Judea and
Samaria
11 Beit Hadfus St., Givat Shaul
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-621-1999
Spokesperson: Yishai Holander
Mobile: 052-566-5663
TheYesha Council is the umbrella
organization of the 24 local governments
(local councils and municipalities) of the
disputed territories Judea and Samaria
Yesha in Hebrew.
www.myesha.org.il
Open Line
Tel: 1-700-707-073
A Hillel program that assists young people
who decide to leave the ultra-orthodox
communities in Israel.
www.hillel.org.il/?CategoryID=202
One Family Fund (Mishpacha
Achat)
P.O.Box 8573
Jerusalem 93228
Tel: 02-539-9000 Fax: 02-539-9011
Email: info@onefamilyfund.org
One Family provides direct financial, legal,
and emotional assistance to victims of
terrorism in Israel.
www.onefamilyfund.org
Organization of Homosexuals,
Lesbians, Bisexuals and
Transgenders
28 Nahmani St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-620-5590
The organization represents the
homosexual community.
PresenTense
64 Emek Refaim
Jerusalem
Email: contact@presentense.org
The organization promotes creative Zionism
to get Jews around the globe involved in
improving the world.

Contacts

ILAN Israel Foundation for

Handicapped Children
9 Y.L. Gordon St.
Tel Aviv, 63458
Tel: 03-524-8141
Email: ilan@ilan-israel.co.il
ILAN cares for physically challenged adults
and children with illnesses affecting the
muscles and nerves such as cerebral palsy,
multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular
diseases.
www.ilan-israel.co.il

Fax: 02-623-6439
Email: rachelf@theisraelproject.org
Devoted to educating the press and the
public about Israel while promoting security,
freedom and peace.
www.theisraelproject.org

Proud Young Gays

5 Yavne St.
Tel Aviv 65791
Tel: 03-560-0958
Email: office@igy.co.il
The organization is responsible for
coordinating different youth groups,
expanding other group activities and
providing professional services to
accommodate the different needs of
homosexual youth in Israel.
www.igy.co.il/content/index.html
Student Union
The Hebrew University
Mexico Building, Mt. Scopus Campus
Jerusalem 91072
Tel: 02-581-3604
Provides services for students of the
Hebrew University and is active in cultural,
social and academic issues in Jerusalem
and Israel.
www.aguda.org.il
Spirit of Israel
17 Kaplan St.
Tel-Aviv 64734
Tel: 03-693-0466
Email: info@spiritofisrael.org.il
A nonprofit organization that raises funds
for children at risk in Israel.
www.spiritofisrael.org.il/JewishAgency/
English/Home
Variety Israel
17 Diskin St.
Jerusalem 96440
Tel: 02-539-1901
Email: var16@variety.org.il
A nonprofit organization providing resources
for the welfare of sick and disabled children
up to 18 years old with special needs.
http://www.variety.co.il/eng/
WJC World Jewish Congress
4 Washington St.
Jerusalem 9418704
Tel. 02-633-3000
Fax 02-633-3011
Email: wjc@wjc.co.il
An international organization addressing the
interests and needs of Jewish communities
worldwide.
http://www.worldjewishcongress.org
Women in Green
P.O.Box 7352
Jerusalem 91072
Tel: 050-5500834
A grassroots womens movement
supporting the security and heritage of
historic Israel.
www.womeningreen.org
Yad Sarah
124 Herzl Blvd, Kiryat Weinberg
Jerusalem 96187
Tel: 02-644-4455

A national network of volunteers aiding the

disabled, elderly and housebound, providing
homecare and loans of medical equipment.
http://www.yadsarahnewsenglish.022.co.il/B
RPortal/br/P100.jsp

WOMENS' SHELTERS
Counseling Center for Women
http://www.ccw.org.il/?setlanguage=en
Jerusalem Rape Crisis Center
http://jrcc.1202.org.il/English/template/
default.asp?siteId=7
Israel Womens Network
http://www.iwn.org.il/pages/about-theisrael-womens-networkJerusalem Shelter for Battered
Women
Provides shelter counseling,and legal
advocacy.
Woman to Woman
P.O. Box 10402
Jerusalem
Phone: 02-563-0448 or 02-671-7581
Emergency Residence for
Orthodox Women
Bat Melech
Phone: 02-651-6103
Center for Personal Social
Emergency
Department of Welfare Jerusalem
Phone: 02-625-6202
02-623-1370, 02-623-1452

INSTITUTIONS OF
HIGHER
LEARNING /
UNIVERSITIES
Al-Qassemi Academic College of
Education
Spokesperson: Hosam Sha'ib
P.O.Box 124
Baqa El-Garbia 30100
Tel: 04-628-6600
Fax: 04-638-3676
Email: maha-mj@qsm.ac.il
www.qsm.ac.il/eng

Ramat Gan 52900

Tel: 03-531-8111/ 03-531-8516
www1.biu.ac.il/indexE.php
Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev
Spokesperson: Amir Rozenblit
P.O.Box 653
Beer-Sheva 84105
Tel: 08-646-1802
www.bgu.ac.il
Bezalel Academy of Art and
Design
Spokesperson: Michal Turgeman
Mount Scopus Campus
P.O.Box 24046
Jerusalem 91240
Tel: 02-589-3303
www.bezalel.ac.il/sitee/homepage
.aspHebrew University of
Jerusalem
Spokesperson: Rakefet Musak
Har Hatzofim
Jerusalem 91905
Tel: 02-588-2811
www.huji.ac.il/huji/eng/index_e.htm
Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya
Spokesperson: Inbal Chen
Kanfei Nesharim St. P.O.Box 167
Herzliya 46150
Tel: 09-952-7272
www.idc.ac.il/eng/default.asp
Israel Institute of Technology
Spokesperson: Gil Lainer
Kiryat Hatechnion
Haifa 32000
Tel: 04-829-2734, 04-829-4986
http://www.technion.ac.il/en/
Open University of Israel
Spokesperson: Daphna Grinboim
108 Ravutzki St.
P.O.Box 808
Raanana 43107
Tel: 09-778-1833
www-e.openu.ac.il
Tel Aviv University
Spokesperson: Orna Cohen
Tel Aviv University
Ramat Aviv Tel Aviv 69978
Tel: 03-640-5050
www.tau.ac.il

Ariel University Center of

Samaria
Spokesperson: Naama Cohen-Yechezkely
Ariel 40700
Tel: 03-906-6167
http://www.ariel.ac.il/

University of Haifa
Spokesperson: Ilan Yavelberg
Har Hacarmel
Haifa 31905
Tel: 04-824-0402, 04-824-0092/4
http://www.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/

Bar Ilan University

Spokesperson: Haim Zisowitz
Bar-Ilan University

Weizmann Institute of Science

Spokesperson: Yivsam Avgad
P.O.Box 26
Rehovot 76100

Tel: 08-934-3856
www.weizmann.ac.il
Zefat (Safed) Academic college
Spokesperson: Lisa Keshet
Tel: 052-427-6111
Jerusalem st., Safed
Tel: 04-692-7777
http://zefat.ac.il/

INTERFAITH/
MULTICULTURAL
GROUPS
Arab-Hebrew Theatre
Mifratz Shlomo St. 10
Jaffa, Tel Aviv 61030
Tel: 03-518-5563
Fax: 03-518-5562
info@arab-hebrew-theatre.org.il
The Center for Jewish-Arab
Economic Development
15 Maskit st.
Herzeliya 46733
Tel: 09-971-9900
Fax: 09-954-0136
Email: office@cjaed.org.il
Galilee Foundation for Value
Education (Makom BaGalil)
Moshav Shorashim
D.N. Misgav 20164,
Tel: 04-990-2431
Fax: 04-990-2403
Jerusalem Intercultural Center
Ma'ale Shazach st.
P.O.Box 1477
Jerusalem 91014
Tel: 02-672-8040/1
Fax: 02-672-1175
jicc@jicc.org.il

RESEARCH CENTERS
AND THINK TANKS

Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for

Strategic Studies
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat Gan 5290002
Tel: 03-535-9198, 03-531-8959

Chaim Herzog Center for Middle

East Studies and Diplomacy
Ben-Gurion University in the Negev
Beer-Sheva 84105
Tel: 08-647-2538
The Herzog Center supports research on
the Middle East and fosters the
development of academic relations between
Israeli scholars and their colleagues from
the Middle East and around the world.
Fisher Brothers Institute for
Air and Space Strategic Studies
15 Jabotinsky St.
Herzliya 46103
Tel: 09-951-0260
The Institute was established by the Israel
Air Force Association, and unites former air
force personnel for the purpose of
developing public discussion in the fields of
aviation and space.
The Floersheimer Institute for
Policy Studies
The Hebrew University, Mount Scopus
Jerusalem 91905
Tel: 02-588-3368
Fax:02-582-6267
The institute engages in academic research
in the realm of social sciences focusing on
central and local government relations. It
operates under the auspices of the HU
Institute for Urban and Regional Studies,
replacing the Institute for Policy Studies in
2007.
Gloria Center Global Research
in International Affairs
Interdisciplinary Center, IDC Herzliya
P.O. Box 167
Herzliya 46150
Tel: 09-960-2736
Email: info@gloriacenter.org
Research center that applies modern
information technology to academic and
analytical work.
TInstitute for National Security
Studies (INSS)
40 Haim Levanon st.
Tel Aviv 6997556
Tel: 03-640-0400
The Institute conducts high-quality research
shaping the public discourse of issues on
Israel's national security agenda, and
provides policy analysis and
recommendations to decision makers,
public leaders, and the strategic
community,.
Email: info@inss.org.il

Jerusalem Center for Public

Affairs (JCPA)
13 Tel-Hai St., Beit Milken
Jerusalem 92107
Tel: 02-561- 9281
The JCPA addresses issues affecting policy
debates in the Middle East and produces
analyses in publications and public forums.
Email: info@jcpa.org
Jerusalem Institute for Israel
Studies
20 Radak St.
Jerusalem 92186
Tel: 02-563-0175
Fax: 02-561-8487
JIIS is an independent, nonprofit
organization which acts as a bridge
between the academic and the practical.
Founded in 1978, JIIS provides policy
papers and professional analyses for use by
decision-makers, researchers, and the
general public.
Email: internet@jiis.org.il
Maurice Falk Institute for
Economic Research in Israel
The Hebrew University, Mount Scopus
Jerusalem 91905
Tel: 02-588-3167
Fax: 02-581-6071
An independent nonprofit research center
specializing in Israeli economics.
Email: ronit.ashkenazi@mail.huji.ac.il
Middle East Media Research
Institute (MEMRI)
4 Hamaalot St.
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-624-4730
Memri explores the Middle East through the
regions media. It provides translations of
Arabic, Persian, Urdu-Pashtu and Turkish
media. It is an independent nonprartisan
organization with headquarters in
Jerusalem and offices in major cities all
over the world.
Email: memri@memri-tv.org
Moshe Dayan Center for Middle
Eastern and African Studies
Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv
Tel Aviv 69978
Tel: 03-640-9646
A research center devoted to the modern
history and developments in the Middle
East and Africa.
Email: dayancen@post.tau.ac.il
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW)
Tel: 02-625-4140, 02-624-2803
Working to understand Palestinian society
through the monitoring of the Palestinian
Arabic language media and schoolbooks.

Contacts

Ariel Center for Policy Research

Tel: 03-906-3920
Research focuses on a wide range of
military and security issues as well as
subjects from Antisemitism in Arab and
Western countries to Zionist and PostZionist thought.
ariel.center@gmail.com

The Center contributes to the advancement

of Middle East peace and security by
conducting policy relevant research on
strategic subjects, particularly as they relate
to the national security and foreign policy of
Israel.

Shalem Center
3 Ha'Askan st..
Jerusalem 9378010
Tel: 02-560-5555
A Jerusalem-based research and
educational institute focused on Jewish
moral and political thought, Zionist history
and ideas, Biblical archaeology, democratic
theory and practice, strategic studies, and
economic and social policy.
Email: inquiries@shalem.org

Times of Israel
8 HaTzfira St.
Jerusalem 93102
Tel: 02-648-1205
Fax: 02-648-1186

Truman Institute
The Hebrew University, Mount Scopus
Jerusalem 91905
Tel: 02-588-2300
The Institute is dedicated to fostering peace
and advancing cooperation in the Middle
East and the rest of the world through
research, sponsorship of conferences and
provision of fellowships for local and visiting
scholars.
Email: truman@savion.huji.ac.il

Yedioth Aharonot
127 Yigal Allon St.
Tel Aviv 67433
Tel: 03-608-2222
Email: news@y-i.co.il

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
NEWSPAPERS AND
MAGAZINES

TV

Arutz Sheva
Israel National News
Email: feedback@israelnationalnews.com
www.inn.com
Challenge
43 Haaliyah St.
Tel Aviv 61351
Tel: 03-537-3268
A monthly magazine that focuses on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict within a global
context.
Email: oda@netvision.net.il
www.challenge-mag.com
Haaretz
21 Shoken St.
Tel Aviv 61001
Tel: 03-512-1212
Email: simon@haaretz.co.il
Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post Building
P.O. Box 81
Jerusalem 91000
Tel: 02-531-5612
Email: letters@jpost.com
Jerusalem Report
(A JPOST magazine)
Tel: 02-531-5666
Email: dan@jpost.com
www.jrep.com
Palestine-Israel Journal
P.O.B 19839
Jerusalem 91197

Tel: 02-628-2159/15
The Palestine-Israel Journal is a quarterly of
Middle East Publications, a registered
nonprofit organization.
Email: pij@pij.org

TV AND RADIO
I24 News
Nemal Yafo 1 (Jaffa harbor)
Tel Aviv-Yafo
Tel: 077-242-4247
http://www.i24news.tv/
Israel Broadcasting Authority
Channel 1
161 Jaffa St.
Jerusalem 94401
Tel: 02-501-5555
Email: dover@iba.org.il
Channel 2
Neve Ilan Communication Centre
Neve Ilan 90850
Tel: 02-533-9900
Email: doveretinternet@rashut2.org.il
Channel 10
53 Derech Hashalom St.
Givataim 53454
Tel (News): 03-733-1600
Fax: 03-733-1040
Email: info@10.tv
Palestinian Broadcasting
Corporation
pbcinfo@pbc.gov.ps
Tel.: 02-295-9894
Fax: 02-295-9893

RADIO
Israel Defense Forces Radio
(Galei Zahal)
23 HaDror st.
Tel-Aviv Jaffa
Tel: 03-512-6666

Email:radio@galatz.co.il
Israel Radio (Kol Israel) in
English
P.O.Box 1082
Jerusalem 91060
Tel: 02-530-2345
English news broadcasts on the REKA
network 101.3 FM at 6:30, 12:30 and 20:30
Email: englishradio@iba.org.il
dover@iba.org.il
www.iba.org.il

HOSPITALS
(Contact information for news issues is
listed below; for personal health-related
issues, please see the Helpful
Contacts section.)
Jerusalem
Bikum Holim
74 Haneviim St.
Spokesperson: Shimon Malka
Tel: 02-646-4402
www.bikurholim.org.il
El Makased El Hiryia El Islamia
Hospital
Spokesperson: Dr. Faruk Abdul Rahim
Har Hazeitim
P.O.Box 19482
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-627-0272
www.health.gov.il/units/pharmacy/IN
STITUTION/inst_one.asp?a=3
Jerusalem Medical Center
9a Diskin Kiryat Wolfson
Jerusalem 96440
Tel: 02-563-6265
Hadassah Ein Kerem
(University Hospital)
Spokesperson: Yael Bossem-Levi
Kiryat Hadassa
P.O.Box 12000
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-677-6220
www.hadassah.org.il/English
Hadassah Har Hatzofim
(University Hospital)
Spokesperson: Yael Bossem-Levi
Har Hatzofim
P.O. Box 19482
Mount Scopus
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-677-6220
www.hadassah.org.il/English
Shaarei Zedek Medical Center
12 Shmuel Bet St.
Spokesperson: Ms. Shoham Rubin
Tel: 02-655-5493
http://www.szmc.org.il/ENG/
St. Joseph Hospital

Spokesman: Jamil Kussah

13 Nashashebi St.
P.O. Box 19264
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-582-8408
Tel Aviv
Assuta Medical Center
Spokesperson: Yael Kupper
62 Jabotinsky St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-620-6565
www.assuta.co.il/english.aspx
Sourasky Medical Center
Spokesperson: Aviva Shemer
6 Weizmann St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-697-4239
www.tasmc.org.il/e/?url=e
Haifa
Horev Medical Center
15 Horev St.
Har Hacarmel
Haifa
Tel: 04-830-5324, 04-830-5351
www.tmchorev.co.il
Lady Davis, Carmel Hospital
Spokesperson: Hava Goldenberg
7 Michal St.
Ahuza
Haifa
Tel: 04-825-0251
www.clalit.org.il/carmel/default.asp
Rambam Medical Center
Spokesperson: David Retner
8 Haaliya St.
Bat Galim
Haifa
Tel: 04-854-2718
Fax: 04-854-2657
Evenings: 04-854-2222
www.doctor.co.il/Hospitals/rambam.html
North Israel
Haemek Central Hospital
Spokesperson: Merav Moyal
4 Jerusalem St.
Afula
Tel: 04-649-4023
www.clalit.org.il/hamek/Content/
Content.asp?CID=127&u=462

Poriya Medical Center

Rivka Ziv Medical Center

Spokesperson: Kalin Shapira
Derech Rambam
P.O.Box 1008
Safed
Tel: 04-682-8800/5
www.ziv.org.il/friends_index-e.phtmll
Central Israel
Asaf Harofe Medical Center
Spokesperson: Nurit Nehemya
Tzrifin
Beer Yaakov
Tel: 08-977-9977/8
www.assafh.org
Hasharon Medical Center
(Associated with Rabin Medical Center)
Spokesperson: Vered Koitel
Tel 03-937-7215
7 Kakal St. PetachTikva
Tel: 03-937-2454
www.clalit.org.il/rabin/Content/List
Category.asp?CID=94
Hillel Yaffe Medical Center
Spokesperson: Dafna Nevo
Kvish Hahof
P.O. Box 169
Hadera
Tel: 04-630-4888
hy.health.gov.il/english
Laniado Hospital
Spokesperson: Matilda Schwartz
Divrei Hayim St.
Kiryat Tzanz Netaniya
Tel: 09-860-4760
Mobile: 057-310-4031
www.laniado.org.il
Beilinson Hospital, Rabin
Medical Center
Spokesperson: Vered Koitel
Jabotinsky St.
PetachTikva
Tel: 03-937-7215
www.clalit.org.il/rabin/defaulteng.asp
Wolfson Medical Center
Spokesperson: Pnina Arad
62 Halohamim St.
Holon
Tel: 03-502-8321
www.wolfson.org.il/Index.
asp?CategoryID=158
Sheba, Tel Hashomer Medical
Center
Spokesperson: Anat Dolev
Tel Hashomer

Ramat Gan
Tel: 08-530-3296
eng.sheba.co.il/main/siteNew/index.
php

Southern Israel
Barzilai Medical Center
Spokesperson: Leah Malul
2 Hahistadrut St.
Ashkelon
Tel: 08-674-5766
www.barzilaimc.org.il
Kaplan Hospital
Spokesperson: Ofir Levi
Bilu Junction
Rehovot
Tel: 08-944-1194
www.kmc.org.il
Soroka (University Hospital)
Spokesperson: Inbar Gutter Ben Gurion
Blvd
P.O.Box 151
Beer Sheva
Tel: 08-640-3142
www.clalit.org.il/soroka/Content/Con
tent.asp?CID=70&u=309
Yoseftal Hospital
Spokesperson: Naomi Yitzhak-Levi
Derech Yotam
P.O. Box 600
Eilat
Tel: 08-635-8070
www.clalit.co.il/HE-

EMBASSIES
Albania
54 Pinkas St.
Tel Aviv 62261
Tel: 03-546-5866
Fax: 03-544-4545
Angola
14 Simtat Beit Hashoeva st.
Tel Aviv 64733
Tel: 03-691-2093
Fax: 03-691-2094
Argentina
85 Medinat Hayehudim St.
Herzliya Pituach 46140
Tel: 09-970-2743
Fax: 09-970-2748
Email: embarg4@netvision.net.il
Australia
37 Shaul Hamelech Blvd.
Tel Aviv 64928
Tel: 03-693-5000
Fax: 03-693-5002
Email: telaviv.embassy@dfat.gov.au

Contacts

Nahariya Hospital
Spokesperson: Ziv Farver
Ben Zvi Blvd.
P.O.Box 21
Nahariya
Tel: 04-910-7107
Mobile: 050-788-7632
www.wgh.org.il/site/homepage.
asp?lang=EN&pi=32

Spokesperson: Shachar Sharon

Ramat Poriya
M.P. Galil Tachton
Tiberius
Tel: 04-673-8208
www.poria.health.gov.il/

Austria

12 Aba Hiller Silver st..

Ramat Gan, 5250806
Tel: 03-612-0924
Fax: 03-751-0716
Email: tel-aviv-ob@bmeia.gv.at

Colombia
111 Arlozorov St.
Tel Aviv 92098
Tel: 03-695-3384
Fax: 03-695-7847
Email: ctelaviv@cancilleria.gov.co

Ethiopia
48 B Menachem Begin Rd.
Tel Aviv 66184
Tel: 03-639-7831/2
Fax: 03-639-7837
Email: info@ethioemb.org.il

Congo
9 Maskit St.
Herzliya Pituach 46733
Tel: 09-957-7216
Fax: 09-957-7216
Email: ambacobzvtlv@bezeqint.net

European Delegation to Israel

5-7 Shoham St.
Ramat Gan
Tel: 03-6137799
Fax: 03-6137770
Email: delegation-israel@ec.europa.eu

Croatia
40 Einstein St.
Tel Aviv 69101
Tel: 03-643-8654
Fax: 03-643-2688
Email: croemb.israel@mvpei.hr

Finland
40 Einstein St.
Ramat Aviv
Tel: 03-745-6600
Fax: 03-744-0314
Email: sanomat.tel@formin.fi

Cyprus
50 Dizengoff St.
Tel Aviv 64332
Tel: 03-525-0212
Fax: 03-629-0535
Email: cypemb4@netvision.net.il

France
112 Herbert Samuel st.
Tel Aviv 63572
Tel: 03-520-8300
Fax: 03-520-8340
Email: diplomatie@ambafrance-il.org

Czech Republic
23 Zeitlin St.
Tel Aviv 61163
Tel: 03-691-8282
Fax: 03-691-8286
Email: telaviv@embassy.mzv.cz

Germany
3 Daniel Frisch St.
Tel Aviv 6116001
Tel: 03-693-1313
Fax: 03-696-9217

Democratic Republic of congo

1 Rachel St.
Tel Aviv 64584
Tel: 03-524-8306
Fax: 03-529-2623

Georgia
3 Daniel Frisch St.
Tel Aviv 6116001
Tel: 03-609-3207
Fax: 03-609-3205
Email: israel.cons@mfa.gov.ge

Cameroon
28 Moshe Sharet St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-529-8401
Fax: 03-527-0352
Email: actlv50@yahoo.fr

Denmark
4 Berkovitz St.
Tel Aviv 61210
Tel: 03-608-5850
Fax: 03-608-5851
Email: tlvamb@um.dk

Ghana
15 Aba Hillel st.
Ramat Gan 5252208
Tel: 03-576-6000
Fax: 03-752-0827
Email: chancery@ganaemb.co.il

Canada
3/5 Nirim St.
Tel Aviv 6706038
Tel: 03-636-3300
Fax: 03-636-3380
Email: taviv@international.gc.ca

Ecuador
4 Weizman St.
Tel Aviv 64239
Tel: 03-695-8073
Fax: 03-691-3604
Email: eecuisrael@mmrree.gov.ec

Greece
3 Daniel Frisch St.
Tel Aviv 64731
Tel: 03-695-3060
Fax: 03-695-1329
Email: gremil@netvision.net.il

Chile
34 B Habarzel St., Ramat HaChayal.
Tel Aviv 69710
Tel: 03-510-2751
Fax: 03-510-0102
Email: echileil@zahav.net.il

Egypt
54 Basel St.
Tel Aviv 62744
Tel: 03-546-4151
Fax: 03-544-1615
Email: egyptelaviv@hotmail.com

Guatemala
103 (A) Medinat Hayehudim St.
Herzliya Pituach
Tel: 09-956-8707
Fax: 09-951-8506
Email: embguate@netvision.net.il

Eritrea
33 Jabotinsky St
Ramat Gan 52511
Tel: 03-612-0039
Fax: 03-575-0133
Email: eritrea@bezeqint.net

Hungary
18 Pinkas St.
Tel Aviv 64585
Tel: 03-546-6991
Fax: 03-546-7018
Email: mission.tlv@kum.hu

Belarus
3 Reins St.
Tel Aviv 6438103
Tel: 03-523-1069
Fax: 03-523-1273
Email: press@belembassy.co.il
Belgium
12 Ha`Chilazon St.
Ramat Gan 52522
Tel: 03-613-8130
Fax: 03-613-8160
Email: telaviv@diplobel.org
Bosnia Herzegovina
2 Kaplan St..
Ramat Gan, 64734
Tel: 03-612-4499
Fax: 03-612-4488
Email: embtelaviv@bezeqint.net
Brazil
23 Yehuda HaLevi st.
Tel Aviv 65136
Tel: 03- 797-1500
Fax: 03-691-6060
Email: embrzil@netvision.net.il
Bulgaria
21 Leonardo Da Vinci St.
Tel Aviv 64369
Tel: 03-696-1378
Fax: 03-696-1430
Email: bembassy@bezeqint.net

China
219 Ben Yehuda St.
Tel Aviv 61060
Tel: 03-546-7421/277
Fax: 03-546-7251/311
Email: consulate_isr@mfa.gov.cn

10

Embassy of India
140 Hayarkon St.
Tel Aviv 61033
Tel: 03-529-1999
Fax: 03-529-1953
Email: indinfo@indembassy.co.il

Liberia
74 Menachem Begin St.
Tel Aviv 6721516
Tel: 03-561-1068
Fax: 03-561-0896

Poland
16 Soutin St.
Tel Aviv 64684
Tel: 03-725-3111
Fax: 03-523-7806
Email: consulate@telavipl.org

Ireland
3 Daniel Frisch St.
Tel Aviv 64731
Tel: 03-696-4166
Fax: 03-696-4160

Lithuania
8 Shaul Hameleh Blvd.
Tel Aviv 6473307
Tel: 03-695-8685
Fax: 03-695-8691
Email: amb.il@urm.lt

Email: telavivembassy@dfa.ie
Italy
25 Hamered St.
Tel Aviv 68125
Tel: 03-510-4004
Fax: 03-510-0235
Email: italemb@netvision.net.il

Mexico
25 Hamered St.
Tel Aviv 68125
Tel: 03-516-3532
Fax: 03-516-3711
Email: communication1@embamex.
org.il

Ivory Coast
12 Menachem Begin St.
Ramat Gan 52700
Tel: 03-612-6677
Fax: 03-612-6688

Moldova
38 Rembrandt St.
Tel Aviv 64045
Tel: 03-523-1000
Fax: 03-523-3000
Email: tel-aviv@mfa.mdi

Royal Netherlands
14 Abba Hillel Silver St.
Ramat Gan 52506
Tel: 03-754-0777
Fax: 03-754-0748
Email: nlgovtel@012.net.il

Myanmar
2 Kaufman St.
Tel Aviv 68012
Tel: 03-517-0760
Fax: 03-516-3512
Email: myanmar@zahav.net.il

Russian Federation
120 Hayarkon St.
Tel Aviv 63573
Tel: 03-522-6733
Fax: 02-522-6713
Email: amb_ru@mail.netvision.net.il

Nigeria
34 Gordon St.
Tel Aviv 61030
Tel: 03-522-2144/5
Fax: 03-523-7886
Email: support@nigerianembassy.co.il

Serbia
10 Bodenheimer St.
Tel Aviv 6200817
Tel: 03-604-5535
Fax: 03-604-9456
Email: yuamb@netvision.net/il

Norway
40 Einstein St.
Tel Aviv, 6910101
Tel: 03-740-1900
Fax: 03-744-1498
Email: emb.telaviv@mfa.no

Slovakia
Zhabotinsky 37
Tel Aviv 62287
Tel: 03-544-9119
Fax: 03-544-9144
Email: slovakts@netvision.net.il

Panama
2 Kaplan St.
Tel Aviv 64734
Tel: 03-575-9793
Fax: 03-691-0045
Email: info@panamaembassy.org.il

Slovenia
50 Dizengoff St.
Tel Aviv 64332
Tel: 03-629-3563
Fax: 03-528-2214
Email: vta@mzz-dkp.gov.si

Peru
60 (A) Medint Hayehudim st,
Herzliya Pituach 46766
Tel: 09-957-8835
Fax: 09-956-8495
Email: emperu@012.net.il

South Africa
12 Abba Hillel st.
Ramat Gan 52520
Tel: 03-525-2566
Fax: 03-525-3230
Email: media@saemb.org.il

Philippines
18 Bnei Dan St.
Tel Aviv 66260
Tel: 03- 601-0500
Fax: 03-604-1038
Email: filembis@netvision.net.il

Spain
3 Daniel Frisch St.
Tel Aviv 64731
Tel: 03-03-696-5218
Fax: 03-696-5217

Japan
4 Berkovitz St.
Tel Aviv 6423806
Tel: 03-695-7292
Fax: 03-691-0516
Email: info@tl.mofa.go.jp
Jordan
14 Abba Hillel St.
Ramat Gan 52056
Tel: 03-751-7722
Fax: 03-751-7712
Email: jordanembassy@012.net.il
Kazakhstan
52 (A) Hayarkon St.
Tel Aviv 63432
Tel: 03-516-3411
Fax: 03-516-3437
Email: tel-aviv@mfa.kz
Kenya
15 Abba Hillel Silver St.
Ramat Gan 52522
Tel: 03-575-4633
Fax: 03-575-4788
Email: info@kenyaembassytlv.org

Latvia
2 Weizman St.
Tel Aviv 64239
Tel: 03-777-5800
Fax: 09- 695-3101
Email: embassy.israel@mfa.gov.lv

Romania
24 Adam Hacohen St.
Tel Aviv 64585
Tel: 03-522-9472
Fax: 03-524-7379
Email: telaviv@mae.ro

Contacts

Korean Republic
4 Hasadna`ot St.
Herzliya Pituach 46728
Tel: 09-951- 09-95698530318/22
Fax: 09-9569853
Email: koreanembassy@012.net.il

Portugal
3 Daniel Frisch St.
Tel Aviv 64731
Tel: 03-695-6373
Fax: 03-609-4791
Email: telavive@dgaccp.pt

11

Email: emb.telaviv@maec.es
Sri Lanka
4 Jean Jaures St.
Tel Aviv 63412
Tel: 03-527-7635
Fax: 03-527-7634
Email: srilanka@013.net.il
Sweden
4 Weizman St.
Tel Aviv 64239
Tel: 03-718-0000
Fax: 03-718-0005
Email: ambassaden.tel-aviv@gov.se
Switzerland
228 Hayarkon St.
Tel Aviv 6340524
Tel: 03-546-4455
Fax: 03-456-4408
Email: tel.vertretung@eda.admin.ch
Thailand
3 HaMaskit st.
Herzilya Pituach 46120
Tel: 03- 954-8412/3
Fax: 03- 954-8417
Email: thaisr@netvision.net.il
Turkey
202 Hayarkon St.
Tel Aviv 63405
Tel: 03-524-1101
Fax: 03-524-1390
Email: turkemb.telaviv@mfa.gov.tr
Ukraine
50 Yermiyahu St.
Tel Aviv 62594
Tel: 03-604-0242
Fax: 03- 604-2512
Email: emb_il@mfa.gov.ua
United Kingdom
192 Hayarkon St.
Tel Aviv 6340502
Tel: 03-725-1222
Fax: 03- 524-9176
Email:
webmaster.telaviv@fco.gov.uk
United States
71 Hayarkon St.
Tel Aviv 63903
Tel : 03-519-7475
Fax :03-517-3227
Email: amctelaviv@state.gov
Uruguay
4 Aryeh Shenkar St.
Hertzliya Pituach 46120
Tel: 09-956-9612
Fax: 09-951-5881
Email: rouisr@netvision.net.il
Uzbekistan
31 Moshe Sharet st.

12

Ramat Gan 52413

Tel: 03-672-2371
Fax: 03-644-7621
Email: admindep@uzbembassy.org.il

The Vatican
1 Netiv Hamazalot
Tel Aviv 68037
Tel: 03-683-5658
Fax: 03-683-5659
Email: vatge@netvision.net.il

GENERAL INFORMATION
HISTORY OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL
The history of the Land of Israel extends far back in time. Scholars have suggested that Jericho is the site of the worlds very first farming
settlement over 10,000 years ago and is therefore the cradle of human civilization as we know it. As a buffer zone between empires, the
area seldom enjoyed long periods of peace, ravaged by frequent warfare between conquerors such as the Egyptians and Hittites. The
fortified cities of the ancient Canaanites are a testament to the constant conflict as well as to a materially rich culture of trade and
commerce.

WHERE JEWISH HISTORY BEGAN

Jewish history began about 4,000 years ago (circa 17th century BCE) with the patriarchs Abraham, his son Isaac and grandson Jacob.
Documents unearthed in Mesopotamia, dating back to 2000-1500 BCE, corroborate details of their nomadic way of life as described in the
Bible. The Book of Genesis relates how Abraham was summoned to Canaan to bring about the formation of a people with belief in one
God. When a famine spread throughout Canaan, Abrahams grandson Jacob (Israel), his 12 sons and their families settled in Egypt where
their descendants were forced into lives of slavery and hard labor.
After 400 years of bondage, the Israelites were led to freedom by Moses and wandered for 40 years in the Sinai desert. It was here that
they became a nation and received the Torah (Hebrew Bible), which included the Ten Commandments, and gave form and content to their
monotheistic faith.
During the next two centuries, the Israelites conquered most of the land of Israel. Jews have lived in this land continuously from the time of
its original conquest more than 3,200 years ago until the present day. They were, however, not always in political control of the land, nor
did they always represent a majority of the lands population.

FIRST KINGS OF ISRAEL

Periods of relative peace alternated with times of war during which the people rallied behind leaders known as judges. The external threat
posed by the Philistines (a seagoing people from Asia Minor who settled on the countrys Mediterranean coast) exposed the inherent
weakness of this tribal organization and generated the need for a strong ruler, which brought about the anointing of Israels first king, King
Saul.
King Saul was succeeded by King David (c.1004-965 BCE), who established Israel as a major power in the region. He conducted a series
of successful military expeditions, including the final defeat of the Philistines, and also constructed a network of friendly alliances with
nearby kingdoms. Consequently, his authority was recognized from the borders of Egypt and the Red Sea to the banks of the Euphrates.
At home, he united the 12 Israelite tribes into one kingdom and placed his capital, Jerusalem, and the monarchy at the center of the
countrys national life.
Upon Davids death, his son Solomon acceded to the throne. King Solomon (c.965-930 BCE) further strengthened the kingdom of Israel.
Through treaties with neighboring kings, reinforced by politically-motivated marriages, Solomon ensured peace and made Israel one of the
great powers of the age. His crowning achievement was the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, which replaced the mobile Tabernacle as
the center of the Jewish peoples national and religious life.

ISRAEL'S CONQUERORS
The Kingdom of Israel was later crushed by the Assyrians (722 BCE) and its people carried off into exile. More than one hundred years
later, Babylonia conquered the Kingdom of Judah, exiling most of its inhabitants, as well as destroying Jerusalem and the First Temple
(586 BCE). The destruction of the Temple and the exile to Babylonia marked the beginning of the Jewish Diaspora.
Persian King Cyrus, conqueror of the Babylonian empire (538 BCE), allowed the repatriation of the Jews and the construction of the
Second Temple on the site of the first, as well as the refortification of Jerusalems walls. This marked the beginning of Second Jewish
Commonwealth (Second Temple period).

General Information

The end of Solomons rule was marred by discontent on the part of the populace, who had paid heavily for his ambitious schemes. After
Solomons death (930 BCE), open insurrection led to the breaking away of the 10 northern tribes. The country was divided into a northern
kingdom, Israel, and a southern kingdom, Judea, on the territory of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

13

As part of the ancient world conquered by Alexander the Great of Greece (332 BCE), the land remained a Jewish theocracy under Syrianbased Seleucid rulers. The Jews were then prohibited from practicing Judaism and the Temple was desecrated as part of an effort to
impose Greek-oriented culture and customs on the population. The response was a Jewish revolt in 166 BCE. First led by Mattathias of
the priestly Hasmonean family and then by his son Judah the Maccabee, the Jews entered Jerusalem and purified the Temple (164 BCE).
This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Chanukah (see Holidays section).

DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
When the Romans replaced the Seleucids as the main power in the region, they granted the Hasmonean king, Hyrcanus II, limited
authority under the Roman governor of Damascus. After a period of autonomy under the Herodians, the Romans eventually assumed full
control and Judea became a province of the Roman Empire. Growing anger against increased Roman suppression of Jewish life resulted
in sporadic violence, escalating into a full-scale revolt in 66 CE. Roman forces led by Titus were finally victorious, destroying Jerusalem
(70 CE) and defeating the last Jewish outpost at Masada (73 CE).
The total destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple was catastrophic for the Jewish people. According to historian Josephus Flavius,
hundreds of thousands of Jews perished in the siege of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country, and many thousands more were sold into
slavery. These events are remembered through the annual fast of Tisha BAv (see Holidays section).

EXTERNAL RULE
A last brief period of Jewish sovereignty in ancient times followed the revolt of Shimon Bar Kokhba (132 CE), during which Jerusalem and
Judea were regained. However, given the overwhelming power of the Romans, the outcome was inevitable, and the Roman response was
swift and the destruction complete. Within three years, Judea was re-conquered by the Romans, the Jews were expelled and the area was
renamed Palaestinia and Jerusalem was called Aelia Capitolina. (Jews continued to live in small enclaves in the north and center of the
country, including in Yavneh, Safed (Tzfat) and Tiberius.)
With the founding of the Byzantine Empire (and the Roman Empires conversion to Christianity in the 4th century), the land of Israel had
become predominantly Christian. Churches were built on many holy sites and the Jews were deprived of their former autonomy, as well as
their right to hold public offices. They were also forbidden to enter Jerusalem.
The Arab conquest of the land came four years after the death of Muhammad (632) and lasted more than four centuries, with caliphs ruling
first from Damascus, then from Baghdad and Egypt. At the outset of Islamic rule, Jewish settlement in Jerusalem was resumed and the
Jewish community was granted permission to live under protection, the customary status of non-Muslims under Islamic rule, which
safeguarded their lives, property and freedom of worship in return for payment of special poll and land taxes.
In the Middle Ages, much of the land was controlled for some two hundred years by the Crusaders who came from Europe to recover the
Holy Land. In July 1099, after a five-week siege, the knights of the First Crusade and their army captured Jerusalem, massacring most of
the citys non-Christian inhabitants. During the next few decades, the Crusaders extended their power over the rest of the country, mostly
by bloody military victories though also through treaties and agreements. Crusader authority in the land ended after a final defeat in 1291
by the Mamluks, a Muslim military class which had assumed power in Egypt.
Following the Ottoman conquest in 1517, the land was divided into four districts attached administratively to the province of Damascus and
ruled from Istanbul. With a gradual decline in the effectiveness of Ottoman rule, the country was brought into a state of widespread
neglect. By the end of the 18th century, much of the land was owned by absentee landlords and leased to impoverished tenant farmers
who were charged crippling taxes. The great forests of the Galilee and the Carmel mountain range were stripped of trees as swamp and
desert encroached on agricultural land.

