Israel has hardly any natural resources, apart from human capital, i.e., its citizens’ talents and initiative, and these must be nurtured constantly. Thus, and only thus, will be able to maintain and increase Israel’s qualitative advantage. The State of Israel, and before its establishment the Yishuv (the pre-State Jewish population in Palestine), long placed great emphasis on education.
This can be seen in various figures relating to the position in Israel in 2005 compared with that in other countries: A.  Forty-six percent of those aged 25-64 years in Israel had post-high-school education, compared with an average of 26 percent in the OECD countries. B.