ISRAEL. – Official name assumed by the independent Jewish State that replaced the British Mandate over Palestine in 1948.
I. GEOGRAPHY
Situated in Western Asia along the Mediterranean, between Lebanon, Syria, Transjordan and Egypt, this State has an area of 27,000 sq. km. (including 704 sq. km. of inland waters; less than Piedmont) and consists of a narrow coastal plain that gently slopes up to a limestone plateau or upland, scored by fractures and erosion gullies and poor in surface water. The upland, averaging 600–800 m. in elevation (highest peak: Mount Hermon, 1,199 m.), continues into the arid Negev as far as the Red Sea. To the east it overlooks the rift valley (el-Ghor) of the Jordan, which extends through the Dead Sea and Wadi el-Arabah to the Gulf of Aqabah. The climate loses its maritime and Mediterranean character as one moves eastward; rainfall, generally scarce and concentrated in the winter months, increases with elevation but diminishes again toward the east and south. Nonetheless, the country is far more varied than its modest extent would suggest and is by no means desolate: wherever water is found (rivers, artesian wells), the soil is well suited to a variety of crops.There are few and short rivers, the only important one being the Jordan (c. 300 km.), which empties into the Dead Sea (915 sq. km.), lying 392 m. below Mediterranean level and reaching a depth of 399 m. The lake is notable for its exceptional salinity (20%), the high specific gravity of its waters, and the complete absence of fish fauna.
The population (1.9 million; 72 per sq. km.) is highly diverse in race, language, religion and aspirations. The numerically largest groups are Muslims, Jews and Christians; there are also minorities of Druse, Syrians, Armenians, Greeks, Egyptians, etc., as well as some 60,000 Bedouin. Although swollen by continuous and intense immigration, the Jewish element has not yet achieved an absolute majority of the total population, except in the three territorial units (the Arab State, the Jewish State and the city of Jerusalem, which the partition plan assigns to the Jews)—that is, largely in the coastal zone, eastern Galilee and the Negev. Urban population has grown considerably in recent years: besides the capital, Jerusalem (164,000 inhabitants), three other centres now exceed 100,000 (Jaffa, Haifa and Tel Aviv, which with 183,000 inhabitants surpasses them all).
The Palestinian economy is based on agriculture, which yields cereals (wheat, barley), tobacco, sesame, fruit and especially wine, oil and citrus fruits (the last being the principal export items). Livestock raising also provides a fair income (Mediterranean in character but well supplied with cattle; poultry and beekeeping are flourishing). Mineral resources are modest (sulfur, rock salt, potash, bromine), though hydroelectric potential (Jordan) and the pipeline bringing oil from Iraq to Haifa are significant. Industry is developing promisingly, especially in centres where the Jewish element predominates, but remains modest in scale (notable are the oil refineries and tobacco manufacture). Overland trade is oriented northward, particularly since the Palestinian rail network (600 km.) was linked to that of Lebanon; maritime traffic benefits from the ports of Jaffa and Haifa (both modernly equipped), the latter now the most important on the Levant.
II. LEGAL STATUS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
When the partition of Palestine was established (29 Nov. 1948), provision was made for the respect and safeguarding of Christian, Jewish and Muslim Holy Places together with all their annexed institutions.In the Proclamation of Independence of the State of Israel, issued on 14 May 1948, it was declared that “full social and political equality shall be accorded to all its citizens without distinction of race, religion or sex; full freedom of conscience, religion, education and culture shall be guaranteed; and the sanctity and inviolability of the shrines and holy places of all religions shall be safeguarded.”
The organization of the government includes a Ministry of Religious Affairs, within which there is a section for the affairs of the Christian communities alongside others for different religious groups. However, the first Constituent Assembly (Knesset), elected on 25 Jan. 1949 and meeting in Tel Aviv, has not yet taken a position on this matter.
In the State of Israel there are currently four main Christian confessions: Catholics (Latin, Greek-Catholic, Maronite); Greek Orthodox (including Russian Orthodox); Protestants (Anglican Episcopal Church, Arabic and English; Arab Evangelical Congregation and other branches represented by missionaries in the principal cities); and Monophysite Orthodox (Armenians, Copts, Syrian Jacobites, Abyssinians). It appears that the State may face the issue of Christians of Jewish origin.