DAWN OF A NEW ERA

The 19th century saw the first signs of progress. Steamships began to travel regular routes to Europe; postal and telegraphic connections
were installed and the first modern road was built between Jerusalem and Jaffa. Post-Renaissance Christian Europe began to express a
growing interest in the Holy Land and the regions rebirth as a crossroads for commerce for three continents was accelerated by the
opening of the Suez Canal.
Consequently, the condition of the countrys Jews slowly improved, and their numbers increased substantially. By 1880, Jerusalem had an
overall Jewish majority. Land for farming was purchased throughout the country; new rural settlements were set up and the Hebrew
language, long restricted to liturgy and literature, was revived. The stage was being set for the emergence of the modern Zionist
movement.

14

HISTORY OF THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT

FIRST ALIYA
Zionism derives its name from Zion (pronounced Tziyon in Hebrew) a hill in Jerusalem and the original site of the first city of
Jerusalem. The first wave of immigrants who came to the land with the idea of turning it into a national home for the Jews is known as the
First Aliya. Aliya literally means going up and it is the traditional Jewish term for coming to the Holy Land. Beginning in the 1870s,
religious and nonreligious Jews in Europe established several study groups and societies for purchasing properties in the Land of Israel,
by then conventionally known as Palestine, and settling there.
In 1870 the Alliance Israelite, an ostensibly non-Zionist organization, founded the Miqve Yisrael agricultural school near Beit Dagan. In
1882, the BILU (an acronym for Beyt Yaakov Lechu Venelcha, or Let us go to the House of Jacob) and Hibbat Tziyon (Love of Zion)
and Hovevi Tziyon groups were established. These and similar groups established a number of early Jewish communities including Yesod
Hamaalah, Rosh Pina, Gedera, Rishon LTziyon, Nes Tziyona and Rehovot. The land was purchased from Arab owners with the aid of
Jewish philanthropists, chiefly Lord Rothschild. Joel Solomon also led a group of Orthodox Jews out of Jerusalem to found Petah Tikva in
1878.

PLANS FOR A JEWISH STATE

The Dreyfus affair, a political scandal in France in 1893, made western European Jews conscious of their national identity and in particular
affected a young Viennese journalist, Theodor Herzl, and his friend Max Nordau. Herzls pamphlet, Der Judenstaat, or The Jewish State,
was published in 1896. Herzls plan for creating a Jewish state introduced a practical program of Zionism and led to the first Zionist
Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in August 1897.
When Zionism first began in the late 19th century, there were approximately 50,000 Jews living in the land of Israel. At that time, about
200,000 Arabs also lived there, mostly concentrated in the countryside of Judea, Samaria and the Galilee, and mostly lacking national
sentiment. To many in the west, Palestine was, as Lord Shaftesbury wrote in the 17th century, a country without a nation for a nation
without a country.

SECOND ALIYA
A fresh wave of anti-Semitic pogroms in Russia provided the impetus for a second wave of immigration - The Second Aliya - starting
around 1904.
Early proto-Zionists were not overly concerned with the existing inhabitants. Many were heavily influenced by utopianism. In the best 19th
century tradition, they were creating a Jewish utopia, where an ancient people would be revived. Zionist leaders strove to bring Jews to the
land and settle them primarily in agricultural settlements with a view to strengthening a Jewish national identity, and many promoting
modern ideas such as socialism, utopianism and nationalism. They envisioned a land without strife, where all national and economic
problems would be solved by good will, enlightened and progressive policies and technological know-how, including peaceful relations with
all the areas residents. Herzls novel Altneuland described just such a utopia.
The Jewish population grew and the Arab population grew even more rapidly. By 1914, there were over 500,000 Arabs in Palestine and
according to British sources there were some 85,000 Jews in the growing Jewish community at that time.

BRITISH MANDATE

Following the victory of the Entente Powers over the Central Powers, including Turkey, in the First World War, Great Britain received
jurisdiction in a trusteeship over the land of Israel/Palestine. Jewish immigration after the British entered Palestine is divided into three
further Aliyot (plural of Aliya). For a map of the area covered by the British Mandate, see page 60.

THIRD ALIYA
The Third Aliya consisted mostly of eastern European and Russian Jews, including some who had left or had been expelled by the Turks
during the war. This immigration began in about 1919 when Palestine was still under British military rule and is considered to have ended
about 1923. Approximately 35,000- 40,000 Jews came to Palestine during this period.

General Information

Political Zionism and practical settlement approaches were merged into a Synthetic Zionism advocated by Chaim Weizmann. The early
Zionists efforts ultimately bore fruit in the Balfour Declaration, a promise during the First World War by Britain to support a Jewish national
home in Palestine and in the League of Nations Mandate, which gave international sanction to the establishment of a Jewish national
home in the Land of Israel.

15

In 1922, the British unilaterally split the area of eastern Palestine east of the river Jordan off from the Palestine Mandate, which became
known as Transjordan. This division of land was partially responsible for an eventual split in the Zionist movement: the revisionists
refused to accept the loss of 70% of the Palestinian mandatory territory and eventually left the Zionist movement altogether. In 1923, the
British also split off the Golan Heights, a small portion of what was then known as northern Palestine, northeast of the Sea of Galilee and
gave it to French-mandated Syria.

FOURTH ALIYA
The Fourth Aliya lasted from 1924 to 1929 (though some scholars extend this to 1932) and consisted in large part of Polish Jews who left
their home country because of the new antiSemitic regime. Many could not travel to America because of new immigration quotas and
instead came to Israel. After the institution of the mandate, immigration quotas were also established in Palestine, and applicants had to
prove that they had some capital with which to begin their new lives in Palestine. The Fourth Aliya is generally considered to have ended in
1929 following Arab riots in Jerusalem, or in 1932 when immigrants began coming from Nazi Germany in large numbers. About 60,00070,000 Jewish immigrants came to Palestine in this period.

FIFTH ALIYA
The Fifth Aliya lasted from 1929 (or 1932) to 1939, when a British White Paper closed the gates of Palestine to Jewish immigration due to
what became known as the Arab Revolt, as well as international Arab pressure on Britain. Some 200,000- 250,000 Jews arrived during
this period: 174,000 of them came between 1933 and 1936, when severe quotas were first introduced. Many were German Jews fleeing
Nazism.

ARAB OPPOSITION
Arab opposition to Zionism grew after 1900. At first Arab leaders had a favorable attitude to the returning Jews. This attitude was quashed
by self serving nationalistic leaders who were later inspired by Nazi Germany. The birth of Arab nationalism and Arab political aspirations
in the Ottoman Empire followed the arrival of a sizeable number of Jewish Zionists with the announced program of settling on the land and
turning it into a Jewish national home. Arab newspapers from 1908 provide extensive evidence of anti-Zionist agitation. Conflicts flared up
because the Zionists purchased large tracts from absentee landowners and subsequently began to work the land themselves, forcing
tenant farmers but to look for work elsewhere. Arab anti-Jewish rioting and violence took place in 1920 and 1921. By the 1920s, unrest
was also motivated by growing anti-Semitism from the West.
In 1936, in response to Jewish immigration from Europe, Arab communities across western Palestine openly revolted. Three years of
bloody riots instigated by the Grand Mufti Hajj Amin Al Husseini and his allies resulted in hundreds of Jewish casualties as well as an
estimated 4,500 Arabs killed, primarily by the Muftis own forces. The rioting forced the British to take draconian measures. The Mufti fled
to Iraq in 1937 and then to Nazi Germany in 1941 after instigating an Axis Coup in Iraq.

BRITISH BLOCKADE
In 1936, the Peel Report from Britain proposed tentatively to partition Palestine which the Zionist leadership accepted despite the proposal
recommending a Jewish state in only 18 percent of the land. The proposal was rejected by all Arab leaders in the region. A few years later
the British issued the White Paper of 1939 severely limiting Jewish immigration as part of an effort to appease the Arab rioters by halting
the growth of the Jewish community.
Clandestine immigration to circumvent the strictures of the White Paper (called Aliya Bet) was organized by the Jewish Agency between
1939 and 1942, by which time a tightened British blockade and stricter controls in occupied Europe made immigration impractical.
The British found it necessary to maintain a large military establishment in Palestine to put down Arab rioting, enforce their draconian
immigration policy and respond to Jewish underground attacks on British military personnel. This policy became increasingly unpopular at
home due to the loss of British lives, forcing the British to announce in February 1947 that they were returning their mandate to the UN.

PLANS FOR PARTITION

A special UN commission, called UNSCOP, followed the lead of the earlier Peel commission and current trends in political thought by
recommending partition of the land into two sections - one Arab, one Jewish - and the internationalization of Jerusalem. The Arabs were
opposed to both partition and a bi-national state, rejecting vehemently any possibility of the establishment of a Jewish national home in the
region as called for in the original British Mandate even with the independence in 1946 of the first Arab state in Mandatory Palestine
Transjordan.
Though it meant giving up the territories of Judea and Samaria - not only the strategic high ground in the region but the heart of the Jewish

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historical connection with the Land of Israel, including the cities of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs (Hebron, Shchem/ Nablus, and
Bethlehem) - the Jewish leadership of the Yishuv, or Jewish settlements in the land, agreed to the idea of partition. The U.S. and the
USSR supported partition of Palestine, and carried large blocs of votes with them within the United Nations. On November 29, 1947, the
United Nations voted to recommend the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states in General Assembly Resolution 181. Rejecting
both the establishment of a Jewish state or an Arab state in western Palestine, the Arab states aligned in the Arab League immediately
initiated a war against the Jewish community and the infant Jewish State with the declared aim of driving the Jews into the sea. Thus the
Arab war against the Jewish State began while the British were still in Palestine and even before the State was founded.

INVASION BY NEIGHBORING ARAB COUNTRIES

On May 14, 1948, the Jewish Zionist leadership proclaimed the independent State of Israel and the British formally withdrew from
Palestine. In the following days and weeks, neighboring Arab nations invaded the territory of what was western Palestine now Israel,
though without any agreed-upon borders. The fighting was conducted in several brief periods, punctuated by cease-fire agreements
(truces were declared June 11 to July 8, 1948 and July 19-October 15, 1948).
In the initial stage, notable successes were scored by the Egyptian and Syrian armies. In particular, the Egyptians, backed by tanks,
artillery, armor and aircraft, which Israel did not possess, were able to cut off the entire Negev and occupy parts of the territory that had
been allocated to the Jewish state in the UNs partition proposal. The newly-formed Israel Defense Force (IDF) managed to defeat the
invasion in 15 months of war that claimed over 6,000 Jewish lives, roughly one percent of the total population.
The Arab residents of the land were not well-organized and they and neighboring Arab countries could not attain their goal of cleansing the
region of Jews. Instead, it was the Arab residents of the land who suffered the dislocation associated with modern warfare. As a result of
the war, between 600,000 and 800,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes.
Similarly, over 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled increasing persecution from Arab or Muslim countries during the War of Independence. Between 1948 and 1954 many became homeless refugees despite the fact that some of their communities were over 2,000
years old. The Jewish population of Arab countries dropped from around 900,000 to less than 50,000 between 1948 and 2000. Israel
resettled close to 600,000 Jews from Arab lands, in addition to absorbing some 300,000 European refugees of World War II. In 1948,
160,000 Arabs who lived within Israels borders accepted Israels invitation to choose peace and become Israeli citizens.

EGYPTIAN HOSTILITIES
Following the conclusion of what became known in Israel and the western world as Israels War of Independence, Arab terrorists trained
and equipped by Egypt (fedayeen as they were then known), repeatedly attacked Israeli civilians from bases in Lebanon, Gaza and
Jordan. Egypt began negotiating to purchase large quantities of arms, and when they were turned down by the West, the Egyptians
turned to the Eastern bloc countries and eventually concluded a deal with Czechoslovakia. Egyptian President Gamal Nasser also closed
the Straits of Tiran and the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping. On July 26, 1956, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, angering Britain and
France. Israeli strategists believed that Egypt would go to war or force a diplomatic showdown as soon the Czech weapons had been
integrated into the Egyptian arsenal and therefore concluded an arms deal with France.
In the summer of 1956, Israel, France and Britain cooperated in devising a plan to reverse the nationalization of the Suez Canal. Israel
would invade the Sinai and land paratroopers near Mitla pass; Britain and France would issue an ultimatum, and then land troops
ostensibly to separate the sides. The plan was carried out on October 29, 1956. Israel captured the entire Sinai Peninsula in 100 hours.
Israel subsequently withdrew under pressure from the UN and the United States. Israel obtained guarantees that international waterways
would remain open to Israeli shipping from the US and a UN force was stationed in Sinai.

Israel could not allow its sea lane through the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba to be interdicted; nor could it remain fully mobilized much longer. After
three weeks, a defensive war began on June 5, 1967.

WAR WITH JORDAN

Following air strikes which destroyed the Egyptian and Syrian air forces, the Israeli Defense Forces executed a three-pronged strike
against Egypt. By the evening of June 8, Nasser had accepted a ceasefire with Israeli troops who now controlled all of Sinai. Jordanian
artillery began firing at Jerusalem on the first day of the war, despite a plea and a warning by Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol to stay out
of the war. The Jordan Legion advanced and took over the headquarters of the UN in Jerusalem. Jordanian artillery fired on the suburbs of
Tel Aviv and at Ramat David in the north. Jordanian planes bombed Netanya, Kfar Sirkin and Kfar Saba. After repeatedly requesting King

General Information

Beginning in May 1967, belligerent statements and unprovoked hostility by Nasser and other Arab leaders engendered an environment of
growing aggression and an awareness of impending disaster in Israel. On May 23, Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, an
act that was recognized as a causis belli in American, European and other western jurisprudence, and insisted the UN forces in the Sinai
leave. A torrent of rhetoric was issued from Arab capitals and Arab representatives to the UN, threatening Israel with destruction. In the
Arab world, Nasser, previously criticized for inaction, was widely hailed as a liberator. Cartoons showed jackbooted Egyptian soldiers
crushing caricatures of ghetto Jews. The Arab rhetoric was matched by the mobilization of Arab forces. Approximately 250,000 troops,
more than 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft surrounded Israel.

17

Hussein to withdraw through the UN and the US and after accepting a cease fire proposed by the UN (rejected by Jordan), Israel
responded to the attacks. The Israelis destroyed the Jordanian air force on June 5 and then proceeded to capture the west bank of the
Jordan and the eastern side of Jerusalem on June 6-8.

ATTACKS FROM THE GOLAN

During the first days of the war, Syrian artillery based in the Golan Heights pounded civilian targets in northern Israel. After dealing with
Egypt, Israel responded to these attacks. Syrian troops were stationed in concrete pillboxes and fought stubbornly in places like Tel al
Fakhr. However, the initial Syrian resistance soon crumbled and Syrian troops began to flee. Israel agreed to a cease fire on June 10,
1967 after taking over Quneitra and completing the conquest of the western reaches of the Golan Heights.
UN Security Council Resolution 242, passed on November 27, 1967, called for negotiations of a permanent peace between all parties and
for Israeli withdrawal from territories captured in 1967 1

YOM KIPPUR WAR

On Yom Kippur (the holiest day of the Jewish year) of 1973, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack against Israel. Caught
unprepared, the IDF nonetheless eventually managed to fend off this assault, cutting off part of the Egyptian forces from the Suez Canal
and pushing the Syrian army back from the Golan Heights towards Damascus. While victorious militarily, the human cost was
excruciatingly high: 2,688 Israeli soldiers were killed in nearly three weeks of combat. Egypt claimed to have restored its honor because of
its success in the wars first few days.

BUILDING JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN THE DISPUTED TERRITORIES

In the early 1970s, Israel began to allow and encourage Jewish civilians to build communities in the disputed territories of Judea, Samaria,
Gaza and the Golan, the vast majority of which were built on state land (or on land which was purchased and/or settled by Jews prior to
the War of Independence, in places like Kfar Etzion, south of Jerusalem, and Kfar Darom in Gaza). Around Jerusalem, Israel built up or
expanded Jewish neighborhoods on the southern, northern and eastern reaches of the city Gilo, Ramot and French Hill respectively.
(For a clear and concise presentation of the legal questions surrounding Israels settlement policy, see Rostow in the American Journal of
International Law, 1990, volume 84.)

THE PLO IN LEBANON

In 1970, after Jordan expelled the Palestine Liberation Organization (established in 1964 to liberate Palestine from Israel), the PLO
entrenched itself in southern Lebanon. During Lebanons civil war (1975-1990), PLO attacks on northern Israel intensified. Israel invaded
Lebanon in 1982 to root out the organization and the PLO was forced to relocate to Tunis. By 1985, Israel withdrew to a security zone
approximately four miles wide along the border and unilaterally withdrew in 2000, despite continuing threats and hostilities from the
Iranian- and Syrian-sponsored terrorist group, Hezbollah.

FIRST INTIFADA
The PLO initiated a period of low-level violence (rock-throwing, riots, etc.) what became known as the Intifada (shaking off) of 19871992 after false rumors of Israeli atrocities circulated through Palestinian communities. Over these five years of Palestinian violence, 27
Israelis were killed and more than 1,400 Israeli civilians and 1,700 Israeli soldiers were wounded by Molotov cocktails (gasoline bombs),
rocks, bricks and other weapons. Some 2,000 Palestinians were wounded over this period, many in clashes with Israeli security forces but
almost half of these Palestinian casualties were wounded by fellow Palestinians in internal fighting among rival factions.

STEPS TOWARD PEACE

In 1979 Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty that returned the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, including the gas and oil fields that Israel
had discovered and developed there, and dismantled Jewish communities which had been established. The Oslo Accords were signed
with the PLO in 1994. Israel agreed to withdraw from most of the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria and grant self-government to
the Palestinians. In exchange, the PLO pledged to stop incitement, renounce and combat terrorism, accept Israels right to exist in peace
as a Jewish state within secure borders and live in peace. By 1997, 98% of Palestinian residents of the territories were governed by the

The language of Resolution 242 is explicit. The authors of the resolution fought over the wording, calling in the end for an Israeli withdrawal from
territories not all the territories or the territories - unequivocally acknowledging the importance and justice of mutually- agreed border
adjustments following hostilities initiated by Egypt, Syria and Jordan and allowing Israel to administer the disputed territories until a lasting peace
was established in the Middle East. (See Eugene Rostow in The New RepubIic, October 1991).

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Palestinian Authority. The year 1994 also saw the signing of a peace treaty with Jordan which allowed the two countries to publicly
formalize their peaceful relations.

SECOND INTIFADA
The second period of intense Palestinian violence the Second Intifada was a Palestinian campaign of suicide bombing and violent
attacks against civilians that began on September 29, 2000. Through July 2007, over 1,060 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed and
over 7,000 wounded roughly 70% of them civilians, including Muslims, Christians, Jews, Arabs and Israelis according to official Israeli
sources and human rights groups. Accurate numbers for Palestinians wounded and killed in this period are hard to come by. Israeli
sources report approximately 3,000 Palestinians killed by Israelis through 2005, 45% of them civilians, and nearly 500 Palestinians killed
by other Palestinians in the same time-period 1. Human rights organizations suggest a slightly higher figure. Through July 2007, some
4,000 Palestinians were killed by Israelis, citing a similar 45% civilians but add a further 25% as unknown whether the casualties were
combatants or civilians; and according to these reports, 531 Palestinians were killed by Palestinians in the same period 2.

ISRAELS SECURITY BARRIER AGAINST TERROR

The continuing terror and mass casualties of the suicide attacks that were frequent in the early 2000s led Israel to begin in 2003 the
construction of an anti-terror barrier or security fence as it became known. Since construction of the barrier began, the number of terrorist
attacks has plummeted by more than 90%. Structurally, approximately 94% of the barrier is a chain-link fence, the remainder a concrete
wall, built to prevent the sniper attacks that were frequent in selected areas. Only 5-8% of PA land and three-tenths of 1% of the
Palestinian population will be on the western (Israeli) side of the fence when it is completed. Palestinians can bring grievances regarding
the placement of the barrier to Israels Supreme Court which, in several cases, has ruled in favor of the Palestinians, causing the barrier to
be re-routed.

ISRAELI WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA AND NORTHERN SAMARIA

In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip and parts of northern Samaria/West Bank, even though the Palestinian Authority
was not living up to its obligations under the Oslo Accords or the road map the peace plan brokered by the diplomatic quartet comprising
the US, UN, EU and Russia. Over 9,000 Israelis from 25 communities were uprooted and expelled from their homes, many of whom had
lived there for decades. These actions were taken with the express hope that such a withdrawal would partially answer Palestinian
demands for an end to the occupation and bring greater security to both the Israeli and Palestinian population, bringing peace and
facilitating a two-state solution with defined borders.

SECOND LEBANON WAR

On June 25, 2006, in an attack on an Israeli army base just outside the Gaza Strip, IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped and two other
soldiers were killed by Palestinian terrorists. On July 12, 2006, Israeli soldiers were attacked across the internationally recognized border
with Lebanon by Hezbollah terrorists. Eight were killed and two were kidnapped, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev (whose bodies were
returned two years later). In the ensuing 34-day war, called the Second Lebanon War in Israel, Hezbollah fired over 3,970 rockets against
Israeli civilian targets. In the fighting, 162 Israelis were killed, including 43 Jewish, Christian and Muslim civilians. Some 1,170 Lebanese
were killed, at least 700 of which were Hizbullah combatants.

OPERATION CAST LEAD AGAINST HAMAS IN GAZA

A Statistical Report Summary for September 27, 2000 through January 1, 2005 from the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism.

BTselem Statistics on Fatalties: Intifada Deaths since September 29, 2000

IDF Report: Vast Majority of Palestinians Killed in Operation Cast Lead Found to be Terror Operatives, March 26th, 2009

General Information

Following the 2006 electoral victory of Hamas in the Palestinian Authority, which led to brutal Hamas-Fatah fighting in the Gaza Strip and
the violent takeover of the Strip by Hamas forces, both Israel and Egypt imposed partial closures of the border crossings with Gaza.
Intermittant and continual rocket attacks from Gaza, which went against the terms of a ceasefire unilaterally declared by both Israel and
Hamas, and a number of attempted additional kidnappings of IDF soldiers, provoked widespread calls for action by Israel. Designed to
end the escalating Qassam rocket attacks on southern Israel, the IDF carried out air strikes in Gaza on December 27, 2008, and
undertook a ground invasion on the evening of January 3, 2009. Seen as a relative success in Israel, as rocket attacks declined following
the military operation to a 5-year low, the operation was criticized around the world and most especially in Arab and Muslim countries.
According to a March 2009 IDF investigation, some 1,100 Palestinians were reportedly killed in the operation, 700 of whom were allegedly
Hamas operatives, 100 were said to have no Hamas affiliation and 300 were civilians. During the three week operation , 10 Israeli soldiers
and 3 Israeli civilians were killed 3.

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OPERATION PILLAR OF DEFENSE

On November 14, 2012 in response to incessant rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, the IDF launched a widespread campaign against
terror targets in Gaza. The operation, called Pillar of Defense, had two main goals: cripple terror organizations in the Gaza Strip and
defend Israelis living under fire. Heres a summary of the events which took place during the operation.
The operation opened when the IDF surgically targeted Ahmed Jabari, head of Hamas military wing in the Gaza Strip. Jabari was directly
responsible for executing terror attacks against Israel in the past.
During the next eight days, the IDF targeted more than 1,500 terror sites across the Gaza Strip.
For the first time ever Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups fired long-range rockets,such as the Fajr-5, toward Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem. Though the IDF severely damaged the terrorist organizations long-range rocket arsenal, more than 3.5 million Israelis are still
under the threat of Hamas rocket fire. From November 14 to November 21, Palestinian terrorist groups fired more than 1,506 rockets at
Israel. Of those 1,506 rockets fired from Gaza, more than 800 rockets struck Israel, damaging homes, schools and other civilian areas.
Some of rockets reached the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas.
421 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome, which saved countless Israeli lives. 152 rockets fired from Gaza crashed back into Gaza.
Five Israeli civilians were killed due to rocket fire, while an additional 240 Israeli civilians were injured.

OPERATION PROTECTIVE EDGE

Operation Protective Edge was launched by the IDF on July 8, 2014 following months of incessant Gaza rocket fire towards Israel's
territory.. The Operations goals were: restoring the security to Israeli civilians in the Gaza border communities living under Hamas rocket
fire and dismantling the Hamas tunnel network used to infiltrate Israel.
More than 70% of Israelis live within range of Hamas rockets, including Israel's largest cities and population centers.Besides rockets,
Israel faced the threat of terror tunnels that were built by Hamas. The IDF has destroyed 32 of these tunnels and the Iron Dome missile
defense system intercepted 692 rockets.In this operation. The IDF targeted more than 5,085 terror sites in the Gaza Strip and 64 Israeli
soldiers fell while fighting to protect Israeli civilians.

HISTORY OF MAJOR ISRAELI-ARAB PEACE TALKS SINCE 1949

RHODES CONFERENCE (1949)
The 1949 Armistice Agreements talks held on the Greek island of Rhodes on January 12,1949 were signed between Israel and
neighboring Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The agreements ended the official hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War (Israels War of
Independence), and established armistice lines between Israel and the Jordanian-held West Bank, the Green Line. The United Nations
established supervising and reporting agencies to monitor the established armistice lines.

GENEVA PEACE CONFERENCE (1973)

The conference was meant to negotiate peace after the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War. The conference opened on December 21,1973
with the United States and the USSR acting as co-sponsors and the primary non-Middle Eastern countries involved. Many Arab states
were represented although the question of who should represent the Palestinians caused controversy as neither Israel nor the PLO
recognized each other. No comprehensive agreement was reached, and attempts in later years to revive the Conference failed.

CAMP DAVID ACCORDS (1978)

An agreement signed between Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17,1978,
following twelve days of intense negotiations at Camp David. The two agreements were signed at the White House, and were witnessed
by United States President Jimmy Carter. The Accords led directly to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. They also resulted in Sadat and
Begin sharing the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.

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MADRID CONFERENCE (1991)

The Madrid Conference was hosted by the government of Spain and co-sponsored by the US and the Soviet Union. It convened on
October 30, 1991 and lasted for three days. In the aftermath of the (first) Gulf War, the US formulated the framework of objectives, and
together with the Soviet Union extended a letter of invitation to Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the Palestinians as part of the
Jordanian delegation. More symbolic than concrete, the conference laid out a model for future peace negotiations. The conference also
established the 'Quartet on the Middle East' - an international diplomatic coalition made up of the US, the UN, the EU and Russia.

OSLO PROCESS (1993)

Officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles (DOP), the Oslo
Agreement was the first direct, face-to-face negotiation between Israel and political representatives of the Palestinians. It was held in Oslo,
Norway on August 20, 1993, and subsequently led to an agreement signed at a public ceremony in Washington D.C.on September 13,
1993 in the presence of US President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. Secretary of
State Warren Christopher signed for the US, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres for the State of Israel and Mahmud Abbas signed for the PLO
and Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev for Russia. It was intended as a framework for future relations between Israel and the anticipated
Palestinian entity when all outstanding final status issues between the two would be addressed and resolved in future negotiations.

CAIRO AGREEMENT (1994)

The Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area Agreement was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat in
Cairo on May 4,1994. American, Soviet, and Egyptian diplomatic envoys served as witnesses. The two sides met to discuss Israeli
withdrawal from Gaza and Jericho. Israeli forces withdrew from Jericho and most of the Gaza Strip in May 1994. After additional
agreements, Israeli withdrawals resulted in more than 95% of the Palestinian residents of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and the Gaza
Strip being under Palestinian administration by 1997. However, tensions within the Palestinian Authority prevented Arafat from upholding
his commitment to curb Hamas.

WASHINGTON DECLARATION (1994)

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin meets King Hussein of Jordan for the first time publicly in Washington, D.C. on July 25, 1994, formally
ending the 46 year state of war between the two countries. Both nations agreed to seek peace based on U.N. Security Council
Resolutions 242 and 338. On October 26, 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul-Salam Majali
signed the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty outlining the two state's borders, peace, shared use of water and freedom of movement between
the two countries. Diplomatic relations began on November 27, 1994 and additional bilateral agreements of cooperation were signed in
following years in areas such as the environment, trade and tourism.

OSLO II (1995)
The Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, known as "Oslo II" broadened and superseded previous
agreements. This agreement dealt with many aspects of the transition to Palestinian autonomy, Palestinian self-governance and the
division of the Palestinian territory into three sections (A, B and C) based on which side would be responsible for security. Israel also
released Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture.

HEBRON ACCORDS (1997)

WYE RIVER MEMORANDUM (1998)

The Wye River Memorandum was an agreement to follow up previously unclear and unfulfilled agreements - Oslo II. It was brokered by
the United States and was signed on October 23, 1998. The agreement calls for the Palestinian Authority to halt terror and incitement,
present a plan for collecting illegal weapons and revoke its charter calling for the destruction of Israel. Israel undertakes to fulfill its
commitments to implement the first phase of the redeployment only after the Palestinians meet their commitments.The agreement almost
fell through at the last minute over a dispute between Israel and the US concerning American Naval Intelligence Officer Jonathan Pollard
imprisoned on charges of spying for Israel. The agreement was finally signed at a White House ceremony by Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House. US President Clinton played a key role as the official witness.

General Information

The Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PLO Chairman
Yasser Arafat on January 17, 1997. The Hebron Protocol called for the redeployment of the Israel Defense Forces from Hebron, the last
Palestinian city remaining under Israeli control. The ratification of the protocol marked the first time Israel's right-wing Likud party
supported territorial withdrawal in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) which until then was widely considered a Labor party policy.

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SHARM EL-SHEIKH MEMORANDUM (1999)

The Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat in Sharm ElSheikh, Egypt on September 4, 1999. US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of
Jordan witnessed the signing. The memorandums called for the implementation of Oslo II and all other agreements between the PLO
and Israel signed since September 1993.

CAMP DAVID TALKS (2000)

The Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David took place between US President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in July 2000. It was an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a "final status settlement" although
the talks did result in the Trilateral Statement defining the parameters for future negotiations.

TABA SUMMIT (2001)

The Summit took place in the Sinai peninsula town of Taba from January 21-27, 2001. The talks were hosted by Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak. The Israeli negotiating team was headed by Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami. Senior Palestinian official Achmed Korei led the
Palestinians.The four committees met in an effort to reach a framework for "final status" negotiations and came closer to doing this than
any previous attempts. The gathering took place during the Second Intifada and ended without a peace deal, although a joint official
statement said the sides were closer to an agreement than ever before.

ROADMAP TO PEACE (2003)

The US-authored roadmap plan is based upon President George W Bush's Rose Garden speech of June 2002 calling for an independent
Palestinian state living side by side with Israel according to the priniciples set forth by the Oslo Accords. This plan was championed by the
Diplomatic Quartet who called for serious changes in the Palestinian government leading to Yasser Arafats appointment of Mahmoud
Abbas as the Palestinian Authoritys first prime minister. The roadmap, which charts progress toward a final status agreement through a
series of benchmarks relating to security and political progress, is still the official blueprint towards peace between Israel and the
Palestinians, with the Quartet meeting intermittently to track the progress of the plan.

PEACE SUMMIT AT AQABA (2003)

Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas met in Jordan to reaffirm their commitment to the
Roadmap. Sharon promised an Israel Defense Forces withdrawal from Palestinian areas, and Abbas pledged an end to the Second
Intifada. The prospects of the summit were shattered on August 19, 2003 after Palestinian terrorists carried out a suicide bombing in
Jerusalem. As a result, the Israeli Cabinet voted to carry out a military operation against Hamas and other terrorist groups, halting the
diplomatic process with the Palestinian Authority until it could prove it was taking concrete measures to stop terrorism.

ANNAPOLIS CONFERENCE (2007)

The US sponsored conference in Maryland on November 27, 2007 was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian
Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.The conference marked the first time a two-state solution was articulated as the mutually agreedupon aim. The conference failed in its objective to have a final status agreement signed by the end of 2008.

THE KERRY INITIATIVE (2013-2014)

United States Secretary of State John Kerry made attempts to restart the peace process through direct negotiations which began on July
29, 2013. In August, 2013 negotiations began in earnest in Jerusalem, led by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni for Israel and Saeb Erekat for the
Palestinians. In January of 2014, the US secretary of state scaled back his goal from concluding a final peace deal to instead achieving a
"framework agreement" by the end of nine months enabling talks to continue thereafter. In March, Israel refused to release a fourth
tranche of Palestinians prisoners, saying it would only do so if Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas agreed to extend the talks.
Abbas then responded by signing up to 15 international treaties in breach of a prior promise. On April 23, 2014, Fatah and Hamas
conclude a unity pact and the following day Israel suspends negotiations.

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HISTORY OF PRISONER SWAPS

November 1983 Israel swaps 4,600 Palestinian and Lebanese captives for six Israeli soldiers: Eliyahu Abutbul, Dani Gilboa, Rafi
Hazan, Reuven Cohen, Avraham Motevaliski, and Avraham Kornfeld, abducted on September 4, 1982, from their forward post in Lebanon.
May 1985 Israel exchanges 1,150 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners, including Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin, in exchange for
three Israeli soldiers: Hezi Shai, Yosef Grof and Nissim Salem captured during fighting in Lebanon in 1982. Many of the freed prisoners
are known to have played leading roles in the Palestinian uprising that began in 1987.
September, 1991 Israel trades 51 Palestinian prisoners for proof one of its IDF soldiers Samir Assad held in Lebanon is dead.
July 1996 The bodies of IDF soldiers Joseph Fink and Rahamin Alsheich kidnapped by Hizbullah during fighting in southern Lebanon
in 1986 are returned. In exchange, Israel returned the remains of 123 terrorists.
January, 2004 Israel and Hezbollah exchange Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers:
Sgt. Adi Avitan, Staff Sgt. Benyamin Avraham and Staff Sgt. Omar Sawaid - for 436 Lebanese and Arab prisoners, including Obaid and
Dirani, and the bodies of 59 Lebanese fighters.
April, 2005 Nine Jordanian prisoners are released as a goodwill gesture to Jordan
December, 2007 429 Palestinian prisoners are released to the West Bank and Gaza in a gesture meant to strengthen Palestinian
Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas after the Annapolis Conference.
July, 2008 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declares captive Israel Defense Force Staff Sergeant Eldad Regev and Sergeant Major
Ehud Goldwasser dead. Israel agrees to exchange convicted terrorist Samir Kantar, four Hezbollah and the bodies of 200 Arab terrorists
and infiltrators killed in the past 30 years for the bodies of the two soldiers and information on Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad missing
since 1986 when his plane crashed in Lebanon..
August, 2008 200 convicted Palestinian terrorists, including Mohammed Abu ali-Yata and Said al-Ataba both of whom were
convicted of murdering Israeli civilians, were released as a goodwill gesture to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and to
promote and re-energize the peace process.
October, 2011 - In June 25, 2006 , IDF Sergeant Gilad Shalit was abducted by Hamas terrorists within Israeli territory through
underground tunnels at the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Gaza Strip, in an unprovoked attack in which two soldiers were killed and five
others wounded. Gilad was one of seven Israeli MIAs.
Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu announced the signing of an exchange deal for the release of Shalit. Assembled through German
mediators and the Egyptian government, the deal stipulated that Israel would release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in a staggered move
over the coming months. During Cabinet discussions on the deal, the heads of Israel's security services Yoram Cohen, chief of the Shin
Bet security service, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. General Benny Gantz, Tamir Pardo, Director of the Mossad and the PM's special envoy to the
negotiations David Meidan - presented the agreement and its various aspects and expressed their support for it. The government
approved the agreement by a large majority with 26 ministers voting in favor and 3 against.
In the early afternoon of October 18, 2011, Shalit was set free and returned to Israel after 1,940 days in Hamas captivity. Preliminary
medical and psychological exams were performed on Shalit at an IDF base in the south of the country and he was deemed healthy and
strong enough to meet his parents and travel home. He was also promoted to the rank of sergeant first class.

General Information
23

POLITICAL SYSTEM
ELECTORAL SYSTEM
Israel uses a form of proportional representation system called the closed party list in which the electorate uses their vote to determine
which parties form the next Knesset or parliament. To gain a seat a party must pass a qualifying threshold of the national vote (currently at
2%) in order to receive 1 of 120 seats. When a party wins a seat, the position is filled from the top of the partys candidate list in
descending order. After votes are tabulated and seats are distributed, the president invites the head of the largest party to form a 51%
government majority. In order to do this, the party leader begins coalition talks with other parties through negotiations over policy and the
distribution of ministerial and other senior government positions. The governing coalition now has enough seats to push through
legislation and lead the country.

Yehadut HaTora, 6

Israel Beytenu, 6

Meretz, 5
Likud, 30

Shas, 7

HaBait
HaYehudi, 8

Kulanu, 10

Yesh Atid, 11
United Arab
List, 13

24

The Zionist
Union, 24

PARTY DESCRIPTIONS:
LIKUD
Background:
The Likud has its roots in the pre-state Zionist movement founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky and the Irgun military organization led by
Menachem Begin, also the founder of the Herut Party, the direct precursor of the Likud. The Likud was first elected to become a ruling
party in the Knesset in 1977 after many years in the opposition. The Likud was split and lost its power in 2005 after Ariel Sharon quit the
party, but regained its power in years to come.
Platform:
Likuds charter calls for the settlement of the entire land of Israel including the disputed territories (West Bank), the Golan Heights, and the
whole of municipal Jerusalem. The Likud rejects the right of return for Palestinians, which it sees as endangering the State of Israel, and
instead favors compensation.
Likud supports free market capitalism, and has adopted relatively moderate economic policies to promote open markets. Benjamin
Netanyahu, the current Likud leader, successfully enacted legislation reducing value added tax (VAT), income and corporate taxes, as well
as customs duty when he served as finance minister from 2003 to 2005.
The Likud promotes a revival of Jewish-oriented culture, in keeping with the principles of Jabotinsky and Begins theories of Zionism.
Leader: Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu, served as prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999, and since 2013, as the chariman of the Likud party. He
was finance minister from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned in protest of the Gaza Disengagement plan advocated by then-prime minister
and Likud leader Ariel Sharon. Netanyahu regained the Likud leadership on December 20, 2005. He is known as strong on security and a
supporter of free-market economic policies.

THE ZIONIST UNION (LABOR-TNUA)

Background:
After disbanding the 19th Knesset in 2014, the Labor party (led by Isaac Herzog) and HaTnua party (led by Tzipi Livni) joined forces to
create a large center-left kist that will contest the Likud party. The Labor party was formed in 1968 with the merging of several lists, and
had dominance in the Knesset until 1977. HaTnua was formed in 2012 by Tzipi Livni after she quit the Kadima party, in order to provide a
political alternative due to lack of progress in the peace process.
Platform:
The Zionist Union largly supports the two-state solution and negotiation with the Palestinians, and halting the construction of settlements.
Its leaders also give great importance to fortifying Israel's relations with the European Union and the United States.
On economic issues, the Zionist Union presented different plans to tackle the cost of living and its many issues, such as reforms in the
housing and food markets, while providing a free economy.
Leader: Isaac Herzog
Although Herzog and Livni agreed to lead the Zionist Union in rotation, Herzog was the prominant figure in the party and its candidate for
prime minister. Isaac 'Buzhi' Herzog, son of former President Haim Herzog, entered the Knesset in 2003. He served as minister of different
offices between 2005-2011, and in 2013 became the leader of the opposition.

Background and Platform:

In past elections, each of the three parties ran independently. However, due to the change in the voting electoral threshold, the Arab
parties decided to merge and form one non-Zionist list despite major political and ideological differences.
The Israeli-Arab Balad (National Democratic Alliance) party is a secular pan-Arab nationalist faction. One of Balads most controversial
figures is MK Hanin Zuabi who participated in the 2010 Gaza Flotilla, and had been banned by the Knesset Central Elections Committee
from participating in the upcoming election, which was subsequently overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court. Balads platform advocates
for abolishing all Jewish characteristics of the state, and for Israel to disengage from all territories beyond the 1967 borders.

