|BNational holiday|N: Independence Day, May 14, but the Jewish calender is lunar and holiday varies from year to year. Most major Jewish religious holidays are also national holidays.
|BNature and climate|N: There are four topographical regions.
The coastal strip against the Mediterranean Sea and the Jisreel Valley in the north are fertile with a Mediterranean climate. The mountainous highland plateau west of River Jordan. The Jordan and Wadi el Araba valleys are also fertile. Lake Tiberias and the Dead Sea in these valleys are both situated below sea level. And the Negev Desert in the south, with Har Ramon, reaching 1033 m.a.s.l. as the highest point in Israel. Kochniye in the Golan Heights, belonging to Syria but occupied by Israel, reaches 1204 m.a.s.l.
Most of Israel is dry and desertlike, but vast areas is cultivated by artificial irrigation.
Average temperature in January between 8 and 13°C and in July between 24 and 32°C. Percipitation in the mountains between 600 and 800 mm, by the Mediterranean coast 500 mm and in the Negev Desert about 50 mm.
|BPeople|N: 83% Jewish and 17% Arabian, mostly Palestinean. When Israel was founded in 1948 there was about one million Palestineans and 600 000 Jews. In the first years of independence more than 600 000 Palestineans moved to other Arab countries and between 1948 and 1968 1.3 million Jews have immigrated.
