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The Tower of David, also known as the Jerusalem Citadel, is an ancient citadel located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. The citadel that stands today dates to the Mamluk and Ottoman periods

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The world's tallest slum: Caracas' notorious Tower of David

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Welcome to the world's tallest slum: poverty-ridden Venezuela's Tower of David. Squatters took over this very unfinished 45-story skyscraper in the early 1990s, and they've been there ever since. The tower was originally intended to be a symbol of Caracas' bright financial future, complete with a rooftop helipad, but construction stopped because of a banking crisis and the sudden death of the tower's namesake, David Brillembourg.

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The Gaza Strip, or simply Gaza, is a small self-governing Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, that borders Egypt on the southwest for 11 kilometers and Israel on the east and north along a 51 km border

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Zahi Shaked. Israeli tour guide צחי שקד. מורה דרך

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‪Masada National Park‬ - Amazing site - a relic from the time of Herod's reign

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Zahi Shaked A tour guide in Israel and his camera zahigo25@walla.com +972-54-6905522 tel סיור עם מורה הדרך ומדריך הטיולים צחי שקד 0546905522 My name is Zahi Shaked In 2000 I became a registered liscenced tourist guide. My dedication in life is to pass on the ancient history of the Holy Land.

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The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was established in 1932 in a building that was the home of Tel Aviv's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff. The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art opened in 1959.

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Mount Meron is a mountain in Israel. It has special significance in Jewish religious tradition and parts of it have been declared a nature reserve.

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Amazing lookout from Mount Meron, the highest peak of the galili, israel tour.

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A beautiful view from Mount Meron, the highest peak of the Israeli upper Galili. Itay Rotem, a licensed Tour guide in Israel and the founder of Real Jerusalem Tours (www.realjerusalemtours.com), rotemspace@gmail.com, +972-547944480 איתי רותם, מורה דרך מוסמך ומקים אתר www.realjerusalemtours.com, 0547944480, rotemspace@gmail.com

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haifa is one of the riochest cities in isreal.

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haifa is one of the riochest cities in isreal.

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CIA factbook on the gaza strip

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Middle East :: GAZA STRIP

Introduction :: GAZA STRIP

Inhabited since at least the 15th century B.C., Gaza has been dominated by many different peoples and empires throughout its history; it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the early 16th century. Gaza fell to British forces during World War I, becoming a part of the British Mandate of Palestine. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly formed Gaza Strip; it was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967. Under a series of agreements known as the Oslo accords signed between 1994 and 1999, Israel transferred to the newly-created Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civilian responsibility for many Palestinian-populated areas of the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank. Negotiations to determine the permanent status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip stalled in 2001, after which the area witnessed a violent intifada or uprising.

Israel by late 2005 unilaterally withdrew all of its settlers and soldiers and dismantled its military facilities in the Gaza Strip, but it continues to control the Gaza Strip's land and maritime borders and airspace. In early 2006, the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) won a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council election. Attempts to form a unity government between Fatah and HAMAS failed and violent clashes between their respective supporters ensued, culminating in HAMAS's violent seizure of all military and governmental institutions in the Gaza Strip in June 2007. Since HAMAS's takeover, Israel and Egypt have enforced tight restrictions on movement and access of goods and individuals into and out of the territory. Fatah and HAMAS have since reached a series of agreements aimed at restoring political unity between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank but have struggled to effect them; a reconciliation agreement signed in October 2017 remains unimplemented.

In July 2014, HAMAS and other Gaza-based militant groups engaged in a 51-day conflict with Israel - the third conflict since HAMAS's takeover in 2007 - culminating in late August with an open-ended truce that continues to hold despite the absence of a negotiated cease-fire and periodic attacks. The UN in 2015 published a study assessing that the Gaza Strip could become uninhabitable by 2020 unless steps are taken to address Gaza's economic and humanitarian situation.