General Information

THE JOINT ARAB LIST MERGER OF BALAD (1995), HADASH (1977) AND RAAM
TAAL (2006)

25

Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) is a socialist Jewish-Arab party which advocates for a two-state solution along the
1967 borders and the transformation of Israel away from a Jewish State into a state for all its citizens.
Raam (United Arab List) Taal (Arab Movement for Renewal) is a merged political party of the Islamic movement in Israel and of the
Israeli-Arab community. It advocates for a separation of religion and state, the independence of Islamic Sharia courts, equal civil rights for
Israeli-Arabs and the creation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders. Party leader Ahmed Tibi is a controversial and outspoken
supporter of Israeli-Arab causes, who was formerly Yasser Arafats adviser on Israeli affairs.
Party Leaders: Aiman Uda (Hadash), Masud Ganim (United Arab List), Jamal Zahalka (Balad) and Ahmed Tibi (Raam-Taal)

YESH ATID
Background:
The political party was founded by former journalist Yair Lapid in 2012 sought to represent what it considers the center of Israeli society:
the secular middle class. It focuses primarily on civic, social, and governance issues. In 2013, Yesh Atid placed second in the general
election, winning 19 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, far more than polls had predicted it would win.
Platform:
Yesh Atid looks to change priorities in Israel, with an emphasis on civil life and improving the condition of the middle class. It also
emphasizes equality in education and draft: all Israeli schools should teach essential classes, all Israelis will be drafted into the Army, and
all Israeli citizens will be encouraged to seek work, including the ultra-Orthodox sector and the Arab sector. Growth and economic
efficiency is another priority, combating red tape, removing barriers, improving the transportation system, reducing the cost of living and
housing costs and improving social mobility through assistance to small business.
Leader: Yair Lapid
Yair Lapid served as the Israeli Minister of Finance between 2013 and 2014. Prior to his entry into politics in 2012, he was a journalist,
author, TV presenter and news anchor.

KULANU
Background:
Kulanu (All of Us), led by former Likud member and Minister of Communications Moshe Kahlon, is an economically focused party
campaigning on lowering the cost-of-living in Israel, bridging economic inequalities and fixing the housing crisis. The party list also consists
of security and foreign policy experts, including retired IDF General Yoav Galant and former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren
Platform:
The party aims to reduce Israels growing social and economic gaps by breaking up monopolies and conglomerates, removing barriers to
business and encouraging competition. They are strongly committed to lowering the cost of living.
Leader: Moshe Kahlon
https://go-kahlon.co.il/kahlon_lang/en/homepage/

HABAYIT HAYEHUDI (THE JEWISH HOME)

Background:
The Jewish Home is a religious Zionist party formed out of Ichud Leumi in 2008. In December 2008, Tkuma MK, Uri Ariel went back to join
Ichud Leumi. The Jewish Home now replaces the former National Religious Party (NRP).
Platform:
The Jewish Home opposes any further territorial compromise and will only trade "peace for peace" with the Palestinians and the Arab
World. It opposes the creation of a Palestinian state on the western bank of the Jordan River and favors the expansion of the settlement
system in the West Bank. It is adamant that Jerusalem remain completely under Jewish sovereignty and wants to expand the scope of
Israeli control over Temple Mount. HaBayit HaYehudi support limited autonomy for the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza.
The party supports the promulgation of laws explicitly declaring the countrys Jewish nature and historical heritage and wants the
strengthening of the religious school system. HaBayit HaYehudi supports increasing funding for housing, immigrant aid and medical care.
Leader: Naftali Bennett
Bennett was born in Haifa to immigrants from the US. After his IDF service, Bennett went on to receive a law degree from the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. During the 2006 Lebanon War, he was called up as a reservist and participated in a search and destroy mission
behind enemy lines, operating against Hezbollah rocket launchers. He is currently the Minister of Economy.
Spokesperson: Moshe Sheinbal (052) 385 0617

26

SHAS
Background:
Shas was founded in 1984 by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who remained the partys spiritual leader until his death in 2014. The party serves as
an avenue to promote the agenda of ultra-orthodox Sephardim (Jews from Arab or Muslim countries) outside the Agudat Yisrael Ultraorthodox Jewish religious party list.
Platform:
Shas promotes Israel becoming a state whose laws are based on those of the Torah. Because the party tends to represent poorer voters,
it supports a welfare state and opposes free-market economic policies. Despite its rightist political position, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has
declared that human life is more important than territories and therefore has supported territorial withdrawals and concessions in
opposition to the leanings of most of the Shas electorate. However, Shas tends to be mostly concerned about obtaining sufficient
government funding for its own institutions, especially in the education area.
Leader: Aryeh Deri
Deri became involved in Israeli politics at a young age while studying in yeshiva, and early on aligned himself with the MizrahiSephardi Shas party under the tutelage of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. With a fast rise in his popularity amongst the Israeli religious
public, Deri was promoted to a high post on the Shas party election lists and was elected to the Knesset. He served as Minister
without Portfolio at the age of 24, and as Interior Minister at 29.
Spokespersons: Margerite Taguri (054) 846 1971 Roi Lachmanovich (050) 624 0925

UNITED TORAH JUDAISM

Background:
United Torah Judaism is an alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small ultra-orthodox political parties in the Knesset. It was
first formed in 1992. The two parties have at times disagreed with each other on policy matters, but over the years have cooperated and
joined forces as a voting block in order to win the maximum number of seats in the Knesset.
Platform:
United Torah Judaism opposes negotiations with the Palestinians and the formation of a Palestinian state, and wants to maintain the
status quo with regard to religion and state issues. UTJ also supports expanding Jewish communities throughout the disputed territories
for economic, social and security reasons. Policy decisions are weighed and decided by a council of communal rabbis, made up of mostly
principals and directors of yeshivas (Talmudic colleges). The council is devoted to the Halakha (traditional Jewish law), and is guided by
their knowledge and application of the classical code of Jewish Law known as the Shulkhan Arukh.
Leaders: Yaakov Litzman
Yaakov Litzman was brought up in Brooklyn and moved to Israel at the age of 17 to continue religious studies. He heads the Agudat
Yisrael part of the United Torah Judaism. He has since served on a number of Knesset and government committees.
Moshe Gafni: Gafni heads the Degel HaTorah part of the United Torah Judaism. He was first elected to the Knesset on Degel
HaTorah's list in 1988, and was appointed Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs in Yitzhak Shamir's government in 1990.

Spokesperson: Chaim Yustman (050) 412 1212 / (057) 312 1212

YISRAEL BEITENU

Platform:
Yisrael Beitenu is known to be strongly Zionist, nationalistic and security-oriented. The party formally favors encouraging the voluntary
emigration of Palestinians from the disputed territories, though it now sees an exchange of territories between Israel and the Palestinians
as the solution to the territorial conflict. The party also promotes selling off large government-owned corporations and instituting greater
privatization and free-market policies.

General Information

Background:
Yisrael Beitenu (Israel is Our Home) was founded prior to the 1999 elections by Avigdor Lieberman, former directorgeneral of the Prime
Ministers Office during the 1996 term of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Yisrael Beitenu won four seats in the 15th Knesset. Yisrael
Beitenu is the only remaining party claiming to represent the Russian-speaking immigrant community. They have been in and out of
partnerships with other conservative parties.

Leader: Avigdor Lieberman

Avigdor Lieberman was born in 1958 in Moldova. He served as the director general of the Prime Ministers Office during the first term of
Benjamin Netanyahu. He is viewed as a strong nationalist.

27

Spokesperson: Irena Ettinger: 054-807-7410

MERETZ
Background:
Meretz was formed prior to the 1992 elections by an alliance of three left-wing parties: Ratz (communist), Mapam (socialist) and Shinui. Its
first electoral test was a success, with the party winning 12 seats, making it the third largest in the Knesset. Meretz became the major
coalition partner of Yitzhak Rabins Labour Party, helping pave the way for the Oslo Accords.
Platform:
MeretzYahad defines itself as a Zionist, left-wing social democratic green party. It has inherited Meretzs membership in the Socialist
International organization. It sees itself as the political representative of the Israeli peace movement, in the Knesset as well as in
municipal councils and other local political bodies.
The party promotes a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians based on a two-state solution as laid out in the Geneva
Accord and including the dismantling of most Israeli communities in the disputed territories. It also advocates the protection of human
rights of Palestinians, the rights of minorities in Israel including Israeli Arabs or foreign workers and the rights of women and
homosexuals.
The party supports making Israel a social democratic welfare state, protecting workers rights, increasing religious freedom through the
separation of religion and state, and boosting liberal secular education.
Leader: Zahava Gal-On:
Gal-on was born in 1956 in Vilnius in the Soviet-Union. She was elected to the Knesset in 1999, and served as chairwoman of the Knesset
committee for the struggle against trafficking in women. She was a member of the Knesset law and constitution committee and the
Knesset committee.
Spokesperson: Ronit Gal 03-609-8998

ISRAELS GOVERNMENT
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Israeli governmental and political structures contain aspects of Western European parliamentary democracies; Eastern and Central
European institutions and traditions; and even Middle Eastern sociopolitical patterns. The legitimacy of Israeli political and civil society
institutions and the identification by the population with the state and its institutions rest on several foundations: Judaism, Zionist Jewish
national identity, the existence of an external threat to Israeli security, collectivism and democracy. These are affected by the Arab-Israeli
conflict and the pluralistic nature of Israeli society. A substantial Arab minority participates in the countrys political system, but has an
ambivalent role within the majority Jewish society.
Israeli politics use many of Western Europes democratic arrangements. It has an elected government via a national list-based parliament,
multi-party competition, a high level of voter participation in local and national elections, an independent judiciary, a vigorous and free
press, and the supremacy of civilian rule. Other features such as collectivism and a lack of expansion of the liberal component in Israeli
politics are distinctly Eastern European and Central European in origin. This is demonstrated by the fact that Israel has no constitution to
limit the powers of government, safeguard the rights of individuals (particularly in matters of civil rights) or dictate relations between the
state and religion. In the late 1980s, increasing disagreement over some fundamental questions such as the states territorial boundaries
and the role of religion in the state, led to a breakdown in the pre-1967 national consensus over such issues. Such disagreement has
resulted in intense ideological polarization as reflected in electoral and parliamentary stalemates between the two major political parties
Likud and Labor and their allies.

BASIC LAWS
By 1988, nine basic laws were enacted to establish the Knesset (1958), Israeli Lands (1960), the Presidency (1964), the Government
(1968), the State Economy (1975), the Army (1976), Jerusalem (1980), the Judiciary (1984) and Elections (1988). These basic laws
transcend regular legislation and can only be amended by a special majority. In most cases the majority required is at least 80 members of
the 120-member Knesset, thus creating a sort of basic constitution. Moreover, to ensure the countrys stability, the basic laws may not be
amended, suspended, or repealed by emergency legislation.
Apart from the nine basic laws, as of the end of 1988 there were a number of ordinary laws that legitimized the structure, functions and

28

actions of state institutions. These ordinary statutes were intended eventually to take the form of Basic Laws, presumably with appropriate
revisions to account for changing needs and circumstances. Among these laws were the Law of Return (1950), Nationality Law (1952), the
Judges Law (1953), the State Education Law (1953), the Courts Law (1957), the State Comptroller Law (1958) and the Knesset Elections
Law (1969). Legislation such as the Law of Return, the Nationality Law, and the State Education Law sought to resolve fundamental
secular-religious disagreements.

KNESSET
The Knesset is a unicameral (single chambered) parliament and the supreme authority of the state. Its 120 members are elected by
universal suffrage for a four-year term under a system of nationwide proportional representation. Under the Basic Law of the Knesset, it
provides for general, direct, equal, secret, and proportional elections. This provision means that, for example, in a national election a
given party list which receives a certain number of votes will be entitled to a specific number of seats in the Knesset and the names at the
top of the partys list fill that number of Knesset seats.
The legislative authority of the Knesset is unlimited, and legislative enactments cannot be vetoed by either the president or the prime
minister nor can such enactments be nullified by the Supreme Court, though in recent years the Court has abrogated to itself greater
powers of appeal than previously recognized. The regular four-year term of the Knesset can be terminated only by the Knesset, which can
call for a new general election before its term expires.
The Knesset also exercises broad power of direction and supervision over government operations. It approves budgets, monitors
government performance by questioning cabinet ministers, provides a public forum for debate of important issues, conducts wide-ranging
legislative inquiries, and can topple the cabinet through a vote of no confidence that takes precedence over all other parliamentary
business. The Knesset works through eleven permanent legislative committees, including the House Committee, which handles
parliamentary rules and procedures and the Law and Justice Committee. The remaining committees deal with constitution, finance, foreign
affairs and security, immigration and absorption, economics, education and culture, internal affairs and environment, labor and welfare,
and state control.

CABINET
The relationship between the executive and legislative aspects of the Israeli political system generally follows the British pattern. The
cabinet is the top executive policymaking body and the center of political power in the nation. It consists of the prime minister and an
unspecified number of ministers. The head of government must be a Knesset member but this is not a requirement for ministers; in
practice, most ministers have been Knesset members. A deputy prime minister and deputy minister may be appointed from among the
Knesset members, usually as a result of coalition bargaining, but in this instance only the deputy prime minister is considered a regular
cabinet member.
The cabinet takes office upon confirmation by the Knesset to which it is collectively responsible for all its actions. To obtain this consent,
the prime minister-designate must submit a list of cabinet members along with a detailed statement of basic principles and policies of his
or her government. The cabinet can be dissolved if it resigns en masse, if the Knesset passes a motion of censure against it, or if the
prime minister resigns or dies. The prime ministers resignation invalidates the cabinet, but resignations of individual ministers do not have
this effect. Since Israels independence, all cabinets have been coalitions of parties, each coalition having been formed to achieve the
required total of at least 61 Knesset seats. Although often based on political expediency, coalition formation is also concerned with
ideological and issue compatibility among the participating groups. Cabinet posts are divided among coalition partners through behind-thescenes bargaining and in proportion to the parliamentary strength of the parties involved, usually at the ratio of one cabinet portfolio for
every three or four Knesset seats. This formula may be dispensed with, however, in times of national emergency or electoral and political
stalemate.

PRESIDENT

Presidential powers are usually exercised based on the recommendation of appropriate government ministers. The president signs treaties
ratified by the Knesset and laws enacted by the legislature, except those relating to presidential powers. The president, who has no veto
power over legislation, appoints a number of different people, including diplomatic representatives, the state comptroller, judges for civil
and religious courts and the governor of the Bank of Israel. He also receives foreign envoys accredited to Israel.
Although the presidents role is nonpolitical, Israeli heads of state perform important moral, ceremonial, and educational functions. They
also take part in the formation of a coalition cabinet or government. They are required to consult leaders of all political parties in the
Knesset and to designate a member of the legislature to organize a cabinet. If the member so appointed fails, other political parties

General Information

The 1964 Basic Law stipulates that the president is the titular head of state. The president is elected through secret balloting by an
absolute majority of the Knesset for a term of seven years. Israeli presidents may not serve more than two consecutive terms and any
citizen of Israel is eligible to be a presidential candidate. The office falls vacant upon resignation or upon the decision of three-quarters of
the Knesset to depose the president on grounds of misconduct or incapacity. When the president is temporarily incapacitated or the office
falls vacant, the speaker of the Knesset temporarily assumes presidential functions.

29

commanding a plurality in the Knesset may submit their own nominee. The figure called upon to form a cabinet is invariably the leader of
the most influential political party or bloc in the Knesset.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM
The Judiciary Law of 1984 formalized the judicial structure consisting of three main types of courts: civil, religious and military. There also
are special courts for labor, insurance, traffic, municipal, juvenile and other disputes. Each type of court is administratively responsible to a
different ministry. Civilian courts come under the Ministry of Justice; religious courts fall under the former Ministry of Religious Affairs (now
part of the Prime Ministers Office), and military courts come under the Ministry of Defense. In the administration of justice, however, all
courts are independent.
Legal codes and judicial procedures are derived from various sources. Laws applicable to Israeli Jews in matters of personal status are
generally based on the Torah and the Halakha. Influences traceable to the British Mandate period include parts of Ottoman legal codes,
influenced by the Quran, Arab tribal customary laws, and the Napoleonic Code. In general, British law has provided the main base on
which Israel has built its court procedure, criminal law and civil code, whereas American legal practice has strongly influenced Israeli law
regarding civil rights. The president, on the recommendation of a nominating committee chaired by the minister of justice, appoints civil
court judges.
At the top of the court hierarchy is the Supreme Court, located in Jerusalem and composed of a number of court justices determined by
the Knesset. In 2007, there were 13 justices: a president or chief justice, a vice president, and 11 other justices. The court has both
appellate and original jurisdiction. A minimum of three justices is needed for a court session.
The Supreme Court serves as the principal guardian of fundamental rights in Israel, protecting the individual from arbitrary action by public
officials or agencies. It does not have the power of judicial review and cannot invalidate Knesset legislation. It is empowered, however, to
nullify administrative rules and regulations or government and local ordinances on the ground of their illegality or conflict with Knesset
enactments. As the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court may also rule on the applicability of laws in a disputed case and on
disputes between lower civil courts and religious courts. Their rulings are final and not open to appeal.

ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), founded in 1948, ranks among the most trained armed forces in the world, having had to defend the
country in five major wars and numerous other battles, including an ongoing war against terrorists being waged since 1948. Currently, the
IDFs security objectives are to defend the existence, territorial integrity, and sovereignty of the State of Israel, deter all enemies and curb
all forms of terrorism which threaten daily life. Its main tasks include reinforcing peace arrangements, ensuring overall security in the
disputed territories in accordance with international law and in coordination with the Palestinian Authority (until such time as another legal
sovereign is established), spearheading the war against terrorism, both inside Israel and outside its borders; and maintaining a deterrent
capability to prevent the outbreak of hostilities.
To ensure its success, the IDFs doctrine at the strategic level is defensive, while its tactics are offensive. Given the countrys lack of
territorial depth, the IDF must take initiative when deemed necessary and, if attacked, quickly transfer the battleground to the enemys
land. Though it has always been outnumbered by its enemies, the IDF maintains a qualitative advantage by deploying advanced weapons
systems, many of which are developed and manufactured in Israel for its specific needs.
In preparing for defense, the IDF deploys a small standing army (made up of conscripts and career personnel) with early warning
capability, including a regular air force and navy. The majority of its soldiers are reservists, who are called up regularly for training and
service and who, in time of war or crisis, are quickly mobilized into their units from all parts of the country. All eligible men and women are
drafted at age 18. Men serve for three years, women for 21 months. Deferments may be granted to qualified students at institutions of
higher education secular and religious. New immigrants may be deferred or serve for shorter periods of time, depending on their age and
personal status on entering the country.
Out of respect for their religious sensibilities, Orthodox women may be exempt from serving in the IDF, although many choose to perform
one to two years of national service in the civilian sector. Many ultra-orthodox men are granted deferments while pursuing Torah studies,
and many of those who do serve in the IDF fulfill religious functions.
In March 2007, a report issued by a ministerial committee on military service found that 43 percent of female draft candidates receive
exemptions. Of these, 76 percent opt out of service for religious reasons, 7 percent are overseas, 8 percent have criminal records and 2
percent are married. 24 percent of men who are eligible are not drafted.
The IDFs three service branches (ground forces, air force and navy) function under a unified command, headed by the chief of staff with
the rank of lieutenant-general, who is accountable to the defense minister. The chief of staff is appointed by the government on
recommendation of the prime minister and minister of defense for a three year term which is usually extended for an additional year.

30

JERUSALEM BY THE NUMBERS

Population in 2012

Jerusalems estimated population for 2012 was 815,310, accounting for 10% of Israels population. The citys Jewish 1 population was
515,160 (62% of Jerusalem's residents), while its Arab population was 300,150 (38%). During 2012, Jerusalems overall population grew
1.5%: the Jewish population grew by 0.9% while the Arab population increased by 2.6%.
During the period 1967-2012 Jerusalems population grew by 206%: the Jewish population increased by 161% while the Arab population
increased by 338%.
Population breakdown by religion for 2012: 502,800 Jews (62%), 288,200 Muslims (35%), 14,800 Christians (2%) and 9,400 religiously
unclassified (1%).

Geographic Distribution of the Population in 2012

In 2012, Jerusalem neighborhoods built in the areas added to the city in 1967 were home to 497,670 residents (Jews and Arabs),
accounting for 61% of the citys entire population. 199,650 of these residents were Jews1 (40%), while 297,900 were Arabs (60%).
39% of the overall Jewish1 population resided in neighborhoods that had been built in areas added to Jerusalem in 1967. 99% of
Jerusalems Arab population in 2012 resided in the areas that were added to Jerusalem in 1967. The citys largest Jewish neighborhoods
are: Ramot Allon (42,100 residents), Pisgat Zeev (36,900), and Gilo (27,600).
The largest Arab neighborhoods are: Beit Hanina (34,800), the Muslim Quarter of the Old City (29,100), and Ras Al-Amud (23,600).
During 2012 the population of Jerusalem grew by 1.5% (12,400 persons): the Jewish population grew by 0.9% (4,700 persons) while the
Arab population increased by 2.6% (7,650 persons). Also, the increase in the population of Jerusalem (1.5%) was lower than the
increasein the population of Israel (1.9%).

Birth and Fertility Rates in 2012

In 2012, the birth rate of Jerusalems Jewish population was higher than that of the Arab population 28.7 versus 27.3 births per thousand
residents, respectively. It should be noted that Jerusalems population as a whole is characterized by a higher birth rate relative to the
overall Israeli population 28.2 births per thousand in Jerusalem versus 21.6 in Israel.
In 2012, the total fertility rate (TFR the number of children that a woman may be expected to bear throughout her lifetime was higher for
Jerusalems Jewish women - 4.25 children per woman, than the Arab women of the city 3.5 children per woman. The fertility rate of
Jerusalems Jewish women was trending upward, while that of the citys Arab women was trending downward.
Over the past decade, the Jewish populations fertility rate rose slightly, while that of the Arab population declined slightly. Fertility trends
in Jerusalem are similar to those of Israel as a whole.

Fertility Rate
Year
1998
2012

Jews (and other non-Arabs)

Israel
Jerusalem
2.7
3.9
3.0
4.3

Arabs
Israel
4.0
3.5

Jerusalem
4.2
3.6

The mean number of children that a female Jerusalemite may be expected to bear (4.0) is twice as high as that of a female Tel Aviv
resident (2.1) or a female Haifa resident (2.4), but half that of a female resident of Modiin Illit (an ultra-Orthodox locality adjacent to
Modiin) (8.2).

Mortality in 2012

In 2012, the mortality rate of Jerusalems Jewish population was 5.4 deaths per thousand residents, versus 2.6 deaths per thousand for
the Arab population. This is due mainly to the young age structure of the Arab population compared to the Jewish population
Jerusalems rate of natural increase (the discrepancy between the number of births and the number of deaths) is higher than that of Israel
as a whole. Jerusalems rate of natural increase for 2012 was 23.7 per thousand residents, versus 16.2 for Israel.
The Jewish1 populations rate of natural increase is higher in Jerusalem than in Israel as a whole 23.2 versus 14.7, respectively.
The rate of natural increase of Jerusalems Arab population is also higher than that of the Arab population in Israel as a whole: 24.6 versus
22.0, respectively.

Migration, 2013

In 2013, 13,000 persons moved to Jerusalem and 23,700 residents of Jerusalem left the city. The negative migration balance stood at 10,700. 48% of the residents leaving Jerusalem moved to the localities surrounding Jerusalem (West Bank, Jerusalem district west of
1

General Information

Rate of Natural Increase 2012

Including residents with unclassified religion, and non-Arab Christians

31

Jerusalem, and Modiin-Maccabim-Reut) The main negative migration balance was to the localities surrounding Jerusalem and stood at 5,360.
The localities to which the largest number of people migrated from Jerusalem in 2012 were: Beit Shemesh (1,940), Tel Aviv-Yafo (1,660),
Beitar Illit (1,100) and Modi'in Illit (900).
The localities from which the largest number of people migrated to Jerusalem in 2012 were: Bnei Brak (660), Tel Aviv-Yafo (600), Beit
Shemesh (580) and Maale Adumim (370)..
Some 10,450 people migrated to Jerusalem from other localities in Israel, including 4,280 aged 20-29 (41%) and 2,370 aged 0-14 (22.5%).
19,200 people migrated from Jerusalem to other Israeli localities, including 6,830 aged 20-29 (35.5%) and 5,450 aged 0-14 (28.5%)
The negative migration rate among 20-29 year olds increased from -2,100 in 2011 to -2250 in 2012.

Immigration (Aliya)

In 2012 2,150 new immigrants (olim) settled in Jerusalem, which are 13% of the overall new immigrant population (16,550). In the same
year, 1,130 new immigrants settled in Haifa, accounting for 7% of Israels new immigrant population, while 1,050 new immigrants settled in
Tel Aviv-Yafo , accounting for 6.5% of new immigrants to Israel.

The main countries of origin of olim who chose Jerusalem as their first place of residence in Israel in 2012 were the United States 680
new immigrants (31.5% of all new immigrants who arrived in Jerusalem), France 430 new immigrants (20%), and Russia 360 new
immigrants (17%).

Religious Observance and Secularism

The following data refer to Jews aged 20 and over, by level of self-reported religious observance (means for the period 2010-2012).
The percentage of Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews in Jerusalem is 3.4 times greater than their percentage in Israel as a whole. The
percentage of religious (but not Ultra-Orthodox) Jews is 2.1 times greater, while the percentage of secular non-religious Jews in Jerusalem
is less than half their percentage in the country as a whole.
In Jerusalem the self-reported religious breakdown is as follows: 28% traditional, 31% Ultra-Orthodox, 19% secular non-religious, 22%
religious.
The percentage of Ultra-Orthodox (31%) and religious (22%) within Jerusalems Jewish population is significantly higher than that of all
other large Israeli cities, with populations exceeding 273,000. In Tel Aviv-Yafo and Haifa Ultra-Orthodox account for 2.5%-4% of the
population.
The percentage of secular non-religious is particularly low in Jerusalem 19%, versus 56% in Haifa and 62% in Tel Aviv-Yafo.

Jerusalems Education System in 2013-2014

Jerusalem is unique in its human-cultural diversity, which entails a diverse education system as well. The citys education system is the
largest and most complex in Israel. Jerusalem is home to 240,600 pupils (including an estimated 84,200 pupils in Arab education). That is,
the number of pupils in Jerusalem is equal to the number of residents in several of Israels larger cities, such as Rishon Lezion and
Ashdod.

Hebrew Education

Jerusalems Hebrew education system numbered 161,600 pupils in 2013-2014 63,000 pupils (39%) within the Jerusalem Educational
Administration (JEA), and 98,600 in the Department for Ultra-Orthodox Education (UOED) (61%).
The 1999-2000 school year was the first in which the number of pupils in the Haredi-Hebrew education system was greater than that of
JEA (state and state-religious schools). The number of pupils that year was 69,900 in UOED and 67,700 in JEA (state and state-religious).

Arabic Education

In 2013-2014, 84,200 pupils were enrolled in the Arabic education system (not including private education)
Over the period between 2000-2010, the number of pupils in the municipal Arabic education system doubled from 29,200 to 61,400.
This rise was due to an increase in the number of children, greater demand for schools under municipal management, and an increase in
the number of formerly-private schools recognized by the Ministry of Education and granted recognized but unofficial status.

Tourism in 2012

Visitors
2,168,820 tourists visited Jerusalem in 2012, which was 77% of all tourists visiting Israel in that year.
The number of overseas guests in 2013 was 898,300, which was low in comparison to 2012 when the number was 917,200 and to 2011
when the number was 948,000. The number of Israeli guests in 2013 was 488,200, high in comparison to 2012 when the number was
431,500 (an increase of 13%) and to 2011 when it was 388,300. To sum up, the last three years have witnessed a drop in the number of
overseas tourists and a rise in the number of Israeli tourists.
44% of overseas tourist hotel guests came from the Americas (mostly from North and Central America) and 37% from Europe. The

32

number of overnight stays in Jerusalems tourist hotels during this year totaled 3,893,300, of which 3,424,200 82 (88%) were in West
Jerusalem hotels and 469,100 (12%) in East Jerusalem hotels.
Overnight Stays
In 2013, the number of overnight stays in Jerusalem hotels amounted to 3,893,300, where the number of overnight stays of overseas
tourists was 3,057,100 and of Israelis was 836,200.
.

Employment in 2012

In 2012, the rate of participation in the labor force in Jerusalem for the peak working ages (25-54) was 68%, which was significantly higher
compared to the rate of participation in the labor force of persons aged 15 and above (50%). Nevertheless, this rate (68%) was
considerably lower than that in Israel (82%), in Tel Aviv (90%) and in Haifa (89%).
For the Jewish population in 2010-12, the average rate of participation in the labor forcein Jerusalem was 60% lower than in Israel as a
whole (70%).The rate of participation in the Jerusalem labor force was 66% for the general population and 47% for the ultra-orthodox
population. within the Arab population aged 20 and above, the rate of participation in the labor force was 40% in Jerusalem and 50% in
Israel.
Jerusalems relatively low labor force participation rate is due mainly to a low percentage of Ultra-Orthodox men and Arab women who
participate in the workforce, as well as to a high percentage of Jerusalemites aged 15-20 who are included in the labor force statistics but
who are enrolled in schools or yeshivas or who serve in the IDF.
The labor force participation rate of Jerusalems Jewish population of peak working age (25-54) (77%) is lower than that of the Israeli
Jewish population in the same ages (87%).The rate of participation among the Jewish men of Jerusalem of peak working age (71%) was
lower than the rate among Arab men (88%), mainly because of the low rate of participation of ultra-orthodox men. The rate of female
Jerusalemites for the peak working years is 58%, versus 77% for Israeli women in the same ages This low rate of participation of
Jerusalem women can be explained largely by the particularly low rate of participation of Arab women (20%), compared with 82% for
Jewish women.
The rate of participation of Jewish women in Jerusalem (82%) was higher than that of Jewish men (71%), whereas in the other main cities
this trend was reversed.
In 2012, the number of people who were employed in Jerusalem was 293,800 9% of all people employed in Israel.
The banking, insurance, and financial sectors accounted for 2% of employed persons in Jerusalem, while 13% worked in the business
services sector..The proportion of persons employed in industry in Jerusalem (7%) was low, comparable to that in Tel Aviv (7%) and lower
than that in Israel (13%) andHaifa (12%).In 2012, the main economic sectors in which Jews employed in Jerusalem worked were
education (19%), the business services sector (14%), health and welfare (14%), and public administration (13%). Among the employed
Arab residents in Jerusalem, the main economic sectors were commerce (21%), construction (13%), food and entertainment services
(11%), and education (11%).

Household Expenditure in 2012

The mean monthly household consumption expenditure in Jerusalem was NIS 12,900. In Israel consumption expenditure was NIS 14,300
and in Tel Aviv NIS 15,500. It should be noted that Jerusalem household expenditure is not only relatively low, but is also distributed over
a larger number of people per household. Household size in Jerusalem is 3.3, versus 3.1 in Israel as a whole, and 2.2 in Tel Aviv.

Construction in 2013

In 2013, construction was completed on 2,430 residential units in Jerusalem, an increase in the number of apartments completed
compared to 2012 (1,760 apartments). This marked a continuation of the rise that began in 2012 after several years of a decrease.
During 2013, 6% of all apartments completed in Israel were built in Jerusalem. This proportion is high in comparison to Tel Aviv (4%) and
Haifa (2%)

The neighborhoods with the largest number of housing completions were: Har Homa (560 housing units), north Beit Hanina (330), Talpiot
and Arnona (220), City center (220), and Nahlaot (210).
In 2013 (October-December) the mean price of a 3.5-4 room apartment in Jerusalem was NIS 1,754,300. This price is higher than in Israel
as a whole (NIS 1,290,800) and lower than in Tel Aviv (NIS 2,749,800). In 2012-13, the increase in prices has moderated, whereas in
2012, the rate of change dropped to -4% and in 2013 there was a moderate 3% increase..In Israel as a whole, during the same period
prices rose 5% and in Tel Aviv 13%.
Source: Jerusalem Institute of Israel Studies at www.jiis.org

General Information

During 2012-13, in Israel, 4-room apartments constituted only 39% of completed construction (compared to 60% in Jerusalem), whereas
large apartments, with 5 or more rooms, constituted 54% (28% in Jerusalem).

33

HUMAN RIGHTS IN ISRAEL

Israel, as a Jewish and democratic state, is one of the most open societies in the world. Out of 8.1 million citizens, nearly 2 million almost
25 percent of the population are non-Jews (1,420,000 Muslims, 160,900 Christians and 133,400 Druze).
Arabs and other minorities in Israel enjoy the same rights and protections as all other citizens of the country and have equal voting rights.
There are 4 Arabs and 9 Druze serve in the current Knesset. Israeli Arabs have also held various government posts, including one who
served as Israels consul general in Atlanta. Arabic, like Hebrew, is an official language in Israel.
The sole legal distinction between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel is that the latter are not required to serve in the Israel Defense
Forces, a policy instituted to spare Arab citizens the need to take up arms against their brethren outside Israel. Nevertheless, Bedouins
have served in paratroop and other units and other Arabs have volunteered for military duty. Compulsory military service is applied to the
Druze and Circassian communities at their own request.
Some economic and social gaps between Israeli Jews and Arabs exist, partially as a result of the latter not serving in the military, as
veterans qualify for many benefits not available to nonveterans. Moreover, the IDF aids in the socialization process. On the other hand,
Arabs do have an advantage in obtaining some jobs during the years Israelis are in the military. In addition, industries like construction and
trucking have come to be dominated by Israeli Arabs.
Another impediment to the full integration of non-Jews in Israeli society is the fact that Arab municipalities have historically received less
financial support from the government than Jewish communities. Efforts are being made, however, to address the imbalances, as attested
to by various reports by the U.S. State Department describing increases in resources devoted to Arab communities in Israel.
According to the US State Department, Israeli law prohibits arbitrary arrest of citizens and the Government observes this prohibition...
The law provides for an independent judiciary, and the Government respects this provision in practice. The judiciary provides citizens with
a fair and efficient judicial process. Israel inherited and continued to uphold certain laws adopted by the British. One is the use of
administrative detention, which is permitted under certain circumstances in security cases and includes the right of appeal in Israels
military courts. Israels policy is that administrative detention is only to be used against violent offenders. The detainee is entitled to be
represented by counsel, and may appeal to Israels Supreme Court. The death penalty has been applied just once in Israel, in the case of
Adolf Eichmann.
Israeli law prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Occasionally, NGOs file complaints alleging
that security forces torture and abuse Palestinian detainees. All torture complaints are examined by the Israeli Security Agency (ISA)
complaints examiner under the supervision of a representative of the State Prosecutors Office and disciplinary action or criminal charges
can result.
Israeli law provides for freedom of speech and of the press and the government generally respects these rights in practice, subject to
restrictions concerning security issues, according to the US State Department. The law prohibits hate speech and incitement to violence
and the 1948 Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance prohibits expressing support for illegal or terrorist organizations.
The country has some 15 daily newspapers in Hebrew and many other languages, 90 weekly newspapers, more than 250 periodical
publications and a number of Internet news sites. All newspapers in the country are privately owned and managed. Religious political
parties and organizations own three minor dailies directed at Orthodox Jewish readers. The 1933 Journalism Ordinance and the British
Mandate Defense Regulation for the Emergency Time Period were adopted upon establishment of the state; subsequently, the ordinance
was never amended. Though there is some limited censorship relating to security issues, especially during wartime, Israels press freedom
and freedom of speech, like other rights and freedoms, are similar to those enjoyed by other western nations like the UK, France and the
US. (See Freedom House ratings, next page.

34

MAP OF FREEDOM 2014

General Information

Source: http://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/MapofFreedom2014.pd

35

POLITICAL AND CIVIL RIGHTS COMPARISONS

FREEDOM OF IDEAS
POLITICAL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES IN THE REGION
Freedom in the World 2014: Table of Independent Countries
Country
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Israel *
Jordan
Lebanon
Syria
West Bank
Gaza Strip

PR
6
6
5
1
6
5
7
6
6

CL
5
6
6
2
5
4
7
5
6

Freedom Status
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free

Country
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Israel *
Jordan
Lebanon
Syria

PR = Political Rights, CL = Civil Liberties; 1 = most free and 7 = least free rating. The ratings reflect an overall judgment based on survey
results
up or down indicates a change in political rights, civil liberties, or status since the last survey.
up or down indicates a trend of positive or negative changes that took place but that were not sufficient to result in a change in political
rights or civil liberties ratings of 1-7.
*indicates a country's status as an electoral democracy.
NOTE: The ratings reflect global events from 2013-2014.
Source: www.freedomhouse.org

Regional Press Freedom Breakdown 2013

Region

Free

Americas
Asia-Pacific
CEE/FSU
Middle East & North
Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Western Europe
TOTAL

15 (42.9%)
15 (37.5
%)
7 (24.1%)
0 (0%)
4 (8.2%)
22 (88%)
63 (32%)

Partly
Free
14 (40%)
12 (30%)

Not Free

Number of
Countries
36
40

13 (44.8%)
5 (26%)

6 (17.1%)
13 (32.5
%)
9 (31.1%)
14 (74%)

23 (46.9%)
3 (12%)
70 (36%)

22 (44.9%)
0 (0%)
64 (32%)

49
25
198

29
19

Middle East & North Africa

Rank 2014
1
2

36

Country
Israel
Lebanon

Rating
30
53

Status
Free
Partly Free

2
3
3
4
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10
11
12
12
13
14

Tunisia
Algeria
Kuwait
Libya
Turkey
Morocco
Qatar
Egypt
Jordan
Oman
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
West Bank & Gaza Strip
Saudi Arabia
Bahrain
Syria
Iran

53
59
59
62
62
66
67
68
68
71
76
76
82
83
87
89
90

Source: www.freedomhouse.org

Partly Free
Partly Free
Partly Free
Partly Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free

Regional Net Freedom Breakdown

Over 60 researchers, nearly all based in the countries they analyzed, contributed to the project by researching
laws and practices relevant to the digital media, testing the accessibility of select websites, and interviewing a
wide range of sources, among other research activities.

WOMENS RIGHTS

Country

Literacy %
(Age 15 and older)

Travel Restrictions
(Require husbands or
male relatives consent)

% of Women in
Labor Force

Egypt

65.8% women (2012)

Yes

24.2% (2012)

Iran

Yes

18.3% (2012)

97.4% women (2012)

Yes

18.1% (2012)

Libya

83.7% women (2012)

Yes

28.3% (2012)

West bank
& Gaza Strip

93.6% women (2012)

N/A

18.3% (2012)

Saudi
Arabia
Syria

91.4% women
(2013)
79.2% women
(2012)

Yes

14.2% (2012)

Yes

15.1% (2012)

US

99% women (2003)

No

46.3% (2012)

UK

99% women (2003)

No

45.9% (2012)

Israel

96.8% women(2011)

No

46.7% (2012)

General Information

79.2% women (2012)

Jordan

37

SEXUAL TOLERANCE

Homosexuality
Legal

Country
Egypt

Yes (but gays are

prosecuted under
conduct laws)
No (fines, lashes,
jail, death penalty)
Yes (But reports of
gays seeking
asylum elsewhere)

Iran
Jordan

Legal Protection for

Gays from
Discrimination and Hate
Crimes

Honor Killing*
Outlawed

no

No

No

No

No

No

Lebanon

Yes

No

N/A

Libya

No

No

N/A

West Bank

Yes (But no
protection from
hate crimes)
Legal for women. Not for
males.

No

No

No

No

No (Gays are put to

death)
No (3 years
imprisonment)
Yes

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Gaza Strip
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Israel

REFUGESS AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE

This table includes the number of people residing in each country as refugees, internationally
displaced person (IDP), and stateless persons. According to the United Nations, a refugee is "a person who is
outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of
his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion; and is unable or
unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution."
The term "internally displaced person" is not specifically covered in the UN Convention; it is used to
describe people who have fled their homes for reasons similar to refugees, but who remain within their own
national territory and are subject to the laws of that state.

