Capital of Israel - Tel Aviv or Jerusalem? Which city is the capital of Israel? Israel: geography, population, history and economy Israel is the official name.
Official name: State of Israel Form of government: parliamentary democracy
Capital: Jerusalem
Square: 21.643 sq. km
Population: 7 million people
Distribution by religion: 76.5% Jewish, 16% Muslim, 2% Christian, 1.5% Druze, 4% have no religious identity
Currency unit: Israeli new shekel
Israel- a country in southwestern Asia, on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In the north it borders with Lebanon, in the northeast - with Syria, in the east - with Jordan, in the southwest - with Egypt. The relief of the country is quite diverse - in the west, along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Coastal Plain stretches, in the northeast - the Golan Heights, in the east - the mountain ranges of Galilee and Samaria, as well as the depressions of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea. The southern part of the country is occupied by the Negev and Arava deserts. The highest point of the country is Mount Hermon (2224 m) in the north, the lowest is the Dead Sea (400 m below sea level - the lowest land point on Earth).
Territory
Israel is located in the Middle East. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt in the southwest. From the west, it is washed by the Mediterranean Sea (coastline - 230 km), in the south is the Red Sea (coastline - 12 km.) The total length of the borders is 1125 km. More than half of Israel's population lives on the Coastal Plain, which stretches along the Mediterranean Sea for 40 km inland. Almost half of the southern part of the country is occupied by the Negev desert. Approximately 8% of the population lives here. In the northeast of Israel are the Golan Heights and the snow-capped Mount Hermon. The only body of fresh water in Israel - Lake Kinneret - is located in the Jordan Valley. It goes from the north of the country along the border with Jordan to the Arava desert to the south. The Jordan River at its beginning is fed by streams from Mount Hermon in northern Israel, passing through the fertile Hula Valley, the Jordan flows into the Kinneret, leaves it, continues its way through the Jordan Valley and flows into the Dead Sea. A significant part of Israel is occupied by the mountain ranges of Galilee, Samaria and Judea.
Time
Behind Moscow for 1 hour.
Official language
The official languages are Hebrew and Arabic. Also used: English, French, Yiddish, Russian, German, Spanish
Climate
Subtropical, although due to the peculiarities of the geographical location and topography, there are areas with a tropical dry and temperate type of climate.
The average temperatures in January are from -6 to +18 C, in July - from 24 to 30 C, but the same temperature is perceived differently in different parts of the country due to the difference in air humidity. Precipitation falls from 100 to 800 mm. per year, mainly in winter (November to March). The greatest amount of precipitation usually falls in December-February.
Summer is long (from April to October), hot and dry. It is warm throughout the year (from April to October the average temperature is about +26 C), while in the north of the country and in the mountainous regions it is quite cool. In summer, hot, withering winds "sharav" and "khamsin" blow from the Arabian and Sinai deserts, and in winter, humid and warm air masses from the Mediterranean often invade.
The water temperature of the Dead Sea ranges from +19 C in February to +31 C in August. The average air temperature in autumn and spring is +27 C, in winter +20 C, and in summer it exceeds +35 C.
Transport- The bus is the most popular transport in Israel (does not operate on Saturdays and Jewish holidays). The fare on intracity routes is approximately $ 1.2 Taxi operates on Saturdays and holidays. All intracity taxis are equipped with meters.
Rent a car- In the largest cities of Israel and at the international airport. Anyone over the age of 21 with a valid driver's license and an international credit card can rent a car at the Ben Gurion branch of transport companies.
Customs rules: the amount exceeding $3000 must be declared at customs. Antiques made before 1700 may only be taken out of Israel with the written permission of the Director of the Antiquities Authority.
Safety The crime rate in the country is very low. Israel spends most of its budget each year on security. We recommend that you observe elementary precautions, as well as take care of the traditions, beliefs and religious objects of Israel. Vaccination is not required.
Food– Kosher food (prohibition of eating pork and crustaceans, separate cooking of meat and dairy dishes) is observed in most hotels, restaurants and supermarkets, but non-kosher restaurants and shops also operate in many parts of the country. Of the alcoholic beverages, wines are especially popular.
country customs: On holidays and on Saturdays, all public institutions, ministries, offices and shops are closed. There is no public transport, but there is a taxi. Many restaurants, cinemas, nightclubs and discos are also open.
Main resorts and historical centers- from the excursion point of view, the most interesting are Jerusalem (the center of the country), Jaffa (the Mediterranean coast), the north of the country (Galilee). All these places are connected with the history of the Israelite people and the birth of the Christian civilization. The balneological resort of the Dead Sea is world famous (diseases of the musculoskeletal system, skin, nervous and bronchial diseases). One of the world's most fashionable resorts is Eilat, located on the Red Sea. The southwest coast attracts diving and snorkeling enthusiasts.
Table of distances between cities in Israel
| CITIES | TLV | APT B/G | JRM | ARAD | D.S. | ELT | NET | HAIFA | TIB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tel Aviv (TLV) | |||||||||
| Ben Gurion Airport (APT B/G) | |||||||||
| Jerusalem (JRM) | |||||||||
| Arad | |||||||||
| Dead Sea (DS) | |||||||||
| Eilat (ELT) | |||||||||
| Netanya (NET) | |||||||||
| Haifa (HAIFA) | |||||||||
| Tiberias (TIB) |
Table of average air temperatures (°C)
| city / month | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | november | December |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerusalem |
Among the historical accomplishments of the 20th century, the most significant is the act that became crucial for the Jewish people: after two thousand years of dispersion around the world, on May 14, 1948, the UN decreed the creation of the State of Israel.
It seems that there will be readers, even quite knowledgeable ones, who would be interested in learning (or remembering) about the events in the Middle East that unfolded around the creation of the Jewish state and its struggle for existence. Moreover, many people know the foreign policy situation that prepared this act, and they know much less about the behind-the-scenes diplomacy that took place in those years on the sidelines of the UN.
On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly approved a plan to create two independent states in Palestine - Jewish and Arab.
Initially, the Soviet leadership was in favor of creating a single Arab-Jewish state, but then inclined to believe that the division of the mandated territory would be the only reasonable option for resolving the conflict between the Yishuv (this term was used to refer to a more or less organized Jewish community in Eretz Israel since the destruction Jerusalem in 70 and before the creation of the state Israel in 1948. In the Talmud Yishuv was the name of the population in general, but also the Jewish population of Eretz-Israel)and the Arabs of Palestine.