Geography :: GAZA STRIP

Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Israel

slightly more than twice the size of Washington, DC

border countries (2): Egypt 13 km, Israel 59 km

note: effective 3 January 2009, the Gaza maritime area is closed to all maritime traffic and is under blockade imposed by Israeli Navy until further notice

temperate, mild winters, dry and warm to hot summers

flat to rolling, sand- and dune-covered coastal plain

elevation extremes: lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m

highest point: Abu 'Awdah (Joz Abu 'Awdah) 105 m

240 sq km; note - includes the West Bank (2012)

population concentrated in major cities, particularly Gaza City in the north

desertification; salination of fresh water; sewage treatment; water-borne disease; soil degradation; depletion and contamination of underground water resources

strategic strip of land along Mideast-North African trade routes has experienced an incredibly turbulent history; the town of Gaza itself has been besieged countless times in its history; there are no Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip; the Gaza Strip settlements were evacuated in 2005 (2017)

People and Society :: GAZA STRIP

1,795,183 (July 2017 est.)

Arabic, Hebrew (spoken by many Palestinians), English (widely understood)

Muslim 98.0 - 99.0% (predominantly Sunni), Christian <1.0%, other, unaffiliated, unspecified <1.0% (2012 est.)

note: dismantlement of Israeli settlements was completed in September 2005; Gaza has had no Jewish population since then

religious affiliation:

0-14 years: 44.78% (male 412,644/female 391,275)

15-24 years: 21.25% (male 192,292/female 189,166)

25-54 years: 28.02% (male 246,518/female 256,543)

55-64 years: 3.4% (male 31,961/female 29,119)

65 years and over: 2.54% (male 23,729/female 21,936) (2017 est.)

population pyramid:

total dependency ratio: 75.8

youth dependency ratio: 70.5

elderly dependency ratio: 5.2

potential support ratio: 19.1

note: data represent Gaza Strip and the West Bank (2015 est.)

female: 17.5 years (2017 est.)

31.4 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)

3.1 deaths/1,000 population (2017 est.)

-5.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.)

population concentrated in major cities, particularly Gaza City in the north

urban population: 76.2% of total population (2018)

rate of urbanization: 3% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

note: data represent Gaza Strip and the West Bank

at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female

15-24 years: 1.01 male(s)/female

25-54 years: 0.96 male(s)/female

55-64 years: 1.1 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female

total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

45 deaths/100,000 live births

note: data represent Gaza Strip and the West Bank (2015 est.)

total: 16.6 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 17.6 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 15.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2017 est.)

total population: 74.2 years

female: 75.9 years (2017 est.)

4.13 children born/woman (2017 est.)

57.2% (includes Gaza Strip and West Bank) (2014)

2.2 physicians/1,000 population (2014)

1.32 beds/1,000 population (2015)

urban: 50.7% of population

rural: 81.5% of population

total: 58.4% of population

urban: 49.3% of population

rural: 18.5% of population

total: 41.6% of population

note: includes Gaza Strip and the West Bank (2015 est.)

rural: 90.2% of population

total: 92.3% of population

rural: 9.8% of population

total: 7.7% of population

note: includes Gaza Strip and the West Bank (2015 est.)

note: estimate is for Gaza and the West Bank (2014)

note: includes West Bank (2016)

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

note: estimates are for Gaza and the West Bank (2016 est.)

note: data represent Gaza and the West Bank (2015)

note: includes the West Bank (2015 est.)

Government :: GAZA STRIP

conventional long form: none

conventional short form: Gaza Strip

local short form: Qita' Ghazzah

etymology: named for the largest city in the region, Gaza, whose settlement can be traced back to at least the 15th century B.C. (as "Ghazzat")

Economy :: GAZA STRIP

Movement and access restrictions, violent attacks, and the slow pace of post-conflict reconstruction continue to degrade economic conditions in the Gaza Strip, the smaller of the two areas comprising the Palestinian territories. Israeli controls became more restrictive after HAMAS seized control of the territory in June 2007. Under Hamas control, Gaza has suffered from rising unemployment, elevated poverty rates, and a sharp contraction of the private sector, which had relied primarily on export markets.

