POPULATION 6,116,533
JEWISH 80.1 percent
MUSLIM 14.6 percent
CHRISTIAN 2.1 percent
OTHER 3.2 percent

Country Overview

Introduction

In the 1880s the founders of the State of Israel began to settle in Palestine—a small strip of territory located on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea—joining a small Jewish population already living there. Jewish immigrants (mainly from Eastern Europe), inspired by Zionism (a movement to create a Jewish nation in Palestine) and escaping from anti-Semitism, went there in increasing numbers. They formed a community called Yishuv, creating many social and political institutions and developing a new national language (modern Hebrew), culture, and nationalism. Their goals and interests, however, clashed with those of the local Arab population.

The Holocaust in Europe during World War II greatly increased Jewish migration to Palestine and strengthened Western support for the state-building project. In 1947 the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into two states (one...