38

Country

Refugees

Internationally
Displaced People

Algeria
Egypt
Gaza Strip
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait

91,500 (est. 2013)

232,691 (est. 2014)
1,240,082 (est. 2014)
2,443,268 (est. 2014)
258,955 (est. 2014)
47,914 (est. 2013)
2,723,810 (est. 2014)
93,000 (est. 2012)

Undetermined
146,000 (est. 2013)
1,545,000 (est. 2014)

Lebanon
Libya
Saudi Arabia
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Syria

1,555,530 (est. 2014)

16,796 (est. 2013)
70,000 (est. 2012)
1,100,000 (est. 2014)
238,154 (est. 2014)
237,011 (est. 2014)
663,455 (est. 2014)

Turkey

802,936 (est. 2014)

West Bank
Yemen

754,411 (est. 2014)

239,463 (est. 2014)

20,000 (est. 2013)

1,089,200 (est. 2014)

2,818,000 (est. 2014)
6,500,000 (est. 2014)
954,000 1,200,000
(est. 2012)
146,000 (est. 2013)
309,823 (est. 2014)

Sources:
Amnesty International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Division at www.ai-lgbt.org; on PA, The New Republic 8/19/02, Yossi
Klein Halevi, Refugee Status, www.tnr.com
Honor Killings: The Star (Amman), 11/30/99; MEMRI Special Dispatch no. 63 at www.memri.org; US Department of State, 1999 Human
Rights Reports at www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/c1470.htm
Literacy Sources: A Gap Analysis Report on the Status of Palestinian Women Prepared by Womens Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling,
www.wcIac.org. CIA WorId Factbook (2000) at www.gov/cia/pubIications/pubs.htmI
Travel Restrictions: US Dept of State, 1999 Human Rights Report, at www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/c1470.htm
Work force: UN Stats unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/ww2000/tables.html
The World Bank
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMENA/Resources/EDP_2007_REPORT_Aug7.pdf Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/newhodaot/hodaa_template.html?hodaa=200720161US Labor Dept.
http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-table1-2006.pdf
CIA World FactBook
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_lit_fem-education-literacy-female

General Information
39

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

Israels plant and animal life is rich and diversified, due in part to the countrys geographical location at the junction of three continents.
Some 2,600 types of plants have been identified, ranging from alpine species on the northern mountain slopes to Saharan species in the
Arava in the south. Israel is the northernmost limit for the presence of plants such as the papyrus reed and the southernmost limit for
others like the bright red coral peony. Over 500 different species of birds can be seen in Israel. Millions of birds migrate twice a year along
the length of the country providing great opportunities for bird-watching. Mountain gazelles roam over the hills; foxes, jungle cats and other
mammals live in wooded areas; Nubian ibex with majestic horns leap over desert crags; and chameleons, snakes and agama lizards are
among the 100 reptile species native to the country.
Israel is one of the few places on earth where there has been an increase of forest acreage in the past few years. Since 1901, the Jewish
National Fund has planted over 220 million trees, built over 120 dams and reservoirs, developed over 250,000 acres of land, created more
than 400 parks and educated students around the world about Israel and the environment. Israel is also a leader in the use of solar energy
to generate electricity and heat water.
Israel is making attempts to reintroduce species of plants - especially medicinal species - that flourished here during biblical times. The
Middle Eastern Medicinal Plant Project (MEMP) preserves, cultivates and reintroduces plants, particularly endangered and rare species.
Certain animal species have also been reintroduced, especially in desert and mountain areas.

HEALTH
Israels high standards of health services, quality medical resources and research, modern hospital facilities and an impressive ratio of
physicians and specialists to population are reflected in the countrys low infant mortality rate (3.5 per 1,000 live births) and long life
expectancy (80.3 years for men, 83.9 for women).
Health care for all, from infancy to old age, is ensured by law and the national expenditure on health (8.2 percent of the GNP) compares
favorably with that of other developed countries. Israeli residents have a choice of several health maintenance plans and providers known
as Kupot Holim in Hebrew.

RELIGIONS IN ISRAEL
Israel, as the home of Judaism and Christianity and with sites sacred to Islam as well, extends freedom of worship to all faiths. Almost
every stream of the monotheistic religions, from the most ancient to the most modern, has houses of worship in Israel. Many other faiths
are also represented in the country.

JUDAISM
The history of the Jewish people begins with the story of Abraham, who God told to leave his homeland in Ur, Mesopotamia, promising
him and his descendants a new home in the land of Canaan (Gen. 12). This is the land now known as Israel, named after Abrahams
grandson, Jacob/Israel, whose descendants later became the Jewish people. The land of Israel is central to Judaism. The land is often
referred to as the promised land because of Gods repeated promise (Gen. 12:7, 13:15, 15:18, 17:8) to give this land to the descendants
of Abraham. It is described repeatedly in the Torah (Hebrew Bible) as a land flowing with milk and honey.
Judaism, through the Hebrew Bible, Talmud and later commentators, philosophers and jurists, offers a monotheistic God-centered
theology which is both a religion and a nation-based culture, organized by moral codes of behavior and ritual practices which reinforce a
consistent moral philosophy upholding the sanctity of life and the importance of the individual and his/her actions in this world.
A substantial portion of Jewish law is tied to the land of Israel and can only be performed there. It is a mitzvah (commandment) for Jews to
live in the land of Israel (Num. 33:53). Furthermore, living outside of Israel is viewed in Jewish philosophy through the ages as an
unnatural state of being for a Jew. The world outside of Israel is often referred to as diaspora (dispersion), but a more literal translation
would be exile or captivity. Today, Jews comprise 76.1% of the population of the State of Israel.

JEWISH HOLY SITES

The Temple Mount and the Western Wall (Kotel in Hebrew). In the Old City of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount (Har ha-Bayit) has been
the physical focus of the Jewish people ever since King David brought the traveling Tabernacle there and King Solomon built the First
Temple in approximately 1000 BCE. The western retaining wall of the mountain platform build by King Herod is the last remaining remnant
of the Second Temple complex and has been sacred to Jews for over 2,000 years. Because Jews typically came to the wall to mourn for
the lost Temple, it became known as the Wailing Wall in Christian and other sources, but is known in modern times as the Western Wall.
The Temple Mount is held to be holy also by Christians and Muslims and is known as Al-Haram al-Quds al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) to

40

Muslims. The Western Wall is revered for its proximity to the sacred Holy of Holies on the Temple Mount which is the most holy site in
Judaism.
For Jews, the Western Wall is the holiest location that is currently accessible to the Jewish people for prayer. At any hour, Jewish men and
women can be found praying at the Wall, which has become something of a large indoor/outdoor synagogue. As is traditional in Jewish
synagogues, there are a number of holy arks containing Torah scrolls, tables for reading of the law and a mechitza or divider, separating
the mens and womens sections of the wall. Bar Mitzvah celebrations are frequently held here on Shabbat, Monday and Thursday, and
people of various ages travel from all over the world to have their ceremonies at the Wall. It is also a tradition to deposit slips of paper with
wishes or prayers on them in the crevices of the wall. Looking closely, one can see hundreds of tiny, folded notes stuffed inside every
space that will hold them.
The Cave of the Patriarchs (Mearat HaMachpela in Hebrew) is a series of subterranean caves located in a complex which is now
referred to by Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque or Sanctuary of Abraham. The compound, located in the ancient city of Hebron, is revered
by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, as it is believed to be the burial place of four biblical couples: Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebecca;
Jacob and Leah; and according to ancient tradition also Adam and Eve. Herod the Great built a large rectangular enclosure over the
caves between 37-4 BCE, and this is the only Herodian structure completely intact anywhere in the world. Until the time of the Byzantine
Empire, the inside of the enclosure remained exposed to the sky. Under Byzantine rule, a simple basilica was constructed at the southeastern end and a roof was built everywhere except at the center. In 614 CE, the Persians conquered the area and destroyed the church,
leaving only ruins. In 637 CE the area came under the control of the Muslims and the entire enclosure was converted into a roofed
mosque.
Rachels Tomb is a site of great significance to Judaism and is located in northern Judea just outside of Jerusalem along what was once
the biblical Jerusalem-Bethlehem-Ephrat road. Tradition holds that it is the burial place of the Biblical matriarch Rachel, the wife of Jacob
who died there giving birth to Benjamin. It is considered the third holiest site in Judaism after the Temple Mount and the Cave of the
Patriarchs. Over the years, Rachels Tomb has been a place of pilgrimage for Jews, especially Jewish women unable to give birth and
those about to be married.

ISLAM
Islam is a monotheistic religion originating with the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th-century Arab religious and political figure. The word
Islam means submission or the total surrender of oneself to God. Muslims believe that God revealed the Quran to Muhammad, Gods final
prophet, and regard the Quran and the Sunnah (words and deeds of Muhammad) as the fundamental sources of Islam. They do not
regard Muhammad as the founder of a new religion, but as the restorer of the original monotheistic faith of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and
other prophets. Islamic tradition holds that Judaism and Christianity distorted the messages of these prophets over time either in
interpretation, in text, or both.
Jerusalem is considered by Muslims to be a holy city, though inferior in importance to Islams primary holy cities of Mecca and Medina in
Saudi Arabia. The Haram al Sharif (Temple Mount) of Jerusalem is believed by many Muslims to be the location from which, in a dream,
Muhammad ascended to Heaven after his flight on a winged horse from Mecca.
This widely accepted Islamic belief strengthens the religious and spiritual importance of the Dome of the Rock and the adjacent Al-Aqsa
Mosque to Muslims. Israeli Muslims are sensitive to and mindful of the circumstance that both sites are demonstrably part of the sovereign
territory of the State of Israel. In spite of this fact, Israeli flags are not presently displayed within the limits of the Haram area, which is
administered by the Islamic Waqf, an administrative body taking responsibility for the conduct of Islamic affairs in the region of the Temple
Mount.
The majority of Muslims currently residing in Israel are Sunni Arabs. From 1516 to 1917, the Sunni Ottoman Turks ruled the areas that
now include Israel. Their rule reinforced and ensured the centrality and importance of Islam as the dominant religion in the region. Muslims
currently constitute 16% of the population of Israel, 75% of the population of the Palestinian Authority in the disputed territories (West
Bank) and 99% of the population of the Gaza Strip.

Christians are presently the smallest denomination of the Abrahamic religions in Israel. They comprise 2.1% of the population of Israel.
Most Christians living permanently in Israel are Arabs or have come from other countries to live and work mainly in churches or
monasteries with long histories in the region.
Jesus was born, lived and died in the land of Israel, and it is most commonly called the Holy Land by Christians the world over. According
to Roman Catholic tradition, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is the place where Jesus died and was eventually buried
making Jerusalem one of Christianitys holiest sites.
There are nine officially recognized churches for the purposes of marriage, divorce and other life events. These are: the Eastern Orthodox,
Roman Catholic (Latin rite), Gregorian-Armenian, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Catholic, Chaldean (Uniate), Melkite (Greek Catholic),
Maronite and Syrian Orthodox churches. Christian holy places are almost too numerous to mention, but they include Bethlehem,
understood to be the birthplace of Jesus, Nazareth, Kfar Nahum (Capernaum) on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and the Monastery of
Latrun.

General Information

CHRISTIANITY

41

DRUZE
The Druze community in Israel is officially recognized as a separate religious entity with its own courts (with jurisdiction in matters of
personal status - marriage, divorce, maintenance and adoption) and spiritual leadership. Their culture is Arab and their language Arabic,
but as a community they opted to continue their centuries-old practice of remaining outside politics and went against mainstream Arab
nationalism in 1948. Since the founding of the State of Israel they have been full citizens of Israel and serve in the Israel Defense Forces
and the Border Police.
Worldwide there are approximately one million Druze, living mainly in Syria and Lebanon, with 104,000 in Israel (comprising 1.6% of the
total population), including about 18,000 in the Golan (which came under Israeli rule in 1967).
The Druze community in Israel has a special standing among the countrys minority groups and members of the community are active at
the most senior levels of the political, public and military spheres, including holding cabinet positions and serving as acting speaker of the
Knesset.
The Druze religion is secret and closed to converts. This secrecy derives from the tenet that the gates of the religion were open to new
believers for the space of a generation when it was first revealed in the 11th century, and closed ever since. The Druze believe in
reincarnation and that the number of Druze souls has remained constant since the religions founding.
Since there is no ritual or ceremony in the Druze religion, there is also no sanctification of physical places. However, the Druze gradually
instituted gatherings at significant sites for the purpose of discussing community affairs and over time such gatherings have taken on the
meaning of a sort of religious holiday. One of the most important Druze gathering sites is the tomb of Nebi Shueib (the prophet Jethro) at
the Horns of Hittin, overlooking Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). On April 25 each year, the Druze gather at the site to discuss community
affairs. Sabalan was another Druze prophet. Sabalans tomb is located above the Druze village of Hurfeish. It is the site of an annual
festive pilgrimage and is visited throughout the year by those who have taken a vow to do so.

OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN ISRAEL

The Bedouin in Israel are Muslims; most Israeli Bedouin live in the Negev Desert in southern Israel and total about 170,000. Many
Bedouin men serve in the Israeli Defense Forces.
The Bah Faith has its administrative center in Haifa on land it has owned since Bahullhs imprisonment in Acre in the early 1870s by
the Ottoman Empire. Pilgrims from all over the world visit for short periods of time. Apart from a few hundred volunteer staff, and in
agreement with the Israeli government, the Bah do not live or preach in Israel.
The small Circassian community (some 3,000 persons) is composed of Sunni Muslims uprooted from the Caucasus in the late 19th
Century and settled in the Galilee by Ottoman authorities. They serve in the Israel Defense Forces and live mainly in the villages of Kfar
Kama and Rehaniye.
Around 1,500 Armenian Christians live in the Armenian Quarter in the south-west corner of the Old City of Jerusalem. The Armenian
Quarter is a complex of several historical sites around which Armenians congregated over the last millennium to form a self-sustained
community with churches, schools, public and social institutions, residences and historical monuments. The compound consists of the St.
James Armenian Convent, the Patriarchate and the adjacent residential neighborhood.
The Black Hebrews, whose full name is the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem, are based in Dimona. About 2,500 members
live in Israel most of them in Dimona and the rest in Arad and Mitzpe Ramon, with some residing in other parts of the country, and a
number living in the USA (mostly in Chicago). The Black Hebrews believe that they are descended from the ten lost tribes of Israel.
Although they are not recognized by the State of Israel as Jewish, the community was recently given permanent resident status in Israel.
The Samaritans (Shomronim in Hebrew) are an ethnic group of the Levant. Ethnically, they are descended from a group of Israelite
inhabitants that have connections to ancient Samaria from the beginning of the Babylonian Exile up to the beginning of the Christian era.
Religiously, they are adherents of Samaritanism, a religion based on the written Torah. Samaritans claim that their worship (as opposed to
mainstream Judaism) is the true religion of the ancient Israelites, predating the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. In 2005 there were about 700
Samaritans, living almost exclusively in Kiryat Luza on Mount Grizim near the city of Shchem (Nablus) and in the city of Holon.
The Karaite community practice Karaism, which is a movement characterized by the sole reliance on the Hebrew Bible as scripture and
the rejection of the oral law (Talmud, etc.). When interpreting scripture, Karaites strive to adhere only to the pshat (literal meaning) of the
text. In modern times, the Karaite community has formed its own independent organization, claiming an ancient connection to normative
Judaism. They interact with other Jewish organizations though they are not members of any rabbinic organization. Today there are
approximately 30,000 Karaites in the world, with 20,000-25,000 of them living in Israel, mostly in Ramla, Ashdod and Beersheba.

42

HOLIDAYS IN ISRAEL
In generaI, Jewish hoIidays and the Sabbath (Shabbat) begin a haIf hour before sunset and conclude with three stars in the
sky the foIIowing evening.

MAIN JEWISH HOLIDAYS

Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the first Jewish month of Tishrei. It marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year. The celebration of this
holiday is marked with solemnity, as it is the day on which the whole world is judged for the coming year. Rosh Hashanah is considered to
be the birthday of the world, as Jews believe that it was on this day that God created man (on the 6th day of creation). The prayer service
is highlighted by the blowing of a rams horn (shofar) in the synagogue and the holidays traditions include the eating of apples with honey
to ensure a sweet new year. Schools, places of business, and public transport are closed for two days.
Yom Kippur (Hebrew for Day of Atonement) is the holiest day of the year for Jews. Jews believe that on this day a verdict is given for the
preceding year and they pray for a favorable verdict, seeking forgiveness from God and their fellows through prayer, confession and
fasting. Most Jews (even those who do not observe any other Jewish custom) will refrain from work, fast and attend synagogue services
on this day. Yom Kippur occurs on the 10th day of Tishrei. Schools, places of business, and public transport are closed. All local electronic
media shuts down. All forms of public transport, except for emergency services, cease. In many Israeli communities, due to the dearth of
vehicular traffic, children with bicycles take over the streets.
Pesach (Passover) begins on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan. It is the first of the three major festivals with both historical and
agricultural significance (the other two are Shavuot and Sukkot). The primary observances of Pesach are related to the Exodus from
Egypt after generations of slavery, as described in the biblical book of Exodus. The holiday is celebrated on the first evening with a
ceremonial meal known as the seder. It is celebrated for eight days in the Diaspora and for seven inside Israel. Over the course of the
festival, observant Jews refrain from eating any form of leavened bread or pastry. The grain product eaten during Pesach is called matzah,
an unleavened bread, made simply from flour and water and cooked very quickly - a sort of cracker. The first and last days of Pesach are
holidays: schools, places of business, and public transport are closed. During the intermediate days of the festival known as Chol
HaMoed, schools remain closed and many Israelis take vacations.

OTHER JEWISH HOLIDAYS (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER):

Sukkot The Festival of Sukkot begins on the fifth day after Yom Kippur, the 15th of Tishrei. It is something of a drastic transition from
one of the most solemn holidays of the year to one of the most joyous. Historically, Sukkot commemorates the forty-year period during
which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. The holiday lasts for seven days. Before it begins,
Jews build temporary shelters, as their ancestors did in the wilderness. The temporary shelter is referred to as the sukkah (which is the
singular form of the plural word sukkot). The commandment to dwell in a sukkah can be fulfilled by simply eating all of ones meals there;
however, if the weather, climate and ones health permit, many spend as much time in the sukkah as possible, including sleeping in it.
The day after the seventh day of Sukkot is the holiday of Simchat Torah, marking the completion of the annual cycle of weekly Torah
readings. This completion of the readings is a time of great celebration. There are processions around the synagogue carrying Torah
scrolls and plenty of high-spirited singing and dancing in the synagogue.
The period between Sukkot and Simchat Torah is known as Chol HaMoed, the intermediate days of the festival, as in Pesach. During
Sukkot and Simchat Torah schools, places of business, and public transport are closed on the holidays and the intermediary days as well.

Tu BShvat is Israels arbor day or the New Year for the purpose of calculating the age of trees for tithing, as winter begins to turn to
spring. One custom is to eat a new or dried fruit and many people plant trees on this day. Schools and businesses function as usual.
Purim is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar. It commemorates the time when the Jewish people living in
Persia were saved from extermination. Purim is celebrated on the 14th day of Adar, which is usually in March. The 13th of Adar is the day
that the evil Persian minister Haman chose for the extermination of the Jews, and the day that the Jews battled their enemies for their
lives. The following day, the 14th, they celebrated their survival. Thus, Jews fast on the 13th (known as the Fast of Esther) and celebrate
on the 14th with festive meals, the reading of the Scroll of Esther with the story of the victory over the evil Haman, dressing up and the
giving of charity and gifts. In walled cities such as Jerusalem Purim is celebrated on the 15th of Adar. Purim is a school holiday.

General Information

Chanukah, the Jewish festival of rededication of the Temple also known as the festival of lights and usually in December, is an eightday winter festival beginning on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. Chanukah commemorates the uprising against the Seleucids
who tried to force Greek culture on the Jews of Judea in the 2nd century BCE. The holiday is observed through the lighting of candles and
singing every evening. Children enjoy eating jelly doughnuts and pancakes known as latkes to commemorate the miracle of the oil when
a days supply of oil for the great lamp in the Temple lasted eight days. The eight days are school holidays.

Israel Independence Day is celebrated with picnics, parades and special prayers and activities.

43

Lag bOmer (The 33rd Day of the Omer) falls on the 18th of Iyar in the spring. The origins of the holiday begin with the time of Rabbi
Akiva, an important sage of the 2nd century CE who was executed by the Romans. Lag bOmer is also the anniversary of the death of
Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai who authored the Zohar, the Jewish book of mysticism. Schools and businesses function as usual; youth and
school children build bonfires and stay up late singing and telling stories around the fire.
Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks, is the second of the three major festivals with both historical and agricultural significance (the other two
are Passover and Sukkot). Agriculturally, it commemorates the time when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the Temple and is
known as Hag ha-Bikkurim (the Festival of the First Fruits). Historically, it celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Shavuot is a
general holiday: schools, places of business and public transport are closed.
The Fast of Tammuz, Tammuz 17, is the date when the walls of Jerusalem were breached, another major event leading up to the
destruction of the First Temple. Many observant Jews fast on this day. Schools and businesses function as usual.
Ben Hametzarim The three weeks between the 17th of Tammuz and the ninth of Av, and more strictly the Nine Days from Rosh
Chodesh Av (first of the month) until the 9th of Av. Observant Jews refrain from joyous or celebratory behavior, including eating meat,
bathing or swimming for pleasure, festive occasions like weddings and other activities.
Tisha BAv is the Fast of the Ninth of Av. Tisha BAv primarily commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples, both of
which were destroyed on the ninth of Av (the first by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, the second by the Romans in 70 CE). Observant Jews
fast from sundown until the following evening. Schools and businesses function as usual but places of entertainment are usually closed.

MUSLIM HOLIDAYS
Ramadan is an Islamic religious observance that takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, when the Quran was
revealed in Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power, considered the most venerated month of the Islamic year. Prayers, fasting, charity and selfaccountability are especially stressed at this time; religious observances associated with Ramadan are kept throughout the month. Every
day during the month of Ramadan, Muslims around the world get up before dawn to eat. They break their fast at sunset and do not eat,
drink, smoke or engage in sexual relations during the day. One of the main days of Ramadan commemorates the traditional understanding
of Muhammads night journey (Al-Israa) to Jerusalem and then Ascension (Mi`raj) through the spheres of the heavens.
Eid ul-Fitr, often abbreviated as simply Eid, is an Islamic holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. Fitr means to
break the fast and therefore symbolizes the breaking of the fasting period. On the day of the celebration, a typical Muslim family wakes
very early and, after praying the first normal everyday prayer, is required to eat a small amount, symbolizing the end of Ramadan. They
then attend special congregational prayers held only for this occasion in mosques, large open areas, stadiums or arenas. For Muslims, Eid
ul-Fitr is a joyous occasion with important religious significance, celebrating the achievement of enhanced piety.
Muharram, the month in which Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE (the Hijra), is the first month of the Islamic
calendar. Al-Hijra, the Islamic New Year, is celebrated on the first day of Muharram. The holiday is also known simply as Muharram.
Islamic years are calculated from 1 Muharram, 622 CE., and are followed by the suffix AH, which stands for After Hijira. Muharram is one
of the four months of the year in which fighting is prohibited. Some Muslims fast during these days. Unlike the important holidays of Eid alFitr and Eid al-Adha, there are few rituals associated with Islamic New Year. There are no prescribed religious observances; most Muslims
regard the day as a time for reflection on the Hijira and on the year to come. In modern times, some Muslim exchange greeting cards to
celebrate the holiday.
Milad an-Nabi is the celebration of the birthday of Muhammad held in March every year. Processions are held, homes and mosques
are decorated, charity and food is distributed, stories about the life of Muhammad are narrated and sacred invocations and poems are
recited by children.
Eid al-Adha is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims worldwide as a commemoration of Ibrahims (Abrahams) willingness to
sacrifice his son (Ismael) for Allah. It is one of two Eid festivals that Muslims celebrate. Eid al-Adha is four days long and starts on the 10th
day of the month of Dhul Hijja of the lunar Islamic calendar. It happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of
Ramadan. Muslims who can afford to do so sacrifice their best domestic animals (usually sheep, but also camels, cows and goats) as a
symbol of Ibrahims sacrifice. The sacrificed animals have to meet certain age and quality standards or else the animal is considered
unacceptable. At the time of sacrifice, Allahs name is recited along with the offering statement and a supplication. According to the Quran,
a large portion of the meat has to be given to the poor and hungry so they can all join in the feast which is held on Eid-al-Adha. The
remainder is cooked for the family celebration meal in which relatives and friends are invited to share.
There are no hard and fast rules about the closing of work places or businesses in Muslim communities during these holidays. Muslim
schools are usually closed during the Eids and Milad. During Ramadan, Muslim schools shorten their hours.

44

DRUZE HOLIDAYS
The Druze do not celebrate holidays per se but they do have several festivals that involve visiting the tombs of righteous prophets. Among
these festivals:
Nabi Sabalan: Prophet Sabultan (Zebulon)
Nabi al-Hader: Prophet al-Hader (Eliyahu)
Nabi Shueib: Prophet Shueib (Jethro)
Their clergymen (Uqqal) fast the month of Ramadan and celebrate the Eid Al-Adha. In these festivals, the clergymen assemble in the
sacred sites for prayer, consultation and information-sharing concerning affairs of the religion and sect. Druze schools are closed for four
days during Nabi Shuab and the Muslim Eids.

General Information
45

CALENDER OF IMPORTANT CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS, NATIONAL AND

HISTORICAL EVENTS
Descriptions can be found in the HoIidays, FestivaIs, and Conferences sections. AII Jewish hoIidays begin at sunset and end at sundown
with the appearance of three stars in the skies.

September

Rosh Hashana
Sept. 14-15, 2015; Oct. 3-4, 2016; Sept. 21-22 2017
Nebi Sabalan (Druze) Sept. 10, every year

October

Anniversary of the Yom Kippur War

took place Oct. 6th - Oct. 26th, 1973
Yom Kippur
Sept. 23, 2015; Oct. 12, 2016; Sept. 30, 2017
Eid al-Adha
Sept. 23, 2015; Sept. 11, 2016; Sept. 1, 2017
Birth of the Bab (Bah ) Oct. 20th , every year
Sukkot
Sept. 28-Oct. 4, 2015; Oct. 17-23, 2016; Oct. 5-11, 2017
Haifa Film Festival
held every year during the Sukkot holiday
The Akko Theater Festival
usually during Sukkot
Abu Gosh Vocal Music Festival
Twice a year, 3-5 days during Sukkot and Shavuot
Anniversary of the Abduction of Ron Arad, Israeli Air Force
navigator forced to parachute from his damaged aircraft during
a mission over Sidon, Lebanon and was taken prisoner by the
Amal Shiite militia in 1986. His whereabouts are still unknown.
Oct. 16

November

Yitzhak Rabin assassinated

Nov. 5
Memorial Day for Yitzhak Rabin
Oct. 20, 2010; Nov. 9 2001
Birth of the Bhuullah (Bah) Nov. 12, every year
The Holiday of Holidays Festival in Haifa
Nov. Dec. of each year
Thanksgiving (US)
Nov. 26, 2015, Nov. 24, 2016, Nov. 23, 2017
Nov. 29 (Kaf Tet bNovember) UN General Assembly voted for
the end of the British Mandate and the partition of the Land of Israel
into Jewish and Arab states in 1947.

December

Chanukah
Dec. 7-14, 2015; Dec. 25 Jan. 1, 2016; Dec. 11-20
Christmas Day
Dec. 25 every year

46

January

New Years Day

Jan. 1 every year
Mawlid al-Nabi (Muhammads Birthday)
Jan. 3, 2015; Dec. 12, 2016; Dec. 1, 2017
Tu BShvat
Jan. 25, 2015; Feb 11, 2016; Jan. 31, 2017

February

Saint Valentines Day

Feb. 14

March

Purim
Feb. 28, 2010;
Mar. 21, 2011; Mar. 8, 2012

April

Easter
Good Friday Apr. 3, Easter Sunday Apr. 5 2015
Good Friday March 25, Easter Sunday March 27, 2016
Good Friday Apr. 14. Easter Sunday Apr. 16, 2017
Passover
Apr. 4-Apr.10, 2015; Apr. 23-29, 2016; Apr. 11- Apr. 17, 2017
Nebi Shueib (Druze) Apr. 24-27, every year

May

Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom Hashoa)

Apr. 16, 2015; May 5, 2016; Apr. 24, 2017
Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror (Yom
Hazikaron)
April 22 2015; May 11, 2016; May 1, 2017
Israel Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut)
April 23 2015; May 12, 2016; May 2, 2017
Anniversary of the 1948 Signing of the Declaration of
Independence and the Founding of the State of Israel in Tel Aviv
in 1948
May 14
Lag BOmer
May 7, 2015 May 26, 2016; May 14, 2017
Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim)
May 17, 2015; June 5, 2016; May 24, 2017
Declaration of the Bab (Bah) May 23, every year

June

Israel Festival in Jerusalem

Ramadan
June 18-July 16, 2015
June 7-July 5, 2016
May 27-June 25, 2017
Israel Festival in Jerusalem

General Information

Shavuot
May 24, 2015; June 12, 2016; May 31, 2017
Abu Gosh Vocal Music Festival
Held during Shavuot
Ascension of Bahullah
May 29, every year

47

Anniversary of the Six-Day War

Jun. 5

July

Karmiel Dance Festival

Exact dates not available
The Jerusalem Film Festival
Held every year in July
The Voice of Music Chamber Music Festival
Kibbutz Kfar Blum
Exact dates not yet available
Nebi al-Khidr (Druze) July 25 every year
Klezmer Festival in Safed
Every year in July or August
Tisha BAv
Jul. 26 2015; Aug. 14, 2016; Aug 1, 2017

August

48

International Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat

Last week of the month
Hutzot Hayotzer in Jerusalem: International Arts and Crafts Fair
Every year in August

CONFERENCES
HERZLIYA CONFERENCE
The Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS)
The Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy
The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya
P.O. Box 167, Herzliya 46150, Israel
Tel: 09-952-7389/328
Fax: 09-952-7310
E-maiI: ips@idc.ac.iI
www.herzIiyaconference.org/Eng
7-9 June, 2015
IPS was established in 2000 as part of the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya
(IDC). Its primary objective is to enhance Israels national policy and contribute to the upgrading of its strategic decision- making process
through rigorous policy driven research and direct discussion between policy analysts and policymakers. It is characterized by its variety of
disciplines and inputs and by its interdisciplinary, integrative, comprehensive and future-oriented approach towards solving national
problems.

SDEROT CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL ISSUES

Sapir Academic College
M.P. Hof Ashkelon, 79165
Tel. 08-680-2846
www.kenes-sderot.org.iI/HTMLs/Home.aspx
The Sderot Conference is a Hebrew-language conference where the social and economic problems of Israel are discussed.

CAESAREA FORUM
The Israel Democracy Institute
4 Pinsker St., Jerusalem
02-530-0888
http://www.idi.org.iI/sites/engIish/Pages/homepage.aspx
The IDI holds an annual economic conference known as the Caesarea Forum. Now in its 15th year, this Forum has come to be known as
the most important economic conference in Israel, in which the most central and pressing issues in the Israeli market are discussed. Every
year, the Minister of Finance directs the forum. Among the participants are Prime Ministers (past and present), Ministers, MKs, leading
figures in the business world, academics and public officials.

General Information
49

ISRAEL GENERAL STATISTICS

ECONOMY
GDP (PPP): $273.2 billion (2013 est.)
Real growth rate: 3.3% (2013 est.)
Per capita (PPP): $36,200 (2013 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
Agriculture: 2.4%
Industry: 31.2%
Services: 66.4% (2013 est.)
Total Work Force
3.542 million people (2014 est.)
Agriculture: 48.1
Manufacturing: 343.6
Electricity and water supply: 31.1
Construction: 160.8
Wholesale and retail trade: 440.8
Accommodation services and restaurants: 185.7
Transport: 123.7
Banking, insurance, etc: 103.1
Business Activities: 210.1
Public Administration: 124.4
Education: 467/9
Health Services, welfare and social work: 370.8 (2014 est.)
Community, social, personal and other services: 150.8 (2014 est.)
Domestic personnel: 47,100
Unknown: 17,700
Unemployment rate: 6.2%% (2013 est.)
Population below poverty line: 21%
Household income or consumption by
percentage share:
Lowest 10%: 2.7%
Highest 10%: 23.0% (2013)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.1% (2013)
Budget:
Revenues: $109.7 billion
Expenditures: $113.9 billion (2013 est.)
Public debt: 67.1% of GDP (2013 est.)
Current account balance: $5.259 billion (2013 est.)
Exports: $60.67 billion
EU: $10 billion
USA: $9 billion
Asia: $4.2 billion
Exports - commodities: machinery and equipment, software, cut
diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel
Main export partners: US 27.8%, Hong Kong 7.7%, UK 5.7%
(2012)
Imports: $67.03 billion (2013)
Commodities: raw materials, military equipment, investment
goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, consumer goods
Main import partners: US 12.9%, Chuna 7.3%, Germany 6.3%

50

(2012)
GDP (by PPP): $36,200 (2013)
Account deficit: -1.5% of GDP (2013)
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold: $80.74
billion (2013 est.)
Currency: New Israeli Shekel (NIS)
ISO code: ILS 376
Regime: m.float
Symbol: NIS
Tourist arrivals: 2,010,000
Communication
Precentage of total households (2012)
% of households with landline: 79.6
% of households with mobile phone: 95.0
% of households with internet: 70.7
% of households with television: 87.6
% of households with cable/satellite tv subscription: 61.8
Internet users: 70.8% (2013)
Broadband access penetration (2012): 77%
Authorized internet service providers (2014): 44

POPULATION
Population: 8,345,000 (2015)
Note: approximately 341,400 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank
(2012); approximately 18,900 Israeli settlers live in the Golan
Heights (2012); approximately 196,400 Israeli settlers live in East
Jerusalem (2011) (July 2014 est.)
Ethnic groups: (2015) Jews: 74.9% Arabs: 20.7% others
4.4%:
Religious groups: (2012 est.) Jews 75.1%:
Muslims: 17.4%
Druze: 1.6% Christians: 2%
Source:
http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/cw_usr_view_Folder?ID=141
Age structure:
0-14 years: 27.1% (male 1,084,748/female 1,035,525)
15-24 years: 15.7% (male 628,205/female 599,871)
25-54 years: 37.8% (male 1,508,860/female 1,443,898)
55-64 years: 8.8% (male 333,453/female 352,302)
65 years and over: 10.5% (male 368,318/female 466,670) (2014
est.)
Median age:
total: 29.9 years
Population growth rate: 1.46% (2014 est.)
Birth rate: 18.44 births/1,000 population (2014 est.)
Death rate: 5.54 deaths/1,000 population (2014 est.)
Sex ratio: 1.01 male(s)/female (2014 est.)
Ethnic groups:
Jewish 75.1% (of which Israel-born 73.6%,
Europe/America/Oceania-born 17.9%, Africa-born 5.2%, Asia-born
3.2%), non-Jewish 24.9% (mostly Arab) (2012 est.)

Religions: Jewish 75.1%, Muslim 17.4%, Christian 2%, Druze

1.6%, other 3.9% (2012 est.)
Population Distribution, largest cities (2013):
Jerusalem - 815,000
Tel-Aviv Jaffa 415,000
Haifa 272,000

HEALTH
Infant mortality rate: 3.98 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth: 81.28 years
Male: 80.3 years
Female: 83.9 years (2013 est.)
National expenditure on health, % of GDP: 7.6%
Doctor/patient Ratio, per 1,000 (2012): 3.3
Average consultations with doctors, per capita (2011): 6.1
Average length of stay in hospital (2012): 4.3 days
Deaths from heart disease 2.1% (2011 est.)
Deaths from cancer: 7.6% (2012 est.)
Deaths from CV: 49
% smokers: 27%
% overweight: 25%
Annual alcohol consumption per capita: 0.9 liters
Hospital beds per 1000 population: General
hospitalization, 1.86; prolonged hospitalization, 3.04 population
(2014).
Length of stay in days, per 1000 (2013): 1,876.6
Average stay of released patients in days (2013): 4.3
Occupancy rate (2013): 100.8%
Total number of hospital beds (2013): 44,267
Number of physicians, total (2012): 32,327
HIV/AIDS
Total infected (2013 est.): 8,363
Deaths due to HIV/AIDS(2012): 0.4 per 100,000

EDUCATION
Total students state education, colleges and
universities: 1,581,516 (2013)
Literacy:
Definition: at least 4 years of education
% of population, age 15 and above (2013): 96.6

Source: Average years of schooling of adults: 9.6 years

Duration of compulsory education: 12 years
Duration of education, Primary level: 6 years
Duration of education, Secondary level: 6 years
Average school years (2011): 15.73
Continental shelf: to depth of exploitation
Largest cities by population: (2012)
Jerusalem 815,300.
Tel Aviv-Yafo 414,600.
Haifa 272,200.

University students by field of study

(Total 124,416 students in seven universities):
Humanities 25.1%
Social Sciences 26.4%
Science and Mathematics 16.4%
Engineering 13.9%
Medicine 9.3%
Law 3.2%
Business & Administration 4.3%
Agriculture 1.4%
Education Statistics: CBS
Scientific papers per capita: 13
Engineers and scientists per capita: 145 per 10,000
people - more than any other country.
Source:
Sources:
www1.cbs.gov.iI/reader/cw_usr_view_SHTML?ID=658
RoyaI Society - www.royaIsoc.ac.uk
http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton.html?nu
m_tab=st08_72&CYear=2014

GEOGRAPHY
(See comparative size in Maps section)
Irrigated land: 19.2% of land, 4,200 km2 (2013)
Geographic coordinates: 31 30 N, 34 45 E
Land boundaries:
Border countries: Egypt 208 km, Jordan 307 km, Lebanon 81 km,
Syria 83 km
Borders with disputed territories: West Bank 330 km, Gaza Strip
59 km
Total: 1,068 km
Area:
total: 20,770 sq km
land: 20,330 sq km
water: 440 sq km
Forested Land: 6.4%
Arid Zones: 45%
Plains and Valleys: 25%
Mountains: 16%
Rift Valley: 9%
Coastal Strip: 5%
Coastline: 273 km
Maritime claims, territorial sea: 12 nm

General Information

Percentage of the population (15 and above) with 13 years or

more of formal education (2013): 46.8%

National Library books: over 4,000,000

Education spending (% of GDP, 2011): 7.3%
Spending per student (2011): $4,058
Tertiary enrollment (2012): 60%

51

Rishon Lezion 235,100.

Ashdod 214,900.
Selected elevations:
Mt. Hermon, Golan - highest point in Israel: 7,300 ft. 2,224 m.
Mt. Meron, Upper Galilee: 3,964 ft. 1,208 m.
Mt. Ramon, Negev: 3,396 ft. 1,035 m.
Mt. of Olives, Jerusalem: 2,739 ft. 835 m.
Mt. Tabor, Lower Galilee: 1,930 ft. 588 m.
Mt. Carmel, Haifa: 1,792 ft. 546 m.
Dead Sea - lowest point on earth: - 1,368 ft. - 417 m.
Population density: 372 persons per sqare km (2014).