Since April 2017, the Palestinian Authority has reduced payments for electricity supplied to Gaza and cut salaries for its employees there, exacerbating poor economic conditions. Since 2014, Egypt's crackdown on the Gaza Strip's extensive tunnel-based smuggling network has exacerbated fuel, construction material, and consumer goods shortages in the territory. Donor support for reconstruction following the 51-day conflict in 2014 between Israel and HAMAS and other Gaza-based militant groups fell short of post-conflict needs; only 53% of pledged aid had been delivered as of December, 2017.

see entry for the West Bank

$2.938 billion (2014 est.)

note: excludes the West Bank

note: excludes the West Bank

see entry for the the West Bank

household consumption: 91.3%

government consumption: 26.7%

investment in fixed capital: 23%

investment in inventories: 0%

exports of goods and services: 20%

imports of goods and services: -61%

note: data exclude the West Bank (2017 est.)

note: data exclude the West Bank (2017 est.)

olives, fruit, vegetables, flowers; beef, dairy products

textiles, food processing, furniture

note: see entry for the West Bank (2017 est.)

note: excludes the West Bank (2017 est.)

note: data exclude the West Bank (2015 est.)

note: data exclude the West Bank

note: data exclude the West Bank (2011 est.)

see entry for the West Bank (2017 est.)

note: 2.9% excludes the West Bank

see entry for the West Bank

see entry for the West Bank

$2.901 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

$2.538 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

$2.041 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

$1.712 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

$-1.444 billion (2017 est.)

$-1.348 billion (2016 est.)

note: excludes the West Bank

$1.955 billion (2017 est.)

$1.827 billion (2016 est.)

strawberries, carnations, vegetables, fish (small and irregular shipments, as permitted to transit the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing)

see entry for the West Bank

food, consumer goods, fuel

$312.8 million (31 December 2016 est.)

$583 million (31 December 2015 est.)

see entry for the West Bank

see entry for the West Bank

Energy :: GAZA STRIP

population without electricity: 80,930

electrification - total population: 98%

electrification - urban areas: 99%

electrification - rural areas: 93%

note: data for Gaza Strip and West Bank combined (2012)

0 bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

Communications :: GAZA STRIP

432,000 (includes the West Bank) (July 2016 est.)

total: 3,531,000 (includes the West Bank)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 76 (includes the West Bank) (July 2016 est.)

general assessment: Israel has final say in allocating frequencies in the Gaza Strip and does not permit anything beyond a 2G network

domestic: Israeli company BEZEK and the Palestinian company PALTEL are responsible for fixed-line services; the Palestinian JAWWAL company provides cellular services; a slow 2G network allows calls and limited data transmission

international: country code - 970 (2018)

1 TV station and about 10 radio stations; satellite TV accessible (2008)

.ps; note - same as the West Bank

total: 2.673 million (includes the West Bank)

percent of population: 57.4% (includes the West Bank) (July 2016 est.)

Transportation :: GAZA STRIP

note: see entry for the West Bank

Military and Security :: GAZA STRIP

HAMAS does not have a conventional military in the Gaza Strip but maintains security forces in addition to its military wing, the 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades; the military wing reports to the Hamas Political Bureau leadership based in the Gaza Strip (2018)

Terrorism :: GAZA STRIP

aim(s): stage attacks against Israel and Egypt from the Gaza Strip and, ultimately, establish an Islamic emirate in the region

area(s) of operation: headquartered in Gaza; heaviest presence and operational activity is in the Gaza Strip

note(s): operatives have a history of launching low-impact rockets into Israeli and Egyptian territory; the Army of Islam (Jaish al-Islam, JAI) in Syria is unrelated to AOI

aim(s): maintain control of the Gaza Strip to facilitate Palestinian nationalist aims

area(s) of operation: headquartered in Gaza

Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC):

aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, destroy the state of Israel

area(s) of operation: headquartered in Gaza, although present in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Israel

Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ):

aim(s): enhance its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip to launch attacks against Israel

area(s) of operation: stages rocket attacks against civilians and military personnel primarily in southern Israel

Palestine Liberation Front (PLF):

aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, destroy the state of Israel in order to establish a secular, Marxist Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital

area(s) of operation: based in Gaza; maintains a recruitment and paramilitary training presence in most of the refugee camps across the Gaza Strip

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP):

aim(s): destroy the state of Israel and, ultimately, establish a secular, Marxist Palestinian state

area(s) of operation: headquartered in Gaza, recruiting and training fighters; stages limited attacks against Israel

PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC):

aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities to prepare fighters for deployment to Syria and to launch occasional attacks inside Israel; ultimately, seeks to establish a Palestinian state

area(s) of operation: headquartered in Gaza; as a longtime supporter of the Syrian Government, the group trains and deploys fighters to Syria to fight on behalf of President Bashar al-ASAD; stages occasional small-scale attacks inside Israel (April 2018)

