Abstract
The area once designated as Palestine, of which Israel forms part, was formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. During the First World War the Arabs under Ottoman rule rebelled and Palestine was occupied by British forces. In 1917 the British Government issued the Balfour Declaration, stating that it viewed ‘with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people’. In 1922 the League of Nations recognized ‘the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and the grounds tor reconstituting their national home in that country’, and Britain assumed a mandate over Palestine, pending the establishment there of such a national home. In Nov. 1947 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish and an Arab state in Palestine. On 14 May 1948 the British Government terminated its mandate and the Jewish leaders proclaimed the State of Israel. No independent Arab state was established in Palestine. Instead the neighbouring Arab states invaded Israel on 15 May 1948. The Jewish state defended itself successfully, and the ceasefire in Jan. 1949 left Israel with one-third more land than had been originally assigned by the UN.
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Further Reading
Central Bureau of Statistics. Statistical Abstract of Israel. (Annual)—Statistical Bulletin of Israel. (Monthly)
Beitlin, Y., Israel: a Concise History. London, 1992
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Schlör, Joachim, Tel Aviv: From Dream to City. Reaktion, London, 1999
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Thomas, Baylis, How Israel Was Won: A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (1900–1999). Lexington Books, Pennsylvania, 2000
Wasserstein, Bernard, Israel and Palestine: Why They Fight and Can They Stop? Profile Books. London, 2003
Other more specialized titles are entered under PALESTINIAN-ADMINISTERED TERRITORIES.
National statistical office: Central Bureau of Statistics, Prime Minister’s Office, POB 13015, Jerusalem 91130.
Website: http://www.cbs.gov.il/
National library: The Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem
Kimrnerling, B. and Migdal J. S., Palestinians: the Making of a People. Harvard Univ. Press. 1994.—The Palestinian People: A History. Harvard Univ. Press, 2003
Robinson, G. E., Building a Palestinian State: the Incomplete Revolution. Indiana Univ. Press. 1997
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Stendel, O., The Arabs in Israel. Brighton, 1996
Tessler, M., A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Indiana Univ. Press, 1994
Wasserstein, Bernard, Israel and Palestine: Why They Fight and Can They Stop? Profile Books. London, 2003
Statistical office: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
Website: http://www.pcbs.gov.ps
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© 2005 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Turner, B. (2005). Israel. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271340_191
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271340_191
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4039-1482-8
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