Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 23, 2021

Despite its small size, about 290 miles (470 km) north-to-south and 85 miles (135 km) east-to-west at its widest point, Israel has four geographic regionsthe Mediterranean coastal plain, the hill regions of northern and central Israel, the Great Rift Valley, and the Negevand a wide range of unique physical features and microclimates.

The coastal plain is a narrow strip about 115 miles (185 km) long that widens to about 25 miles (40 km) in the south. A sandy shoreline with many beaches borders the Mediterranean coast. Inland to the east, fertile farmland is giving way to growing agricultural settlements and the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa and their suburbs.

In the north of the country, the mountains of Galilee constitute the highest part of Israel, reaching an elevation of 3,963 feet (1,208 metres) at Mount Meron (Arabic: Jebel Jarmaq). These mountains terminate to the east in an escarpment overlooking the Great Rift Valley. The mountains of Galilee are separated from the hills of the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the south by the fertile Plain of Esdraelon (Hebrew: Emeq Yizreel), which, running approximately northwest to southeast, connects the coastal plain with the Great Rift Valley. The Mount Carmel range, which culminates in a peak 1,791 feet (546 metres) high, forms a spur reaching northwest from the highlands of the West Bank, cutting almost to the coast of Haifa.

The Great Rift Valley, a long fissure in Earths crust, begins beyond the northern frontier of Israel and forms a series of valleys running generally south, the length of the country, to the Gulf of Aqaba. The Jordan River, which marks part of the frontier between Israel and Jordan, flows southward through the rift from Dan on Israels northern frontier, where it is 500 feet (152 metres) above sea level, first into the ula Valley (Hebrew: Emeq Haula), then into the freshwater Lake Tiberias, also known as the Sea of Galilee (Hebrew: Yam Kinneret), which lies 686 feet (209 metres) below sea level. The Jordan continues south along the eastern edge of the West Banknow through the Jordan Valley (Hebrew: Emeq HaYarden)and finally into the highly saline Dead Sea, which, at 1,312 feet (400 metres) below sea level, is the lowest point of a natural landscape feature on the Earths surface. South of the Dead Sea, the Jordan continues through the rift, where it now forms the Arava Valley (Hebrew: savannah), an arid plain that extends to the Red Sea port of Elat.

Columns of salt rising from the extremely saline waters of the Dead Sea.

The sparsely populated Negev comprises the southern half of Israel. Arrow-shaped, this flat, sandy desert region narrows toward the south, where it becomes increasingly arid and breaks into sandstone hills cut by wadis, canyons, and cliffs before finally coming to a point where the Arava reaches Elat.

Read more:

Israel | Facts, History, Population, & Map | Britannica

Category: Israel
Tags: