Country Profile: Israel
Israel is a beautiful country with a great variety in landscape, people groups, and religions. It is a very interesting country, as it is often the center of world news. It is also the country where Jesus lived and where the Bible comes alive. Israel has a population of 6 million people, while only about 3,000 are Messianic Jews and about 3,000 are Evangelical Arabs.
Israel offers one of the most challenging and diverse environments in the Middle East. One day you could be working on a sports program amongst Arab children in Nazareth, the next day you could be sharing the gospel with Jews on the streets of Jerusalem. You could be on the beaches at a new age festival reaching secular young Israelis, the next day going door to door in a Druze village on the Carmel mountain.
Israel is the only true democratic country in the Middle East. It borders Lebanon and Syria to the north, to the east Jordan, and the south Egypt. Modern Israel is a relatively young nation born in 1948. Since then Israel has steady growth in population and especially local messianic Christian believers.
Because of Israel's strategic place in the region, the turbulent history of the Jewish people and the influx of Jewish immigrants (i.e. from Russia, Morocco, Ethiopia, etc.), it creates an intense and challenging environment to both share and live the gospel.
Statistics
Population: 6.9 million (UN, 2007)
Seat of government: Jerusalem, though most foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv
Area: Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics cites 22,072 sq km (8,522 sq miles), including Jerusalem and Golan
Major languages: Hebrew, Arabic
Major religions: Judaism, Islam
Monetary unit: 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot
Main exports: Computer software, military equipment, chemicals, agricultural products
