Israel

In 2011 according to CBS there were 327,750 Israelis living in the west bank and an additional 190,000 living in East Jerusalem.

The combined growth rate for the Jewish population in these areas was 5.2% and has been stable for the past 20 years, whereas the Arab population of the west bank grows at the rate of 2.0%.

By these projections the Jewish population is set to become the majority in the West Bank within 45 years

Syria and Israel theoretically share a border, but they are separated by the UNDOF forces which occupy a no-man's land between them.

However, Syria and Israel both border Jordan and Lebanon. In the case of Lebanon, there is no land border with any nation other than Syria or Israel.

56 kg & 163 cm

Israel was created as a nation with a Jewish majority and it has laws that make special provisions favoring Jewish Immigration. As such, it is a Jewish nation. The largest religious minority in Israel are Muslims, with Christians coming in third place. The Israeli government recognizes Jewish, Isamic and Christian authority over religious matters such as marriage and divorce.

It represents the sacrifice of Jews rather than submit to Roman defeat...

Israel was established as a homeland for the Jewish people and is often referred to as the Jewish state. The country's Law of Return grants all Jews and those of Jewish lineage the right to Israeli citizenship. Just over three quarters, or 76.1%, of the population are Jews from a diversity of Jewish backgrounds. Approximately sixty-eight percent of Israeli Jews are Israeli-born, twenty-two percent are immigrants from Europe and the Americas, and ten percent are immigrants from Asia and Africa (including the Arab world). The religious affiliation of Israeli Jews varies widely: eight percent define themselves as "Haredi Jews" and twenty percent consider themselves "secular Jews". The majority of Israeli Jews, fifty-five percent, say they are "traditional," The remaining seventeen percent define themselves as Orthodox Jews Making up 16.2% of the population, Muslims constitute Israel's largest religious minority. Israeli Arabs, who comprise 19.8% of the population, contribute significantly to that figure as over four fifths (82.6%) of them are Muslim. Of the remaining Israeli Arabs, 8.8% are Christian and 8.4% are Druze. Members of many other religious groups, including Buddhists and Hindus, maintain a presence in Israel, albeit in small numbers.

Israel has never actually declared war on Palestine. If you are referring to a specific war between Israel and Hamas or the general causes of the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, please ask that question.

If this is a general question on the causes of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, please see the Related Question below.

Those particular wars are called the Crusades.

Israel's Prime Minister at the time (1967) was Levi Eshkol. He was in office from 1963-9.

The gospels tell us that Jesus spent most of his adult life in Galilee, and some time in Judah, whose capital city was Jerusalem. At the time of Jesus, there was no nation of Israel and had not been for approximately seven and a half centuries. The area that Israel once occupied had become known as Samaria, and Jews tended to avoid entering the region.

No country has ever specifically performed the act of recognizing Israel as a Jewish State when they performed the act of recognition. However, US politicians have referred to Israel as a Jewish State and made clear that they believe Israel to be a Jewish State.

It is a country of the Levant region of the middle east, heavily influenced, culturally, by the military, because nearly everyone born who grew up there has served. The culture is essentially the same as other parts of the Levant. I believe in Arabic, the Levant is called "Bilad El Sham," so, Levant is the bastardized, anglicized version of the Arabic "Bilad El Sham." Levant is easier for English speakers I guess, than saying "Bilad El Sham" all the time. Don't quote me on that I could be wrong though, as to the word "Levant" being the anglicized/bastardized "Bilad El Sham." In Israel, you don't screw with the government, in the same way that in an Arab country you don't screw with them either. In Israel, there is corruption, the way Arab countries have corruption, you have machismo and sexism towards women, even though they claim to have "liberated attitudes," same as you have it in Arab countries. Israeli men, are tough, and every bit as sexist towards their women as Arabs are.

There are some differences though; like the acceptance of gays, how they hold parties basically every night, the clubs are always full, and the country has a very active nightlife. However its also that way in Lebanon, and in Jordan as well, not to mention some Arab gulf states. Israel has been largely absorbed by the middle east; a country is not fully engulfed, surrounded by Arab countries, and not get influenced. Israel is a mediterranean country through and through, culturall speaking.

a cruise is organized with stops... one month, probably...

The international code for Israel is IL. For example the government URL is http://www.gov.il

Simple- they are all former British colonies!

Ten Tribes went lost.

The great majority of Jews today, some 80% or so, are descended from the tribe of Judah (plus converts and descendants of converts). The remaining 20% include Levites (from the tribe of Levi), Cohanim (also a part of the Levites), the entire Tribe of Benjamin, and a small percentage from every one of the remaining tribes. (When the Ten Tribes were carried off into Assyria and didn't return, some of them had already mixed into the tribe of Judah before that, through marriage and through large-scale migration [e.g. 2 Chronicles 15:9]. Also, the Talmud relates [Megillah 14b] that, one century after the Ten Tribes were exiled [and their location was still known], Jeremiah journeyed to where they were and brought some of them back to Judea. Thus, today's Jewry includes a small percentage of every one of the Lost Tribes. [See for example the Talmud, Pesachim 4a.])

The notion of the ten lost tribes of Israel arose after the Assyrian destruction of Israel in 722 BCE. The Assyrians exiled many of the Israelites who were unable to flee south into Judah or Egypt. The exiles gradually assimilated into their host communities, adopted thel local religious cults and lost their separate ethnic identity. However, some are unwilling to accept the possibility that the Israelites so readily assimilated, when two hundred years later the Jews managed to retain their identity. Thus the notion that somewhere out there, there must still be the descendants of the Israelite exiles.

Since the Israelites assimilated into the various nations of the Assyrian empire, their descendants, the "lost tribes", will be some of the people among modern Assyrians, Iraqis, Syrians and so on. Occasionally some scholars try to investigate Middle Eastern family groups whose names suggest a possible Hebrew origin.

Religion, terrorism, belif that the other side started it first and politicians wanting more.

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Also, in addition to the major issues listed above, there are also

the minor issues of the security of Israel's citizenry, and the

categorical rejection of the existence of a Jewish country in

the Middle East.

Israel lies in the coastal plain of the Eastern Mediterranean and extends inland to an arid desert region. It's eastern border is defined by the Jordan valley which is an extension of the African Rift valley. 8,367 sq mi (21,671 sq km)

Most Jews believe that Israel is the land of their forefathers and Prophets; the land promised to them by God (Genesis 28:10-13), to which they have a historic, emotional and spiritual attachment.

As concerns Israeli politics and policy, there are as many opinions as there are Jews. There are positions like those of Neturei Karta who vigorously oppose any Jewish settlement of Israel (and believe the area should be given to the Palestinians) and those like the Religious Zionists who refuse to follow Israeli settlement laws because they believe Jewish settlement of Israel is a divine mandate (and believe that most if not all Palestinians should be evicted) and just about every opinion in between.