How the State of Israel was created, this is our article.
“The Jewish state was created not by the United States, but by the Soviet Union. Israel would never have appeared if Stalin had not wanted it .... " (L. Mlechin “Why did Stalin create Israel”).
The existence of Israel from the very moment of its proclamation to this day is not only a "stumbling block" for many political forces and countries, an irritant and an object of enduring hatred for many Arabs, but also amazing fact modernity, the likelihood of which was negligible.
After the end of the Second World War and a new redivision of the world, when the pretty battered states came to their senses, they were not up to the problems of the Jewish people, and even more so - not up to the arrangement of the "Jewish home" in Mandatory Palestine. At that time, the "factor of Zionism" lost its relevance and weight.
"Spiritual" Zionism (ahad-hamism) collapsed, as its guide W. Churchill [ 1 ] was removed from the post of prime minister of England, and the new prime minister, together with Foreign Minister E. Bevin, were implacable opponents of this idea. "House of Rothschild" - Great Britain ceded the role of a superpower to America, simultaneously losing its colonies and Saudi Arabia's oil.
Theodor Herzl “Political Zionism” (herzlism) rested on the enthusiasm of illegal immigrants, and most importantly, on fanaticism and heroism, backed up by guerrilla warfare, of such leaders as D. Ben-Gurion and M. Begin; their faith in the implementation of the ideas of T. Herzl (1897 - 1904, founder of the political Zionism , Chairman of the World Zionist Organization, supporter of the re-creationJewish statehood), which at the time seemed to most to be nothing more than a daring scam.
The United States, which received all possible dividends from the war, saw in the newly created UN the prototype of the World Government and used nuclear blackmail to impose the New World Order of the Anglo-Saxons, did not consider political Zionism a significant force (not to be confused with the Jewish world - our comment). In their essentially fascist project of the New Order, there was no place for an independent Jewish state because the “white Protestants” considered themselves descendants of the “ten lost tribes” of the old Israel, and America - the “New Israel”, and not only because of the “streams Arab oil.
The dream of Dr. Herzl and his followers became a reality, his prophecy came true exactly 50 years later thanks to the unexpected, “cunning” move of the “old-timer anti-Semite” Joseph Stalin, his determination and active consistency. This move, which broke the plans of the Anglo-Saxons, became a saving "straw", which was seized on by the "cosmopolitans" - Ahad-Khamites (Ahad-ha-Am or Asher Gunzberg, 1856-1927, or Jewish Hitler, this ancient Hebrew word means "United among the People". He believed that Palestinephilism could not bring economic and social deliverance to the masses of the people, and preached emigration to America. In his opinion, Palestine should become the "spiritual center" of the Jewish people, from which the emanation of a revived Jewish culture would come. He believed , what to Jewish culture only what is written in Hebrew can be attributed. Everything that is written in other languages cannot be attributed to it (including Yiddish, which he considered jargon). He is credited with the authorship of a book known as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. If this book has a place, then it must be the work of a person who is fanatically passionate about the idea of Jewish Nationalism or, more precisely, Judaism in its nationalist understanding.
It is widely believed that the state of Israel arose in this territory only in 1948. In order for readers to have a general idea of the milestones in the formation of this state, it is worth recalling the chronological time order of the formation of the state of Israel.
Israel has appeared on the world map three times.
FirstIsrael arose after an invasion led by Joshua and existed until the early 6th century BC, when it was divided into two different kingdoms during the Babylonian conquests.
Secondtimes Israel appeared after the Persians defeated the inhabitants of Babylon in 540 BC. However, the situation of the country changed in the 4th century BC, when Greece conquered the Persian Empire and the territory of Israel, and once again in the first century BC, when the region was conquered by the Romans.
The second time Israel acted as a small participant within the major imperial powers, and this position lasted until the destruction of the Jewish state by the Romans.
ThirdThe emergence of Israel began in 1948, like the previous two, it goes back to a collection of at least some of the Jews who were dispersed after the conquests around the world. The founding of Israel took place in the context of the decline and fall of the British Empire, and therefore the history of this country, at least in part, should be understood as part of the history of the British Empire.
For the first 50 years, Israel played an important role in confronting the US and Soviet Union, and, in a sense, he was a hostage to the dynamics of the development of these two countries. In other words, as in the first two cases, the emergence of Israel takes place in a constant struggle for its sovereignty and independence, among imperial ambitions.
We omit the period of the Egyptian pharaohs, Roman legionaries and crusaders, and begin the chronological description from the end of the 19th century.
Year 1882. Start first aliyah(waves of Jewish emigration to Eretz-Israel).
Settlers In the period up to 1903, about 35 thousand Jews fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe moved to the province of the Ottoman Empire of Palestine. Huge financial and organizational assistance is provided by Baron Edmond de Rothschild. During this period, the cities of Zichron Yaakov are founded. Rishon Lezion, Petah Tikva, Rehovot and Rosh Pina.
Year 1897. First World Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. Its goal is to create a national home for the Jews in Palestine, which at that time was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
Congress opening At this conference, Theodor Herzl is elected president of the World Zionist Organization.
It should be noted that in modern Israel there is practically no city where one of the central streets would not bear the name of Herzl. It reminds us of something...
Herzl holds numerous negotiations with the leaders of the European powers, including the German Emperor Wilhelm II and the Turkish Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, in order to enlist their support in creating a state for the Jews. The Russian emperor informed Herzl that, apart from prominent Jews, he was not interested in the rest.
Year 1902. The World Zionist Organization establishes the Anglo-Palestinian Bank, which later became the National Bank of Israel (Bank Leumi).
The largest bank in Israel, Bank Hapoalim, was established in 1921 by the Israeli Union of Trade Unions and the World Zionist Organization.
Year 1902.The Shaare Zedek Hospital is founded in Jerusalem.
Former building of Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem The first Jewish hospital in Palestine was opened by the German doctor Chaumont Frenkel in 1843, in Jerusalem. In 1854, Meir Rothschild Hospital was opened in Jerusalem. Bikur Holim Hospital was founded in 1867, although it existed as a medical clinic since 1826, and in 1843 it had only three chambers. In 1912, Hadassah Hospital was founded in Jerusalem by a one-shift women's Zionist organization from the United States. Assuta Hospital was founded in 1934, Rambam Hospital in 1938.
