Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of theMediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, the Gaza Strip and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is the world's only predominantly Jewish state, with a population of 7.5 million people, of whom 5.7 million are Jewish. Arab citizens of Israel form the country's second-largest ethnic group, which includes Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Samaritans.
The modern State of Israel has its historical and religious roots in the Biblical Land of Israel, also known as Zion, a concept central to Judaism since ancient times. Political Zionism took shape in the late-19th century and theBalfour Declaration of 1917 formalized British policy preferring the establishment of a Jewish state. Following World War I, the League of Nations granted Great Britain the Mandate for Palestine and the responsibility for establishing "the Jewish national home" within it.