MILITARY
Armed forces personnel (2015): 160,000
Reserve personnal (2015): 630,000
Total number of tanks: 4,170
Total number of aircraft: 684
Total number of naval crafts: 66
Conventional arms exports: $2,400,000,000
Expenditures - Dollar figure: $ 16,032,000,000.00
Expenditures - Dollar figure (per capita): $1,959.66
Military expenditures : %6 of GDP (2013)
Source: CIA World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/is.html
Global Firepower http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=israel
World Bank http://databank.worldbank.org/data/views/reports/tableview.aspx
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute http://milexdata.sipri.org/files/?file=SIPRI+milex+data+1988-2011.xls

52

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY AND THE GAZA STRIP GENERAL STATISTICS

EDUCATION
GENERAL EDUCATION
2012-2013 estimae

Schools: 2,784
West Bank: 2,094
Gaza Strip: 690
Supervising authorities: Governmental schools: 2,063;
UNRWA schools: 342
Private schools: 379
Pupils: 1,151,708
West Bank: 677,004
Gaza Strip: 476,698
Classes: 38,164
West Bank: 25,090
Gaza Strip: 13,074

HIGHER EDUCATION
2012 estimate

Universities and Community colleges: 14 universities,15 colleges

West Bank: 9 universities, 10 colleges
Gaza Strip: 5 universities, 5 colleges
Students: 213,581
Males: 87,443
Females: 126,138
Teaching Staff: 7,068
Males: 5,631
Females: 1,437
Literacy: 96.3% among individuals aged 15 years and over
Males: 98.4% Females: 94.1% (2013 estimate)

ECONOMY
Main indicators for the disputed territories (West Bank and
Gaza Strip):
(Value in million $US)

Enterprises: 596Employees: 833,500

GDP per capita (2013): $2,992.2
West Bank: $3,802.1
Gaza Strip: $1,817.3

(Value added in 2013, in million $US; 2004 is the base year)

Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 309.9
Mining, manufacturing, electricity and water: 1,158.5
Construction: 758.7
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and
motorcycles: 1295.1
Transportation and storage: 127.6
Financial and insurance activities: 252.6
Information and communication: 452.7
Services: 1477.5
Public administration and defense: 928.3
Households with employed persons: 3.8
Total GDP (including other variables): 7,477

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

(Value in US$million, indocators for 2013)

Total Palestinian Exports: 900.6
Total Palestinian Imports: 5,163.90
Palestinian Net Trade balance: -4,263.30
National Exports: 636
Exports From Palestine: 264.7
Exports From West Bank: 899.1
Exports From Gaza Strip: 1.5
Imports From Israel: 3,694.80
Exports to Israel: 786.4
Exports From West Bank to Israel: 786.4
Palestinian Imports by Road: 4,610.90
Palestinian Imports by Pipes and nets: 552.7
Palestinian Exports by Road: 900.6
Palestinian Exports of Services to Israel: 185.8
Palestinian Imports of Services From Israel: 136.3
Palestinian Net balance Trade in services: 49.4

COMMUNICATION

Number of cellular Phone subscribers (2013): 3,268,000

Number of Main Telephone lines (2013): 403,026
Precentage of computer and internet use, 2012:
Households owning computers (2012): 51.4%
West Bank: 55.2
Gaze Strip: 44.2%.
Households with internet connection (2012): 32.1%
West Bank: 34.3
Gaza Strip: 27.9%
Over half of the internet users are youths and young adults: 55%
of users are 15-29 years old (2011).

POPULATION
DEMOGRAPHIC INDICATORS:
(2014 indicators)

Total population: 4,550,368

West Bank: 2,790,331
Gaza Strip: 1,760,037

General Information

Output: 460.6
Intermediate consumption: 106.7
Gross value added: 353.8
Compensation of employees: 162.7
Taxes on production less subsidies: 41.0
Deprecation of assets: 26.1
Operating surplus: 124
Gross fixed capital formation: 24.8

GDP BY INDUSTRY:

53

Urban population out of total population: %73.9

Crude birth rate per 1000 population: 32.3
West Bank: 29.4
Gaza Strip: 36.8
Crude death rate per 1000 population: 3.7
West Bank: 3.9
Gaza Strip: 3.6
% Population growth rate: 2.9
West Bank: 2.59
Gaza Strip: 3.41
% Population below 15 years: 39.7
West Bank: 37.6
Gaza Strip: 43.2
% Population of elderly, 60 years and older: 4.4
West Bank: 30.1
Gaza Strip: 29.9
% Dependency ratio: 98
Total fertility rate (2008-2009): 4.4
West Bank: 4.0
Gaza Strip: 5.2
Unemployment (2013): 23.4%
Smoking prevalence among adults: 22.5%
West Bank: 26.9%
Gaza Strip: 14.6%

HEALTH
Male life expectancy at birth (2014): 71.8 years.
West Bank: 72.2
Gaza Strip: 71.2
Female life expectancy at birth (2014): 74.7
West Bank: 75.1
Gaza Strip: 74.1
Newborns with low birth weight: 7%
Children underweight: 3.7%
West Bank: 3.8%
Gaza Strip: 3.5%
Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births; 2010): 20.0
West Bank: 18.2
Gaza Strip: 22.4
Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births): 24.1
West Bank: 22.2
Gaza Strip: 27.2
Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births)
West Bank: 32
Gaza Strip: 29

HEALTH EXPENDITURE INDICATORS

Total expenditure on health (2011, per capita): US$307

Total expenditure on health of % of GDP (2011): $12.3
General government expenditure on health as % of total health
expenditure (2011): 38.7
Total physicians per 1000: 2.2
West Bank: 2.3
Gaza Strip: 2.2
Dentists per 1,000 population (2013): 0.70
Physicians per 1,000 population: 1.60
Nurses per 1000: 2.7
West Bank: 2.2
Gaza Strip: 3.4
Hospital beds per 1,000 population: 1.30

54

Contraceptive prevalence rate (2011): 53%

Prenatal care coverage: 98%
West Bank: 97.8
Gaza Strip: 98.2
Births attended by skilled health personnel (2010): 99%
West Bank: 98.6
Gaza Strip: 99.7

SOURCES
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
www.pcbs.gov.ps
http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Downloads/book2040.pdf
World Health Organization
http://www.emro.who.int/paIestine
www.jewishvirtuaIIibrary.org/jsource/Threats_to_IsraeI/miIba
I.htmI
http://www.moag.gov.il/agri/Files/teimot_haklaut_vekfar_25_
4_2013.pdf

Statistical Abstract of Israel:

www1.cbs.gov.iI/reader/shnatonenew.htm
CIA World Factbook - Israel:
http://www.cia.gov/Iibrary/pubIications/the-worIdfactbook/geos/is.htmI
Ministry of Health:
http://www.heaIth.gov.iI/engIish
NationMaster.com /Israel:
http://www.nationmaster.com/country/is-israeI
MidEast Web for Coexistence
www.mideastweb.org

http://data.worldbank.org/

Jewish Virtual Library

www.jewishvirtuaIIibrary.org

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST

http://data.isoc.org.il/data/329

Central Bureau of Statistics (in English):

www1.cbs.gov.iI/reader/?MIvaI=cw_usr_view_FoIder&ID=14
1

http://www.health.gov.il/PublicationsFiles/manpower2012.pdf
http://www.health.gov.il/PublicationsFiles/mosadot2013_p2.p
df

http://www1.cbs.gov.il/reader/cw_usr_view_Folder?ID=141,
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/is.html

Palestinian Statistics (through 2000):

http://r0.unctad.org/paIestine/pdfs/Statistics.pdf

http://www.health.gov.il/NewsAndEvents/SpokemanMesseg
es/Pages/28112013_2.aspx

For more information on terrorist attacks, see the terrorist attacks

lists at the end of the Maps Section

General Information
55

TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS
AL-AQSA MARTYRS BRIGADES
Date Formed: 2000
Members: Unknown
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): Marwan Barghouti
Ideology: Secular
Allied/Splinter Groups:
Al-Fatah, Badr Forces, Sami al-Ghul Brigades, Tanzim; began as an offshoot of Fatah
Current Goals:
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade primary tactics are suicide bombings and firearms attacks. While the groups primary objective is to forcibly
remove Israelis from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem, the group also targets civilians and soldiers in Israel. In Jan. 2008, they
joined forces with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to shoot rockets from the Gaza Strip.
Well known attacks:
January 2007: suicide bombing in Eilat killed three people;
January 2006: overtook the European Union mission in Gaza for 30 minutes. Masked gunmen demanded that Denmark and
Norway apologize for publishing satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed;
January 2003: suicide bombings in downtown Tel Aviv killed 23 people and wounded 100 more.
Designated as a terrorist group by:
US
Canada
EU

AL-FATAH (NOT FATAH AL-ISLAM)

Date Formed: Late 1950s
Members: 10,000 +
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): Khalid al-Hasan, Yasser Arafat, Marwan Barghouti, Khalil el-Wazir, Abu Iyad,
Faruq Qaddumi
Ideology: Secular, but recently embracing Islamism as a component of the national identity
Allied/Splinter Groups:
Abu al-Rish Brigades, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Black Panthers, Black September, Hamas (rival too), Knights of the Tempest, Mujahadi
Bayt al-Maqdis Brigades, Omar bin al-Khattab Brigades, Palestine Liberation Organization (rival too), Palestinian Popular Struggle Front
(rival too), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (rival too), Popular Resistance Committees, Sami al-Ghul Brigades (armed wing),
Tanzim
Current Goals:
As part of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians, all PLO factions, including Fatah, officially renounced terrorism and
acts of violence. Since 1993, the PLO has transformed itself into a quasi-government. Many Fatah members are actively engaged in
legitimate Palestinian Authority governmental activities. However, certain factions within Fatah have recommitted themselves to violence.
Notably, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Fatah-Tanzim have been implicated in terrorist activities against Israeli targets. Fatah
leaders maintain that these factions operate autonomously outside the control of the mainstream Fatah movement. Israel maintains that
the Fatah leadership continues to control and support these terrorist activities. Fatah therefore appears split between its role as the leader
of the Palestinian Authority and its traditional role as the leader of the Palestinian resistance. In January 2006, Fatah suffered a defeat to
Hamas in Palestinian parliamentary elections. Fatahs loss of power has changed the Palestinian political landscape and factional clashes
continue between Fatah and Hamas.
Well known attacks:
Although Arafat offically renounced terrorism in 1988 and in 1993, Fatah have been implicated in numerous attacks (see Maps
Section). They have also been found to be financially supporting the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the Tanzim.
Designated as a terrorist group by:
No major international organization

56

AL-FATH AL-MUBIN TROOPS

Date Formed: 2006
Members: Unknown
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): N/A
Ideology: National/Separatist, Religious
Allied/Splinter Groups:
Al-Fatah
Current Goals:
The al-Fatah al-Mubin Troops, or Clear Victory Troops, is an Islamic terrorist group conducting attacks against Israeli targets occupying"
Palestine. Its armed wing, Mus'ab Bin Umayr, is named after one of the Prophet Mohammed's companions. In July 2006, the al-Fath alMubin Troops issued a statement threatening to attack U.S. targets in Palestine if the Israeli aggression in Lebanon persisted. The group
contributes to anti-Israeli and potentially anti-U.S. violence in the region.
Well known attacks:
May 2006: Rocket attack on Ashkelon
Designated as a terrorist group by:
No major international organization

AL-QUDS BRIGADES
Date Formed: Late 1970s
Members: Less than 1,000
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): N/A
Ideology: Islamist
Allied/Splinter Groups:
Armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Current Goals:
The Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, stated on August 29, 2008 that abducting Israeli soldiers is an open option for
all resistance groups in order to use them in future prisoner swaps with Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Well known attacks:
Qassam and mortar attacks from Gaza Strip into southern Israel
Designated as a terrorist group by:
No major international organization

DEMOCRATIC FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE (DFLP)

Date Formed: 1969
Members: 500
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): Abd al-Karim Hammad, Nayef Hawatmeh, Qais Abdul Karim, Taysir Khalid,
Yasser Abed Rabbo, Salah Zaydan
Ideology: Secular; Marxist/Leninist (united leftist front; Democratic revolutionary alliance)

Current Goals:
A minority of the DFLP supported the PLOs negotiations with Israel in the 1990s, a majority of the group (led by Hawatmeh) opposed the
talks and rejected the 1993 Declaration of Principles. This position officially estranged the DFLP from the PLO and marginalized the
groups role in the newly established Palestinian Authority. In the late 1990s, the DFLP appeared to reverse its opposition to the peace
process, increasing cooperation with the Palestinian Authority and reconciling with Arafat. As a result, the DFLP was removed from the US
State Departments list of foreign terrorist organizations. The DFLPs leader, Nayef Hawatmeh has also spoken out against suicide
bombings inside Israel.Nevertheless, it appears that the DFLP has remained engaged in anti-Israel activities including actively and openly
supporting the al-Aqsa Intifada. The group has continued to conduct limited operations against Israeli targets.
Well known attacks:
May 1974: assault on a school in the Galilee town of Maalot, 25 Israeli teenagers murdered
August 2001: raid on a Gaza Strip outpost, three Israeli soldiers were killed

General Information

Allied/Splinter Groups:
Hamas (rival too), Palestinian Liberation Organization (rival too), Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (rival too)

57

Designated as a terrorist group by:

No major international organization

HAMAS
Date Formed: 1987
Members: Over 1,000 active military members, but has tens of thousands of supporters
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): Current leader: Khaled Mashal (in Syria) and Ismail Haniyeh (in Gaza). Others:
Mahmud al-Zahhar, Ihsan Elashyi, Ibrahim Ghousheh, Mahmud Abu Hanud, Musa Abu Marzuq, Abd al-Aziz Rantisi, Ismail Abu Shanab,
Salah Shihada.
Ideology: Palestinian nationalism and Islamic Fundamentalism; Grew out of the Sunni, Islamist, religious Muslim Brotherhood based in
Egypt.
Allied/Splinter Groups:
Abu al-Rish Brigades, al-Fatah (rival too), Asbat al Ansar (rival too), Black Panthers, Hezbollah, Jenin Martyrs Brigade, Palestinian Islamic
Jihad (rival too), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Resistance Committees)
Current Goals:
Hamas is dedicated to Islamist goals and seeks to destroy Israel and replace the Palestinian Authority with an Islamic state. Hamas has
violently opposed any political compromises with Israel and has frequently used suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israel to
derail the peace process. As part of its Islamist ideology, Hamas maintains an active network of social services within the Palestinian
territories which has substantially increased popular support for Hamas, drawing political support away from the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas has been able to leverage its popular support into increased support for its terrorist activities. In its newfound position as a
legitimate political party, Hamas has continued to maintain a hard line against Israel and remains an active militant group. In the fall of
2006, factional clashes with its main rival, al-Fatah, consumed the Gaza Strip and led to many deaths on both sides, and resulted in the
forced takeover of the Strip by Hamas, which has ruled the area since.
Well known attacks:
March 2008: Mercaz HaRav shooting in Jerusaslem
Ongoing: Qassam launches from Gaza into southern Israel
For detailed history of attacks, see Maps Section
Designated as a terrorist group by:

US
UK
Australia
Canada
EU

MARTYR ABU-ALI MUSTAFA BRIGADES

Date Formed: 2001
Members: Unkown
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): Unknown
Ideology: Marxist/Leninist secular
Allied/Splinter Groups:
Armed wing of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Current Goals:
The group is named for Mustafa Al-Zibri (Abu Ali Mustafa) former PFLP leader who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2001 and operates
under the direction of the PFLP. It is considered one of the most hardline of the Palestinan factions involved in terrorism against Israeli
targets.
Well known attacks:
Ongoing: Rockets and mortars from Gaza into the Western Negev and Sderot
Designated as a terrorist group by:
No major international organization

58

PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD (PIJ)

Date Formed: Late 1970s
Members: Under 1,000
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): Sheik Abd al-Aziz Awda, Bashir Musa, Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, Fathi Shaqaqi
Ideology: Religious, wants a Palestinian Islamic State
Allied/Splinter Groups:
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, al-Quds Brigades, Hamas (rival too), Hezbollah, Islamic Renewal Movement, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Sami alGhul Brigades
Current Goals:
PIJ remains a relatively small organization with a limited base of support. This limited support partly stems from PIJs exclusive focus on
terrorist attacks and unwillingness to offer impoverished Palestinians a network of social services like Hamas does. The construction of
security fences by Israel around the disputed territories has made it more difficult for PIJ to execute terrorist attacks in Israel proper. Still,
PIJ remains dedicated to the violent destruction of Israel, shows no interest in joining the political process and will likely continue its
attempts to injure Israeli civilians and military personnel through acts of terrorism.
Well known attacks:
October 2003: Female suicide bomber blew herself up at Maxim restaurant in Haifa.
Designated as a terrorist group by:
US
UK
Australia
Canada
EU

POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE (PFLP)

Date Formed: 1967
Members: 800
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): Mustafa al-Zibri, George Habash, Abdel Rahim Mallouh, Ahmed Sadat
Ideology: Secular, Marxist
Allied/Splinter Groups:
al-Fatah (rival too), Anti-Imperialist International Brigade, Baader-Meihof Group, Black September, Democratic Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, Hamas, Islamic Movement for Change, Japanese Red Army, Martyr Abu-Ali Mustafa Brigades, Palestine Liberation
Organization (rival too), Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Popular Resistance Committees
Current Goals:
The PFLP vehemently opposes the peace process with Israel and continues to advocate the use of violence against Israeli targets. It
believes that Fatah, the PLO and the Palestinian Authority effectively sold out the Palestinian people by agreeing to negotiate with Israel.
The PFLP has continued to conduct limited operations against Israel including the assassination of Rahavam Zeevi, Israels tourism
minister in Jerusalem in 2001. Despite these operations, the PFLP continues to be a marginal player in the Palestinian movement, losing
ground to both Islamist (Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad) and secular (Fatah) rivals. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
issued a statement on August 3, 2008, condemning both Hamas and Fatah for the drastic escalations in the internal conflicts in Gaza and
the West Bank.

Designated as a terrorist group by:

US
Canada
EU

General Information

Well known attacks:

October 2001: Assassination of Minister of Tourism Rahavam Zeevi

59

POPULAR RESISTANCE COMMITTEES (PRC)

Date Formed: 2000
Members: Unkown
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): N/A
Ideology: Unknown
Allied/Splinter Groups:
Al-Fatah, Hamas, Mujahadi Bayt al Maqdis Brigades, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Salah al-Din Battalions, Sami al-Ghul Brigades, Tanzim
Current Goals:
The PRC continue to be an active terrorist force in the disputed territories where their main method of attack has been firing rockets from
the Gaza Strip into towns in southern Israel. In June 2006, the PRC with Hamas, launched a raid on an Israeli army post near the Gaza
Strip klling two IDF soldiers and capturing another soldier, Gilad Shalit.
Well known attacks:
May 2004: Killed five members of the Hatuel family, plus the Hatuels unborn child
June 2006: kidnapped Gilad Shalit
Ongoing: Qassam rocket attacks from Gaza into the western
Designated as a terrorist group by:
No major international organization

TANZIM
Date Formed: 1993
Members: Unknown
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): Marwan Barghouti
Ideology: Armed wing of Fatah, mostly secular
Allied/Splinter Groups:
Al-Aqsa Brigades, al-Fatah, Badr Forces, Popular Resistance Committees
Current Goals:
Fatah Tanzim's goal is the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Its leaders are hawkish and aggressive toward Israel, but do
not call for Israel's destruction.
Well known attacks:
2003: Mikes Place bombing in Tel Aviv (with Hamas);
Designated as a terrorist group by:
No major international organization

HEZBOLLAH
Date Formed: 1982
Members: Under 1,000
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): Hassan Nasrallah
Ideology: National/Separatist, Religious
Allied/Splinter Groups:
Allied with Hamas
Current Goals:
Hezbollah is Arabic for Party of God. The group is an umbrella organization of radical Islamic Shiite groups. The group is based in
Lebanon where it was founded by Shia clergy educated in Iran. Their stated goal is to destroy Israel. Hezbullah is credited with
popularizing suicide bombings as an effective terror attack. In the past the group has hit US targets in Lebanon as well as those inside of
Israel.
Well known attacks:
July 2006: Kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers (2008 returned their bodies,) killing 8 others;
Summer 2006: Katyusha attacks
October 1983: Believed to be responsible for the attack on the US Marines Barracks that killed 241 Marines

60

Designated as a terrorist group by:

US
UK
Australia
Canada

AL QAEDA
Date Formed: Late 1980
Members: 50,000
Leaders (past and present, living or dead): Osama Bin Laden
Ideology: Sunni Islam
Allied/Splinter Groups:
Allied with Hezbollah, may have some connection with Hamas
Current Goals:
The largest groups of al-Qaeda are active in Afghanistan and Pakistan however they are known to have cells all over the world. Intensity
of anti-Israel rhetoric has led to the suggestion that Al Qaedas support of the Palestinian cause depends upon Al Qaedas need for the
Palestinian Arabs support. Bin Laden has said that support for the Palestinians against Israel is integral to Al Qaedas cause; mobilizing
the entire Muslim world against the United States.
Well known attacks:
September 2001: Twin Towers, New York
November 2002: attack on Israeli-owned hotel in Mambosa, Kenya killing 15 and wounding 80 people.
Summer 2006: took responsibility for Katyusha attacks from Lebanon
July/August 2008: 2 incidents of Arabs in Israel attempting to establish Al Qaeda cells
Designated as a terrorist group by:
US
UK
Australia
Canada
Russia
Information compiled from the database provided by University of Marylands National Consorium for the Study of Terrorism website
www.start.umd.edu/start and several other resources.

ISLAMIC STATE (ISIS)

Date Formed: 2002
Members: Unknown but estimated at around 200,000
Leaders(past and present, living or dead: Abu Musab al Zarqawi, Ab Bakr al Baghdadi (Amir al Muminin)
Ideology:Salafi group following extremist Islam, promotes religious violence towards those who disagree with its interpretations as infidels.
Aspiring to a worldwide Caliphate claiming religious, political and military authority over all Muslims.

Current Goals: The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), predominantly Sunni jihadist group, seeks to sow civil unrest in Iraq and the
Levant with the aim of establishing a caliphatea single, transnational Islamic state based on sharia. The group emerged in the ashes of
the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), and the insurgency that followed provided it with fertile ground to
wage a war against coalition forces and their domestic allies.
The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), which is also called the Islamic State, is on the march. Two months after first sweeping
through northern and central Iraq, it has started to push onward to Erbil, the seat of the Kurdish Regional Government. Along the way, it
triggered a severe humanitarian crisis among Iraqs Yezidi and Christian minorities and caused massive panic across the Kurdish
autonomous region, which forced a reluctant United States to intervene. ISIS has also used its momentum to continue its expansion in
Syria and, for a few days, even managed to hold parts of the Lebanese border city of Arsal. More confident than ever, ISIS is taking on a

General Information

Allied/Splinter Groups: Al Qaeda, Ansar Bait al Maqdis, Jund al Khilafah, Ansar al Sharia, Boko Haram

61

broad array of enemies, including the Iraqi, Syrian, and Lebanese militaries; Iraqi and Lebanese Shia militias; Kurds from Iraq, Syria, and
Turkey; and Islamist and secular Syrian opposition forces. Now even U.S. air power is joining the fray.
Well known attacks (until January 2015):
October 28, 2002: JTJ assassinated Laurence Foley in Jordan. (1 killed).
August 19, 2003: JTJ bombed the UN Headquarters in Baghdad, killing prominent UN diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello and
twenty-two others. (23 killed, 100+ wounded).
May 7, 2004: Zarqawi beheaded American civilian worker Nicholas Berg in Iraq. (1 killed, 20+ wounded)
ugust 2009: AQI claimed responsibility for the bombings of several government buildings in Baghdad. (250 killed, 1000+
wounded).
March 21, 2012: AQI claimed responsibility for attacks across eight cities in just under six hours. Shiites, police, security forces
and government officials were targeted in Karbala, Kirkuk, and Baghdad (46 killed, 200 wounded).
July 22, 2013: AQI attacked Abu Ghraib and Taji prisons in Iraq, freeing approximately 800 prisoners with Al Qaeda
affiliations. (26 Killed).
August 2014: Over a period of two weeks, ISIS executed 700 members of the al-Sheitaat tribe in the Deir al-Zor province,
according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The tribe and ISIS began fighting in July. (700+ killed)]
August 19, 2014: ISIS beheaded American captive James Foley and releases a video of the murder. The video garnered
international attention and ISIS would proceed to behead more British and American hostages in the coming months. (1
killed).
October 29, 2014: ISIS publicly executed a number of members of a Sunni tribe, the Albu Nimr, that had been resisting ISISs
advance in the Anbar province. Reports on the number of dead range from forty-six to over three hundred, and differ on
whether or not women and children were killed along with men. (46+ killed).
January 6, 2015: ISIS began to carry out its first assaults on U.S. bases in Iraq, conducting mortar attacks against a training
base. According to senior U.S. defense officials, the attacks have been completely ineffective against the base. (None)
Designated as a terror group:
UN
EU
UK
US
Australia
Saudi Arabia
Indonesia
UAE
Egypt
India
Russia
Syria
Kyrgyzstan
Malaysia
Sources: http://www.cfr.org/iraq/islamic-state/p14811
http://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/1

JABHAT AL-NUSRA
Date Formed: 2011
Members 5,000-6,000
Leaders (past and present) Abdul Mohsen Abdullah Ibrahim al-Sharikh (Unknown to Present): Sarikh is an AQ member who traveled to
Syria in spring 2013 to become a senior leader in al-Nusra.
Hamid Hamad Hamid al-Ali (Unknown to Present): Ali is an AQ member who has served as a leader for al-Nusra, raising tens of
thousands of dollars for the organization and helping foreign individuals travel to Syria to join al-Nusra.
Abu Yousef al-Turki (Unknown to September 2014): Turki was a senior al-Nusra commander and was known to train members to become
snipers. Al-Nusra reported that he was killed by U.S. airstrikes
Abu Muhammad al-Julani (2011 to Present): Julani is the founder of al-Nusra and its current leader. He was originally a member of AQ

62

Ideology:Al-Nusra Front (also known as the Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra) was formed in late 2011, when Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) emir
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sent operative Abu Muhammad al-Julani to Syria to organize jihadist cells in the region.
Islamist
Salafi
Sunni
Jabhat Al-NusraThe Nusra Front (also known as Jabhat al-Nusra) was formed in late 2011, when Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) emir Abu Bakr alBaghdadi sent operative Abu Muhammad al-Julani to Syria to orgssanize jihadist cells in the region. Al-Nusra aims to overthrow the Assad
regime and replace it with a Sunni Islamic state. However, in contrast to rival group ISIS, it claims that it will not do so without support from
other Islamist groups.al-Nusra has engendered opposition among some Syrians by imposing religious laws in areas it controls and was
also the first Syrian force to claim responsibility for terrorist attacks that killed civilians.
In 2013, tensions rose between al-Nusra and its parent organization AQI when Baghdadi unilaterally proclaimed that the two organizations
had been merged to create the Islamic State in Iraq and al Sham (ISIS).[8] Julani agreed that AQI had aided al-Nusra from the beginning,
but rejected the merger and renewed his pledge of allegiance to Al Qaeda commander Ayman al-Zawahiri. Regardless of the documented
confrontations, there is evidence of cooperation between ISIS and al-Nusra on the battlefield in some areas.
Allied/Splinter Groups: Al Qaeda
Current Goals: Al-Nusra aims to overthrow the Assad regime and replace it with a Sunni Islamic state. However, in contrast to rival group
ISIS, it claims that it will not do so without support from other Islamist groups.
Well known attacks:
January 6, 2012: A suicide bomber blew up a bus carrying riot police to an anti-government protest in central Damascus. (26
killed, 63 injured).
October 3, 2012: Three suicide bombers detonated explosive laden cars in the center of Aleppo, targeting government forces.
(Dozens killed).
February 10, 2013: Al-Nusra fighters, working with other rebel forces, took over an army encampment in Tabqa along the
Euphrates River, securing large amounts of artillery and ammunition and giving them control of a key checkpoint in the town.
(Unknown casualties).
December 2013: Al-Nusra kidnapped thirteen nuns from the Christian town of Maaloula, damaging their ability to frame
themselves as a less extreme Islamist militant organization. After negotiations that involved Lebanese, Syrian, and Qatari
officials, the nuns were released unharmed in March 2014. (No casualties).
March 16, 2014: After losing a battle against Hezbollah and government forces for control of Yabroud, a town on the
Lebanese border, al-Nusra bombed a Bekaa Valley Hezbollah base in retaliation. The bombing follows a trend of violent
conflict carrying the Hezbollah/al-Nusra rivalry into Lebanon. (4 killed).
May 25, 2014: American citizen Abu Huraira al-Amriki carried out a suicide truck bombing in Idlib in what was believed to be
the first instance of an American conducting a suicide attack in Syria. (No reported casualties).
November 3, 2014: In early November 2014, al-Nusra attacked and defeated the Syrian Revolutionary Front (SRF) and
Harakat Hazm in the Jabal al-Zawiya region in Idlib. The two groups, moderate rebels linked to the FSA, surrendered local
towns to al-Nusra. Some members of the FSA-linked groups were arrested, and
Source: http://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/493

General Information
63

JEWISH COMMUNITIES (SETTLEMENTS) IN THE DISPUTED TERRITORIES

(JUDEA SAMARIA/WEST BANK)
Since the Olso Accords established the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, effectively committing Israel to a two
state solution following roughly the 1949 Armistice Lines - known as the Green Line disagreements over the issue of Israeli communities
built in those disputed territories since Israels taking them over in 1967 has intensified. Called settlements by many and considered legal
by Israel and its supporters and unhelpful or illegal by many in the US and Europe and by Israels detractors around the world, these
communities have become a divisive issue within Israeli society as well. For those on the Israeli left and for Palestinian Arabs in the
disputed territories, building beyond the proposed borders of a future Palestinian State (whatever those borders are negotiated to be) is
seen as an affront to Palestinian sovereignty and a hypocritical reversal of Israel's commitment to the peace. For those on the Israeli
center and right, these communities either reflect an ancient and modern legal and moral right of Jews to live and settle in their ancient
homeland or an expression of real prospects for peace in the region, given an assumption of tolerance for Jews living in an eventual
Palestinian state similar to the acceptance of over a million Arab Muslims as citizens of the Jewish State of Israel.
From 1967 to the end of 2007, Israel established 121 communities in the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria, or West Bank, which
were recognized by the interior ministry. Applying its law in 1981 to Jerusalem, based on both the Palestine Mandate and the UN Partition
Plan of 1947, Israel and most of the legal and political leadership of the western world do not consider Jerusalems eastern, southern and
northern neighborhoods established after 1967 as having the same status as the settlements, even though these neighborhoods are
across the Green Line 1949 armistice agreement lines. There are additional 100 or so unrecognized or unauthorized settlements, referred
to as outposts in the media. The 16 settlements built in the Gaza Strip and three settlements in the northern Samaria/West Bank were
dismantled in 2005 during implementation of Prime Minister Ariel Sharons Disengagement Plan.
By the end of 2008, it is estimated that the number of Jewish residents in the disputed territories (Judea and Samaria / West Bank) stood
at 285,800, according to Israels Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

Jewish Population of the Disputed Territories

64

Settlement

Founding Year

1996

2000

2007

2013

1
2

Adora

1984

207

271

248

330

Ale Zahav

1982

308

391

772

737

Alfe Menashe

1993

4,210

4,580

6164

7583

Allon Shevut

1970

1,910

2,680

3291

3112

Almog

1977

145

167

188

175

Almon

1982

561

698

854

1190

Argaman

1968

148

164

170

130

Ari'el

1978

13,800

15,600

16613

18089

Asfar

1983

329

361

263

510

10

Ateret

1981

242

302

438

803

11

Avenat

12

Avne Hefez

1990

347

785

1328

1675

13

Barqan

1981

962

1,150

1267

1536

14

Beqa'ot

1972

142

144

175

1186

15

Berakha

1983

587

752

1275

172

16

Bet Aryeh

1981

2,110

2,380

3606

2047

16a

Ofarim (merged with Beit Aryeh in

2004)

351

686

17

Bet Ayin

1989

430

610

906

4322

18

Bet El

1977

3,350

4,120

5288

5899

19

Bet Haarava

1980

26

55

102

132

112

20

Bet Horon

1977

622

772

979

1175

21

Betar Illit

1985

7,570

15,800

32182

44927

22

Brukhin

23

Dolev

1983

609

880

1154

1310

24

Efrat

1980

5,630

6,430

8015

7912

25

El'azar

1975

397

784

1547

2389

26

Eli

1984

959

1,900

2625

3649

27

Elon More

1979

994

1,060

1322

1653

28

Elqana

1977

2,750

2,990

3000

3871

29

Enav

1981

396

500

569

684

30

Eshkolot

1982

101

171

229

491

31

Ez Efrayim

1985

350

525

704

1225

32

Geva Binyamin

1984

526

1,020

3574

4860

33

Gilgal

1970

171

180

148

168

34

Gittit

1973

108

100

214

324

35

Giv'at Ze'ev

1983

7,840

10,300

10873

14349

36

Giv'on Hahadasha

1980

972

1,190

1192

1152

37

Haggay

1984

300

406

545

552

38

Hallamish

1977

774

922

956

1172

39

Hamra

1971

146

147

119

114

40

Har Adar

1986

1,440

1,420

2743

3757

41

Har Gillo

1972

328

369

462

1262

42

Hasmona'im

1985

1,490

1,830

2506

2661

43

Hebron

44

Hemdat

163

182

45

Hermesh

1982

224

279

201

191

46

Hinnanit

1981

334

481

811

979

47

Immanu'el

1983

3,110

3,040

2775

3115

48

Itamar

1984

361

541

750

1026

49

Karmel

1981

215

246

378

389

50

Karme Zur

1984

373

481

729

975

51

Kefar Adummim

1979

1,280

1,690

2542

3722

52

Kefar Ezyon

1967

418

427

455

1022

53

Kefar Ha'oranim (Menora)

1998

2028

2667

54

Kefar Tappuah

1978

276

347

798

916

55

Kokhav Hashahar

1977

896

1,150

1619

1596

56

Kokhav Ya'aqov

1985

928

1,640

5627

6694

57

Ma'ale Adummim

1975

18,700

24,900

33019

37138

58

Ma'ale Amos

1981

321

336

326

323

602

521

General Information
65

66

59

Ma'ale Efrayim

1970

1,420

1,480

1377

1098

60

Ma'ale Levona

1983

368

445

559

734

61

Ma'ale Mikhmas

1981

525

826

1229

1287

62

Ma'ale Shomeron

1980

421

527

577

935

63

Ma'on

1981

192

283

381

461

64

Maskiyyot

65

Massu'a

1970

132

148

136

149

66

Mattityahu

1981

1,380

1371

607

67

Mehola

1968

265

306

357

436

68

Mekhora

1973

105

113

112

129

69

Mevo Dotan

1978

308

310

315

272

70

Mevo Horon

1970

491

497

1169

2274

71

Mezadot Yehuda

1983

337

422

474

437

72

Migdal Oz

1977

266

289

332

505

73

Migdalim

1983

118

155

139

150

74

Mizpe Shalem

1971

193

210

171

173

75

Mizpe Yeriho

1978

938

1,210

1701

2164

76

Modi'in Illit

1996

6,150

16,400

38047

60046

77

Na'ale

1988

127

137

710

1324

78

Negohot

182

277

79

Nehali'el

1984

215

244

335

548

80

Netiv Hagedud

1976

139

139

114

170

81

Newe Daniyyel

1982

603

933

1760

2149

82

Nili

1981

539

721

912

1076

83

Niran

1977

67

56

56

71

84

Nofim

1987

309

385

406

464

85

Naomi

1982

131

127

128

100

86

Noqedim

1982

305

611

828

1708

87

Ofra

1975

1,310

1,880

2664

3552

88

Oranit

1985

4,050

5,070

5987

7626

89

Otni'el

1983

432

560

763

953

90

Pedu'el

1984

633

885

1168

1371

91

Pene Hever

1982

238

304

396

431

92

Pesagot

1981

867

1,090

1545

1775

93

Peza'el

1975

233

224

217

223

94

Qalya

1968

248

260

274

374

95

Qarne Shomron

1978

5,000

5,890

6439

6560

96

Qedar

1985

292

447

801

1294

97

Qedumim

1977

2,150

2,660

3382

4174

159

98

Qiryat Arba

1972

5,810

6,380

7039

7166

99

Qiryat Netafim

1983

179

299

479

758

100

Rehan

1977

90

120

158

185

101

Rehelim

102

Revava

1991

221

504

989

1682

103

Rimmonim

1977

389

499

619

544

104

Ro'i

1976

115

141

126

148

105

Rosh Zurim

1969

251

265

470

908

106

Rotem

107

Sal'it

1977

305

410

474

108

Sansana

109

Sha'are Tiqwa

1983

2,430

3,380

3931

5259

110

Shadmot Mehola

1979

330

399

542

540

111

Shaqed

1981

413

497

525

744

112

Shave Shomron

1977

574

573

650

784

113

Shilo

1979

1,250

1,580

2171

2948

114

Shim'a

1985

221

296

370

404

115

Suseya

1983

359

482

754

978

116

Talmon

1989

796

1,250

2350

3321

117

Telem

1982

69

97

192

261

118

Tene

1983

495

561

658

727

119

Teqoa

1977

825

980

1455

2752

120

Tomer

1978

263

308

290

226

121

Wered Yeriho

1980

148

164

190

221

122

Yafit

1980

100

125

111

126

123

Yaqir

1981

632

822

1088

1716

124

Yitav

1970

78

114

187

225

125

Yizhar

1983

226

329

743

1220

126

Zufim

1989

414

131
558
245

Total in West Bank (excl. East Jerusalem)

693

857

1143

1622

139,974

190,206

276,462

355,983

REGIONAL COUNCILS
Shomron Region

34 communities

03-906-6444

http://www.shomron.org.il

Binyamin Region

45 communities

02-977-7111

http://www.binyamin.org.il

Jordan Valley Region

22 communities

02-994-6666

http://www.jordanvalley.org.il

Gush Etzion Region

2 cities

02-993-9933

http://www.baitisraeli.co.il

General Information

SOURCE: Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics

67

South Hebron Hills Region

5000 residents

02-996-9111

http://www.hrhevron.co.il

The Dead Sea Region

5 communities

02-994-3222

http:// www.dead-sea.org.il

LOCAL COUNCILS
Hebron

500 residents

02-9969111/9963918

http://www.hebron.co.il/

Ariel

5,500 residents

03-9061666

http://www.ariel.muni.il

Alfe Menashe

6,000 residents

09-7925686

Elkana

5,000 residents

03-9151222

Kiryat Arba

7,300 residents

02-9969555

http://www.hebron.co.il/k4

Givat Zeev

10,000 residents

02-5360100

http://www.givat-zeev.muni.il

MUNICIPALITIES
Maale Adumum

33,019

02-5418850

http://www.maale-

Beitar Illit

38,000

02-5888108

http://www.betar-illit.muni.il/

INTERNATIONAL AND ISRAELI ORGANIZATIONS FOCUSED ON JEWISH

SETTLEMENT IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA (WEST BANK)
Council for Judea and Samaria (Moetzet Yesha)
Spokesman: Ishai Holander
Tel: 02 6211999; Mob: (052) 566 5663
http://www.myesha.org.il
Peace Now: Settlement Watch Project
Hagit Ofran
Lloyd George St. 6, P.O.Box 8159
Jerusalem 91081
Tel: 02-566 0648; Mob: (054) 455 6052
Fax: 02-561 7254
hagit@peacenow.org.il
http://www.peacenow.org.il
BTselem: Settlements
Eyal Haeuveni
8 HaTa'asiya St. (4th Floor), P.O. Box 53132
Jerusalem 91531
Tel: 02 673 5599
Fax: 02 674 9111
eyal@btselem.org
http://www.btselem.org
Temporary International Presence In Hebron (TIPH)
P.O.Box 1595
Jerusalem 91014
Tel: 02 444 5163; Mob: (059) 920 2828
Fax: 02 222 4333
http://www.tiph.org
Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI)
P.O.Box 741
Jerusalem 91000
Tel: 02 628 9402
http://www.eappi.org

68

THE KINGDOMS OF DAVID AND SOLOMON:

1077 997 BCE

JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN THE LAND OF

ISRAEL (7TH - 11TH CENTURIES)
0

40 km

40 mi
Banyas

Tyre

and cease-fire lines)

Gush Halav

Modern Israel (within boundaries

Mediterranean Sea
Haifa

Safed
Dalton
Iablin
Kfar Mandi
Biriyah
Tiberias
Acre
Kfar Hananya
Hoseifa
Tsipori
Ein Ganim

Damascus
Dan
Nablus

Caesaria
Beit Shean
Jaffa

Amman

Jerusalem

Ramla

Amman

Jerusalem

Gezer

Lod

Gaza

Gaza
Ashkelon
Rafiah
Kingdoms of David and Solomon
Modern Israel (within boundaries
and cease-fire lines)
Eztion Gaver

0
0

50 km
50 mi

El Arish

Beit Guvrin

General Information

Yavne

Jericho

69

Hebron

Jarba
Udruch

69

70
1916 1923: SETTING THE NORTHERN BORDER

1922: SEPARATION OF TRANSJORDAN

Syria
(French Mandate)

Mediterranean
Sea

Metullah

Mediterranean Sea

Banyas

Syria

Lebanon

Iraq
Kuneitra

Nahariya
Acre

Transjordan

Safed

Saudi Arabia

Sea of
Galilee

Haifa

British Mandate

French-British Agreement 1920

1923 Border
Sykes-Picot Agreement
Modern Israel (within boundaries
and cease-fire lines)
0
0

Egypt

Area Separated and closed to

Jewish settlement, 1921
Area ceded to Syria, 1923
Area remaining for Jewish
National Home

70

10 km
10 mi

Tiberias

1947 UN PARTITION PLAN

Jordan

Contacts
71

1949 ARMISTICE LINES (THROUGH JUNE 1967)

Jordan

72

JEWISH COMMUNITIES LOST IN THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

0

40 km

40 mi

Mediterranean Sea

Neve Yaakov
Jerusalem, The Jewish Quarter
Masuot Yitzhak

Atarot

Beit Haarava

Kalya
Revadim
Ein Tzurim
Kfar Etzion
Hebron

Kfar Darom

Maps
73

EVENTS LEADING TO THE SIX DAY WAR, 1967

Advance of
Lebanese Army

Egyptian blockade
Israeli territory before Six Day War

Lebanon
Golan
Heights

Advance of
Syrian Army

Syria

Haifa

Mediterranean Sea

Samaria

May 19, 1967: UN forces

withdraw from Sinai according
to Egyptian demand.