Year 1904. Start second aliyah.
Winery in Rishon Lezion 1906 In the period up to 1914, about 40 thousand Jews moved to Palestine. The second wave of emigration was caused by a series of Jewish pogroms in the world, the most famous of which was the Kishinev pogrom of 1903. The second aliyah organized the kibbutz movement.
Kibbutz- an agricultural commune with common property, equality in labor, consumption and other attributes of communist ideology.
Year 1906. Lithuanian artist and sculptor Boris Schatz founds the Bezalel Academy of Arts in Jerusalem.
Bezalel Academy of Arts Year 1909. The creation in Palestine of the paramilitary Jewish organization Ha-Shomer, the purpose of which, as it is believed, was self-defense and protection of settlements from raids by Bedouins and robbers who stole herds from Jewish peasants.
Year 1912. In Haifa, the Technion Technion (since 1924 - the Technological Institute) is founded by the Jewish German Ezra Foundation. The language of instruction is German, later Hebrew. In 1923, Albert Einstein visited and planted a tree there.
In the same 1912Naum Tsemakh, together with Menachem Gnesin, gathers a troupe in Bialystok, Poland, which became the basis of the professional Habim Theater created in 1920 in Palestine. The first theatrical performances in Hebrew in Eretz Israel date back to the period of the first aliyah. On Sukkot 1889 in Jerusalem, the Lemel school hosted the play Zrubavel, O Shivat Zion (Zrubavel, or the Return to Zion) based on the play by M. Lilienblum. The play was published in Yiddish in Odessa in 1887, translated and staged by D . Elin).
Year 1915. On the initiative of Jabotinsky and Trumpeldor, a "Mule Driver Detachment" is being created as part of the British army, consisting of 500 Jewish volunteers, most of whom are immigrants from Russia. The detachment takes part in the landing of British troops on the Gallipoli peninsula on the shore of Cape Helles, losing 14 dead and 60 wounded. The detachment is disbanded in 1916.
Hero of the Russo-Japanese War Joseph Trumpeldor Year 1917. The Balfour Declaration is an official letter from the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, to Lord Walter Rothschild, in which, in particular, the following was said:
“His Majesty's Government are considering with approval the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will make every effort to contribute to the achievement of this goal; it is clearly understood that no action shall be taken which might violate the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by the Jews in any other country....”
After the defeat in the First World War, the Ottoman Empire lost its power over Palestine (the territory that came under the rule of the British crown).
In 1918, France, Italy and the United States supported the declaration.
Soldiers of the Jewish Legion near the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem in 1917 Year 1917. On the initiative of Rotenberg, Jabotinsky and Trumpeldor, the Jewish Legion is being created as part of the British army.
Year 1919. third aliyah. Due to the British violation of the mandate of the League of Nations and the imposition of restrictions on the entry of Jews, until 1923, 40,000 Jews moved to Palestine, mainly from Eastern Europe.
Year 1920. Creation of the Jewish military underground organization Hagan in Palestine in response to the destruction of the northern settlement of Tel Hai by the Arabs, as a result of which 8 people died, including the war hero in Port Arthur Trumpeldor.
Naharaim hydroelectric power plant Year 1921. Pinchas Rutenberg (revolutionary and colleague of Pop Gapon, one of the founders of the Haganah Jewish self-defense units) founded the Jaffa Electric Company, then the Palestinian Electric Company, and since 1961 the Israeli Electric Company.
Territories covered by the British Mandate Year 1922. Representatives of the 52 countries that were members of the League of Nations (precursor to the UN) formally endorse the British Mandate for Palestine. Palestine then meant the current territories of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and parts of Saudi Arabia.
It is noteworthy that by the "Palestinian Administration" the League of Nations meant the Jewish authorities and generally did not mention the idea of creating an Arab state in a mandated territory, which also includes Jordan.
Year 1924. fourth aliyah. In two years, about 63 thousand people move to Palestine. Emigrants are mainly from Poland, since by that time the USSR was already blocking the free exit of Jews. At this time, the city of Afula was founded in the Israel Valley on the lands purchased by the American Company for the Development of Eretz Israel.
Year 1927. The Palestinian pound is put into circulation. In 1948, it was renamed to the Israeli lira, although the old name Palestine Pound was present on the banknotes in Latin script.
Sample banknote of the time This name was present on the Israeli currency until 1980, when Israel switched to shekels, and from 1985 to this day, a new shekel has been in circulation. Since 2003, the new shekel has been one of the 17 international freely convertible currencies.
Year 1929. Fifth Aliyah. In the period up to 1939, in connection with the flowering of Nazi ideology, about 250 thousand Jews moved from Europe to Palestine, 174 thousand of which in the period from 1933 to 1936. In this regard, tensions between the Arab and Jewish populations of Palestine are increasing.
Year 1933. Egged, the largest transport cooperative to this day, is being created.
Soldiers of the Jewish Brigade in Italy in 1945 Year 1944. The Jewish Brigade is created as part of the British Army. The British government initially opposed the idea of creating Jewish militias, fearing that it would give more weight to the political demands of the Jewish population of Palestine.
Year 1947. April 2nd. British government refuses from the Mandate for Palestine, arguing that it is unable to find an acceptable solution for the Arabs and Jews and asks the UN to find a solution to the problem.
Year 1947. November 29th. The United Nations adopts a plan for the partition of Palestine (UNGA resolution No. 181). This plan provides for the termination of the British mandate in Palestine by August 1, 1948 and recommends the creation of two states on its territory: Jewish and Arab. Under the Jewish and Arab states, 23% of the mandated territory transferred to Great Britain by the League of Nations is allocated (for 77%, Great Britain organized the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 80% of whose citizens are the so-called Palestinians). Under the Jewish state, the UNSCOP commission allocates 56% of this territory, under the Arab - 43%, one percent goes under international control. Subsequently, the section is adjusted taking into account Jewish and Arab settlements, and 61% is allocated to the Jewish state, the border is moved so that 54 Arab settlements fall into the territory allocated to the Arab state. Thus, only 14% of the territories allocated by the League of Nations for the same purposes 30 years ago are allocated for the future Jewish state.
