Isreal Profile
...water. To the west is Egypt which occupies the entire western border of Israel. The majority of the eastern border is occupied by the country of Jordan. To the north east is Syria and on the north side of Israel is Lebanon. Israel has coastline on the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, as well as the Dead Sea. Israel has declared its capital as the city of Jerusalem although the United Nations does not recognize it as the capital. Israel is bordered by countries that are made up of Arab and largely Islamic religions. It is an extremely young country by most standards, being formed only fifty nine years ago in 1948. Although it is so young the conflict and struggle between those who inhabit the territory is deeply rooted and dates back to biblical times. Because of the great tension surrounding the entire region, the acting government has an immense task of building a country that is economically and socially stable and so far has succeeded.
The history of Israel is extremely chaotic. Control of the region has been a fight since before the time of Christ. Before the region became Israel it was known as Palestine. The control of Palestine changed hands about seven different times dating back to somewhere around 1200 B.C. The Roman Empire controlled Palestine for around 300 years after Persian rule fell. But shortly after Constantine the Great permitted Christianity to be practiced in 313 A.D. the region was taken over by Arab armies. The conquest of the land by the Muslims led to control of the region for about 1300 years. The Muslim rule was peaceful and religions were not forced on the people of the region. The Muslim control lasted until about 1500 A.D. when Palestine was taken over by the Ottoman Empire. Since Muslim power lasted so long the country was populated for the most part by Arabs. The Jewish population was extremely scarce and was primarily...
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