Published: May 01, 2006

Israel by the Numbers on the Eve of its 58th Year of Independence

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As Israel prepares to celebrate Independence Day Wednesday, the following are numbers that may be of interest to you:

160 - The number of countries with which Israel has established diplomatic ties. That includes Muslim countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania and Qatar. [1]

12,877 square miles - Israel's total land mass - slightly less than that of New Jersey.[2]

8,368,272 square miles - The land mass of the 21 Arab countries surrounding countries, along with the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas including Gaza and parts of the West Bank. [3]

1/16th of 1% - Israel's land mass compared to its Arab neighbors. [4]

6 - The number of defensive wars Israel has fought for its survival. [5]

12,708 - The number of Israeli soldiers who died in those battles to keep their country independent. [6]

That breaks down to:
The War of Independence (1948): 6,373 (from pre-state days until July 1949)
The Sinai Campaign of 1956: 231
The Six-Day War (June 1967): 776
The War of Attrition (1968-70): 1,424
The Yom Kippur War (October 1973): 2,688
Operation Peace for Galilee (1982): 1,216 [7]

9,000 - The number of settlers evacuated from Gaza during the 2005 disengagement.[8]

138 - The number of Israeli soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty since from May 2005-May 2006.[9]

0 - The number of times Israel has plotted the destruction of another country. (Israel launched a pre-emptive strike in 1967 after the armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria amassed on her borders in a bid to wipe out Israel). [10]

2 - The number of times Israel has given up land - a total of 38,343 square miles - for peace. That includes the Sinai, 37,820 square miles [11]; the Gaza Strip, 223 square miles; and the West Bank, 300 square miles. [12]

90,000 - The possible number of Israeli settlers that Israeli Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may evacuate from the West Bank. [13]

1,113 - The number of Israelis who have been killed since Sept. 2000 by Palestinian violence and terrorist attacks. That includes 778 civilians and 335 security forces. [14]

48,000 - The equivalent number of deaths in the United States.

7,676 - The number of Israelis who have been injured in Palestinian violence and terrorist attacks (5,373 civilians and 2,303 security forces ). [15]

17 - The number of women who serve in Israel's Knesset (Parliament). [16]

10 - The number of Arabs who serve as representatives in Israel's democratically elected Knesset (Parliament). A member of the Druze community [17] also serves in the Knesset, in the ruling Kadima party. One of the Arab representatives is a member of the Labor Party. [18]

Israel's History of Peace

1948: Israel accepts the United Nation's plan for a Jewish state and an Arab state
1967: In exchange for peace, Israel offers to exchange land held during the Six Day War
1979: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign historic Camp David Peace Accords
1993: Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signs the historic Oslo Accords with Yasser Arafat
1994: A peace treaty is signed between Israel and Jordan. This resulted in a just and lasting peace.
2000: Israel makes an offer to create a Palestinian independent state- an offer Arafat rejects.
2003: After a wave of terror targeted at Israeli citizens, including women and children, Israelis continue to make peace offers.
2005: Israel's disengagement initiative removed Jewish communities to give Palestinians land and control. It also removed almost 9,000 Jewish citizens and businesses from the Gaza Strip. It is a powerful and dramatic symbol of Israel's willingness to make painful sacrifices for peace. [19]

7,026,000 - Israel's population. Of those, 5.44 million are Jews and almost 1.39 million are Arabs, who make up 20% of the population. [20]

306,000 - The number of non-Jewish immigrants living in Israel, who comprise 4% of the population. [21]

21,000 - The number of immigrants that arrived in Israel in the last year, some in search of a better life, others fleeing growing anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic attacks. That includes 9,300 from Russia and other former Soviet republics; 3,700 from Ethiopia; 2,500 from France; and 2,000 from the United States. [22]

3 - The number of years men must serve in the military after they turn 18. They are required to perform reserve duty several weeks a year until the age of 51. [23]

21 - The number of months women must serve in the military after they turn 18. [24] Religious women may opt for the country's national service program. [25]

At least 30 - The number of countries and regions from which Israel's residents hail.[26]

$123.7 billion - Israel's Gross Domestic Product for 2005. [27]