The Jewish authorities of Palestine gleefully accept the UN's plan for the partition of Palestine, Arab leaders, including the League of Arab States and the Arab High Council of Palestine, categorically reject this plan.
Partition plan for Palestine on the eve of the War of Independence, 1947 Year 1948. May 14th. The day before the end of the British Mandate for Palestine, David Ben-Gurion proclaims the creation of an independent Jewish state on the territory allocated according to the UN plan.
Year 1948. May 15th. The Arab League declares war on Israel and Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Trans Jordan attack Israel. Trans-Jordan annexes the West Bank of the Jordan River, and Egypt annexes the Gaza Strip (territories allocated for an Arab state).
Year 1949. In July, a ceasefire agreement is signed with Syria. The War of Independence is over.
This is some prehistory of the creation of the State of Israel. As you can see, the process of its formation was long and it did not arise from scratch. And now let's dwell on some points that will help to understand how and why this state could arise, who defended the right of the Jews to a sovereign state, why the fight against cosmopolitanism was waged in the USA.
On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations approved a plan to create two independent states in Palestine - Jewish and Arab.
Documents show that of all the great powers at that time, the Soviet Union took the most definite and clear position on the question of the division of Palestine.
Initially, the Soviet leadership was in favor of the creation of a single Arab-Jewish state, but then inclined to believe that the division of the mandated territory would be the only reasonable option for resolving the conflict between the Yishuv and the Arabs of Palestine.
Defending resolution No. 181 at the Second Special Session of the UN General Assembly in April 1948, A.A. Gromyko emphasized:
“The partition of Palestine makes it possible for each of the peoples inhabiting it to have their own state. It thus makes it possible to radically regulate once and for all relations between peoples.
Both the USA and the USSR voted for Resolution No. 181 in November 1947. The position of the USSR remained unchanged. The US sought to delay and modify the text of the resolution before the vote. The “adjustment” of the US Middle East policy took place on March 19, 1948, when, at a meeting of the UN Security Council, the American representative expressed the opinion that after the end of the British mandate in Palestine, “chaos and major conflict” would arise, and therefore, he said, the United States believed that temporary guardianship should be established over Palestine. Thus, Washington actually spoke out against Resolution No. 181, which it voted for in November.
Soviet representative S.K. Tsarapkin in 1948 opposed:
“No one can dispute the high cultural, social, political and economic level of the Jewish people. Such people cannot be patronized. Such a people has every right to its own independent state.”
A. Gromyko (sitting) The Soviet position has always remained unchanged. So, even before the second decisive vote on November 29, 1947, Minister of Foreign Affairs A.A. Gromyko came up with a clearer proposal:
“The essence of the problem is the right to self-determination of hundreds of thousands of Jews and also Arabs living in Palestine… their right to live in peace and independence in their own states. We must take into account the suffering of the Jewish people, to which none of the states Western Europe could not help during their struggle against Hitlerism and with Hitler's allies in protecting their rights and their existence ... The UN must help every people to obtain the right to independence and self-determination ... "[2],
“... The experience of studying the question of Palestine has shown that Jews and Arabs in Palestine do not want or cannot live together. A logical conclusion followed from this: if these two peoples inhabiting Palestine, both having deep historical roots in this country, cannot live together within the boundaries of a single state, then nothing else remains but to form two states instead of one - Arab and Jewish. In the opinion of the Soviet delegation, no other practically feasible option can be invented ... "[3].
At this crucial moment Great Britain took a consistently anti-Jewish position. Forced to renounce the Mandate for Palestine, it voted against Resolution No. 181 and then essentially pursued an obstructionist policy, creating serious obstacles to the settlement of the Palestinian problem. Thus, the British government did not comply with the decision of the UN General Assembly to open a port for Jewish emigration in Palestine on February 1, 1948. Moreover, the British authorities detained ships with Jewish emigrants in the neutral waters of the Mediterranean Sea and forcibly sent them to Cyprus, and even to Hamburg.
On April 28, 1948, speaking in the House of Commons of the British Parliament, Foreign Minister E. Bevin stated that, in accordance with the Transjordan Treaty concluded in March, Great Britain
"will continue to provide funds for the maintenance of the Arab Legion, as well as send military instructors."
Why did the USSR defend the right of the Jews to their own statehood and why did the USA want to at least delay the adoption of Resolution No. 181?
The USSR wanted to remove imperialist Great Britain from the Middle East, to strengthen its position in this strategic region (more on that later).
And now it is worth explaining the US position on the Jewish question in a little more detail.
First, it is necessary to clarify what "cosmopolitanism" is. Probably, many of us have ever heard such words as "cosmopolitanism", "cosmopolitan", but does everyone understand their meaning correctly? In some countries, the concept of these terms is somewhat distorted, at different times the meaning of this view of the world was perceived and interpreted differently.
Marginal notes. What is cosmopolitanism?
The meaning of the term "cosmopolitanism" is to be found in Greek, where cosmopolites is a citizen of the world. That is, a cosmopolitan is a person who considers his homeland not a particular state or region, but the planet Earth as a whole. At the same time, cosmopolitans tend to deny their national identity, such a person sees himself as a citizen of the whole world, and perceives humanity as one big family.
In our opinion, it is important to think not only for your country and your people, but for the entire planet, because no matter how many peoples inhabit it, how many borders are drawn, the Earth is our common home, but at the same time you need to have your own national identity , remember your roots and take care of your small Motherland.
There is an opinion that the US government, long before the events of the 1940s, took an unambiguously pro-Zionist position on the Palestinian issue. This is not true. In fact, the United States showed serious hesitation in its approach to solving this problem due to strong pro-Arab and anti-Jewish sentiments in the ruling circles of the country.
There were also anti-Semitic sentiments in the United States at that time. The anti-Semitic campaign of Henry Ford was carried out in the press, replicating throughout America "Protocols Elders of Zion"(whether they exist or not, let the experts say, but the text has been going around for a long time and excites the minds).
Anti-Jewish sentiment intensified when in 1947 the famous "Hollywood Ten" of film writers and directors was accused of "anti-American activities" - eight of them were Jews. And although they were accused of communist propaganda, but Jewish origin also played a role. So in the United States, in their own way, they also fought against “cosmopolitanism”, which was often expressed in the behavior of Jews who historically did not have their own small homeland, and therefore were more reminiscent of the mafia, against which there was a struggle, both in the USA and in the USSR.