Tel Aviv
Jaffa

Jerusalem

Advance of Iraqi Arm

Judea

Gaza
Beer Sheba

El Arish

Suez
Canal

Abu Aweigila
Advance of
Jordanian Army

Advance of Egyptian Army

Jordan
Kuntilla
Sinai
Peninsula

Ras Al-Nagb
Eilat
Gulf
of
Eilat

Gulf
of
Suez

Egypt
0
0

74

40 km
40 mi

Sharm el
Sheikh

Advance of
Saudi Arabian Army

Saudi Arabia
Strait of Tiran
Red Sea

YOM KIPPUR WAR CEASE-FIRE LINES: OCTOBER 24, 1973

Israeli territory
before Six Day War
Under Israeli control
after Six Day War

Lebanon
Mediterranean
Sea

Golan
Heights

Syria

Haifa

Held by Egyptian Army

Held by Israeli Army

Samaria

Tel Aviv
Jaffa

Jerusalem
Judea

Gaza
Beer Sheba
Suez
Canal

Jordan

Sinai
Peninsula

Eilat

Gulf
of
Suez

Gulf
of
Eilat

0
0

Maps

Egypt
40 km
40 mi

Saudi Arabia

Red Sea

75

76
OCTOBER 1973 GOLAN HEIGHTS
CEASE-FIRE LINES

GOLAN HEIGHTS SINCE 1974

Held by Israel Defense Forces

after Yom Kippur War

Mediterranean
Sea

Israeli Control after the Six Day War

1974 U.N. patrolled demilitarized zone

Under Israeli control after

Six Day War

British - French mandatory border

as agreed on in 1923
Damascus

Lebanon

Mt. Hermon

Lebanon

Syria

Israeli - Syrian border as agreed

on in 1923

Banyas
Mt.
Hermon

Syria

Mazraat
Beit Jann

Neve
Ativ
Kuneitra

Merom
Golan

Banyas
Kuneitra
Kafr Shams

Safed

Katzrin

Safed

Tiberias

Sea of
Galilee

Sea of
Galilee

Ramot

Tiberias

Hamat Gader

Jordan

Jordan
0
0

10 km
10 mi

0
0

10 km
10 mi

SINAI REDEPLOYMENT: 1980-1982

Lebanon

Israeli territory
before Six Day War

Mediterranean
Sea

Under Israeli control

after Six Day War

Golan
Heights

Syria

Haifa

Separation-of-Forces
Agreement,1974
Interim agreement, 1975

Samaria

Redeployment 1980

Tel Aviv
Jaffa

Redeployment 1982

Jerusalem
Judea

Gaza
Beer Sheba
El-Arish

Suez
Canal

Jordan

Sinai
Peninsula

Eilat
Gulf
of
Eilat

Gulf
of
Suez

0
0

40 km
40 mi

Maps

Egypt

Saudi Arabia

Ras
Mohamed
Red Sea

77

ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TODAY

Lebanon

Mediterranean
Sea
Safed

Golan
Heights

Syria

Tiberias

Haifa

Nazareth
Afula

Samaria

Herzliya

Tel Aviv
Jaffa

Jerusalem
Ashdod
Ashkelon

Judea

Gaza
Beer Sheba

Egypt
Jordan
Sinai
Peninsula

0
0
Israel
Palestinian
Authority

78

40 km
40 mi

Eilat

Maps

79

ISRAELS NARROW WAISTLINE

0

40 km

Lebanon

Syria

40 mi

Kiryat
Shmona

Israeli communities
Palestinian communities

Safed
Haifa

Afula

6 mi/10 km

Mediterranean Sea

Jenin

Netanya

9 mi/15 km
Tulkarm
Nablus
Kalkilya

11 mi/18 km

Tel Aviv
Jaffa

4 mi/6 km

Ben Gurion
Airport

10 mi/17 km

Jerusalem

Ashkelon

7 mi/11 km
Hebron

Beit Hanoun

10 mi/16 km
Beer Sheba

Egypt

80

Jordan

Maps

81

82

ISRAELS SECURITY BARRIER AGAINST TERROR

(detail)

Maps
83

ISRAELS SECURITY BARRIER AGAINST TERROR

84

AREA COMPARISON IN SQUARE KILOMETERS

21,900

6,002

92,300

10,400

1,001,450

185,180

1,960,582

1,648,000

Israel

Palestinian
Authority

Jordan

Lebanon

Egypt

Syria

Saudi
Arabia

Iran

Maps

85

85

ISRAEL UNITED STATES SIZE COMPARISON

Israel: 8019 sq mi
20,770 sq km

United States: 3,717,813 sq mi

9,629,091 sq km

Washington DC

The area of Israel includes the Golan Heights and Jerusalem.

ISRAEL - ARGENTINA SIZE COMPARISON

Israel: 8019 sq mi
20,770 sq km

Argentina: 1,068,302 sq mi
2,766,890 sq km

Buenos Aires

The area of Israel includes the Golan Heights and Jerusalem.

86

ISRAEL - UNITED KINGDOM SIZE COMPARISON

United Kingdom: 94,525 sq mi
244,820 sq km

Israel: 8019 sq mi
20,770 sq km

London

The area of Israel includes the Golan Heights and Jerusalem

ISRAEL - FRANCE SIZE COMPARISON

France: 211,208 sq mi
547,030 sq km

Israel: 8019 sq mi
20,770 sq km

Paris

Maps

The area of Israel includes the Golan Heights and Jerusalem.

87

1948 1967: Major Terror Attacks

Jan 1, 1952 Jerusalem | 7 armed terrorists attacked and killed
a 19 yearold girl in her home in the neighborhood of Beit Yisrael.

May 26, 1958 Jerusalem | 4 Israeli police officers killed in a

Jordanian attack on Mt. Scopus.

June 9, 1953 Lod and Hadera | Terrorists killed a resident of

Lod after throwing hand grenades and spraying gunfire in all
directions. On the same night, another group of terrorists attacked
a house in Hadera.

Nov 17, 1958 Mt. of the Beatitudes | Syrian terrorists killed the
wife of the British air attache in Israel who was staying at the
guesthouse of the Italian Convent.

Jun 11, 1953 Kfar Hess | Terrorists attacked a young couple

in their home and shot them to death.
Mar 17, 1954 Maale Akrabim | Terrorists ambushed a bus
traveling from Eilat to Tel Aviv opening fire at short range. The
terrorists boarded the bus and shot each passenger, one by one,
murdering 11.
Jan 2, 1955 Judean Desert | 2 hikers killed by terrorists.
Mar 24, 1955 Patish | 1 young woman killed and 18 wounded
when terrorists threw hand grenades and opened fire on a crowded
wedding celebration.
Apr 7, 1956 Ashkelon | 1 young woman killed when terrorists
threw 3 hand grenades into her house.
Apr 7, 1956 Kibbutz Givat Chaim | 2 killed when terrorists
opened fire on a car.
Apr 11, 1956 Shafrir (Kfar Chabad) | 3 children and 1 youth
worker killed, and 5 wounded, when terrorists opened fire on a
synagogue full of children and teenagers.
Sep 12, 1956 Ein Ofarim | Terrorists killed 3 Druze guards.
Sep 23, 1956 Kibbutz Ramat Rachel | 4 archaeologists killed
and 16 wounded when terrorists opened fire from a Jordanian
position.
Oct 4, 1956 Sdom | 5 Israeli workers killed.
Oct 9, 1956 Neve Hadasah | 2 workers were killed in an
orchard of the youth village.
Nov 8, 1956 Terrorists opened fire on a train, attacked cars
and blew up wells in the north and center of Israel. 6 Israelis were
wounded. Feb 18, 1957 Nir Yitzhak | 2 civilians killed by terrorist
landmines. Apr 16, 1957 Kibbutz Mesilot | 2 guards killed by
terrorists who infiltrated from Jordan.
May 29, 1957 Kibbutz Kisufim | 1 killed and 2 wounded when
their vehicle struck a landmine.
Aug 23, 1957 Kibbutz Beit Guvrin | 2 guards of the Israeli
Mekorot water company killed.
Feb 11, 1958 Kfar Yona | Terrorists killed a resident of
Moshav Yanov.
Apr 5, 1958 Tel Lachish | Terrorists lying in ambush shot and
killed 2 people.

88

Dec 3, 1958 Kibbutz Gonen | A shepherd killed and 31 civilians

wounded in an artillery attack.
Feb 1, 1959 Moshav Zavdiel | 3 civilians killed by a terrorist
landmine.
Apr 27, 1959 Masada | 2 hikers shot and killed at close range.
Apr 26, 1960 Ashkelon | Terrorists killed a resident of the city.
Jan 1, 1965 Palestinian terrorists attempted to bomb the National
Water Carrier the first attack carried out by the PLOs Fatah
faction.
July 5, 1965 Mitzpe Massua | A Fatah cell planted explosives
near Beit Guvrin and on the railroad tracks to Jerusalem near Kfar
Battir.
May 16, 1966 Northern Galilee region | 2 Israelis killed when
their jeep hit a terrorist landmine. Tracks led into Syria.
Jul 13, 1966 Almagor | 2 soldiers and 1 civilian killed when
their truck struck a terrorist landmine.
Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
http://mfa.gov.il/

1948 1967: MAJOR TERROR ATTACKS

Gonen
Galilee
Almagor

Mediterranean Sea

Haifa

Mt. of the Beatitudes

Beit Netofa
Afula
Mesilot

Hadera
Givat Chaim
Kfar Yona
Kfar Hess

Netanya
Neve Hadasah

Tel Aviv
Jaffa

Shafrir
Lod
Jerusalem
Mitzpe Massua

Ashkelon

Ramat
Rachel

Judean Desert

Zavdiel
Beit Govrin
Tel Lachish
Kisufum
Patish

Masada

Nir Yitzhak

Maps

Ein Ofarim
Maale Akrabim

89

1967 - 1993: Major Terror Attacks

Jul 22, 1968 Rome, Italy | The Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine (PFLP) carries out first hijacking. Diverted an El Al
flight to Algiers. 32 Jewish passengers were held hostage for 5
weeks.

Nov 22, 1968 Jerusalem, Israel | 12 killed and 52 wounded by

a car bomb in the Mahaneh Yehuda market.

Jun 27, 1976 Entebbe, Uganda | An Air France airliner was

hijacked by a joint German/PFLP terrorist group and diverted to
Entebbe airport. About 258 passengers and crew were held
hostage until all nonIsraeli passengers were released. On July 4th,
Israeli commandos flew to Uganda rescuing the remaining
hostages. All terrorists were killed as well as 3 passengers and
operation leader IDF Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu.

Dec 26, 1968 Athens, Greece | 1 killed and 1 wounded in a

shooting attack on an El Al aircraft at the airport carried out by the
PFLP.

Aug 11, 1976 Istanbul, Turkey | 4 killed and 20 wounded by

PFLP and Japanese Red Army terrorists in an attack at Istanbul
airport.

Feb 18, 1969 Zurich, Switzerland | A pilot and 3 passengers

killed by terrorists that attacked an El Al Boeing 707 on the airport
runway.

Mar 11, 1978 Glilot junction | 36 killed, and over 100 wounded
in a bus hijacking by a femaleled Palestinian terrorist gang.

Sep 4, 1968 Tel Aviv, Israel | 1 killed and 71 wounded by 3

bombs that exploded in city center.
Oct 1968 Hijacking of El Al aircraft en route to Algeria.

Feb 21, 1969 Jerusalem, Israel | 2 killed and 20 wounded by a

bomb detonated in a crowded supermarket.
Oct 22, 1969 Haifa, Israel | 4 killed and 20 wounded by
terrorist bombs in 5 apartments.
Feb 10, 1970 Zurich, Switzerland | 1 killed and 11 wounded by
3 Arab terrorists who unsuccessfully attempted to hijack an El Al
flight at the Zurich airport.
May 22, 1970 Avivim, Israel | Terrorists attack schoolbus,
killing 12 (9 of whom were children) and wounding 24.
Sep 6, 1970 Dawson Field, Jordan | 3 airliners holding over
400 passengers were hijacked and taken to the Jordanian airport
by the PFLP. The hostages were released in exchange for
terrorists held in Germany, Switzerland and England.
May 8, 1972 Lod airport, Israel | 1 passenger and 5 Israeli
soldiers killed during a rescue operation by Israeli commandos on
a hijacked Belgian airliner; the 4 Palestinian Black September
terrorists were killed. The hostages were freed.
May 30, 1972 Lod airport | 26 killed and 78 wounded after
PFLP and Japanese Red Army terrorists open fire in the passenger
terminal.
Sep 5, 1972 Munich, Germany | 11 members of the Israeli
Olympic wrestling team and 1 German policeman were massacred
by Fatah terrorists after an unsuccessful rescue attempt by West
German authorities.
Apr 11, 1974 Kiryat Shmona, Israel | 18 killed, 8 of whom
were children, by PFLP terrorists who detonated their explosives
during a failed rescue attempt by Israeli authorities.
May 15, 1974 Maalot, Israel | 27 killed, 21 of whom were
children, and 78 wounded by PFLP terrorists in a school after an
unsuccessful rescue attempt.
March 5, 1975 Tel Aviv, Israel | Terrorists take over the
Savoy hotel; 4 people are killed.

90

Jul 4, 1975 Jerusalem, Israel | 14 killed and 80 wounded in

Zion Square bombing attack in which the bomb was hidden in a
refrigerator.

Apr 7, 1980 Kibbutz MisgavAm, Israel | Terrorists attack the

childrens house on the kibbutz, leaving 3 dead, one of whom was
a child.
Jun 3, 1982 London, England | Abu Nidal organization
attempts to kill the Israeli ambassador to London, Shlomo Argov,
severely wounding him.
Oct 7, 1985 Mediterranean Sea | Off the Coast of Egypt PLFP
attacked the Achille Lauro ship en route to Israel murdering one of
the passengers (an American national).
Sep 6, 1986 Istanbul, Turkey | Abu Nidal organization attacks
the Neveh Shalom synagogue killing 22 people.
Nov 25, 1987 Northern Border, Israel (near Kiryat Shmona) |
2 Palestinian terrorists cross into Israel from Lebanon on hang
gliders killing 6 Israeli soldiers and wounding 8.
Aug 1988 Haifa | 25 wounded in a grenade attack at the Haifa
mall.
Jul 6, 1989 Tel Aviv | 14 killed when a terrorist drove a bus
into a ravine off the JerusalemTel Aviv highway.

1967 - 1993: MAJOR TERROR ATTACKS

Misgav - Am
Kiryat
Shemona
Maalot

Mediterranean Sea

Avivim

Haifa

Afula

Netanya

Glilot junction
Tel
Aviv
Jaffa

Lod
Jerusalem

Maps
91

1993 - 2000: Major Terror Attacks

Apr 6, 1994 Afula | 8 killed in a car bomb attack on a bus.
Apr 13, 1994 Hadera | 5 killed in a suicide bombing on a bus at
the central bus station.

Apr 25, 1997 Wadi Kelt | The bodies of two 23 yearold

women were found in the nature reserve near Jerusalem. They
were killed by a Bedouin resident of the area.

Oct 9, 1994 Bir Nabala | Nahshon Waxman was kidnapped

and taken to Bir Nabala where he was killed 5 days later during a
rescue operation. An officer from the rescue team was also killed.

Jul 20, 1997 Rishon Lezion | A Palestinian attacked 2 Israelis

with an iron rod. One of the Israelis later died of his wounds.

Oct 19, 1994 Tel Aviv | 21 Israelis and 1 Dutch national killed
in a suicide bombing on the No. 5 bus.
Oct 11, 1994 Netzarim | 3 soldiers killed by a suicide bomber
riding a bicycle.
Jan 22, 1995 Netanya | 18 soldiers and 1 civilian killed by two
consecutive bombs at the Beit Lid junction.
Apr 9, 1995 Kfar Darom | 7 Israelis and 1 American killed
when a van full of explosives collided with a bus.
July 24, 1995 Ramat Gan | 6 killed in a suicide bomb attack
on a bus. Aug 21, 1995 Jerusalem | 3 Israelis and 1 American
killed in a suicide bomb attack on a bus.
Feb 25, 1996 Jerusalem | 26 killed in a suicide bombing of
bus no. 18 near the central bus station.
Feb 25, 1996 Ashkelon | 1 Israeli killed by a suicide bomber at
a hitchhiking post.
Mar 3, 1996 Jerusalem | 19 killed in a suicide bombing of bus
no. 18 on Jaffa Road.
Mar 4, 1996 Tel Aviv | 13 killed when a suicide bomber
detonated a 20kg. (44 lb.) nail bomb outside Dizengoff Center.
Mar 13, 1997 Naharayim | 7 killed and 30 wounded in a
shooting attack by a Jordanian soldier at the Island of Peace.
Mar 21, 1997 Tel Aviv | 3 killed and 48 wounded by a suicide
bomber on the terrace of a cafe.
Apr 10, 1997 Surif | The body of Staff Sgt. Sharon Edri is
found in the village near Hebron. Edri had been kidnapped in Sep
1996 at a hitchhiking stand in the center of the country and was
shot.

92

Jul 30, 1997 Jerusalem | 16 killed and 178 wounded by two

consecutive suicide bombings in the Mahane Yehuda market. Sep
4, 1997 Jerusalem | 5 killed and 181 wounded by three suicide
bombings on the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall. Nov 19, 1997
Jerusalem | 1 Israeli killed and 1 wounded when terrorists fire at
them from an ambush in the Old City.
Aug 27, 1998 Tel Aviv | 14 woundeded by a bomb placed in a
garbage dumpster.
Oct 29, 1998 Kfar Darom | 1 soldier killed when an explosives
laden car collided with an army jeep escorting a bus with 40
elementary school students.
Nov 6, 1998 Jerusalem | 21 wounded by a car bomb at the
Mahane Yehuda market.

1993 2000: MAJOR TERROR ATTACKS

Misgav - Am
Kiryat
Shemona
Maalot

Mediterranean Sea

Avivim

Haifa

Afula

Hadera
Netanya

Tel Aviv
Jaffa

Beit Lid

Ramat Gan
Wadi Kelt
Rishon Lezion
Jerusalem

Surif
Netzarim
Kfar Darom

Maps
93

2000 - Oct. 2006: Major Terror Attacks

Nov 2, 2000 Jerusalem | Two people were killed and 10

wounded by a car bomb explosion near the Mahane Yehuda
market. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Nov 20, 2000 Gush Katif | Two people were killed and 9
wounded by a roadside bomb that exploded alongside a bus
carrying children to school.
Nov 22, 2000 Hadera | Two people were killed, and 60
wounded when a powerful car bomb was detonated alongside
a passing bus on the towns main street.
Nov. 28, 2000 Kfar Saba | Two Israeli teenagers on their
way to school were killed in a suicide terrorist attack near the
Meeting Place of Peace gas station in Neve Yamin. The
bomber, from the Hamas terror group, blew himself up in a
gathering of students waiting at a bus stop. Four other teenagers
were wounded, one critically.
Jan 1, 2001 Netanya | 60 people were wounded when a
car bomb exploded near a bus stop in the shopping district.
Feb 14, 2001 Holon | Eight people were killed and 25
wounded when a bus driven by a Palestinian terrorist plowed
into a group of soldiers and civilians waiting at a bus stop.
Mar 4, 2001 Netanya | Three people were killed and more
than 60 wounded in a suicide bombing in the downtown area.
May 18, 2001 Netanya | A Palestinian suicide bomber
detonated himself outside a shopping mall, killing five people
and injuring over 100. Hamas claimed responsibility.
Jun 1, 2001 Tel Aviv | 21 young people were killed and
120 wounded by a suicide bomber outside the Dolphinarium
disco along the seafront promenade.
Aug 9, 2001 Jerusalem | 15 people were killed (including
7 children) and 130 wounded in a suicide bombing at the
Sbarro pizzeria on the corner of King George Street and Jaffa
Road in the city center. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad claimed
responsibility for the attack.
July 16, 2001 Binyamina | Two Israeli soldiers were killed
and 11 people were wounded when a suicide terrorist attacked
at a bus stop near the train station. Islamic Jihad claimed
responsibility.
Sept 9, 2001 Nahariya | Three people were killed and 90
wounded in a suicide bombing near the Nahariya train station.
The terrorist waited until the train arrived from Tel Aviv and
people were exiting the station and exploded the bomb he was
carrying. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Nov 29, 2001 Hadera | Three people were killed and nine
others wounded in a suicide bombing on Egged bus #823
enroute from Nazereth to Tel Aviv near the city of Hadera.
Islamic Jihad and Fatah both claimed responsibility for the
attack.
Dec 1, 2001 Jerusalem | 11 people were killed and 180
wounded by two suicide bombers on Ben Yehuda Street
pedestrian mall. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

94

explosives.
Feb 16, 2002 Karnei Shomron | Three teenagers were
killed and 30 people were wounded when a suicide bomber
blew himself up on Saturday night at a pizzeria in a shopping
mall. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Mar 2, 2002 Jerusalem | 10 people were killed and over
50 wounded in a suicide bombing in the ultraorthodox Beit
Yisrael neighborhood where people had gathered for a bar
mitzvah celebration. The Fatah AlAqsa Martyrs Brigade took
responsibility for the attack.
Mar 9, 2002 Jerusalem | 11 people were killed and 54
wounded when a suicide bomber exploded in the crowded
Moment Caf in the Rehavia neighborhood. Hamas claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Mar 20, 2002 Musmus | Seven people were killed and 30
wounded in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus traveling from
Tel Aviv to Nazareth at the Musmus junction on Highway 65
(Wadi Ara). Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 21, 2002 Jerusalem | Three people were killed and
86 wounded in a suicide bombing on King George Street. The
terrorist detonated the bomb, packed with metal spikes and
nails, in the center of a crowd of shoppers. The Fatah alAqsa
Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 27, 2002 Netanya | 30 people were killed and 140
wounded in a suicide bombing at the Park Hotel in the midst of
the Passover holiday seder with 250 guests. The bomber was
a member of Hamas and on the list of wanted terrorists Israel
had requested that the Palestinian Authority arrest.
Mar 29, 2002 Jerusalem | Two people were killed and 28
wounded when a female suicide bomber blew herself up in a
supermarket in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood. Fatah AlAqsa
Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mar 31, 2002 Haifa | 15 people were killed and over 40
wounded in a suicide bombing in the Matza restaurant near the
Grand Canyon shopping mall. Hamas claimed responsibility for
the attack.
Apr 10, 2002 Kibbutz Yagur | Eight people were killed and
22 wounded in a suicide bombing on Egged bus #960 en route
from Haifa to Jerusalem.
Apr 12, 2002 Jerusalem | Six people were killed and 104
wounded when a woman suicide bomber detonated a powerful
charge at the entrance to the Mahane Yehuda open air market.
The Fatah AlAqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for
the attack.
April 27, 2002 Adora | A fiveyearold girl and three
other Israelis were killed when terrorists infiltrated the
community of Adora in the southern Hebron Hills and shot
them to death.

Dec 2, 2001 Haifa | 15 people were killed and 40 wounded

in a suicide bombing on Egged bus #16. Hamas claimed
responsibility for the attack.

May 7, 2002 Rishon Lezion | 16 people were killed and 55

wounded on the 3rd floor of a crowded game club when a
suicide bomber detonated a powerful charge causing part of
the building to collapse. Hamas claimed responsibility for the
attack.

Jan 27, 2002 Jerusalem | An elderly man was killed and

over 150 people wounded in a suicide bombing on Jaffa Road
in the center of Jerusalem. A female terrorist, identified as a
Fatah member, was armed with more than 10 kilos of

May 19, 2002 Netanya | Three people were killed and 59

wounded when a suicide bomber disguised as a soldier blew
himself up in a market. Both Hamas and the PFLP took
responsibility for the attack.

May 23, 2002 Tel Aviv | Terrorists used a remote control

device to detonate a bomb planted underneath a fuel truck at
the Pi Glilot fuel depot north of Tel Aviv, in an attempt to create
a mega attack that would explode adjacent fuel tanks. The
truck burst into flames, but the blaze was quickly contained. No
one was hurt.
May 27, 2002 Petah Tikva | A woman and her infant
granddaughter were killed and 37 people were wounded when
a suicide bomber detonated himself near an ice cream parlor
outside a shopping mall. The Fatah AlAqsa Martyrs Brigades
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jun 5, 2002 Megiddo junction | 17 people were killed and
38 wounded when a car packed with explosives struck Egged
bus #830 traveling from Tel Aviv to Tiberias. Islamic Jihad
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jun 18, 2002 Jerusalem | 19 people were killed and 74
wounded in a suicide bombing on an Egged bus traveling in
the Gilo suburb of Jerusalem to the center of town. Hamas
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jun 19, 2002 Jerusalem | Seven people were killed and
30 wounded by a suicide bombing at a crowded bus stop and
hitchhiking post in the French Hill neighborhood. The Fatah Al
Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jul 16, 2002 Emmanuel | Nine people were killed and 20
wounded in a bombing and shooting attack on Dan bus #189
traveling from Bnei Brak. While four terror organizations
claimed responsibility for the attack, it was apparently carried
out by Hamas.
Jul 17, 2002 Tel Aviv | Five people were killed and 40
wounded in a double suicide bombing on Neve Shaanan Street
near the old central bus station.
Jul 31, 2002 Jerusalem | Five students were killed and 85
wounded when a bomb exploded in a cafeteria at the Hebrew
University Mt. Scopus campus. Hamas claimed responsibility
for the attack.
Aug 4, 2002 Meron junction | Nine people were killed and
50 wounded in a suicide bombing on an Egged bus traveling
from Haifa to Safed.
Sep 19, 2002 Tel Aviv | Six people were killed and 70
wounded when a terrorist detonated a bomb on Dan bus #4 on
Allenby Street.
Oct 21, 2002 Hadera | 14 people were killed and 50
wounded when a car bomb detonated next to an Egged bus
traveling north of the town on Route 65. Islamic Jihad claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Oct 27, 2002 Ariel | Three IDF officers were killed and
about 20 people were wounded in a suicide bombing at the
Sonol gas station at the entrance to the city. The victims were
killed while trying to prevent the terrorist from detonating the
bomb. The terrorist was a member of Hamas.

Nov. 10, 2002 Metzer | A Palestinian terrorist slipped into

the kibbutz and gunned down five people, including two
children killed in their beds as they hid under the blankets and
their mother. The Fatah alAqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed
responsibility.

Maps

Nov 4, 2002 Kfar Saba | Two people a security guard

and a teen age boy, both recent immigrants from Argentina
were killed and 70 were wounded in a suicide bombing at a
shopping mall. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the
attack.

Nov 21, 2002 Jerusalem | 11 people were killed and 50

wounded by a suicide bomber on Egged bus #20 in the
neighborhood of Kiryat Menahem. Hamas claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Nov. 28, 2002 Mombasa, Kenya | A car bomb crashed
into an Israeli owned resort and detonated as guests were
checking in. Three Israelis were among the 13 killed, and 21
Israelis were among the 80 wounded. Almost simultaneously, a
surfacetoair missile barely missed an El Al plane as it was
taking off from the airport. AlQaeda is believed to be
responsible for the double attack.
Jan 5, 2003 Tel Aviv | 22 people were killed and 120
wounded in a double suicide bombing near the old central bus
station. The attack was apparently carried out by two members
of the Fatah AlAqsa Martyrs Brigades with the help of the
Islamic Jihad.
Mar 5, 2003 Haifa | 17 people were killed and 53 wounded
in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus in the Carmel
neighborhood. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Apr 30, 2003 Tel Aviv | Three people were killed and 60
wounded by British Muslim suicide bomber sent by Hamas at a
beachfront pub.
May 17, 2003 Hebron | A married couple from Kiryat Arba
was killed by a terrorist. Hamas claimed responsibility for the
attack.
May 18, 2003 Jerusalem | Seven people were killed and
20 wounded in a suicide bombing on Egged bus #6 near
French Hill. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 19, 2003 Afula | Three people were killed and 70
wounded in a suicide bombing at the entrance to a shopping
mall. Islamic Jihad and Fatah alAqsa Martyrs Brigades
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jun 11, 2003 Jerusalem | 17 people were killed and over
100 wounded in a suicide bombing on an Egged bus on Jaffa
Road in the city center. Hamas claimed responsibility for the
attack.
Aug 19, 2003 Jerusalem | 23 people were killed and over
130 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated himself on
Egged bus #2 in the Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood. Hamas
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sep 9, 2003 Tzrifin | Eight IDF soldiers were killed and 30
people wounded in a suicide bombing at a soldier hitchhiking
post outside the Tzrifin army base and Assaf Harofeh Hospital.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sep 9, 2003 Jerusalem | Seven people were killed and
over 50 wounded in a suicide bombing at Caf Hillel in the
German Colony neighborhood.
Oct 4, 2003 Haifa | 22 people were killed and 60 wounded
in a devastating suicide bombing of the Maxim restaurant.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Dec 25, 2003 Geha Junction | Four Israelis were killed
and 15 oth ers were wounded when a suicide bomber
detonated himself at a bus stop at an intersection of a main
highway separarating Bnei Brak and Petach Tikva. The
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed
responsibility.
Jan 14, 2004 Erez Crossing, Gaza | A female suicide
bomber detonated herself at an inspection point at the
entrance to the Erez industrial zone killing 4 Israeli security
personnel and injuring several others. Hamas and Fatah
claimed joint responsibility for the attack.
January 29, 2004 Jerusalem | Eleven people were killed
and over 40 were wounded when a suicide bomber blows up
on a #19 bus on Gaza Road. The bomber was a Palestinian
policeman from Bethlehem.

95

Feb 22, 2004 Jerusalem | 8 people were killed and more

than 60 people were wounded in suicide bombing on Egged
bus #14.
Mar 14, 2004 Ashdod | 10 people were killed and 16
people were wounded in double suicide bombing at the
entrance to port facilities. Fatah and Hamas claimed joint
responsibility for the attack.
May 2, 2004 Gaza | An eight months pregant Israeli
woman was shot dead along with her four daughters when two
Palestinian terrorists fired on their car at the entrance to the
Gaza Strip settlement bloc of Gush Katif. After the initial attack,
the car spun off the road and the terrorists approached the
vehicle and shot the occupants at close range. Fatah and
Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility for the attack.
June 28, 2004 Sderot | A Kassam rocket fired by Hamas
terrorists in the Gaza Strip struck near a nursery school in the
northern Negev town of Sderot killing an Israeli man and a 4
year old Israeli child.
July 11, 2004 One woman was killed and 32 people were
wounded when a bomb exploded next to a bus stop. Fatahs
AlAksa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
August 31, 2004 Beersheba | Sixteen people, including
a 3 year old, were killed and about 100 wounded when two
buses were attacked within minutes of each other by suicide
bombers. Hamas claimed responsibility.
September 22, 2004 French Hill, Jerusalem | Two
police were killed and at least sixteen people wounded when a
suicide bomber detonated a bag packed with explosives at a
crowded bus stop. The AlAqsa Martyrs Brigade, affiliated with
Yasir Arafats Fatah, claimed responsibility.
November 1, 2004 Tel Aviv | Three people were killed
when a suicide bomber exploded in Tel Avivs busy Carmel
market. At least 32 were wounded. The Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility.
December 15, 2004 Gaza | Five motorists, an officer,
three soldiers and a civilian were wounded from gunshots fired
by a terrorist at Israeli vehicles on the Kissufim road.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah claimed joint responsibility
for the attack.
January 4, 2005 Nissanit | Two adults were lightly
wounded when a mortar shell, fired from Gaza Strip, hit a
school bus. None of the children were wounded.
January 13, 2005 Gaza | Six Israelis were killed and five
other civilians were wounded in a double suicide bombing at
the Karni crossing. The two suicide bombers used a very large
explosive device to blast through a defensive wall that
separates the Israeli and Palestinian sides at the crossing.
Following the blast, the bombers crossed into the Israeli side
carrying explosives on their bodies and detonated them.
Hamas and the Fatah alAqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint
responsibility for the attack.
February 25, 2005 Tel Aviv | Five Israelis were killed
and 50 other civilians were wounded in a suicide bombing
outside a nightclub. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the
attack.
June 24, 2005 Hebron | Two teenagers were killed and
three others wounded in a driveby shooting. The AlAqsa
Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack.
July 12, 2005 Netanya | Five people were killed and 90
wounded in a suicide bombing outside of a shopping mall in
Netanya. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
July 23, 2005 Gaza | Two people were killed and three
wounded in a driveby shooting near the Kissufim crossing.
Islamic Jihad and Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed
responsibility for the attack.
August 4, 2005 Shfaram | An AWOL Israeli soldier killed

96

four Israeli Arabs and wounded 12 on a bus in town of

Shfaram. The shooter was killed by a mob that boarded the
bus after the shooting.
August 28, 2005 Beersheba | A suicide bombing outside
the Central Bus Station severely wounded two security guards
who stopped the bomber from entering the bus station. Islamic
Jihad and Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for
the attack.
October 16, 2005 JudeaSamaria | Palestinian gunmen
killed three Israelis and wounded at least 5 others in two
separate driveby shootings. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
claimed responsibility for both attacks.
October 26, 2005 Hadera | Six people were killed and 55
wounded in a suicide bombing in an outdoor market. Islamic
Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
December 5, 2005 Netanya | Five people were killed
and more than 50 others wounded in a suicide bombing at the
entrance of a shopping mall in Netanya. Islamic Jihad claimed
responsibility for the attack.
December 29, 2005 Tulkarm | Three people were killed
two Palestinian civilians and an Israeli soldier in a suicide
bombing at a checkpoint. The suicide bomber was apparently
planning to target one of the many childrens events taking
place in Tel Aviv for the Chanukah holiday, but was stopped at
the checkpoint. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the
attack.
January 19, 2006 Tel Aviv | At least 30 people were
wounded in a suicide bombing near the old central bus station
in southern Tel Aviv. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for
the attack.
March 30, 2006 Kedumim | Four people were killed in a
suicide bombing. The AlAqsa Martyrs Brigades took
responsibility for the attack.
April 17, 2006 Tel Aviv | Nine people were killed and at
least 40 wounded in a suicide bombing near the old central bus
station. The blast ripped through Falafel Rosh Hair, the same
restaurant that was hit by an attack on January 19. The Islamic
Jihad and Fatahs Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades both claimed
responsibility for the attack.
June 25, 2006 Betar Illit | Eliahu Asheri, 18, of Itamar,
was kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists from the Popular
Resistance Committees while hitchhiking from Betar Illit,
southwest of Bethlehem, to Neveh Tzuf where he was
studying. His body was found on June 29 in Ramallah. Israeli
Authorities believe Asheri was murdered by his captors shortly
after his kidnapping

Maps

97

2007 - 2014: Major Terror Attacks

January 29, 2007 Eilat | Three people were killed in a suicide
bombing in a bakery in Eilat, the first suicide bombing in the city.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
December 28, 2007 Hebron | Two Israelis were killed by
Palestinian terrorists while hiking outside of Hebron. A third hiker
managed to escape.
January 24, 2008 Kfar Etzion | Two terrorists entered the
Mekor Hayim High School Yeshiva in Kfar Etzion, south of
Jerusalem, and stabbed two students. The terrorists were killed by
two of the counselors in the room. The Izaddin alKassams
Martyrs Brigades, the Hamas military wing, claimed responsibility
for the attack.
February 4, 2008 Dimona | A 73yearold woman was killed
and 40 people were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself
up in a shopping center in the southern city of Dimona. A second
bomber was shot by a police officer who noticed him reaching for
his explosive belt. Both Hamas armed wing Izz Al Din Al Qassam
and Fatahs armed wing, the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, claimed
responsibility for the attack.
March 6, 2008 Jerusalem | Eight men, seven of them
teenagers, were killed when a Palestinian gunman entered the
Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva and opened fire. The terrorist also
wounded nine in the attack before he was killed at the scene.
April 9, 2008 Gaza | Two Israeli civilians were killed and two
wounded when Palestinian terrorists attacked an Israelicontrolled
border crossing where fuel is piped into Gaza. The attack at the
Nahal Oz depot was carried out by members of various terrorist
July 2, 2008 Jerusalem | An Arab resident of Jerusalem
deliberately drove a bulldozer into pedestrians and vehicles in
central Jerusalem, overturning and flattening a number of buses
and cars. Three people were killed and 66 wounded in the attack.
July 22, 2008 Jerusalem | 16 people were wounded when an
Arab resident of Jerusalem drove a bulldozer into a bus and four
other vehicles in central Jerusalem. The attack was an attempted
copycat of an earlier attack on Jerusalems Jaffa Road on July 2,
2008. The terrorist was shot dead by police.
September 22, 2008 Jerusalem | 15 soldiers and 4 others
were wounded as a Palestinian man rammed his car into them
under the walls of the old city. He was shot dead by a soldier.
March, 2009 Two senior police officers, Ofer Yehezkel
Ramzarkar (50) and David Rabiinowitz (42) were killed in a
shooting attack near Massua in the northern Jordan Valley
Apri, 2009 13 year old Shlomo Nativ of Gush Etzion was killed
by a terrorist in Bat Ayin.
May, 2009 Gregory Rabinowitz (56) of Ashdod was strangled
to death by three Palestinians near Gan Yavne.
December, 2009 Rabbi Meir Chai (45) killed by Palestinian
terrorists in a drive by shooting near his home in Shavei Shomron.
March, 2010 Manee Singmueangphon (34) a Thai foreign
worker was killed when a Kassam rocket hit the hothouse area in
Netiv Ha'asara, a moshav in the Ashkelon coastal region, north of
the Gaza Strip.
June, 2010 Sgt. Maj. Shuki Sofer (39) Beersheva was
killed, and three Israeli policemen were wounded, when Palestinian
terrorists opened fire on their vehicle at Al Fawar Junction south of
Hebron.