More than 240 million - The number of trees that have been planted in Israel since 1901, making it the only country in the world to enter the 21st century with a net gain in the numbers of trees. [28]

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Notes

[1] "Israel's Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of Relations," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site, December 12, 2005, http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/about%20the%20ministry/diplomatic%20missions/Israel-s%20Diplomatic%20Missions%20Abroad

[2] "Israel," The CIA World Factbook Web site, http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/is.html, accessed April 28, 2006,

[3] "Talks Begin on Arab League Reform," Aljazeera and Agencies, Dec. 29, 2005, http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E823151E-5DFD-4708-9786-1D028C2E73C2.htm

[4] "The World Factbook," http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/, accessed April 28, 2006

[5] "The Arab-Israeli Wars," Sept. 2, 2003, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern+History/Centenary+of+Zionism/The+Arab-Israeli+Wars.htm

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] "Settlers Protest at Gaza Pullout," BBC News, Aug. 15, 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4150028.stm

[9] "Israel's 58th Independence Day-2006," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site, May 1, 2006, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2006/Israels+58th+Independence+Day+-+2006.htm

[10] "Mideast Land of Conflict: Six-Day War," CNN , 2006, http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/mideast/stories/history.maps/war.html, accessed May 1, 2006

[11] Kescher, Doron, "Journalistic Shields," Israel Insider, June 21, 2004, http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/3766.htm

[12] "Window to Withdrawal: AIPAC's Guide to Israel's Disengagement," AIPAC, http://www.aipac.org/disengagement/byTheNumbers.htm
"General Info. and Statistics: Settlements in the Gaza Strip," Israel Defense Forces Web site, Aug. 14, 2005

[13] Raz, Guy, "Israelis Voting for the Future of their Borders," CNN, March 28, 2006, http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/24/raz.israelielection/?section=cnn_latest

[14] "General Info. and Statistics: Statistics," Israel Defense Forces Web site, Jan. 16, 2006
"Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism Since September 2000," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site, Sept. 27, 2000, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+2000/Victims+of+Palestinian+Violence+and+Terrorism+sinc.htm

[15] "General Info. and Statistics: Statistics," Israel Defense Forces Web site, Jan. 16, 2006
"Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism Since September 2000," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site, Sept. 27, 2000, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+2000/Victims+of+Palestinian+Violence+and+Terrorism+sinc.htm

[16] "Women in the Knesset," Israeli Government Knesset Web site, http://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/MKIndex_Current_eng.asp?view=3, accessed May 1, 2006

[17] "Search Knesset Members," Israeli Government Knesset Web site, http://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/Individual_Find_eng.asp, accessed May 1, 2006

[18] "Current Knesset Members of the Seventeenth Knesset," Israeli Government Knesset Web site, http://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/MKIndex_Current_eng.asp?view=1, accessed May 1, 2006

[19] "Israel Timeline," Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, http://www.bicom.org.uk/israel_timeline/, accessed April 29, 2006

[20] "Independence Day 2006: 7 Million Israelis," Ynetnews, May 1, 2006, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3246096,00.html
"Israel's 58th Independence Day-2006," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site, May 1, 2006, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2006/Israels+58th+Independence+Day+-+2006.htm
"Yom Ha'atzmaut 2006: Population of Israel- 7 Million People," Ynetnews, May 1, 2006, http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3246058,00.html

[21] Ibid.

[22] Ibid.

[23] "Israel Defense Forces," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site, Feb. 1, 2004, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts%20About%20Israel/State/THE%20STATE-%20Israel%20Defense%20Forces%20-IDF-

[24] Ibid.

[25] "Army and Society in Israel," The Jewish Agency, June, 2003, http://www.jafi.org.il/education/downloads/english4.pdf

[26] "Jews and Others, By Country of Origin and Age," Central Bureau of Statistics Web site, http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/download/st02_23x.xls, accessed May 1, 2006

[27] "Israel Fact sheet," The Economist, Feb. 8, 2006, http://www.economist.com/countries/Israel/profile.cfm?folder=Profile-FactSheet

[28] "Forestry and Ecology," The Jewish National Fund, http://www.jnf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Forestry_and_Ecology, accessed April 28, 2006

Source: The Israel Project