Therefore, two powerful lobbies clashed with the United States: the oil monopolies with multi-billion dollar investments in Arab countries and the Jewish financial lobby, which exists not only in the United States. The White House is faced with a difficult choice. The US presidential election is approaching. The five million Jewish electorate could not be ignored.
On the eve of the historic UN vote, Jews handed a petition to Truman, unambiguously demanding the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Under the petition - 100 thousand signatures of Jews - prominent statesmen and public figures.
And, finally, the US could not afford to remain isolated when it became clear that at the UN General Assembly the majority of countries would vote for Resolution 181.
The British Mandate officially ended at midnight, 12:00 noon, 14 May 1948. At 4 pm in Tel Aviv, at a meeting of members of the Jewish National Council, the establishment of the State of Israel was proclaimed.
On May 15, the Arab League declared that "all Arab countries from this day on are at war with the Jews." On the night of May 14-15, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen invaded Palestine from the north, east and south, and King Abdullah hurried to issue new banknotes with his portrait and the inscription: “Arab Hashemite Kingdom” .
Israel's foreign policy situation at the time was complex: a hostile Arab encirclement, an unfriendly British stance, erratic support for the United States, and a deteriorating relationship with the Soviet Union despite its support.
In 1947, Great Britain's referral of the question of Palestine to the discussion of the United Nations provided the USSR with an opportunity for the first time not only to express its point of view on the question of Palestine, but also to take an effective part in the fate of Palestine. The Soviet Union could not but support the demands of the Jews to create their own state on the territory of Palestine.
When discussing this issue, Vyacheslav Molotov, and then Joseph Stalin, agreed with this decision. On May 14, 1947, Andrei Gromyko, the permanent representative of the USSR to the UN, voiced the Soviet position. At a special session of the General Assembly, he, in particular, said:
“The Jewish people suffered in the last war exceptional disasters and sufferings. In the territory dominated by the Nazis, the Jews were subjected to almost complete physical extermination - about six million people died. The fact that not a single Western European state was able to protect the elementary rights of the Jewish people and protect it from violence by fascist executioners explains the desire of the Jews to create their own state. It would be unfair not to take this into account and to deny the right of the Jewish people to realize such an aspiration."
Now it is worth dwelling on such an issue, which liberals sometimes interpret based on their convictions, including because of their negative attitude towards the USSR and Stalin, as the Jewish question during the years of Soviet power.
The Jewish Question and Stalin
Legal and social status Russian Jews it improved radically after the October Revolution. In 1921-1930, the revolution provided an opportunity for Jews to move to Moscow and other large cities of the USSR, since the Pale of Settlement was abolished. So in 1912, 6.4 thousand Jews lived in Moscow, in 1933 - 241.7 thousand. The population of Moscow grew during these years from 1 million 618 thousand to 3 million 663 thousand. In other words, the Jewish population of Moscow grew 17 times faster than the population of other peoples and nationalities.
The Soviet leadership did not prevent Jews from entering key positions in the state. In particular, from the memoirs of Academician Pontryagin (mathematician, 1908-1988), one can learn that in 1942, 98% of graduates of the Physics Department of Moscow State University were Jews. After the war, a certain graduate student complained to Pontryagin that "Jews are being wiped out, last year 39% of Jews were admitted to graduate school, and only 25% this year."
Stalin and the Jews during the Great Patriotic War
The Soviet Union saved millions of Soviet Jews from the Nazi genocide. The Jewish problem, imperceptible to the majority of the country's population in the conditions of the general tragedy of the war and the death of millions of Russians, Ukrainians and other representatives of the Soviet peoples on the battlefields, became especially acute in early 1943. After the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad, the troops of the Red Army, advancing to the west, discovered the monstrous facts of the complete extermination of Jews in the territories previously occupied by the Germans. Jews were simply shot and killed in special vans - "gas chambers". The concentration camps for the elimination of Jews - Majdanek, Auschwitz and others were filled mainly with Jews brought from Western countries as well as Polish Jews. Soviet Jews who fell into the occupation were liquidated on the spot. This practice began in the Baltic States and Western Ukraine as early as July 1941. But still, about 70 percent of the Jews who lived in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and other areas were able to escape by leaving for the eastern regions of the USSR. There were also hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Poland, Rumania, Bessarabia and Hungary and from some other European countries.
The European Jews, physically exterminated by Hitler, had at that time no other refuge than the USSR, even if they managed to escape from the Nazi genocide. The American government refused to issue visas to Jewish refugees and did not meet the minimum quotas for Jewish emigration that were introduced in 1933-1939 at the beginning of the Nazi anti-Semitic campaign. Britain prevented the arrival of Jews in Palestine, which was a British mandated territory. The British and American press wrote very little about the extermination of Jews in Europe during the war years.
It was the USSR that allowed the Jews to fulfill the dream of several generations - to create the state of Israel: in 1948, the Jews of the USSR and the whole world had a second homeland (which, at the same time, did not at all contribute to the growth of their patriotism towards the USSR). Stalin was a supporter of the creation of the State of Israel. Even more can be said - without Stalin's active support for the project of creating the state of Israel on the territory of Palestine, such a state would not currently exist. Hasidic rabbi Aaron Shmulevich wrote:
“We must not forget about the role of the USSR and Stalin in the creation of the State of Israel. Only thanks to the support of the Soviet Union, the UN adopted a resolution on the creation of the state.
“Since Stalin was determined to give the Jews their own state, it would be foolish for the United States to resist!” - concluded US President Harry Truman and instructed the "anti-Semitic" State Department to support the "Stalinist initiative" in the UN.
In November 1947, it adopted resolution No. 181 (2) on the creation of two independent states on the territory of Palestine: Jewish and Arab immediately after the withdrawal of British troops (May 14, 1948).
marginal notes
For: 33
Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Belarus, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Liberia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Ukrainian SSR, Republic of South Africa, USA, USSR, Uruguay, Venezuela.
Against: 13
Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen.
Abstained: 10
Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, Great Britain, Yugoslavia.
