„X Balfour Doctrine of 1917- British government¡s support of a creation of a Jewish state in Palestine
             „X After WWI, Jewish immigration increased along with violence between the Jewish and Arab communities
             „X Britain attempted to slow the immigration, but was met with international resistance due to widespread support for Jewish national aspirations after the near genocide by the Nazis in WWII
             „X United Nations proposed a partition plan in 1947, dividing Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states
             „X On May 14, 1948, State of Israel was proclaimed and instantly invaded by armies from the neighboring Arab states who rejected the partition plan
             „X War of Independence concluded in 1949 with armistice agreements between Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria
             „X Population: 6,199,008 (7/02 estimate)
             „X Slightly smaller than New Jersey, 17.02% arable land and 4.17% permanent crops
             „X Growth rate: 1.29% (7/04 estimate)
             „X Ethnic groups (1996 estimate)
             „X Non-Jewish 19.9% (majority Arab)
             „X High literacy rate: 95.4% of population over the age of 15 can read and write
             „X Official language: Hebrew and Arabic
             „X Legal system mixture of English common law, British Mandate regulations and Jewish, Christian and Muslim legal systems
             „X President- chief of state, elected for 5 year term by the Knesset, largely ceremonial role
             „X Prime Minister- head of government, executive power, selected by President as the party leader most likely to forma government, selects Cabinet
             „X Unicameral Knesset (parliament) 120 seats, members elected by popular vote, serve 4 year terms, voting is for party lists rather than individual candidates, number of seats reflects the party¡s percentage of the vote received
             „X Supreme Court (justices appoin
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