98

August, 2010 Yitzhak Ames (47); Talya Ames (45) Avishai

Shindler (24); Kochava Chaim (37) were murdered in their vehicle
in a Hamas terrorist drive-by shooting attack on Route 60 near
Kiryat Arba, east of Hebron.
December, 2010 Kristine Luken, 46, a US citizen living in
England and touring in Israel, was stabbed to death by Palestinian
terrorists while hiking in the hills west of Jerusalem with a friend.
March, 2011 Mary Jean Gardner, (55), a British tourist
studying at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, was killed when a
bomb exploded across from the Jerusalem Convention Center,
near the Central Bus Station. The bomb had been placed near a
telephone booth at a crowded bus stop.
Parents Udi and Ruth Fogel , along with three of their young
children, were stabbed to death by Palestinian terrorists inside their
home in the village of Itamar in Judea and Samaria during a
Sabbath night. Three other children were not home at the time.
April, 2011 Ben Yosef Livnat (24) of Jerusalem was killed by
a Palestinian policeman while visiting Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
Daniel Viflic (16) suffered mortal wounds when an anti-tank missile
was fired by Hamas terrorists at a school bus in southern Israel just
moments after it had dropped off the rest of the school children.
The teenager died from his injuries on April 17.
August, 2011 Eight Israeli citizens were killed and more than
40 wounded in a multi-pronged terrorist attack north of Eilat in
southern Israel. Five civilians were killed when terrorists opened
fire on a passenger bus and another civilian was killed in a
separate attack on an empty bus. An IDF combat soldier was killed
when his jeep hit an IED placed on the road and a member of the
Israeli police special SWAT unit was killed when his unit led heavy
fighting against a group of retreating terrorists
September, 2011 Asher Palmer (25) and his one year old
son Yonatan of Kiryat Arba were killed when their vehicle was hit
by stones as they were driving in the Hebron area causing the
vehicle to careen off the road and crash.
October, 2011 Moshe Ami (56) of Ashkelon was killed when
shrapnel from a Grad rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza
hit his car.
June, 2012 Said Pashpasha (36) of Haifa The father of three
was killed when terrorists infiltrated Israel from Sinai and led a
coordinated attack against those constructing the fence on the
Israel-Egypt border. The attacking terrorists used automatic rifles
in addition to anti-tank missiles.
April, 2013 Evyatar Borovsky, (30) was stabbed to death in
the early morning by a Palestinian terrorist as he waited for a ride
at the bus station near the city of Ariel in the West Bank. The
Palestinians, 24 years old from Tulkarm, then stole Borovsky's
pistol and began firing at a border police checkpoint in the area
before he was incapacitated by the soldiers manning the post.
Borovsky is survived
September, 2013 Tomer Hazan, a non-combat sergeant in
the Air force and a Bat Yam native, was lured by a Palestinian
acquaintance - Nidal Amar - to the village of Beit Amin near
Qalqilya in the West Bank. Amar took Hazan to an open field,
murdered him and threw the body into a well. Amar was
supposedly hoping to use corpse to extort the release of his
terrorist brother from Israeli jail

October, 2013 Seraya Ofer (61), a retired IDF colonel was

murdered in a suspected terror attack outside his home in the
Jordan Valley. Ofers wife Monique told security forces her
husband was bludgeoned to death by two Palestinians wielding
iron bars and axes. The two Palestinians, who killed Seraya Ofer,
from a village near Hebron, were apprehended. They stated under

questioning that although they had originally planned a robbery,

when they understood that Ofer was a senior army officer they
decided to kill him "as a gift to the Palestinian people and the
Hamas prisoners in honor of Eid-al-Adha" - the festival of the
sacrifice.

November, 2013 Private Eden Atias was killed after being

stabbed in the neck while on a bus in the northern Israeli city of
Afula. He was rushed to a hospital in the city but later died of his
wounds

August, 2014 Zeev Etzion and Shahar Melamed of Kibbutz

Nirim killed in a mortar attack from Gaza just hours before a
ceasefire with Hamas took effect. Melamed was Kibbutz security
officer and Melamed was his deputy.

December, 2013 Salah Shukri Abu Latyef of the Bedouin

village of Rahat was killed by a Palestinian sniper while working on
repairs to the Gaza border fence as a civilian contractor for the
Israel Defense Ministry. The incident occurred very close to the
northern section of the Gaza-Israel border and resulted in only the
injuries to Abu Latyef, who was immediately transported to Saroka
Hospital where he was declared dead

Daniel Tregerman (4 years old) was the youngest fatality of

Operation Protective Edge. He was killed by a mortar while his
parents rushed to get his younger siblings into their home bomb
shelter in Sha'ar HaNegev. He was laid to rest on Sunday August
24th

April, 2014 Baruch Mizrachi (47) an offduty senior police

officer was on his way with his family to Passover seder when he
was shot to death by Palestinian terrorists in the southern Hebron
Shelley Dadon (19) of Afula was found dead in a parking lot in
Migdal Haemek. A taxi driver from the Galilee village of Ibillin was
indicted for the murder.
June, 2014 Naftali Frankel (16), Gilad Shaar (16), Eyal
Yifrach (19) were hitchhiking home from attending yeshiva in Gush
Etzion when they disappeared. After a three week search their
bodies were found near Halhul, a short drive away from where they
wer abducted. This attack is the spark that began Operation
Protective Edge.

A total of 73 soldiers and civilians were killed during the 50 day

military campaign against Hamas (Islamic Resistance) Operation
Protection Edge.
August, 2014 Zeev Etzion and Shahar Melamed of Kibbutz
Nirim are killed in the hours before a ceasefire with Hamas took
effect. They were killed by mortar fire from Gaza during Operation
Protective Edge. Melamed was Kibbutz security officer and
Melamed was his deputy.
Daniel Tregerman (4 years old) was the youngest fatality of
Operation Protective Edge. He was killed by a mortar while his
parents rushed to get his younger siblings into their home bomb
shelter in Sha'ar HaNegev. He was laid to rest on Sunday August
24th
A total of 73 soldiers and civilians were killed during the 50 day
military campaign against Hamas (Islamic Resistance) Operation

JEWISH ATTACKS
From time to time Israeli Jewish citizens and IDF soldiers attack Palestinian or Arab civilians. These attacks deserve noting in the
context of terrorism in Israel. Most Jewish and Israeli leaders across the political spectrum have immediately and unconditionally
condemned these attacks and the perpetrators, when not killed outright, have been punished to the full extent of the law.

Maps

1990 Ami Popper, a mentally disabled, dishonorably discharged Israeli soldier shot dead 7 Palestinian workers.
1994 Dr. Baruch Goldstein opened fire in the mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, killing 29 people and wounding
another 150.
April 2001 Gunmen affiliated with the Committee for the Security of the Highways opened fire on Palestinian cars killing
3 passengers.
March 2002 and April 2003 Two Arab schools bombed by the Revenge of the Hebrew Babies group, wounding 35. The group
never expressed any motive (other than revenge) and Israeli authorities doubt the veracity of the claims. (Revenge of the
Hebrew Babies was regarded as an isolated cell of only a few individuals.)
August 2005 IDF Private Eden Nathan Zaada opened fire on a bus in Shfaram killing 4 people.
2009 Yaakov Jack Teitel, an American immigrant residing in Shvut Rachel is arrested for alledgedly carrying out a series of
terror attacks against Palestinians and pro-peace targets as well as Israeli civilians over a ten year period. The 35-year old father
of four has thus far admitted to the 1997 murders of two Arabs and the setting of a bomb under a police vehicle as well as the
2008 setting of a pipe bomb at the entrance to the home of a Jerusalem professor known for his left wing political views of the
peace process with the Palestinans. As of this writing, Teitel is charged with murder and terrorism and is in jail awaiting trial.
2014 - Palestinian teen Mohammed Abu Khdeir was kidnapped, beaten and burned to death in an alleged revenge attack for the
killing of three Israeli teens three weeks earlier. Three Israelis have been indicted including 29-year-old resident of Adam and
two 16-year-olds one from Jerusalem, the other from Beit Shemesh.

99

100

Helpful Contacts
TRAVEL AGENCIES
Daka 90 (Last Minute)
9 Hamasger St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: *9090
Mobile: 073-3909090
Diesenhaus
3 Hamelacha St.
Tel Aviv 6157101
Tel: 03-5112000
Email: bookwithus@disenhaus.com
http://www.diesenhaus.com/
Israir
23 Ben Yehuda St.
Tel Aviv 63806
Tel: 1-700-505-777
Email: service@israir.co.il
www.israir.co.il
ISSTA
Branches:

http://ofek-travel.co.il/
Ofran Holiday Autos
1 Ben-Yehuda St.
Tel-Aviv 61261
Tel: 03-795-1010
Email: mail@ofran.com
www.ofran.com
Ophir Tours
Branches:
Haifa
Haazmaut St.
Tel: 04-860-6800
Jerusalem
42 Agrippas Street
Tel: 02-539-8666
Tel Aviv
32 Ben Yehuda St.
Tel: 03-526- 9834
Merkaz Azrieli
Tel: 03-526-9707
Email: guy_r@ophirtours.co.il
www.ophirtours.co.il

Jerusalem
31 Haneviim St.
Beit Ereldan
Tel: 02-621-3600
5 Herbert Samuel St. Nahlat Shiva
Tel: 02-621-1888

Rimon Tours Ltd.

Derech Menachem Begin 82
el Aviv-Yafo, 6264208,
Tel: 03- 526-0000
Email: rimon@rimon-tours.co.il
www.rimon-tours.co.il

Tel Aviv
50 Dizengoff St.
Dizengoff Center
Tel: 03-621-6100
109 Ben Yehuda St.
Tel: 03-521-0555

Society for the Protection of

Nature in Israel Tourism
Department
2 Hanegev St.
Tel Aviv 66186
Tel: 0 3 63 88 683
Fax: 03 639 0580
Email: international@spni.org.il
www.aspni.org

Ben-Gurion Airport
Ben Gurion Airport, Terminal 3
Tel: 03-975-4340
Haifa
55 Hahistadrut Blvd.
Lev Hamifratz Mall
Tel: 04-881-9000
Natour
53 Ben-Yehuda St.
Tel-Aviv 63431
Tel: 03-521-4242
Email: nahumk@natour.co.il
www.natour.co.il

Haifa
Tel: 04-853-8666
Email: ofek_travel@ofek-travel.co.il

Zion Tours Ltd.

19 Hillel St.
Jerusalem 91025
Tel: 02-625-4326
www.ziontours.co.il

Avis
Branches:
Bnei Brak
www.carrentaIisrael.com/
Reservation Center
14 Baruch Hirsh St. Tel: 03-617-0000
Haifa
39 HaHistadrut St.
Tel: 04-861-0444
Jerusalem
19 King David St.
Tel: 02-624-9001/2
Tel Aviv
113 Hayarkon St.
Tel: 03-527-1752/3
Beer Sheva
2 H Ahamal St
Tel: 08-6271777
Eilat
Shalom Plaza Hotel
Harava Rd.
Tel: 08-637-3164/5
Budget
www.budget.co.il/rent.asp? =
Central Reservations
Tel: 03-9350000, *2200
Branches:
Jerusalem
23 King David St.
King David Hotel
Tel: 03-9350015
Eilat
1010 Mercaz Shalom
Tel: 03-9350016
Beer Sheva
2, Sadna St.
Tel: 03-9350017
Tel Aviv
99 Hayarkon St.
Dan Hotel
Tel: 03-9350012
Haifa
7 HaAshlag St.
Check Post
Tel: 03-9350019

Maps

Ofek Travel
90a Haazmaut St.

Unitours
8 Ha-Rav Kook St.
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-623-2345
Email: info@uni-tours.com
www.uni-tours.com

CAR RENTALS

101

Eldan
Email: reservations@eldan.co.il
www.eldan.co.il

Israel.
www.greenpeace.co.il
Email: info@greenpeace.co.il

Tivuch Ha'Ir
64 HaHalutz St.
08-6282868

Branches:
Jerusalem
22 King David St.
Tel: 02-625-2151

Petra Rent A Car Ltd.

Shuafat Main St.
P.O.Box 19743
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-582-3735/0716
Fax: 02-582-2668
Details: Fully insured in the PA territory and
Israel.

Tivuch Adir
70 Hapalmach St.
Beer Sheva 84212
Tel: 08-627-1383

Kiryat Shmona
4 Sinai St.
Tel: 04-690-3186
Haifa
164 Hahistadrut Blvd.
Tel: 04-841-0910
Tel Aviv
114 HYarkon St.
Tel: 03-527-1166/7
Beer Sheva
4 Leonard Cohen St.
Tel: 08-643-0344
Hertz
www.hertz.co.il
Branches:
Jerusalem
18 King David St.
Tel: 02-623-1351
Tel Aviv
144 Hayarkon St.
Tel: 03-522-3332

REAL ESTATE RENTAL

LANDLINE PHONE
AGENCIES
COMPANIES
Apartment rental agencies online:
www.nadlanplus.com/realestate
Haifa
Apartments
145 Derech Yaffo St.
Haifa 35251
Tel: 1-700-708191
The Israel Land Development Ltd.
2 Shenkar St.
Tel Aviv 68010
Tel: 03-796-2222
Email: kim@ildc.co.il
www.ildc.co.il
Jerusalem

Bezeq
Customer Service
Tel: 03-727-8199, *144
Fax: 03-680-0030
www.bezeq.co.il
Golden Lines
Tel: 072-200-2222, 1-801-012-012
www.012.net
HOT Telephones
Tel: *6900, 1-800-077-077
www.hot.net.il

CELLULAR TELEPHONE
COMPANIES

Beer Sheva
7 Hasdna St.
Tel: 08-665-1771

Janglo
Jerusalem Anglos
www.janglo.net

Cellcom
Tel: 052-999-0123, *123
www.cellcom.co.il

Eilat
Sderot Hatmarim, Canyon Haadom, Shop 8
Tel: 08-637-5050

Magar Dirot
3 Mea Sharim
Jerusalem 96952
Tel: 02-500-0444

Orange
Tel: 054 7814888.
www.orange.co.il

Tel Aviv

Pelephone
Tel: 03-5727766, *166
www.pelephone.co.il

Haifa
150 Hahistadrut Ave.
Tel: 04-5402121
Car rental agencies online:
www.worldwide-tax.com/israel/
isrcarrental.asp

OTHER RENTAL CAR

SERVICES
Hagor
Contact person: Yoav Cohen
13 Shenkar St.
Kiryat Aryeh
Petach Tikva
Mobile: 050-523-9629
Details: Bullet-proof car rentals.
Green Peace Rent a Car Ltd.
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-5859756
Mobile: +972 505522619
Details: Fully insured in the PA territory and

102

PHONES AND
INTERNET

Dirot Assia
14 Aliyat Hanoar St.
Tel Aviv 67450
Tel: 03-695-6183
Dirot Hatzafon
148 Ibn Gvirol St.
Tel Aviv 62966
Tel: 03-546-7848
M.D Meyda Dirot
190 Dizengoff St.
Tel Aviv 63462
Tel: 03-524-6242
The Home Apartments
6 Frishman St.
Tel Aviv 63578
Tel: 03-522-2695
www.thehome.co.il
Beer Sheva

HOT Mobile
Tel: 053-5003000, *6053
www.hotmobile.co.il
Golan Telecom
Tel: 1-800-016-058, *0058
www.golantelecom.co.il

INTERNET SERVICE
PROVIDERS
Bezeq International
Tel: 03-9203170
www.bezeqint.net/index_eng.html
Hot (Cable TV)
Tel: *6900 or 1-801-700-700
www.hot.net.il
NET.012
Tel: 1-801-012-012, *1828

www.012.net

Tel: 03-9544555

Fax: 03 6184048

Netvision / Barak
Tel: 04-8560570, , 1-800-300-301,
www.netvision.net.il

Eilat
Shderot Hatmarim Commercial
Tel: 03-9544555
http://english.leumi.co.il/

Haifa
Haifa Express Center
10 Bone Eliezer St.
Haifa 31250
Fax: 04-842-1889

Discount Bank

Beer Sheva
66 Derech Hevron St.
Beer Sheva 84242
Fax: 08-627-4437
www.ups.com/content/il/en/index.jsx
Email: webmaster@ups.com

Smile-Internet Gold
Tel: 1-800-015-015
www.zahav.net.il

Branches:

BANKS
Bank Hapoalim
Tel: *2407

Branches:
Jerusalem
Yaffo St.
1 Kikar Zion Jerusalem
16 King George Street
Haifa
18 HaNeviim St.
2 Pal Yam St.
Tel Aviv105 Arlozorov St.
19 Ben-Yehuda St.
Sderot
8 Kikar Hanasi
Kiryat Shmona
200 Kikar Zahal
Beer Sheva
40 HaAtzmaut St.
Eilat
3 Hativat Hanegev Blvd.
www.bankhapoalim.co.il

Bank Leumi
Branches:
Tel Aviv
19 Hertzel Street.
Tel: 03-514-8111
55 Dizengoff St.,17th Floor
Tel: 03 621 7333

Haifa
107 Hanasi Blvd.
Tel: 04-835 0333
Kiryat Shmona
Kikar Zahal Shopping Center
Tel: 03-9544555
Sderot
3, Ahavat Israel,

Jerusalem
11 Ben Yehuda St.
Tel: 03-9439111
Haifa
47 Derech Haatzmaut
Tel: 03-9439111
Kiryat Shmona
4 Tchernichovsky St.
Kenyon 8
Tel: 03-9439111
Eilat
Hatmarim Blvd.
Shopping Center Shalom
Tel: 03-9439111
www.discountbank.net

OVERNIGHT
SHIPPING SERVICES
FedEx
Tel: 1-700-700-339
Fax: 972.722443192

POST OFFICES
Branches:
Haifa
19 Pal Yam Avenue, Haifa 3199903
Fax: 076-8874178
19 Pal Yam Avenue, Haifa 3199903
Fax: 076 8874188
Tel Aviv
137 Hahagana Street, Tel Aviv 6199903
Fax: 076 8873391
Jerusalem
Shatner Center Givat Shaul, Jerusalem
9546105
Fax: 076 8872251
Eilat
Hatmarim Blvd.
Municipal Center
Tel: 08-637-2348
Kiryat Shmona
110 Kikar Zahal
Shopping Center
Tel: 04-694-0220

Haifa
228 Hahistadrut st, Kiryat-Ata junction
Check Post

Sderot
8 Kikar Hanasi
Tel: 08-689-7447
1-700-500-171
www.postil.com

Jerusalem
22 Kanfei Nesharim st, Giva'at Shaul

PHARMACIES

Branches:

Petach Tikva
14 Moshe Dayan st..
www.fedex.com/il/customer/?link=4
UPS
Tel: 1-800-834-834, 03-577-0100/1
Branches:
Tel Aviv area
O.P.S.I (International Forwarding) Ltd.
UPS House
1 Saifun St.
Ben-Gurion Airport 70100
Tel: 03 5771418

Jerusalem
Superpharm
234 Yaffo St.
Kenyon Tahana Merkazit
Jerusalem 94383
Tel: 077-888-0940
22 Kanfei Nesharim St.
Jerusalem 95464
Tel: 02-652-0688
Tel Aviv

Administration

Jerusalem
22 King George
Tel: 03-9544555
19 King David St.
Tel: 02-620-1811

Tel Aviv
25 Aba Ahimeir St.
Tel: 03-6403333
164 Ibn Gvirol St.
Tel: 03-9439111

Newpharm
71 Ibn Gvirol St.

103

Gan Hair
Tel Aviv 64162
Tel: 03 527-9318
Superpharm
62 Sheinkin St.
Tel Aviv 65233
Tel: 03-566-7776
Dizengoff center
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-621-2400
Haifa
Newpharm
St. Flumn 4 Haifa Mall
Tel: 04-8501291
Superpharm
15 Horev St.
Haifa 34341
Tel: 04-834-1793
Beer Sheva
Newpharm
Kenyon Shaul Hamelech
Tel: 08-643-9985
Superpharm
Derech Hevron 21
Beer Sheva
Eilat
Newpharm
Dereh peamei hashalom No. 19
Eilat
Tel: 08-6316350
Superpharm
1 Hapalmach St.
Kenyon Mol Hayam
Eilat 88025
Tel: 08-634-0880
Kiryat Shmona
Superpharm
4 Hanasi St.
Kenyon Nehemia
Kiryat Shmona 11026
Tel: 04-690-5114

HEBREW LANGUAGE
LESSONS
Hebrew on the Internet
www.foundationstone.com.au/
OnlineHebrewTutorial.html
Niv Language Proficiency
Institute
Levinsky 113, 66052 Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-245 3766
hebrew.dsites2.co.il
http://database.sprachenmarkt.de/intern
/schools.nsf/0/3A9E51B808FBF163C12
56F3F0072341E

104

Email: niv_ltd@netvision.net.il
Rothberg International School
Division of Hebrew Language Instruction
The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem Boyar Building, Mount Scopus
Jerusalem 91905
Tel: 02-588-2600
Fax: 02-588-2363
Email: rishebrew@savion.huji.ac.il
https://overseas.huji.ac.il/

ULPANIM
Hebrew language institutes run by the
Jewish Agency for new immigrants, but
open to all newcomers. This Hebrew
language approach rapidly teaches adults
basic Hebrew skills, including speaking,
reading, writing and comprehension, along
with the fundamentals of Israeli culture.
Tel Aviv
Ulpan Gordon
7 La Salle St.
Tel Aviv 63409
Tel: 03-522-3095, 03-522-3181
Hours: Morning + evening
Notes: Olim + tourists, beginners
+advanced
Ulpan Maaleh
78 Hatikva St.
Tel: 03-687-9822
Hours: Morning + evening
Notes: Olim + tourists, beginners +
advanced
Jerusalem
Beit Canada
(a Jewish Agency ulpan)
27 Raziel St.
East Talpiot
Tel: 02-6734201 / 675-1711
Notes : Also offers non-intensive, advanced
classes
Beit Haam
11 Bezalel St.
Gerard Behar Center
Tel: 02-545-6891; 02-624-0034
Fax: 02-623-4654
Beit Hanoar Haivri
(YMHA) City Ulpan
105 Herzog St.
Tel: 02-678-0442, 02-649-4111
Fax: 02-678-8642
Beit Ulpana
1 Meshulam Rath St.
Tel: 02-651-8896
Fax: 02-652-1544
Notes: Men and women study in separate
classes.
Gilo Community Center

14 Vardinon St. Gilo

Tel: 02-676-8886
Machon Meir
2 Sdeirot Hameiri St.
Tel: 02-6536287
Fax: 02-651-4820
Notes: For men only; takes place in a
Yeshiva setting
Milah Institute
14 Rabbi Akiva St.
Tel: 02-623-3164
Faz: 02-624-9834
Email: milah@milah.org
Notes: advanced, post-Ulpan studies;
emphasis on small-group study
Ulpan Or
43a Emek Refaim St. 2nd floor
Tel: 02-5611132
Email: office@ulpanor.com
Ulpanit in Maaleh Adumim
Derech Midbar Yehuda
Maaleh Adumim
Tel: (02) 541-8888. (02) 541-8848
Notes: Second level, one evening a week
Netanya
The Ministry of Immigrant
Absorption Ulpan
71 HaRav Kuck St.
Netanya
Tel: 09-8341223
Hours: Sun -Thurs 9AM-2PM
Notes: Intensive morning and evening

NONINTENSIVE AND
SUMMER ULPANIM
Following is a list of nonintensive and
summer Ulpanim in Jerusalem. Summer
Ulpanim are offered for about six weeks,
beginning in mid-July. Nonintensive
Ulpanim (also called ulpanit) meet for 1-3
mornings or afternoons per week. New
classes form periodically.
Jerusalem
Beit Mitchell
15 Sokolov St.
Tel: 02-563-7505
Eitan Ulpan
97 Jaffa Rd.
Clal Building Floor E #302
Tel: 02-656-4834
Notes: special emphasis on small- group
study.
Hebrew Union College
13 King David St.
Tel: 02-620-3333
Notes: non-intensive and summer classes
Hebrew University

Division of Hebrew Language Instruction

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Boyar
Building, Mount Scopus Jerusalem
Tel: 02-588-2621
Notes: intensive classes (for students)
and summer classes

ARABIC LANGUAGE
LESSONS
Al-Quds University
The Centre for Jerusalem Studies
Khan Tankaz, Suq Al-Qattanin
The Old City
P.O.Box 51000
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-628-7517
Fax: 02-628-4920
Email: cjs@planet.edu
www.jerusalem-studies.alquds.edu
Berlitz
21 King George St. Jerusalem
Tel: 1800-809-809
www.berlitz.co.il
Birzeit University
Continuing Education Department
14 Birzeit
Palestinian Authority
Tel: 02-298-2000
Email: pr@birzeit.edu
www.birzeit.edu
British Council Jerusalem Office
Arabic
80 Nablus Rd.
P.O.Box 19136
Jerusalem 97200
Tel: 02-626-7111
Fax: 02-628-3021
Email: information@ps.britishcouncil.org
www.britishcouncil.ps/en
Dialogue
Open University School for Language
The Technology Garden Campus
Malha
Jerusalem
Tel: 1-700-703-100
Email: dialog@openu.ac.il
www.openu.ac.il/dialog

Givat Haviva
The Arabic Language Institute
M.P. Menashe 37850
Telefax: 04-630-9249

Minerva
Arabic and Iranian
15 Sokolov St.
Beit Mitchel, 2nd floor
Tel: 02-566-1612
Email: info@minerva.co.il
www.minerva.co.il/index-en.html

SERVICE PROVIDERS
ACCOUNTANTS
Jerusalem
Don Shrensky & Co.
33 Jaffa Rd. 2nd floor
Tel: 02-6294272
Email: don@dscpa-israel.com
Hours: 9AM5-PM
Specialty: American and Israeli tax returns,
estate planning, consultation and pre-aliya
planning.
Languages: English, Hebrew
Galitzer, Shimon
28 Ben Zion St.
Tel: 02-652-5060
Email: galitzer@netvision.net.il
Hours: 9AM-5PM
Specialty: U.S. and Israeli tax matters.
Planning and preparation of tax returns.
Languages: English, Hebrew
Stein, Philip L.
11 Kiryat Hamada St.
Tel: 02-644-4000, 1599-501040
Email: pstein@pstein.com
Hours: Sun-Thurs, 9AM5-PM
Specialty: U.S. tax preparation and
consulting
Languages: English, Hebrew
Eliezer A. Alperstein, CPA &
Associates
P. O. Box 397
7171301 Modi'in, Israel
Tel: 08-8531087
Email: Office@alperstein-cpa.com
Specialty: U.S. and Israeli tax preparation;
IRS and Mas Hachnasah representation;
Tax strategies for new olim; Family
budgeting assessments. Languages:
English,
Hebrew Licensed in both the United States
and Israel Member of the American Institute
of Certified Public Accountants Master of
Science in Accounting.
Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Netanya
Brand, David
110 Ahuza St. Raanana
Tel: 09-744-8570

Fax: 09-760-4763
Email: brandcpa@netvision.net.il
Hours: Sun-Thurs 8AM-6PM, Fri
8:30AM-12PM
Specialty: U.S. and Israeli Income tax
Languages: English, Hebrew
Deutsch, Alan R.
(MBA, APC & Associates)
M.A.A.D Business Services Ltd.
Tel: 03-527-3254 ,052-274-9999
Email: alan@ardcpa.com
Specialty: U.S./Israel tax returns, tax reform
planning and investment consulting, IRS
representation, tax newsletter, Social
Security and investment planning. Home
visits available.
Languages: English, Hebrew
Graduate and post grad., New York Univ.
Licensed in New York.
Edasis, Reuven
4 Weizmann St.
Herzliya
Tel: 09-955-0051
Specialty: CPA in New York and Israel.
Prepares Federal and State Income tax
returns for
individuals, partnerships and corporations.
Languages: English, Hebrew
CPA (NY), MBA (NY)
Elahou Aslan & Co.
Certified Public Accountants
3 Habarzel St.
Tel-Aviv
Tel: 03-644-3322
Fax: 03-644-3344
Email: israel@myuscpa.com
Contacts: Cohen, Itzhak & Aslan, Assaf
Hours: Mon-Thurs 9AM-5PM
Specialty: US expatriate taxes and Israeli
tax
Languages: English, Hebrew
Gainsford & Bell
111 Arlozorov St.
Tel-Aviv
Tel: 03-696-2291
Fax: 03-691-0476
Contact: Rosenbaum, David
Email: david@gainsfordbell.co.il Hours:
10AM-7PM
Specialty: U.S. & Israeli taxes CPA in N.Y.
and Israel
Languages: English, Hebrew
Greenberg-Kahana, Michal
40 David Elazar St.
Raanana
Tel: 09-742-0770
Fax: 09-741-6641
Email: michal@safire.net
Specialty: CPA dealing with U.S. tax returns
Languages: English, Hebrew

Administration

Diwan
School for Arabic Language
Levinski College
Tel Aviv
Tel: 050- 9360271
Email: orlia6@walla.co.il
www.amosavidov.com

Email: givathaviva@givathaviva.org.il
www.givathaviva.org.il/english/peace
www.i-l-c.co.il

Krelman C.P.A. (Israel)

38 HaMasger St.

105

Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-609-8777
Fax: 03-609-8111
Contact person: Avi Krelman
Email: cpa@krelman.co.il
Specialty: International taxation.
Masliah, Yaron
B.S.R. 3 Tower (10th floor), 5 Kineret St.,
Bnei Brak
Tel-Aviv
Tel: 03-687-2233
Mobile: 050-778-1909
Fax: 03-537-1175
Email: yaron@factor-one.co.il
Hours: Sun-Thurs 9AM-5PM
Specialty: Preparation of U.S. tax returns for
individuals, corporations and partnerships.
Preparation of audited statements, reviews
and compilations. Business financial
planning and business valuations.
Languages: English, Hebrew
Naimark, Robert
11 Haavodah St.
Rehovot
Tel: 08-947-1264
Mobile: 052-246-1627
Email: bobsuenaimark@hotmail.com
Specialty: U.S. taxes
Languages: English, Hebrew
Steinmetz, Zev
13 Haroe St.
Ramat-Gan
Tel: 03-672-6354
Mobile: 054-469-2196
Email: zscpa@hotmail.com
Specialty: Audit, tax returns for corporations
and individuals. B.S. Economics (Il.), MBA
Accounting, Languages: English, Hebrew,
German, Portuguese.
Stemmer, Moshe
6 Weisburg St.
Rehovot
Tel: 08-945-2713
Email: utxste@hotmail.com
Specialty: U.S. State and Federal tax
returns MBA Business Administration (N.Y.)
Languages: English, Hebrew
Weber, Harry
Netanya
53 Herzl St.
Tel: 09-834-4214
Tel Aviv
34 Habarzel St.
Ramat Hachayal
Tel: 03-648-1010
Haifa
76 Herzl St.
Tel: 04-862-1122
Email: ome@netvision.net.il
Hours: 9AM-5PM
Specialty: U.S and Israeli taxation, Social

106

Security, International Investments.

Languages: English, Hebrew
Wolff, Chaim
Herzliya
2 Hadar St.
Tel: 09-958-1345
Tel: 09-958-1345/ 052-884-2777
Email: hwolff@netvision.net.il
Hours: Sun-Thurs By appointment
Specialty: CPA. Over 40 years of
experience in tax preparation.
Languages: English, Hebrew. CPA.
Chicago 1965. M.B.A. University of
Chicago.
North
Goldring Lowenthal & Co., CPA
P.O.Box 345
Zichron Yaacov
Tel: 04-639-7840
Contact: Jacob Lowenthal
Email: uslink@usacpa.net
Hours: Sun-Thurs 10AM-7PM
Specialty: Individual, Partnership and
Corporate taxes, IRS and State audit
representations. CPA state licenses- N.Y.
CA, FL and OK
Languages: English, Hebrew
Rosenkranz, Jerold
30A Vitkin St.
Haifa
Tel: 04-825-4759
Fax: 04-826-1229
Mobile: 054-455-8233
Email: jerryros@netvision.net.il
Specialty: Preparation of U.S. federal &
state income tax returns, social security,
estate and tax planning, financial and
investment consulting. CPA U.S. and
Israel MBA
Languages: English, Hebrew
South
Zahavi, Frances P.
P.O.Box 52
Beer Sheva, 84100
Tel: 08-623-9322
Fax: 08-628-2491
Email: fpzcpa@netvision.net.il
Mobile: 057-725-3300
Hours: Regular
Specialty: Preparation of U.S. income tax
returns
Languages: English, Hebrew, Russian

DOCTORS AND DENTISTS

As a traveler in Israel, one should always
make sure that ones travel insurance is up
to date and as comprehensive as possible.
Israeli medical personnel are generally
fluent in English or Russian.
General Practice

Bar-Meir, Simon
16/5 Mazeh St
Herzliya 46408
Tel: 09-954-4410
Hours: Afternoons
Specialty: Gastroenterology and
Hepatology
Languages: English, Hebrew
Dothan-Nissim, Ruth
34 Sokolov St
Ramat Hasharon
Tel: 03-549-6112, 03-540-6229
Hours: Sun-Fri 8AM-1PM Sun,
Mon, Thurs 4PM-8PM
Specialty: Family Doctor
Languages: English, Hebrew, French
Nissim, Miky
34 Sokolov St
Ramat Hasharon
Tel: 03-540-6229, 03-549-6112
Hours: Sun-Fri 8AM-1PM
Sun, Mon, Thurs 4PM-8PM
Specialty: Family Doctor
Languages: English, Hebrew
Ross, Peter
87 Sderot Nordau
Tel Aviv 62594
Tel: 03-546-7088, 03-641-6928
Specialty: General Medicine and Psychiatry
Languages: English, Hebrew
Kiviti, Samuel
68 Katze Nelson St.
Givataim and Ichilov Hospital
Tel: 03-571-2397, 03-697-3534
Speciality: Pediatric allergy and pulmonary
Friedman, David
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-563-5673
Specialty: Skin
Laufer, Neri
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-677-8832
Specialty: Women
Internal Medicine
Bondarevsky, Ernesto MD, FCCP
43 Keren Hayesod
Ramat Hasharon 47248
Tel: 03-549-0442
Fax: 03-549-0517
EMail: Ebond2@Barak-Online.Net
Hours: By Appointment
Specialty: Pulmonary Diseases and
Internal Medicine
Languages: English, Spanish, French,
Hebrew, Yiddish
Kalderon, Joseph
56 Beheri St Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-695-0095
Hours: Sun, Tues, Thurs 5PM-7PM

Languages: English, French, Spanish,

Bulgarian
Orlin, Jerry
23 Zeitlin St Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-695-6549
Hours: Tue 2PM-6PM Fri 8AM-11AM
Specialty:Internal Medicine and Hematology
Languages: English, Hebrew
Turkenitz, Itzhak
36 Louis Marshal St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-605-4882
Hours: Sun, Tue, Wed, 9AM-11AM, 4PM6PM; Mon, Thurs, 4:30PM-7PM;
Fri 9AM-11PM
Specialty: Family Practice
Language: English, Hebrew, Italian
Heyd, Yehudit
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-5697700
Specialty: Hematology
Ear, Nose & Throat Specialists
Englender, Moshe
9 Disenchik St
Tel Aviv 69354
Tel: 03-647-7299
Hours: Mon-Thurs 4:30PM-7:30PM
Specialty: Laser Surgery, Head and Neck
Surgery
Languages: English, Hebrew, Italian
Erez, Chen
36 Harav Amiel St
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-544-5438
Hours: Evenings
Languages: Hebrew, English
Nageris, Ben
14 Brandeis St
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-605-8831
Hours: Sun, Tue, Thurs, 3PM-7PM; Mon,
Wed 5PM-9PM; Fri, 8AM-11AM.
Languages: English, Hebrew, Yiddish

Veisberg, Tzizi
3/B Kashani St.
Ramat Aviv
Tel: 03-641-0722
Hours: Mon 2PM-4PM; Tue 4PM-6PM; Wed
1PM-3PM; Thurs 4PM-6PM
Languages: English, French, Hebrew,
Romanian, German

Roth, David
Modi'in
Tel: 03-511-4330

General Dentistry
Dayan, Talya DMD
143 Bialik St.
Ramat-Gan
Tel: 03-612-4224
Hours: By Appointment
Languages: English, Hebrew
www.Drdayan.Net
Kaplan, Phillip
25 Zeitlin St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-696-0650, 03-695-6549
Hours: Sun, Tue, Wed, Thurs 7AM-2:30PM
; Fri 7AM-12PM
Language: English, Hebrew
Kovalsky, Yossef
P.O. Box 1010
Efrat
90435
Tel: 02-993-1348
Rick, Yom-Tov
5 Ben Tzvi Blvd Apt. 2
Netanya 42233
Tel: 09-865-4772
Jackson, Jacob
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-625-0870
Sharon, Eldad
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-623-6262
Specialty: Mouth & jaw restoration
Cardiology
Professor Fuchs, Therese, MD.
Director of the Arrhythmia Service Assaf
Harofeh Medical Center
19 Hameitar St.
Ramat Gan
Tel: 03-616-4042
Mobile: 057-734-5908
Hours: By Appointment
Specialty: Cardiology and Arrhythmia
American Board Certified in Cardiology and
Electro-Physiology
www.Heart.Co.il
Shimon, Braun
Assuta Hospital
62 Jabotinsky St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-527-1281
Hours: By Appointment
Languages: English, Hebrew, German,
Polish, Russian
Shapira, Yosi
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-624-2325
Specialty: Pediatric Dentistry

Neurology
Goldhammer, Yohanan
Head of Dept. Of Neurology at Tel
Hashomer Hospital The Chaim Sheba
Medical Center
Shilat 73188
Tel: 03-527-1281
Hours: Sun, Thurs 4PM-7:30PM
Specialty: Neurology and Ophthalmology
Language: English, Hebrew, German
Wald, Uriel
Assuta Hospital Outpatient Clinic
62 Jabotinsky St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-527-1281
Pager: 03-610-6666 No. 2499
Specialty: Also Neurosurgery
Languages: Hebrew, French, English,
Arabic
Ophthalmology
Blumenthal, Michael
Ein Tal Eye Center
17 Brandes St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-544-1411 / 543-3222
Hours: Mon, Tue, Wed 10AM-6PM
Specialty: Cataract and Laser Surgery
Languages: Hebrew, German, English
Deutsch, David
Basel Heights Medical Center
35 Basel St
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-546-2330
Hours: Sun 8AM-1PM Tue, Thurs 4PM-8PM
Languages: English, Italian, Hebrew,
Hungarian
Fisher, Moshe
Medical Center Of Modi'in
53 Ginot Dotan St.
Modiin 71700
Tel: 08-973-5666
Fax: 08-973-5674
Goldhammer, Yohanan
Shilat 73188
Tel: 03-527-1281
Hours: Sun, Thurs 4PM-8PM.
Language: English, German, Hebrew
Ophir, Avinoam
Director of Division of Ophthalmology
Dept. Hillel-Yaffo Medical Center in Hadera
84 Sokolov St.
Ramat Hasharon
Tel: 03-695-0357/8
Hours: Mon, Wed from 3PM
Languages: English, German, Hebrew

Administration

Nageris, Israel
14 Brandeis St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-605-8831, 03-546-1211
Hours: Sun, Tue, Thurs 3PM-7PM Mon,
Wed, Fri 8AM-11AM
Specialty: Voice Diseases
Languages: English, Hebrew, Yiddish,
German, Russian

Deutch, Elimelech
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-625-8059

107

Herzliya Medical Center

Tel: 09-959-2520
Landau, David
Jerusalem
Tel: 072-3100960
Halpert, Michael
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-677-8899
Orthopedics
Kriss, Philip
13 Zichron Yaacov St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-695-1485, 03-643-0291
Hours: Sun, Thurs 10AM-12PM and 4PM6PM Mon, Wed 4PM-6PM
Languages: Hebrew, English, German,
Russian, Polish
Lidor, Cobi
Basel Heights
35 Basel St.
Tel: 03-546-2330
Hours: Mon, Wed 10AM-8PM Fri 9AM-2PM
Languages: Hebrew, English
Menachem, Yitschaky
Jerusalem,
Tel: 02-672-2892
Salach, Gaber
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-532-1711
Plastic and
ReconstructiveSurgery
Mendes, David MD
43 Hayarden St
Raanana 43261
Tel: 09-760-4144
Fax: 03-761-7038
Mobile: 054-621-2364
Email: dmendes@gmail.com
Certified by the American Board of Plastic
Surgerys Senior Physician, Department of
Plastic Surgery, Sheba Medical Center, Tel
Hashomer.
Psychiatry and Psychology
Daniel Gottlieb Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Associate Director
Israel Institute for Systemic Studies, Family,
Personal & Organizational Change Herzliya
Tel: 09-955-1973 Fax: 09-950-9747

108

Raanana
Tel: 09-771-8821
Hours: Sun, Mon 12AM-9PM; Wed 3PM9PM; Fri 8PM-12PM.
Languages: English, Hebrew
Specialty: Child and Adult Psychotherapist,
Marital and Family Therapy
Ludman, Batya L. Psy.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Tel: 09-771-8815
Mobile: 050-570-1410
Psychotherapy, Counseling and
Assessment of Children, Adolescents,
Families and Adults
Moscovici, Lucian
10d Arie Ben Eliezer St.
Ramat Gan
Tel: 03-674-6768
Hours: Private: Tue, Wed, Thurs 4PM10PM, Ichilov Hospital: Mon, Tue, Thurs
8AM-3PM
Languages: Hebrew, English, Romanian,
Italian
Psagot Institute
8 Sderot Chen
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-528-8171
Hours: By Appointments
Specialty: Clinical Psychologist,
Psychotherapist and Family
Therapist.
Reik, Lisa
Beit Yannay
Tel: 09-866-3491
Specialty: Child development
Emanuel, Doron
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-5344439
Specialty: General & Elderly Psychiatry,
Dementia
Urology
Greenstein, Alexander
39b Burla St
Tel Aviv 69364
Hours: By Appointment
Tel: 03-699-6606
Languages: English, Hebrew
General Surgery

Golomb, Abigail
24 Nezach Yisrael St
Tel Aviv 64361
Tel: 03-696-4720
Hours: Sun-Thurs 3PM-10PM
Languages: English, French, Hebrew

Gabay Moore Marlene

4 Hey BeI'yar St.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-695-7776
Hours: Sun, Tue 1PM-5PM; Mon, Tue 2PM7PM
Languages: English, French, Spanish,
Bulgarian, German.
Specialty: Gynecology and Obstetrics

Gropper, Michael
198 Ahuza St.