The supporters of the partition managed to collect the two-thirds of the votes necessary for this. The Soviet Union gave its three votes in support of the resolution (in addition to the USSR, Ukraine and Belarus, represented in the UN as separate delegations, participated in the vote), as well as Poland and Czechoslovakia thanks to what is also a success of Soviet diplomacy. The five votes of the Soviet bloc played a decisive role in this final vote, which is the decisive role of the USSR and personally I.V. Stalin. At the same time, the USSR managed to negotiate with the United States, which also voted in favor of the formation of a Jewish state. Jerusalem and Bethlehem, according to the UN decision, were to become a territory under international control. [6].
On the day the resolution was adopted, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Jews, distraught with happiness, took to the streets. When the UN made a decision, Stalin smoked a pipe for a long time, and then said:
"That's it, now there will be no peace here" [ 4 ]
“Here” is in the Middle East, apparently, his words turned out to be prophetic.
The Arab countries did not accept the UN decision. They were incredibly outraged by the Soviet position. The Arab communist parties, which are accustomed to fighting against "Zionism - the agents of British and American imperialism," were simply confused, seeing that the Soviet position had changed beyond recognition.
For this purpose, a government "for the Jews of Palestine" was prepared in the USSR. Solomon Lozovsky, a member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a former deputy people's commissar for foreign affairs, director of the Soviet Information Bureau, was to become the prime minister of the new state. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, tanker David Dragunsky was approved for the post of Minister of Defense, Grigory Gilman, a senior intelligence officer of the USSR Navy, became Minister of the Navy. But in the end, a government was created from the international Jewish Agency, headed by its chairman, Ben-Gurion (a native of Russia); and the “Stalinist government”, which was already ready to fly to Palestine, was dissolved.
On the night of Friday, May 14, 1948, to the salute of seventeen guns, the British High Commissioner for Palestine sailed from Haifa. The mandate has expired.
David Ben-Gurion, future prime minister, proclaims Israel's independence under a portrait of Theodor Herzl. At four o'clock in the afternoon, the State of Israel was proclaimed in the museum building on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv (Judea and Zion also appeared among the variants of the name; and herethere is one oddity: in the past of the Jews, a state called Judea existed for a thousand years, but a state called Israel - only 100, such a “strange” matrix). Future Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, after persuading frightened (after the US warning) ministers to vote for the declaration of independence, promising the arrival of two million Jews from the USSR within two years, read out the Declaration of Independence prepared by "Russian experts".
On May 18, the Soviet Union was the first to recognize the Jewish state de jure. On the occasion of the arrival of Soviet diplomats, about two thousand people gathered in the building of one of the largest cinemas in Tel Aviv, Esther, and about five thousand more people stood on the street who listened to the broadcast of all the speeches. A large portrait of Stalin and the slogan "Long live friendship between the State of Israel and the USSR!" were hung over the presidium table. The working youth choir sang the Jewish anthem, then the anthem of the Soviet Union. "Internationale" was already sung by the whole hall. Then the choir sang "March of the Artillerymen", "Song of Budyonny", "Get Up, Huge Country".
Soviet diplomats stated in the UN Security Council: since the Arab countries do not recognize Israel and its borders, Israel may not recognize them either.
Documents, figures and facts give a certain idea of the role of the Soviet military component in the formation of the State of Israel. Nobody helped the Jews with weapons and immigrant soldiers, except for the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe. Until now, in Israel one can often hear and read that the Jewish state survived the "Palestinian war" thanks to "volunteers" from the USSR and other socialist countries (is that a question).
Although he did everything to ensure that within six months the mobilization capabilities of sparsely populated Israel could "digest" a huge amount of supplied weapons. Young people from the "nearby" states - Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, to a lesser extent, Czechoslovakia and Poland - made up the conscript contingent that made it possible to create a fully equipped and well-armed Israel Defense Forces.
In Palestine, and especially after the creation of the State of Israel, there were exceptionally strong sympathies for the USSR as a state that, firstly, saved the Jewish people from destruction during World War II, and, secondly, provided enormous political and military assistance to Israel in his struggle for independence.
In Israel, they loved “comrade Stalin” as a human being, and the vast majority of the adult population simply does not want to hear any criticism of the Soviet Union.
“Many Israelis idolized Stalin,” wrote the son of the famous intelligence officer Edgar Broyde-Trepper. “Even after Khrushchev’s report at the 20th Congress, Stalin’s portraits continued to adorn many government institutions, not to mention kibbutzim.”
The political nature of Stalin's attitude towards Jewish problems is evident from the fact that he showed himself to be an active supporter of the establishment of the State of Israel. Even more can be said - without Stalin's support for the project of creating a Jewish state on the territory of Palestine, this state could not have been created in 1948. Since Israel could actually appear only in 1948, since it was at that time that the British mandate to rule this territory ended, Stalin's decision against Great Britain and its Arab allies was of historical significance.
Israel's pro-American orientation was all too clear. The new country was created with the money of wealthy American Zionist organizations, which also paid for the weapons that were purchased in Eastern Europe. In 1947, many in both the USSR and Israel believed that the USSR's position in the UN was determined by moral considerations. Gromyko briefly became the most popular person in Israel.
Golda Meir Even Golda Meir in 1947 and 1948 was convinced that Stalin was helping the Jews out of some lofty moral considerations:
“The recognition of the Soviet Union, which followed the American one, had other roots. Now I have no doubt that the main thing for the Soviets was the expulsion of England from the Middle East. But in the fall of 1947, when the debates were taking place in the United Nations, it seemed to me that the Soviet bloc was supporting us also because the Russians themselves had paid a terrible price for their victory, and therefore, deeply sympathizing with the Jews who had suffered so hard from the Nazis, they understood that they deserved their own state." [ 5 ]
In reality, in Stalin's opinion, the creation of Israel at that time and for the foreseeable future corresponded to the foreign policy interests of the USSR. By supporting Israel, Stalin drove a wedge into relations between the US and Great Britain and between the US and the Arab countries. According to Sudoplatov, Stalin foresaw that the Arab countries would subsequently turn towards the Soviet Union, disillusioned with the British and Americans because of their support for Israel. Molotov's assistant Mikhail Vetrov retold Stalin's words to Sudoplatov:
“Let's agree to the formation of Israel. It will be like an awl in the ass for the Arab states and make them turn their backs on Britain. Ultimately, British influence will be completely undermined in Egypt, Syria, Turkey and Iraq." [ 7 ]
Stalin's foreign policy forecast was largely justified. In the Arab and many other Muslim countries, the influence of not only Britain but also the United States was undermined. But what is the political course chosen by Israel?
