Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country located in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, it lies at the intersection of three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Israel borders Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest. The country occupies the Palestinian territories of the West Bank in the east and the Gaza Strip in the southwest, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights in the northeast. Israel's western coast lies on the Mediterranean Sea, the southern tip reaches the Red Sea, and the east includes the Earth's lowest point near the Dead Sea.
The State of Israel lies at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, at the intersection of three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe. Since geography ordained the Land of Israel to be a land bridge connecting three continents, history destined it to be both a crossroads of cultures and a borderland - and thus a battleground - for warring empires.
Geographical Diversity
The geography of Israel is very diverse, with desert conditions in the south and snow-capped mountains in the north. Southern Israel is dominated by the Negev Desert, covering more than half of the country's total land area. The north of the Negev contains the Judean Desert, which borders Jordan and includes the Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth.
Topographical map of Israel.
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The inland area of central Israel is dominated by the Judean Hills of the West Bank, whilst the central and northern coastline consists of the flat and fertile Israeli coastal plain. Inland, the northern region contains the Mount Carmel mountain range, which is followed inland by the fertile Jezreel Valley, and then the hilly Galilee region. The Sea of Galilee is located beyond this region and is bordered to the east by the Golan Heights.
Israel is divided east-west by a mountain range running north to south along the coast. The numerous limestone and sandstone layers of the Israeli mountains serve as aquifers through which water flows from the west flank to the east.
Israel is best understood as a country that geology has divided into three parallel, lengthwise sections. Each section is defined by a different landform, and each is the Israeli part of a regional whole: coastland in the west; upland in the center; and lowland in the east. Because these three sections’ internal subdivisions have their own names and might appear in places to be unrelated, particularly where crossed by water or valleys, the landscape can be deceptive. Accordingly, the student of Israeli geography should take care to see unity in the map of Israel rather than division and cohesion more than fragmentation.
1. The Coastal Plain
Bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west and extending from the Gaza Strip in the south to Lebanon in the north, Israel’s Coastal Plain is a thin ribbon of seashore that gradually broadens as its trends north-south. The Mediterranean is Israel’s outlet to the world, and as such, it was Israel’s lifeline throughout its neighbors’ decades-long siege.
Israel's Coastal Plain.
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On this narrow belt of seashore (25 miles at its widest and nine miles at its narrowest) about 60 percent of Israel’s population is concentrated. Where there had been no paved road a century ago, there now runs Israel’s Coastal Road (Highway 2), Israel’s first freeway, which traces the path of the country’s ancient trade/invasion route, the Via Maris. Where there had been no coastal railway a century ago, there is now Israel’s mainline railway.
2. The Central Highlands
The middle of Israel’s three lengthwise sections, running parallel to the coast, is Israel’s mountainous spine, the Central Highlands. The Central Hill Country might be imagined as a long chain of hills, its hills the links, the valleys the spaces in between.
For millennia, the Central Hill Country, a mountain range flanked by lowlands, has served as a natural barrier to invasion, blocking westward and eastward passage and thus invaders. Only one gap in the Central Hill Country, that created by the Jezreel Valley, allowed invaders in wartime and traders in peacetime passage between the coast and the interior.
3. The Jordan Rift Valley
East of the central highlands lies the Jordan Rift Valley, which is a small part of the 6,500 kilometers (4,039 mi)-long Syrian-East African Rift. In Israel the Rift Valley is dominated by the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee (an important freshwater source also known as Lake Tiberias and Lake Kinneret), and the Dead Sea.
Climate
The northern half of Israel has a Mediterranean climate with long, hot, rainless summers and relatively short, mild to cool, rainy winters. The southern half has hot semi-arid and hot desert climates. Rainfall is unevenly distributed, significantly lower in the south of the country. In winter, precipitation often takes the form of snow at the higher elevations of the central highlands, including Jerusalem. Mount Hermon has seasonal snow which covers all three of its peaks in winter and spring.
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Historical and Cultural Significance
The Land of Israel is synonymous with Palestine or the Holy Land. In antiquity it was home to the Canaanites and later the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Its location at a continental crossroads brought demographic shifts under various empires. Nineteenth-century European antisemitism fuelled the Zionist movement for a Jewish homeland. Britain endorsed this goal in the 1917 Balfour Declaration and ruled Mandatory Palestine from 1920.
The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically been used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel and the entire Jewish people respectively. To its natives, a land’s first importance lies not in the fertility of its soil or the natural resources under it, but in the events that occurred on it and the people, their ancestors, who inhabited it. For the Jewish people, both a national and a religious community, this spatial sanctification has been embraced by secularists and believers alike.
So strong was the attachment of the Land of Israel’s sons and daughters to their motherland that even though Jews of the Diaspora had left the land, its geography hadn’t left them. Wherever they lived, Jews followed a calendar based on the agricultural rhythms (for sowing and harvesting) and climate of the Land of Israel.
Territory and Population
20,770 km2 is Israel within the Green Line. 22,072 km2 includes the occupied Golan Heights (c. 1,200 km2) and East Jerusalem (c.
The statistics provided by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics include the annexed East Jerusalem and Golan Heights, but exclude the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The population of Israel includes Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
For statistical purposes, the country has three metropolitan areas; Gush Dan-Tel Aviv (population 3,150,000), Haifa (population 996,000), and Beersheba (population 531,600). Some argue that Jerusalem, Israel's largest city with a population of 763,600, and Nazareth, should also be classified as metropolitan areas.
| Area | Size (km2) |
|---|---|
| Israel within the Green Line | 20,770 |
| Includes Occupied Golan Heights and East Jerusalem | 22,072 |
In conclusion, while Israel is geographically situated in West Asia, its location at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe has profoundly influenced its history, culture, and environment. Its diverse landscapes, ranging from deserts to mountains, and its historical significance as the Land of Israel make it a unique and important country in the region.
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