Abdallah Azzam Brigades (AAB):

aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel to continue its attempts to disrupt Israel's economy and its efforts to establish security

area(s) of operation: launches homemade rockets from the Gaza Strip into populated Israeli territory, primarily the cities of Nahariya and Ashkelon

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (AAMB):

aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, establish a Palestinian state comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem

area(s) of operation: stages attacks from the Gaza Strip against Israeli soldiers and civilians inside Israel, including launching rockets and missiles

Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS)-Sinai:

aim(s): bolster its staging capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, establish a regional Islamic caliphate

area(s) of operation: stages attacks against Egyptian forces along the Gaza Strip-Egypt border and launches rockets into southern Israel from the border closest to Israel

note(s): formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (April 2018)

Transnational Issues :: GAZA STRIP

the status of the Gaza Strip is a final status issue to be resolved through negotiations; Israel removed settlers and military personnel from Gaza Strip in September 2005

refugees (country of origin): 1,348,536 (Palestinian refugees) (2017)

IDPs: 231,000 (includes persons displaced within the Gaza Strip due to the intensification of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since June 2014 and other Palestinian IDPs in the Gaza Strip and West Bank who fled as long ago as 1967, although confirmed cumulative data do not go back beyond 2006) (2017)

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The Office of Public Affairs (OPA) is the single point of contact for all inquiries about the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). We read every letter, fax, or e-mail we receive, and we will convey your comments to CIA officials outside OPA as appropriate.

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The church contains, according to traditions dating back at least to the fourth century, the two holiest sites in Christendom: the site where Jesus of Nazareth was crucified,[2] known as "Calvary" in Latin and "Golgotha" in Greek,[3] and Jesus's empty tomb, where he is said to have been buried and resurrected. Within the church proper are the last four (or, by some definitions, five) Stations of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of Jesus' Passion. The church has been a major Christian pilgrimage destination since its creation in the fourth century, as the traditional site of the Resurrection of Christ, thus its original Greek name, Church of the Anastasis.

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Holy Sepulchre, a 3D-journey back in time

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A journey back in time to tell the story of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the site defined in many Christian traditions as "the Centre of the World". Divided in chapters, the video by Mrs.

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he conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Zionist (now Israeli) Jews is a modern phenomenon, dating to the end of the nineteenth century. Although the two groups have different religions (Palestinians include Muslims, Christians and Druze), religious differences are not the cause of the strife. The conflict began as a struggle over land. 

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he conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Zionist (now Israeli) Jews is a modern phenomenon, dating to the end of the nineteenth century. Although the two groups have different religions (Palestinians include Muslims, Christians and Druze), religious differences are not the cause of the strife. The conflict began as a struggle over land. 

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The Terraces of the Bahá'í Faith, also known as the Hanging Gardens of Haifa, are garden terraces around the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. They are one of the most visited tourist attractions in Israel. The architect isFariborz Sahba from Iran, the structural engineers are Karban and Co. from Haifa

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Disclaimer: The Shrine of the Báb is a Bahá'í Holy Place and, as such, filming is generally restricted and in some areas, prohibited. The following aerial footage was taken with the permission of the Bahái World Center and while following their specific restrictions and guidelines.

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This separates the two cites. Stops most of the fighting. WestBank

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This separates the two cites. Stops most of the fighting. WestBank

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Google Images. The most comprehensive image search on the web.

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Caesarea Maritima was one of four Roman colonies for veterans in the Syria-Phoenicia region created by the Roman Empire. The ancient Caesarea Maritima city and harbor was built by Herod the Great about 25–13 BC.

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Caesarea National Park is the ancient ruins site of a important port city Caesarea Maritima. Built by Herod the Great in around 25-32 BC, it was a great commercial centre during the Byzantine Period. Caesarea served as the headquarters of Judea Province of the Roman Empire being losing economic significance after the Arab conquest in 640 BCE.

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This National Park is one of the oldest in isreal

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Jerusalem, a Middle Eastern city west of the Dead Sea, has been a place of pilgrimage and worship for Jews, Christians and Muslims since the biblical era. Its Old City retains significant religious sites concentrated around the Temple Mount compound, including the Western Wall, sacred to Judaism, and the Dome of the Rock, a 7th-century Islamic shrine with a gold dome.