Since its creation, the State of Israel has been a magnet for attention. A country beset by conflict in its region and faced with the need to integrate immigrants of disparate backgrounds into a modern and advanced state, Israel has preoccupied observers, scholars, and journalists since its independence in 1948. Israel and its politics have been the subject of substantial and often highly partisan literature, being hotly and vigorously debated both at home and abroad. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Israel addresses the need in the literature on Israel for a comprehensive impartial information source about the various diplomatic and political personalities, institutions, organizations, events, concepts, and documents that together define the political life of the Jewish state. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, places, events, government institutions, political parties, and battles, as well as entries on Israel's economy, society, and culture.