The latter was inevitable. The democratic political system of Israel and its pro-Western orientation were increasingly determined, which did not meet the hopes of the Stalinist leadership. In 1951, a correspondent of the Novoe Vremya magazine visited Israel. He wrote:
"Three years of Israel's existence cannot but disappoint those who expected that the emergence of a new independent state in the Middle East would help strengthen the forces of peace and democracy."
And in 1956, in the journal International Affairs, it was said:
"Israel unleashed a war against the Arab countries literally the day after the English flag was lowered in Jerusalem on May 14, 1948 and the formation of the State of Israel was proclaimed."
And the United States concluded with Israel "Agreement on Mutual Security Assistance". And they provided Israel with a loan of 100 million dollars, which indicated that the young state had contact not only with American Jews, but also with the government of this country.
It became increasingly clear that Israel's future would depend more and more on friendly relations with the United States. But, on the other hand, it was necessary to maintain positive relations with the USSR. Not only the government, but also a significant part of the population of the revived Jewish state were interested in developing economic, cultural and military cooperation with a powerful state, which also had great authority in the world after the victory over Nazi Germany.
D. Ben Gurion On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the October Revolution, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion sent congratulations addressed to Stalin. On November 8, 1952, the House of Friendship between Israel and the USSR was solemnly opened in Tel Aviv.
US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, in a personal conversation with British Ambassador MacDonald in November 1948, said:
“England has proven to be an unreliable guide in the Middle East — her predictions have so often failed. We must strive to maintain Anglo-American unity, but the United States must be the senior partner."
It was this division of roles that developed in the future - the United States gradually became the "guide" in the Middle East.
In December 2012, the most influential Henry Kissinger said that America had overstrained itself, and in ten years there would be no Israel... But one can guess that “the West has betrayed the Jews” for a long time, and the US policy on the Jewish issue has always been ambivalent.
In a very controversial but very curious book by D. Loftus and M. Aarons "The Secret War Against the Jews" (1997), America is accused of Nazism, large-scale secret games, where the Jews are "a bargaining chip." Here is just one sentence from this book:
"The mighty world powers are constantly hatching secret plans aimed at the complete or partial destruction of Israel" ...
And what was and is the position of the USSR / Russia?
Now let's look at our then Motherland. USSR -the only one in the worldthe state of that time, where in the Criminal Code there is an article for anti-Semitism. By the end of the 1920s, Jewish collective farms and state farms, schools and theaters were operating in the country, and there were national Jewish territorial units at the level of local self-government.
For Stalin, the Jews are the equal people of the USSR, like all others, worthy of earning happiness by their labor (whatever our liberals say today).
As early as March 28, 1928, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopted a resolution "On assigning to KOMZET for the needs of the continuous settlement of free lands by working Jews in the Amur strip of the Far Eastern Territory." And on May 7, 1934, the Jewish Autonomous Region was formed in the USSR, apparently in response to the introduction of the ardent anti-Semite Hitler into the game, knocking out provocative "trump cards" from some of the Zionists. Those. for the first time since biblical times, Jews received their public education (before that, we recall that all Jewish self-government for centuries was limited to the borders of the ghetto!). At the height of the Holocaust of 1944-45, intelligence reports began to fall on the table to Stalin that, thanks to Oppenheimer (an American scientist), the United States would receive an atomic bomb within the next year. And for Joseph Vissarionovich, the question
“How to keep the US and the West from aggression against the USSR against the backdrop of a nuclear monopoly?” has become extremely important. As Vladimir Ilyich said, "delay in death is like ..."
Not to fully use the Jewish factor, which the USSR successfully used throughout the Great Patriotic War, would have been an unaffordable luxury for Stalin. He was well aware that until the situation of mutually assured destruction, the West would not give up its attempts to conquer Russia, and immediately after the Second World War, the Third World would begin, first “cold”, and then “strange”. He moved his Jewish divisions into the cover forces from the Third World War ... This is how the state of Israel was formed, to which our country always treats with respect.
Igor Kurchatov (1903 - 1960) And in 1949, thanks to our scientists, headed by Kurchatov, under the leadership of Beria, the first nuclear bomb appeared, the project of which was laid back in 1940. This is how Russia's nuclear shield was created, which to this day is the guarantor of our security and sovereignty. Jews gathered in a crusade against "Putin's Russia"
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Literature:
Nikitina G.S. State of Israel: (Features of economic and political development). M., 1968
Brief Jewish Encyclopedia, tt. 1–7. M. - Jerusalem, 1976-1996
State of Israel. Directory. M., 1986
Barkovsky L.A. Arab population of Israel. M., 1988
Karasova T.A. The Maarah bloc in the political party system of Israel. M., 1988
Fedorchenko A.V. Israel: problems of economic development. M., 1990
The State of Israel in the 80s: (Essays). Rep. ed. Karasova T.A. M., 1992
Gwati H. Kibbutz: how we live. Jerusalem - St. Petersburg, 1992
Simanovsky S.I., Strepetova M.P. Israel. M., 1995
Fedorchenko A.V. Agriculture in Israel. Socio-economic forms of organization of production. M., 1995
Gasratyan S.M. Religious parties in the State of Israel. M., 1996
Fedorchenko A.V. Israel on the eve of the 21st century: The problem of adapting the national economy to new conditions. M., 1996
Karasova T.A. .
Middle East settlement and Israeli society. – Middle East and Modernity. 1999, No. 7
Satanovsky E.Ya. Israeli economy in the 90s. M., 1999
Geisel Z. Political Structures of the State of Israel. M., 2001
Goncharok M. The ashes of our fires. Essays on the History of the Jewish Anarchist Movement (Yiddish Anarchism). Jerusalem, 2002
Society and Politics of Modern Israel. M. - Jerusalem, 2002
Arab-Israeli conflict: old problems and new plans. M., 2003
Epstein A.D. Endless confrontation.(Israel and the Arab world: wars and diplomacy, history and modernity). M., 2003
Epstein A., Uritsky M. The problem of Palestinian refugees: history, historiography and politics. Cosmopolis, 2003, No. 3 (5)
The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict in the Mirror of Public Opinion and International Diplomacy. Ed. HELL. Epstein. M., 2004
Epstein A., Uritsky M. British rule in Palestine(1917–1928
):between Jews and Arabs. Cosmopolis. 2005, No. 1 (11)
Jerusalem 23:48 11°C
rain
The population of the country is 7,353,985 people The territory is 20,770 sq. km Part of the world Middle East Capital Jerusalem Money Shekel (ILS) Domain zone.il Telephone country code +972
Sights of Israel (photo and description)
In Jerusalem, the main attractions of Israel are located: Golgotha, the Golden Gate and the ruins of the Judgment Gate. Mount Carmel, described in the Bible, can be considered the most important attraction of the city of Haifa. Every tourist, while in this city, should certainly look into the cave of the prophet Elijah, inspect the Tel Shikmon archaeological site and the sculpture garden, located on the territory of Zionism Boulevard.
