Israel has been a crossroads for the Jewish people and other cultures for thousands of years; this is reflected in the materials found in her archives, museums and libraries.
It is possible to research people who have lived and are living in Israel and, in some collections, to research people who have never lived in Israel. For example, the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, Yad Vashem, and the Ghetto Fighters’ House have records on people who have never lived in Israel. This is what makes resources in Israel so unique.
The National Library of Israel has launched a list of 465 of over 600 archives in Israel. Remember, there are many archives in Israel that deal with Jewish communities abroad, past and present. The list is available in both English and Hebrew. It includes the name of the archive, the name of the archive manager, the telephone, fax, and email where available. It also tells you if the archive has a website and/or a facebook page. This is a fantastic source for those looking to find information that could only be found is some local or special archive. You can search for a specific archive or go through page by page to see what is offered. You may need to log into the National Library. This is a BETA site and is being double checked at the moment.
http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/English/library/aboutus/now/projects/IAN/seker/Pages/archive-list-israel.aspx#InplviewHashe9a7f3df-55b3-4776-8fd8-e9302550c583=Paged%3DTRUE-p_ID%3D30-PageFirstRow%3D31
They also have an interactive map of all the archives. You can click on the hotspot and see all the information for that archive.
http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/English/library/aboutus/now/projects/IAN/seker/Pages/archivesMap.aspx
These two pages are part of the IAN (Israel Archives Network) Project, which is part of the “Landmarks” Project, a large-scale national initiative to promote preservation and exposure of and access to cultural materials for the public at large using up-to-date means. The IAN Project brings together the National Library of Israel and the State Archives, under the auspices of the Prime Minister's Office, in order to create an infrastructure and unified standards to ensure that the unique material preserved by the various heritage archives in the State of Israel will be properly preserved and broadly accessible to the Israeli public at large in a convenient and uniform format in the near future and for generations to come.