以色列(Israel)
正式名称以色列国（State of Israel）
地中海东端共和国。面积20,425平方公里。人口约6,258,000（2001）。首都︰耶路撒冷。犹太人约占总人口的4/5，阿拉伯人约占1/5。语言︰希伯来语和阿拉伯语（均为官方语）。宗教：犹太教、伊斯兰教（主要是逊尼派）、基督教。货币︰新以色列西科尔（NIS）。以色列可分为四个主要地区：西部为地中海沿岸平原；丘陵区北部边界伸入到以色列中部；东部为大裂谷，包含约旦河；乾旱的内盖夫（Negev）地区几乎占了以色列的整个南半部。主要水系是约旦河形成的内陆流域，加利利海向全国大约一半的农田供水。以色列经济属混合型，主要以服务业和制造业为基础，出口包括机械和电子、钻石、化学、柑桔类水果和蔬菜，以及纺织。以色列的人口9/10居住於城市，主要集中在地中海沿岸平原一带和耶路撒冷周围地区。政府形式为共和国，一院制（克奈赛）。国家元首为总统，政府首脑是总理。
以色列（巴勒斯坦）有人类居住的历史至少已有十万年（参阅Palestine：历史）。19世纪末犹太人开始在那里建立国家。英国支持犹太复国主义，并在1927年承担了当时巴勒斯坦的政治责任。德国纳粹时期对犹太人的迫害，使犹太人移居巴勒斯坦，导致该地区的犹太人与阿拉伯人的关系恶化。1947年联合国投票通过将该地区分割为犹太人和阿拉伯人两个国家，这个决定被阿拉伯国家反对。1948年以色列国宣布建立，埃及、外约旦（後改称约旦）、叙利亚、黎巴嫩和伊拉克等国家向以色列宣战，以色列获胜（参阅Arab-Israeli wars）。1967年的六日战争中以色列又获胜，并占领了西岸和加萨走廊。1973年以色列与邻近的阿拉伯国家之间的战事又起，1979年大卫营协定使以色列与埃及媾和。1982年以色列入侵黎巴嫩，企图驱逐巴勒斯坦解放组织（PLO）的游击队。1987年後期，以色列面临了西岸和加萨走廊占领区的巴勒斯坦人暴动（参阅intifada）。1992年以色列、阿拉伯国家和巴勒斯坦的代表开始面对面的和平谈判，翌年以色列和巴解组织就占领区实行巴勒斯坦人自治的五年过渡安排达成协议。1994年以色列与约旦签订全面和平条约。整个1990年代，以色列士兵和黎巴嫩民兵组织真主党一再发生冲突。2000年以色列军队突然自黎巴嫩撤退。2000年後期，以色列和巴勒斯坦之间的进一步谈判破裂，其间双方的暴行夺去了数百人性命。
English version：
Israel
Republic, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Area: 7,886 sq mi (20,425 sq km). Population (2000 est.): 6,107,000 (includes population of Golan Heights and East Jerusalem; excludes population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip). Capital: Jerusalem. Jews constitute some four-fifths of the population, and Arabs about one-fifth. Languages: Hebrew, Arabic (both official). Religions: Judaism, Islam (mainly Sunnite), Christianity. Currency: New Israeli Sheqel (NIS). Israel can be divided into four major regions: the Mediterranean coastal plain in the west; a hill region extending from the northern border into central Israel; a rift valley, containing the Jordan River, in the east; and the arid Negev, occupying nearly the entire southern half of the country. Its major drainage system is the interior basin formed by the Jordan River; the Sea of Galilee provides water to almost half of the country's agricultural land. It has a mixed economy based largely on services and manufacturing; exports include machinery and electronics, diamonds, chemicals, citrus fruits and vegetables, and textiles. Its population is nine-tenths urban and is concentrated largely in the Mediterranean coastal plain and around Jerusalem. It is a republic with one legislative house, the Knesset; its head of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. The record of human habitation in Israel (Palestine) is at least 100,000 years old (see Palestine for history). Efforts by Jews to establish a national state there began in the late 19th century. Britain supported Zionism, and in 1923 assumed political responsibility for what was then Palestine. Migration of Jews there, which increased during the period ofNazi persecution, led to deteriorating relations with Arabs. In 1947 the U.N. voted to partition the region into separate Jewish and Arab states, a decision opposed by the Arabs. The State of Israel was proclaimed in 1948, and Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq immediately declared war on it. Israel won this war (see Arab-Israeli Wars) as well as the 1967 Six-Day War, in which it occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Another war with its Arab neighbors followed in 1973, but the Camp David Accords led to a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 to expel the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from that country, and in late 1987 an uprising broke out among Palestinians of the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (see intifada). Peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab states and Palestinians began in 1992. Israel and the PLO agreed in 1993 to a five-year plan to extend self-government to the Palestinians of the occupied territories. Israel signed a full peace treaty with Jordan in 1994. Israeli soldiers and a Lebanese militia,Hizbullah, clashed repeatedly throughout the 1990s. Israeli troops abruptly withdrew from Lebanon in 2000. In late 2000 further negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians broke down amid violence that claimed hundreds of lives.