In the city of Akko, you should definitely pay attention to the Citadel, the Al-Jazar mosque and the great Clock Tower.
Sepphoris National Park is located in Nazareth, and in Kfar Kana, according to legend, Jesus performed his first miracle.
Climate:: Moderate. Hot and dry in the southern and eastern regions of the desert.
Museums in Israel
On the territory of Jerusalem there are a large number of museums, including: the Theodor-Herzl Museum, the Turga Music Center, the Museum of Bible Lands and the Rockefeller Museum.
Tel Aviv is home to the Shaar Zion Art Museum, the Independence Palace and the Museum of Performing Arts.
In the Citadel of Akko, you can visit the Museum of Heroism, and in Haifa you can visit the Museum of Illegal Emigration, the Museum of Music, Japanese Folk Art, the Maritime Museum and the Museum of the artist Meni Katz. Israel as a whole is incredibly rich in all kinds of galleries, museums, exhibitions and expositions.
Terrain: Negev Desert in the south. Low coastal plain. Central mountains.
Leisure
The current capital of Israel, Tel Aviv, is the most suitable city for entertainment and comfortable rest.
You can have a great time in the capital by visiting: the entertainment center "Migdal-Opera", the national theater - "Habima", a bar ideal for young visitors to the city - "Buzz-Stop", the night club "Stefan Brown", the restaurant "Kavkaz" and much more. Tel Aviv also has a special establishment for Russian tourists - a restaurant with the colorful name "Pancake". For those who prefer healthy lifestyle life, there is a magnificent sports center called "Sportek.
The population of the whole country is equal to the population of half of Moscow. Of these, a quarter are Russian-speaking immigrants from the CIS countries.
Resources: Wood, potash, copper ore, natural gas, phosphate rock, magnesium bromide, clay, sand.
Hotels
In the capital of Israel, you can easily find a place to spend the night. The main hotels in Tel Aviv are: "Abratel Suites", "Alexander suites" or a colorful hotel "Art + Hotel". All of them have four stars and more than good conditions for living.
The city of Eilat kindly offers the guests of the city hotels: "Agamim", "Americana Hotel Eilat" and "Arcadia Spa" on the same terms as the above capital hotels.
In Jerusalem, you can stay in the elegant "Arthur Hotel", the somewhat urban "Atlas Harmony" or the "C Hotel Neve Ilan", which, in addition to comfortable living conditions, provides an opportunity to walk in the magnificent garden located on the territory.
In cafes and restaurants in Israel, they feed for slaughter. If you order tobacco chicken, be prepared to receive a chicken the size of an adult hen. And if you want to taste pork, then you have a direct road to Russian establishments. Pork is not kosher.
Israeli money: Now the national currency of Israel is considered to be the new shekels, the introduction of which into circulation dates back to 1985. After Israel received the status of an independent state, the question arose of changing the national currency and abandoning the British pounds sterling, by assigning the national currency the name of the Palestinian pound, which was the same as the Israeli lira. The currency was later replaced by the shekel, and after depreciation, the new shekel. The Israeli agora, which is one hundredth of the main currency, is considered to be a change of the new shekel.
The best resorts in Israel
Kepernaum is one of the most picturesque corners of the country. It is located on the territory of Lake Kinneret and attracts tourists with its natural conditions and landscapes.
The mild climate, the abundance of hotels and the opportunity to have a good time attracts to sunny Eilat.
Netanya is rightfully considered the pearl of the resorts of Jerusalem, and absolutely everyone has heard and dreamed about a vacation on the Dead Sea, because this is the best place to improve your health and simply relax. For a good rest, people are happy to go to Tiberias, where cultural life flourishes.
Transport
Urban transport of the country is provided mainly by buses. In some cities, travel is also carried out using suburban trains, but their route is very limited. The city of Haifa boasts the only metro line in Israel, and in Tel Aviv, the metro is only to appear in the near future. In any city in Israel, you can easily use taxi services for travel within the city and intercity traffic. The country's central airport is located in Tel Aviv. Airports in Haifa, Eilat or the Negev are also used for international flights.
Standard of living
At the moment, Israel boasts a very high standard of living. It skips forward in terms of development only a few countries of the globe. The average life expectancy in the country is about eighty years, without taking into account gender differentiation, and in terms of the number of people who have received higher education, this is hardly the first country in the world. The average salary of an Israeli citizen is about 9,000 shekels, and if we consider a salary in the amount of US dollars, then this is about 2,500 per month. Medicine is at a high level. The country has a well-developed social package for workers.
Mostly Georgians are engaged in currency exchange. Inexplicable but the fact.
Major cities in Israel
Every tourist must visit Jerusalem sooner or later - a city of pilgrimages, priceless relics and stunning horizons.
One of the oldest cities in Jerusalem, its former capital, offers almost limitless opportunities for visitors to the city. The current capital of the country is sunny Tel Aviv, which is considered the first Jewish city of the modern state.
One of the most ancient and mysterious places in Israel is the city of Safed, located at an altitude of eight hundred meters above sea level.
The cities of Nazareth, Akko and, of course, Haifa will be no less interesting for tourists.
Population
Coordinates
Jerusalem Jerusalem District 31.77902 x 35.2253 West Jerusalem Jerusalem District 31.78199 x 35.21961 haifa district 32.81556 x 34.98917 Tel Aviv Tel Aviv 32.06667 x 34.76667 Southern District 31.81667 x 34.65 Rishon LeZiyyon central District 31.96417 x 34.80444 Petax-Tikva central District 32.09174 x 34.88503 Beersheba Southern District 31.25181 x 34.7913 central District
