This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel , [ a ] officially the State of Israel , [ b ] is a country in West Asia. Its proclaimed capital is in Jerusalem , [ 22 ] while Tel Aviv is the country's largest urban area and economic center. Israel is located in a region known to the Jews as the Land of Israel , synonymous with the Canaan region and the Holy Land.
In antiquity, it was home to the Canaanite civilisation followed by the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Situated at a continental crossroad , the region experienced demographic changes under the rule of empires from the Romans to the Ottomans.
Increased Jewish immigration in the leadup to the Holocaust and British colonial policy led to intercommunal conflict between Jews and Arabs , [ 24 ] [ 25 ] which escalated into a civil war in after a proposed partitioning by the United Nations was rejected by the Palestinians. Subsequent armistice agreements established Israeli control over 77 percent of the former Mandate territory. Israel established and continues to expand settlements across the illegally occupied territories , contrary to international law, and has effectively annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in moves largely unrecognised internationally.
In , Israel signed the Oslo Accords which established mutual recognition and limited Palestinian self-governance in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. In the s, it normalised relations with more Arab countries. However, efforts to resolve the IsraeliβPalestinian conflict after the interim Oslo Accords have not succeeded, and the country has engaged in several wars and clashes with Palestinian militant groups.
Israel's practices in its occupation of the Palestinian territories have drawn sustained international criticismβalong with accusations that it has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian peopleβfrom human rights organisations and United Nations officials.