Dviri, Ehud
Jerusalem

Tel: 02-670-1379
Speciality: Chest and Heart Surgery
Odenheimer, Dan MD
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-563-6265
Specialty: General and proctology
Mazuz, Binyamin
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-588-9535
Specialty: Heart Surgery
Shoshan, Igal
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-677-7095
Speicalty: Neurosurgery, radio surgery,
oncology

LAWYERS
Jerusalem
Becker, Lawrence
11 Ramban St.
Tel: 02-623-2603, 02-624-8670
Fax: 02-625-9407
Email: shmuel@beckersl.com
Languages: English, Hebrew, French
Bazak, Moshe
12A Koresh St.
Tel: 02-6255490
Fax: 02-6235696
Email: bazak-m@zahav.net.il
Languages: English, Hebrew and
Yiddish
Livnat & Mayer
Jerusalem Technology Park
Building 9, 4th Floor
P.O.Box 48193
Malcha
Jerusalem 91481
Tel: 02-679-9533
Fax: 02-6799522http://www.livmaylaw.co.il/www/default.
asp
Wimpfheimer, JanBeck Building, 8 Hartum
St.
P.O.Box 45413
Har Hotzvim, Jerusalem, 91451Tel: 077667-0700
Fax: 077-667-0711
Specialty: Corporate, private equity and
investment funds
Languages: English, Hebrew
Central Israel
Argaman Law Offices
Argaman, Joshua
17 Kaplan St
Tel Aviv 64734
Tel: 03-691-8111
Fax: 03-691-5666
Email: jbargaman@012.net.il
Specialty: General practice, estates/

probate law, commercial/collections, real

estate law, civil law, notary services,
personal injury law, corporations/banking
Languages: English, Hebrew

Specialty: General practice, real estate/

property law, probate law, family law, notary
public.
Languages: English, Hebrew, Yiddish

Blum, Lisa
3 De Haas St.
Tel Aviv 62666
Tel: 03-605-8180
Mobile: 054-205-8180
Fax: 03-602-4464
Email: lisab@inter.net.il
Specialty: Notary, Labor Law/Social
Security, Mediation.
Languages: English, Hebrew
Member of the Israel Bar Association.

Hyman, Donn
2B Yehuda St,
Ramat Hasharon 47311
Tel: 077-523-2095
Fax: 077-555-8011
Mobile: 052-615-6078
Email: donnhyman@yahoo.com
Specialty: Notary services, real estate,
estates, inheritance, corporate, commercial
transactions, Internet; notary public
Languages: English, Hebrew

D. Sklar Law Offices

Sklar, Daliah
29 Mered St.
Industry House, 8th Floor
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-516-6555
Email: office@drsi-law.com
www.drsi-law.com

Kaplan, Alon
1 King David Blvd..
Tel Aviv 64953
Tel: 03-695-4463
Fax: 03-695-5575
Specialty: Estates/probate law,
aeronautical, admiralty, commercial,
corporations, banking. Other fields of
practice: foreign claims; trademark; town
planning/building; banking. Graduated
Hebrew University LL.B. Admitted to the
New York Bar; admitted as a solicitor in
Germany.
Languages: English, Hebrew

Fenster, Eric
413 Pinkas Ave.
Bnei Brak 51484
Fax: 03-619-6219
Mobile: 054-548-4004
Email: eric_fenster@yahoo.com
Specialty: Hi-tech, commercial,
corporations, banking, government
regulations, tax, criminal, foreign claims,
investments, labor relations,
patent/trademark/copyright, general
practice, real estate
Languages: English, Hebrew, Spanish,
Arabic
Freedman, Edwin
154 Menachem Begin Rd.
Tel Aviv, 64921
Tel: 03-696-6611
Fax: 03-609-2266
Email: eaflaw@shani.net
Specialty: General practice, estates/probate
law, family law.
Languages: English, Hebrew, French

Helled, Amnon
10 Mikveh Israel
P.O.Box 2402
Tel Aviv 65114
Tel: 03-560-1956/7/8
Fax: 03-566-1642

Koretz, Arie
90 Hashmonaim St.
Tel Aviv
Telefax: 03-644-3215
Specialty: Civil law, family, torts; notarial.
Kremerman, Jodi
3 Daniel Frisch St.
Tel Aviv 64731
Tel: 03-609-3295, 054-530-9309
Fax: 03-696-3213
Email: jodi@kremermanlaw.com
Law Office of Perry Novotny
Novotny, Perry
Silver House
7 Abba Hillel St.
Ramat-Gan 52522
Tel: 03-613-9444
Fax: 03-613-9449
Email: office@usvisa.co.il
Specialty: Visa and U.S. & Israel
immigration law, criminal law, general
practice

Marvin, Nissan, Kohen Law Office

Kohen, Marvin
Industry House
29 Hamered St.
Tel Aviv 68125
P.O.Box 50262
Tel Aviv 61500
Tel: 03-510-4006
Fax: 03-510-4008
Email: mnk_law@netvision.net.il
Speciatly: Family law, estates/wills/ probate,
criminal, immigration, Hague Convention
(child custody).Univ. of Manchester, U.K.
L.L.B., at Law.
Languages: English, Hebrew, Spanish
Nachimzon, Roy
74/76 Shderot Rothschild
Beit Moses, 4th Floor
Tel Aviv 65785
Tel: 03-714-0400
Fax: 03-714-0401
Specialty: Commercial/collections, tax law,
estates/probate law, corporations/ banking.
Languages: French, Romanian, Spanish,
Arabic, English
Saba, Nicholas
Advocate & Notary
75 Herzl St.
Ramla 72100
Tel: 08-922-5431
Fax: 08-922-4413
Email: nicksaba@smile.net.il
www.nicola-saba-law.co.ilSpecialty:
Notary, translation, family matters,
inheritance.
Languages: English, Hebrew
Segelov, Lisa
35 Jabotinsky St.
Teumim Tower
Tower 1, 5th Floor
Ramat Gan, 52511
Tel: 03-752-0157
Fax: 03-613-4245
Email : notary@cslaw.co.il
Specialty: Immigration law, corporations/
banking, tax law, general practice, real
estate/property law.
Languages: English, Hebrew, Yiddish

Administration

Heimovitz, Irwin
64A Shenkin St.
P.O.Box 14204
Tel Aviv 61141
Tel: 03-560-1994/5
Fax: 03-560-5356
Specialty: General practice, immigration
law, estates/probate law, family law, real
estate/property law.
Languages: English, Hebrew, Yiddish

Kan-Tor & Acco

Azoulay, Cindy
12 M. Begin St. 2nd Floor
Ramat Gan 52521
Tel: 03-613-8202
Fax: 03-613-7944
Email: Cindy@ktalegal.com
http://www.ktalegal.com/
Specialty: U.S. corporate and individual
immigration and relocation
Languages: English, Hebrew

Languages: English, HebrewLibai, Mann

& Co. Advocates
Mann, Kenneth
8 Shaul HaMelech Blvd.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-609-0101
Fax: 03-609-0077
Specialty: Family law, estates/wills/probate, tax, banking, criminal, U.S. law,
immigration, patent/trademark/copy- right,
personal injury, general practice, property.
Languages: English, Hebrew, French

Shiboleth Yisraeli,
Roberts,Yerushalmi and Zisman
46 Montefiore St

109

Tel Aviv 65301

Tel: 03-710-3311
Fax: 03-710-3322
Specialty: General practice.
Languages: English

Team Computers & Systems Ltd.

South

Tirat HaKarmel
Tel: 04-857-8888

Stock, Onn Anthony

66 Pinkas St
Tel Aviv 62157
Tel: 03-546-0110
Fax: 03- 544-4699
Mobile: 050-684-8409
Email: oastock@hotmail.com
Specialty: Attorney & Counselor at Law
Certified Mediator & Family Mediator

Beer, Uriah
1 Roded St.
Eilat
Tel: 08-637-3219 / 03-629-5108
Specialty: General practice, family law,
criminal law, narcotics, personal injury law,
real estate/property law.
Languages: English, French, German

Shierly Luz & Associates Law

Firm
77 Ze'ev Orlov st.
Petah Tikva
Tel: 058-4554040
Fax: 077-4702867
Email: office(@)sl-lawfirm.com
http://sl-lawfirm.com/
Specialty: Israel labor, Traffic and Military
Law

Yanir, Benjamin
117 Hehalutz St.
P.O.Box 334
Beersheva 84102
Tel: 08-627-7484, Fax: 08-627-7493
Specialty: General practice, family law,
estates/probate law, corporations; banking, personal injury law; real estate/
property law.
Languages: English, Hebrew, German
Yiddish

North

COMPUTER CUSTOMER
SERVICE

Friedland, Jonathan
26 Ben Gurion Blvd.
P.O.Box 8992
Haifa 35023
Tel: 04-853-1470, 04-853-1446
Fax: 04-853-1476
Email: officeha1@smplaw.co.il
Specialty: General practice,
corporations/banking, estates/ probate law,
aeronautical/admiralty, transnational
agreements.
Languages: Hebrew, English, Spanish

BUG Multi System Ltd.

The countrys largest retail chain of
computers and computer products. There
are some 30 branch stores in major
shopping malls and other locations
throughout the country.
www.bug.co.il/page.asp?id=7

Rosenberg Abramovich KerenPolak Epelman, Advocates

2 Palyam St, Oren Bldg
Haifa 33095
Tel: 04-8682636
Fax: 04-8682637
Speciality: international tax planning, trusts,
corporate law and cross-border transactions

Tel Aviv
Dizengoff Center
Tel: 03-528-8281
Azrieli Center
Tel: 03-691-3751
Ramat Aviv Mall
Tel: 03-643-7012

Lipschitz, Moshe
64 Hameginim Beit Yoel
Haifa 31002
Tel: 04-814-0500
Fax: 04-855-7038
Specialty: General practice, family law,
immigration law, criminal law, narcotics,
foreign claims/investment.
Languages: Hebrew, English, French,
Arabic
Seraya, Ben Zion
64 Hameginim
P.O.Box 303
Haifa 31002
Tel: 04-814-0500

110

Fax: 04-855-7038
Specialty: General practice, estates/
probate law, personal injury law.
Languages: Hebrew, Arabic

Branches:

Jerusalem
Malha Mall
Tel: 02-679-3439
Hadar Mall
Tel: 02-671-4024
Haifa
Lev HaMifratz Mall
Tel: 04-841-6299
Haifa Mall
Tel: 04-850-2545
Beer Sheva
Negev Mall
Tel: 08-628-6653
Omnitech Eichut Ltd.
www.omnitech.co.il

Petah Tikva
Tel: 03-921-2040

TRANSLATION SERVICES
Alpha Translation Services
Bialik 52 St.
Givat Shmuel
Tel: 03-532-6863
Email: alfa.translation@gmail.com
Specialty: Hebrew, English, Arabic, French,
Norwegian
Call Translations
P.O.Box 5090
Bat-Yam 59150
Tel: 03-677-1476
Fax: 03-6778171
Email: sales@call-translations.com
Specialty: Specializes in translation and
editing services.
http://www.call-translation.com/?lang=en

AIRPORTS
Nesher Taxi Service
Airport taxi service
23 Ben Yehuda St. Jerusalem
Tel: 02-625-7227
Fax: 02-624-1114
Ben-Gurion Airport
Information: 03-975-5555, *6663
Automatic Voice Response System
Hebrew 03-972-3331
English 03-972-3332
http://www.iaa.gov.il/heIL/airports/BenGurion/Pages/default.aspx
Dov Hoz Airport
Levi Eshkol Avenue (opposite Shikun
Lamed), P. O. Box 48050
Tel Aviv 61480
Main Gate 03-698-4511
Automatic Voice Response System
03-698-4500
http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/
Airports/SdeDov
Eilat Airport
Tel: Information on flights at Eilat and
Ovda 1-700-705-022
Coordination Center 08-636-3805
http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/
Airports/Eilat
Herzliya Airport
Tel: 09-971-9550
Automatic Voice Response System
03- 971-9555
http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/

Airports/HerzIiya
Haifa Airport
58 Yulius Simon St.
Haifa Industrial Zone
Tel: 04-847-6111 *5758
http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/
Airports/Haifa
Ovda Airport
Tel: Information on flights at Eilat and
Ovda 1-700-705-022
Coordination Center: 08-637-5880
http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/
Airports/Ovda
Rosh Pina Airport
Mahanayim
Tel: 04-693-6478
http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/
Airports/RoshPina

BORDER CROSSINGS
Allenby Border Terminal
The Terminal is located about 5 km east of
the town of Jericho.
Tel: 02-548-2600
http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/
Borders/Alenbi
Jordan River Border Terminal
The terminal is the northernmost border
crossing over the Jordan River and is in the

vicinity of Kibbutz Maoz Haim, Kibbutz Neve

Eitan, Kibbutz Kfar Rupin and the town of
Beit Shean.
Terminal switchboard: 04-609-3400
http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/
Borders/NeharYarden
Nitzana Border Terminal
The terminal is located in Pitchat Nitzana,
close to the Nitzana Youth Village. You can
get to the terminal from Beersheba, via
Telalim Junction, south of Ketziot, a
distance of about 77 km.
Hours: Sunday-Thursday from 08:00
to 17:00.
Fridays and Saturdays the terminal is
closed.
On the eve of a Festival the terminal is open
until 12:00. On mid-festival days the
terminal is open until 14:00. There may be
occasional changes to hours of operation.
Tel: 08-656-4666
http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/
Borders/Nizhana
Taba Border Terminal
The Terminal is situated about 10
kilometers south of Eilat and constitutes the
southernmost border crossing point in the
State of Israel.
Terminal Switchboard: 08-636-0999
http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/
Borders/Taba

Yitzhak Rabin Border Terminal

The Yitzhak Rabin Terminal is the
southernmost border crossing between
Israel and Jordan and is located about 3 km
north of the town of Eilat. Terminal
Management: 08-630-0555
http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/
Borders/Arava

PORTS
Ashdod Port
Marina Manager: Yitzhak Blumenthal
Office hours: 08:00-14:00
Tel: 08-851-7209 / 10
http://www.ashdodport.co.il
Eilat Port
PO Box 37 Eilat 88100
Tel: 08-635-8344
Marina Manager: Gidon Golber
Office Hours. 7:30 - 17:30
Tel: 08-635-8501
http://portfocus.com/israel/eilat/index.
html
Haifa Port
Haifa port, PO Box 31334
Tel: 04-851-8518
http://www.haifaport.co.il

Administration
111

LOCAL TELEPHONE AND INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY CODES

112

Administration

113

ENTERTAINMENT AND
LEISURE
Israel is a unique country, full of surprises and contradictions. Here you can find tradition and history, archeology and religion, as well as a
vibrant modern culture, museums, restaurants and nightlife. Weve put together a few points of reference; whether youre in the country to
cover a story for a week or for years, we hope youll take a few moments to enjoy the many fascinating aspects of the country.For fun,
here are a few personal suggestions from our staff to start out with, in no particular order:

Aryeh recommends:
Tmol Shilshom, Jerusalem Great place to hang out, read, drink coffee
off Yoel Solomon St. in the center of town. Tel: 02-623-2758
Pear and Apple, Jerusalem fun restaurant /bar 6 Safra Square in Yaffo
St. Tel: 02-623-0280
Piccolino A stylish, unique, kosher restaurant in the old Nahalat
Shiva. Great food, good atmosphere, and a Jewish-Italian feel. Tel: 026244186
If you want to get away, try calling Lilach at the B&B Biktot BArafel
(Cabins in the Fog) in the tiny village of Nimrod next to Majdel Shams
and Neve Ativ on Mount Hermon Mobile: 050-532-3483, 050 -952-0005.
Also, Villa Rimona is a beautiful, friendly, family-owned resort in Yavniel.
Tel: 077-419-9001.

Jonny recommends:
P2- Best place for pizza in Jerusalem. Also serves good pasta and salads, and open all week long. 36
Keren HaYessod St. Jerusalem Tel. 02-5635555
Bein Aza LeBerlin - Best Kubbeh Hamusta soup in town! also serves good Hummus, Falafel
and Middle eastern food. Corner of Gaza & Berlin St, Rehavia, Jerusalem. Tel. 02-5666786
The First Station: The old train station in Jerusalem is one of the city's
historic landmarks. It offers visitors an unparalleled experience, thanks to its
great location at the crossroad between Jerusalem's Old City and its
modern neighborhoods. The site is home to some of the finest restaurants
in Jerusalem. There are cultural and recreational activities available at the
Station such as Segway and bicycle tours, yoga classes and tours of the
different exhibitions held at the Station to promote Jerusalem's young,
talented artists. On top of that, it's open all week long!.

Miriam recommends
The Book Gallery: An awesome bookstore for rare and second-hand
books.You walk into a small cramped shop, but then you notice the stairs
leading down. You can find books in various languages, and relax while
sitting on one of the the couches, listening to classical music. It's in the
center of town- Shats St 6 (on the corner of King George 26). Tel: 026231087
Pasta Basta: A small place in the Machane Yehuda's "Shuk" with a taste of
home. If you're looking for a casual place to hang out and enjoy good music
and fresh pasta, this is the place to go! the cheap prices and welcoming staff
make it a fun experience. Tut Alley 8, Machane Yehuda Market. Tel: 077-540-4633.

114

Eli's: for the more adventurous among you, a visit to Eli's will give you a glimpse into a long-standing
tradition of Haredi Yeshiva guys: eating Cholent on Thursday nights. The traditional Jewish dish is stew that
consists mostly of meat, potatoes and beans, and is left to simmer for several hours. Every Thursday night,
dozens of Yeshiva students come together to eat Cholent and catch up on gossip and news, or as they say
in Yiddish "Nayes". note: advisable to dress modestly (you'll feel more comfortable). Zonenfeld St 1. Tel: 02581-8312

Idele recommends:
Azura. If you want to get off the tourist route and get down with the locals then its Azuras in Machana
Yehuda market for authentic hummous and Middle Eastern fare. The menu with explanations in English
makes it easy to understand the Hebrew names for dishes that first timers may
be tempted to try. Tel: 02-623-5204
Caf Kadosh on Shomzion Hamalka for European style food and a mix of
business people, students and everybody else. Tel: 02-625-4210
Shoshcafe on Hashayerot street in Old Catamon where they write good
morning in your cafe au lait. A place with a real neighborhood look and feel
together with good food and friendly service. Tel: 02-6252222

Zenobia recommends:
Chinkili Bar, also known as Khachapuriya- Traditional vegetarian Georgian food
made fresh and situated next to Machane Yehuda in Jerusalem. The traditional
Khachapuriya dish is a warm fresh pastry made of dough, cheese, eggs and butter. It
is irresistibly tasty! 5 HaShikma St., 02-5373630
Uzi Eli the Etrog Man - Located in Machane Yehuda in Jerusalem- Delicious blend of
juices, healthy drinks and food, based on natural living and natural remedies. 10
HaEgoz St.,052-3212615
HaAgas 1 - Fresh, organic and mostly gluten free vegetarian cuisine-located in
Machane Yehuda in Jerusalem. HaAgas 1 is the name of a song by Ehud Banai, a
famous Israeli singer-songwriter. The Banai family used to live above the property. 13 Eliyahu Banai St., Tel: 054313-3442

Adi recommends:
Casino de Paris - a neighborhood pub in the middle the Mahne-Yehuda
Market, the owner is a famous musician (Sha'anan Street from 'HaDag
Nachash' band) and the clients are mostly fashionable students (but not only!)
Tel: 02-6504265
The Austrian Hospice Jerusalem - located in the Via Doloroza Road. If you
want to be in the Old City of Jerusalem but feel as you were in Europe, walk
inside the beautiful Hospice and go upstairs to the lovely warm coffee shop,
that serves Apfelstrudel and Apple cider. Outside from the coffee shop there's a
peaceful private garden and more upstairs there's an amazing view of the Dome of the Rock.
Tel: 02-6265800

Emek Hamatzlevah (Valley of the Cross Park) for the wildflowers in the spring, the wildflowers in the fall
and inspiration all year round.

115

NIGHTLIFE
Listing places of nighttime entertainment in Israel in a book is usually fruitless: bars and clubs tend to change frequently. You will often go
to a place and enjoy yourself, only to return a month later to find it has completely changed. We therefore offer a list of web sites that try to
keep up with the very vibrant night life scene in Israel, especially Tel Aviv. In addition, the Friday editions of the English language
newspapers will often include a nightlife supplement.
The night life in Tel Aviv begins late, where people usually start to party at 11 p.m. This is considered early, with parties warming up at 2
a.m. The Friday night (the Sabbath) is no exception for party lovers in Tel Aviv and while in other cities, including Jerusalem, many
nightclubs and restaurants close at sunset and stay closed until 15 minutes after sundown on Saturday. It should be noted though that
Jerusalem does have many clubs, bistros and bars that are open on Friday night.
Useful places to find nightlife information:
Jerusalem
www.itraveljerusalem.com/
www.cityguide.travel-guides.com/city/59/nightlife/Middle-East/Jerusalem.html
www.jerusalemblueprint.com
Tel Aviv
www.tel-aviv-insider.com
www.frommers.com/destinations/telaviv/89_indnight.html
www.cityguide.travel-guides.com/city/125/nightlife/Middle-East/Tel-Aviv.html
Haifa
www.frommers.com/destinations/haifa/376_indnight.html
www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Middle_East/lsrael/Haifa_District/Haifa-1708915/Nightlife-Haifa-BR-1.html
http://www.haifacity.com/eng/night.asp

RESTAURANTS
Like the people of Israel themselves, the cuisine of Israel is defined by the combination of oriental and western flavors. Many of the
countrys restaurants are kosher, thus conforming to Jewish dietary laws. Milk or milk products may not be served together with meat in
the same meal, which means most restaurants serve either milk or meat, but not both. Pork and shellfish are banned by the dietery laws,
but it is possible to find them in non-kosher restaurants. Below is a selection of websites which specialize in both kosher and nonkosher
restaurants in Israel.
Tourist and Newcomer online restaurant guide:
www.restaurants-in-israel.co.il
A website of Israels restaurants with restaurant reviews:
http://www.restaurants.co.il/
Fodors online Tel Aviv Restaurant guide:
www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?cur_section=din&destination=tel_aviv@155
Virtual Tourist: Israel Restaurant Rating online:
www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Middle_East/Israel/Restaurants-Israel-BR-1.html
Vegan Israeli restaurants:
http://vegansontop.co.il/israeli-vegan-dining-guide/
Arabesque, Poolside & Patio Restaurants (American Colony Hotel)
02-627- 9707
Armenian Tavern
02-627- 3854

116

CINEMAS
Jerusalem
Cinemateque Jerusalem
Jerusalem Film Center
Derech Hebron
P.O. Box 8561
Jerusalem, 91083
Tel: 02-565-4333
Cinema City
10 Yizhak Rabin st,
Tel: 1-700-702255
Lev Smadar
4 Lloyd George St.
German Colony
Tel: 02-566-0954
Tickets: *5155
Rav Chen
91 Haoman St.
Talpiot
Tel: 02-679-2799

Tel: 03-606-0960
http://www.cameri.co.il/en/#
Elkarma
The Arab Theater of Beit-Hagefen
2 Hagefen St.
Haifa
Tel: 04-851-5133
http://beithagefen.com/index.php?lang=en
Gesher Theatre
9 Yerushalaim Blvd.
Tel Aviv-Jaffa
Tel: 03-515-7000
http://www.gesher-theatre.co.il/en/
Habimah National Theatre
Habimah Plaza, 2 Tarsa"t Blvd.
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-629-5555

Tel Aviv

Haifa Theater
50 Pevsner St.
Haifa
Tel: 04-860-0500

Cinemateque Tel Aviv

2 Shprinzak St.
Tel: 03-606-0800
Tickets: 03-606-0800

Israeli Opera
19 Shaul Hamelech BlvdTel Aviv
Tel: 03-692-7700/77
http://www.israel-opera.co.il/eng/

Dizengoff Center
Tel: 03-621-2222
Tickets: *5155

Jerusalem Khan Theatre

2 David Remez st.
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-630-3600
http://www.khan.co.il/index_english.p
hp

Globus Merkaz Azrieli

Kenyon Hashalom
Tel: 03-608-1130
Tickets: *2235
For movie listings, check
newspaper or www.seret.co.il

THEATRES
Arab-Hebrew Theatre of
Jaffa
10 Mifratz Shlomo St.
Ancient JaffaTel Aviv 61144
Tel: 03-518-5563
arab-hebrewtheatre.org.il/eng/index.asp
Beer Sheva Theatre
41 Ragger Blvd.
Beer Sheva 84894
Tel: 08-626-6444
http://www.b7t.co.il/site/About%20us
The Cameri Theatre
19 Shaul Hamelech Blvd
Tel Aviv

FESTIVALS
Abu Gosh Vocal Music
Festival
Tickets: 02-623-7000 / *3221
www.bimot.co.il
Twice a year, 3-5 days during Sukkot
and Shavuot
http://www.agfestival.co.il/en
Akko Theater Festival
Usually during Sukkot
http://www.akko.org.il/en/Acre-FringeTheatre-Festival
Haifa Film Festival
142 Hanassi Ave.
Center of the Karmel
Tel: 04-833-8888/ 04-810-3471
Every year on Sukkot Holiday
http://www.haifaff.co.il/eng
The Holiday of Holidays
Festival

An Arab-Jewish Center celebrating

Hanukah-Christmas-Ramadan.
Beit Hagefen
2 Hagefen St.
Haifa 35662
Tel: 04-851-5133
November-December
http://haifahag.com/
Hutsot Hayotser
An international arts and crafts
festival in Jerusalem.
Every year on August.
International Red Sea Jazz
Festival in Eilat
Eilat Port
The City of Eilat Municipality by the
Red Sea Resort Tourism
Administration
P.O.Box 4298
Eilat, 88132
Tel: 08-634-0253
Every year on the last week of August
http://www.redseajazzeilat.com/en/
Israel Festival in Jerusalem
Mailing Address:
P.O.Box 4409
Jerusalem, 91044
Visitors Address:
20 Marcus St. Jerusalem, 91040
Tel: 02-566-3198, 02-561-1438
www.israelfestival.org.il/home_e.html
Jerusalem Film Festival
Jerusalem Cinematheque
11 Hebron Rd.
Tel: 02-565-4333 / *9377
Held every year in July
www.jff.org.il/?cl=en
Karmiel Dance Festival
Cultural Center
Tel: 04-988-1111
Summer
Klezmer Festival in Safed
Tel: 04-697-4403
Every year in July or August.
http://www.klezmerf.com/index.php/e
nglish

GYMS AND
HEALTH CLUBS
Jerusalem
Body Control Studio
Pilates
Kisufim 801, Ramot Polin

117

Tel: 02-586-5831
http://www.jercity.com/eng/places/586
3/Body-control-studio/Jerusalem/
Body Line
Malha Mall
Tel: 02-678-3864
www.bodyline.co.il
Ego
10 Hartom St. Har Hotzvim.
Jerusalem
Tel: 02-5716363
City Gym
10 Lunz St.
Tel: 02-622-1766
http://www.citygym.co.il/
Jump
International Convention Center
Binyanei Hauma
Tel: 02-623-3377
http://jump.co.il/en/
Tel Aviv
Elite Sports Center
Tel Aviv University
Tel: 03-640-8909 / *8909
http://www.sportscenter.co.il/?CategoryID=1029
Holmes Place
Azrieli Building, 3rd floor
Tel: 03-609-4262
www.holmesplace.co.il
Great Shape
228 Bney Efra'im st.
Tel: 03-647-2093
http://great-shape.co.il/index.html

Pevsner Library
54 Pevsner St.
Hadar Hacarmel
P.O.Box. 5345
Haifa, 31053
Tel: 04-866-7766/8
Beit Ariela Library
Shaul Hamelech Blvd
Tel Aviv
Tel: 03-691-0142/2
Details: News archive and 25
libraries, located in Tel Aviv

MUSEUMS
Jerusalem
Ariel Center for Jerusalem in
the First Temple Period
Yad Ben-Zvi
7 Bonei Hahoma St.
Tel: 02-628-6288
Armenian Museum
Saint James St. (Convent)
Old City of Jerusalem
Tel: 02-628-2331
Chagall Windows
Hadassah Medical Center
Ein Kerem
Tel: 02-677-7111
http://www.hadassahmed.com/about/art-athadassah/chagall-windows

Haifa
Hod HaCarmel sport Club
18 Yitzhak Grinboim St.
Denya
Zip Code: 34987
Tel: 04-834-8871
www.danyasport.co.il/aboutus.asp
Holmes Place
4 Fliman st.
Haifa Kenyon
Tel: 04-850-0980
www.holmesplace.co.il

LIBRARIES
Jewish National and
University Library in
Jerusalem
Edmond Safra campus, Givat Ram
P.O.Box
39105
Jerusalem, 91390
Tel: 074-733-6336

118

City of David
Mount Zion/Silwan
Tel: 02-6268700 / *6033
http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/en
Islamic Museum of the
Temple Mount
Temple Mount
Old City of Jerusalem
Tel: 02-628-3313
http://www.ilmuseums.com/museum_
eng.asp?id=43
Israel Museum
Ruppin Rd.
Tel: 02-670-8811
http://www.imj.org.il/
Museum for Islamic Art
2 Hapalmach St.
Tel: 02-566-1291
www.islamicart.co.il
Museum on the Seam
SocioPolitical Contemporary Art

Museum
4 Chel Hahandasa St.
Tel: 02-628-1278
http://www.mots.org.il/Eng
Rockefeller Archaeological
Museum
Sultan Suliman St.
Tel: 02-620-4963
http://www.imjnet.org.il/page_2182
Tower of David
Museum of the History of Jerusalem
Jaffa Gate
Tel: 02-626-5333
www.tod.org.il/
Yad Vashem Memorial
Mt. Ha-Zikaron (Memory)
Tel: 02-644-3802
http://www.yadvashem.org.il/
Tel Aviv
Eretz Israel Museum
2 Lebanon St.
Tel: 03-641-5244
http://www.eretzmuseum.org.il/e/
Helena Rubinsteins Pavilion
for Contemporary Art
6 Tarsat Blvd.
Tel: 03-528-7196
http://www.tamuseum.org.il/helenarubinstein-pavilion
Israel Defense Forces
History Museum
Yehezkel Koifmann st. on the corner
of HaMered st.
Tel: 03-516-1346
Museum of Jewish Diaspora
Beit Hatefusot
15 Klauzner St.
Tel Aviv University
Tel: 03-745-7808
http://www.bh.org.il/
Tel-Aviv Museum of Art
27 Shaul HaMelech Blvd.
Tel: 03-607-7020
http://www.tamuseum.org.il/
Haifa
Beit Hagefen Art Gallery
2 Hagefen St.
Tel: 04-852-5252
http://www.beit-hagefen.com/
Clandestine Immigration and
Naval Museum
204 Allenby St.
Tel: 04-853-6249

http://www.ilmuseums.com/museum_
eng.asp?id=7
Janco Dada Museum
Ein-Hod, D.N.
Hof Hacarmel 30890
Tel: 04-984-2350
http://www.jancodada.co.il/\
National Maritime Museum
198 Allenby St.
Tel: 04-853-6622
http://www.nmm.org.il/Museum/nmm.
asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1
Madatech - National Museum
of Science, Technology and
Space
25 Shmeriyahu Levin St.
Tel: 04-861-4444
http://www.madatech.org.il/
Galilee Golan
Ancient Katzrin Park
Industrial Area Katzrin
Tel: 04-696-2412
http://parkqatzrin.org.il/index.php

Mitzpe Ramon Visitor Center

Mitzpe Ramon
Tel: 08-658-8691
Israeli Air Force Museum
Hatzerim Air Force Base
West of Beer Sheva
Tel: 08-990-6853
http://www.iaf.org.il/5915-en/IAF.aspx
Joe Alon Center
The Bedouin Culture Museum
Near Kibbutz Lahav
Tel: 08-991-3322
http://www.joealon.org.il/Content.aspx
?itemId=18
Negev Museum of Art
60 Haatzmaut Rd.
Beer-Sheva
Tel: 08-699-3535
http://www.negev-museum.org.il/

The Ghetto Fighters

Museum
Kibbutz Lohamey Hagetaot
Tel: 04-995-8080
http://www.gfh.org.il/Eng/

Davidson Institute of
Science Education
Clore Garden of Science
Weizmann Institute of Science
Rehovot
Tel: 08-937-8300
http://davidson.weizmann.ac.il/sci
ence-garden

Museum of Golani Dvn.

Golani Junction
Tel: 04-676-7215
http://www.ilmuseums.com/museum_
eng.asp?id=110

RECOMMENDED
ATTRACTIONS

Tefen Open Museum

Road no. 854 connecting Carmiel to
Maalot
Tel: 04-910-9609
http://www.omuseums.org.il/eng
Tel-Hai Museum (Hatzer TelHai)
Kibbutz Tel-Hai
M.P. Galil Elion, 12210
Tel: 04-695-1333
http://www.ilmuseums.com/museum_
eng.asp?id=85
Negev and South
Ben-Gurions Desert Home
Kibbutz Sde Boker
Tel: 03-522-1010
http://www.bg-house.org/
The Glass Museum of Arad
11 Sadan St., Arad
Tel: 08-995-3388
http://www.warmglassil.com/

Golan Heights
http://www.tiuli.com/default.asp?regio
n_id=7&lng=eng
Mount Carmel National Park
Tel: 04-822-8983
Rosh Hanikra
Northwestern corner of Israel
Tel: 073-271-0100
www.rosh-hanikra.com
Safed
www.artists.co.il/safed/safed_e.ht
ml
Hula Nature Reserve
Tel: 04-693-7069
Central Israel
Beit Govrin Caves
Tel: 08-681-2957
Caesarea
Tel: 04-6267080
The Dome of the Rock
Tel: 073-758-1472
Old City of Jerusalem
http://www.itraveljerusalem.com/ol
d-city/
The Western Wall
Old Jaffa
Tel: 03-603-7700/7686

North Israel

Shenkin St.

Acre Old City

http://www.akko.org.il/

South Israel

Bahai Shrine
Hadar Elyon, Haifa
Tel: 04-831-3131
http://www.ganbahai.org.il/en/
Capernaum National Park
The biblical town of Capernaum
stretches for two-thirds of a mile
along the north shore of the Sea of
Galilee.
Tel: 04-679-3865
Daliyat El Carmel
Druze Village
Haifa district (20km south-east))
Gamla Nature Reserve
Golan Heights
Tel: 04-682-2282

The Dead Sea

http://www.deadseaguide.com/
Dolphin Reef
Southern beach, Eilat
Tel: 08-630-0111
http://www.dolphinreef.co.il/
Eilat Area
http://www.redseaeilat.com/
Masada National Park
Tel: 03-539-6700/
http://masada.org.il/en
Udnerwater Observatory
Marine Park
Coral Beach, Eilat
Tel: 08-636-4200
http://www.coralworld.co.il/en/

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HOTELS
Israel has many hotels and accommodation facilities to fit any budget or preference. There are luxury hotels, hotels with a more intimate
nature, hotels in unique surroundings, Bed and Breakfasts known as tzimmerim and more. Each city offers its own unique style, view and
night life. We cant list them all, so here are some central points of reference, and then a few B and Bs.
Israel hotel deals, attractions, and maps:
www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g293977-Israel-Hotels.html
Insider tips on where to stay:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/israel/hotels
All hotels in Israel - with direct booking:
http://www.booking.com/country/il.html
Jerusalem hotels, by prices and ratings:
http://www.gojerusalem.com/Hotels
Israel hotels comparison:
http://www.hotelscombined.com/Place/Israel.htm

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B&BS (TZIMMERIM)
Many of the kibbutzim and moshavim in the north and south offer Bed and Breakfast type guestrooms. In Hebrew, these are referred to as
Tzimerim (borrowing from the German word for room). Some of these are luxurious, while others offer basic accommodations. Often, the
tzimmer is located in a pastoral area and many visitors use it as a base from which to hike. You can find hiking trails from the Dan River in
the north all the way south to Eilat, offering ecotourism and wildlife.
Galilee/North

Tel: 04-693-5785

Sasa
Nofesh Bananim
Tel: 04-6918887

Ein Gev
Ein Gev Holiday Resort
Tel: 04-665-9800

Nimrod
Biktot BArafel (Cabins in the Fog)
Mobile: 052-269-7718,
04-698-4218

Kinneret (Moshava)
B&B Liora
Tel: 054-499-5094

Gonen
Nofey Gonen
Tel: 073-759-8823
Ramot Naftali
Avitan
Tel: 04-694-0966
Malkia
Mitzpe Nof
Tel: 04-694-6882

Yavneel
Leyl Galil
Tel: 052-447-8235

North/Center

Negba
Orhan Yoav
Tel: 08-672-1115
Negev and Arava/South
Kalya
B&B Kalya
Tel: 02-993-6253
Elifaz
Gan Hakaktusim
Tel: 08-635-6230

Beit Alfa
Alfa Hospitality
Tel: 050-969-5659

Ktura
Keren Kolot
Tel: 053-941-9109

Kfar Glickson
Tel: 050-559-8623

Sde Boker
Beit Hamburg
Tel: 08-653-2016

Shavei Tziyon
Hofit
Tel: 04-910-9300

Zippori
Mitch and Suzi Pilzer
Tel: 04-646-2647

Kfar Vradim
Oren Keti and Nohach Erez
Tel: 04-997-3507

Center

Metzuba
Matzuba Holidays
Tel: 04-985-8094

Hadera
Ruti and Pinchas Goeta
Hagdud Haivri
Tel: 04-634-3779

Tal El
Yosfin Raya
Tel: 04-996-1008

Netiv Halamed Hei

Netivale
Tel: 077-938-7201

Arbel
B&B Shavit
Tel: 04-679-4919

Shoresh
Yarok BaHar
Tel: 02-533-8338

Vered Hagalil
Korzim

Shakaf
Columbrium
Tel: 050-645-6455

Mitzpe Ramon
Alp[aka Farm
Tel: 08-568-8047
Arad
Nof LaMidbar
Tel: 052-262-7042
Ein Gedi
Ein Gedi B&B
Tel: 08-659-4760
Kisufim
Eshkol Tairot and Nofesh
Tel: 08-992-8777
Kibbutz Yahel
Maayan Bamidbar
Tel: 08-635-7967

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