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Israel

Last updated: 25 June 2009

Country information

GEOGRAPHY

'Green-line' Israel (1949 armistice boundaries) covers 21,000 sq. km and is about the same size as Wales. But Israel's borders and the status of Jerusalem are still disputed. Israel has occupied East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and Gaza since 1967 (Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but maintains control of Gaza’s airspace and borders on three sides). In 1980, Israel annexed East Jerusalem.  In 1981, it annexed all of the Golan Heights area captured from Syria in 1967. Mount Hermon, the highest peak in the annexed Golan Heights, is 2,000 metres high. By contrast, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth, at 396 metres below sea level.

Israel is 550 km long but only 12 km wide at its narrowest point within the Green Line. Its main regions are:

  • Galilee – an area of partly forested rolling hills, bordered by the Sea of Galilee in the east, the Mediterranean in the west, and the Lebanese border in the north.
  • Carmel – a limestone escarpment with Mediterranean scrub vegetation, running south from Haifa, parallel to the Mediterranean coast. 
  • Coastal Plain – a strip some 12-20 km wide along the Mediterranean with the greater part of Israel's population and industry. 
  • Jerusalem Hills – forested hills, with commuter towns and villages. 
  • Negev – a rock desert extending over 40% of Israel's land area, in the south. 
  • Jordan Valley – an extension of the Great Rift Valley in Africa, running along Israel's eastern border.

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