Israel is sometimes mistakenly categorized as part of Europe, likely because of its history of European Jewish immigration, its alignment with the West, and the Arab boycott of Israel which has prevented it from developing cultural ties with the Arab World through arts, sports, and commerce.
In reality Israel is located in Western Asia, in the region commonly referred to as the Middle East. It is on the Mediterranean Sea, lying northeast of Egypt. Egypt is usually classified as being in Africa, but the Sinai Peninsula that borders Israel is a part of Western Asia. The border between Asia and Africa is usually considered to be Egypt's Suez Canal.
When most of us think of the Middle East we probably imagine rolling sand dunes or hot, dry desert. Those types of landscapes do exist in Israel, but Israel's geography shows stunning diversity for such a small country. The basic topography of Israel consists of a coastal plan with sand dunes that blend into lowlands while moving inland; rolling hills and mountains in the center of the country, and a deep valley at the eastern border. This pattern more or less applies to Israel at any longitude. But there is of course variation moving from the more fertile and wet north to the more arid and dry south.
The Negev Desert in the south borders Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, and they are geographically speaking two parts of the same entity. The Negev is dry, hilly, and rocky, just like it's Egyptian counterpart. At the northeastern edge of the Negev lies the Judaen Desert, which descends deeply and rapidly into the Jordan Rift Valley, the lowest point on Earth that contains the Dead Sea.
In the area of Jerusalem and the southern West Bank (which is under partial Israeli and partial Palestinian control) the rolling Judean Hills dominate the landscape. This is a region of steppe vegetation and forests, a result of Jewish reforestation efforts.
The West Bank north of Jerusalem is referred to as Samaria, and the landscape is dominated by the Samarian Hills, rolling hills that rarely reach over 800 meters. East of the Samaria Hills is the Jordan Rift Valley, though the section east of Samaria is considerably more fertile than the area of the rift valley that lies further south near the Dead Sea.
North of the region of Samaria and outside of the disputed West Bank lies the Jezreel Valley, the gateway to the fertile Galilee region. This northern region of
Israel receives the most rainfall out of anywhere in the country.
The central and northern coastal plain to the west and northwest of Samaria, extending all the way to the Lebanese border, is a fertile area housing 70% of the country's population. It has a very humid subtropical climate with hot humid summers with no rain, and cool to warm winters with rainfall but no snow.
The hilly and mountainous central areas of the country occasionally receive snowfall in the winter, typically once or so per year. They are hot and dry in the summer.
The Eastern area of the country in the Jordan Rift Valley as well as the Negev, are typically warm in the daytime during the winter but cool at night. In the summer, temperatures are blistering hot at all hours of the day, with night time bringing little relief.
The only place under Israeli control that consistently receives significant snowfall every winter is Mount Hermon, which is actually part of Syria that was captured from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War. The southern slopes of this mountain along with the Golan Heights have been annexed by Israel, but much of the mountain is still under Syrian control.
Israel as a whole has two seasons. They are a hot, dry summer extending from May to October, with almost zero rainfall; and a mild, wet winter extending from November to April.
For more geographic profiles of various places around the globe, visit Free Printable Maps
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