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Jerusalem, situated on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, is one of the oldest cities in the world and is considered to be a holy city for the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital, as Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Because of this dispute, neither claim is widely recognized internationally.
The West Bank is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean in the Levant region of Western Asia that forms the main bulk of the Palestinian territories. It is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel to the south, west, and north. It has been under an Israeli military occupation since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Since the Oslo II Accord was signed in 1995, its area has been split into 165 Palestinian enclaves, that are under total or partial civil administration by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and a contiguous area containing 230 Israeli settlements into which Israeli law is "pipelined". The West Bank includes East Jerusalem. Israel administers the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem as the Judea and Samaria Area district, through the Israeli Civil Administration.
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other efforts to resolve the broader Arab–Israeli conflict. Public declarations of claims to a Jewish homeland in Palestine, including the First Zionist Congress of 1897 and the Balfour Declaration of 1917, created early tensions in the region after waves of Jewish immigration. Following World War I, the Mandate for Palestine included a binding obligation for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". Tensions grew into open sectarian conflict between Jews and Arabs. The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was never implemented and provoked the 1947–1949 Palestine War. The current Israeli-Palestinian status quo began following Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War, known as the Palestinian territories.
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is an Israeli politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Israel since December 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is the chairman of the Likud party. Netanyahu is the longest-tenured prime minister in the country's history, having served for a total of over 15 years. He is also the first prime minister to be born in Israel after its Declaration of Independence.
Ben Gurion International Airport, commonly known by the Hebrew-language acronym Natbag, is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Lod, it is the busiest airport in the country. It is located 45 kilometres (28 mi) to the northwest of Jerusalem and 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the southeast of Tel Aviv. Until 1973, it was known as Lod Airport, whereafter it was renamed in honour of David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973), the first Israeli prime minister. The airport serves as a hub for El Al, Israir Airlines, Arkia, and Sun d'Or, and is managed by the Israel Airports Authority.
The Jerusalem Post is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. In 1950, it changed its name to The Jerusalem Post. In 2004, the paper was bought by Mirkaei Tikshoret, a diversified Israeli media firm controlled by investor Eli Azur. In April 2014, Azur acquired the newspaper Maariv. The newspaper is published in English and previously also printed a French edition.
East Jerusalem is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Under international law, East Jerusalem is considered a part of the West Bank and, therefore, of the Palestinian territories. A number of states currently recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, whereas other states assert that East Jerusalem "will be the capital of Palestine", while referring to East Jerusalem at present as "an occupied territory".
Caesarea, also transliterated as Keisarya or Qaysaria, is an affluent resort town in north-central Israel, which was named after the ancient city of Caesarea Maritima situated 1–2 kilometres (0.62–1.24 mi) to the south in the adjacent Caesarea National Park.
The status of Jerusalem is disputed in both international law and diplomatic practice, with both the Israelis and Palestinians claiming Jerusalem as their capital city. The dispute has been described as "one of the most intractable issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict", with conflicting claims to sovereignty over the city or parts of it, and access to its holy sites. The main dispute revolves around the legal status of East Jerusalem and especially the Old City of Jerusalem, while broader agreement exists regarding future Israeli presence in West Jerusalem in accordance with Israel's internationally recognised borders.
Sport in Israel plays an important role in Israeli culture and is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sport. The most popular sports in Israel have traditionally been Association football (mainly) and basketball (secondly) – with the first being considered the national sport – in both of which Israeli professional teams have been competitive internationally. Israel is an international center for Jewish sport around the world and since 1932 the Maccabiah Games, an Olympic-style event for Jewish athletes, is held in the country. Despite Israel's location in the Asian continent, the Israeli sports associations in various sports belong to the European associations due to the refusal of many Arab Asian countries to compete with Israeli athletes.
Israel is an associated state of the European Union. The relations between the two are framed in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, and the Union for the Mediterranean.
David Hanoch Yitzchak Bar-Hayim is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi who heads the Shilo Institute, a Jerusalem-based rabbinical court and institute of Jewish education dedicated to the Torah of Israel.
Christianity is the third largest religion in Israel, after Judaism and Islam. At the end of 2022, Christians made up 1.9% of the Israeli population, numbering approximately 185,000. 75.8% of the Christians in Israel are Arab Christians. Christians make up 6.9% of the Arab citizens of Israel.
Avraham "Avi" Rikan is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for Hapoel Petah Tikva His previous clubs include Maccabi Herzliya, Beitar Jerusalem, FC Zürich and Maccabi Tel Aviv. At international level, Rikan was capped at levels from under-17 to senior team.
Baka is a neighborhood in southern Jerusalem. The official name is Geulim, which is mainly used on road signs.
Laetitia Beck is an Israeli professional golfer. She made her professional debut at the 2014 Women's British Open.
Israel competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics. The Olympic Committee of Israel confirmed a team of 47 athletes, 22 men and 25 women, to compete across 17 sports at the Games. Breaking its previous record of 43 athletes set in 2008, it was the nation's largest ever delegation sent to the Olympics, until the record was again broken by the 90 athletes delegation to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Among the sports represented by its athletes, Israel marked its Olympic debut in golf, mountain biking, and triathlon, as well as its return to road cycling, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling after long years of absence. The nation's full roster also reached a historic milestone for Israeli women, as they officially outnumbered the men for the first time.
The trial of Benjamin Netanyahu began following investigations into allegations of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust by him and close political allies within his inner circle during his fourth and fifth terms as Israel's Prime Minister. The Israel Police began investigating Netanyahu in December 2016 and subsequently recommended indictments against him. On November 21, 2019, Netanyahu was officially indicted for breach of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud, leading him to legally relinquish his ministry portfolios other than prime minister. Netanyahu's trial in the Jerusalem District Court began on May 24, 2020, with witness testimony starting on April 5, 2021. The prosecution listed 333 witnesses. As of June 2023, the criminal trial is still ongoing.
The United States officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel on December 6, 2017. American president Donald Trump, who signed the U.S. presidential proclamation, also ordered the relocation of the American diplomatic mission to Israel, formerly located in Tel Aviv. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the U.S. recognition and praised the announcement by the Trump administration. On December 8, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson clarified that Trump's statement "did not indicate any final status for Jerusalem" and "was very clear that the final status, including the borders, would be left to the two parties to negotiate and decide" in reference to the move's impact on the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.
References
- ↑ Jeremy Last (21 March 2008). "Interview: The Englishman who won over Jerusalem". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
- ↑ Shmulik Futeran (28 December 2007). "Golf / Reichenberg claims top spot". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2022.