Geography

Israel is on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea and bordered on the north by Lebanon and Syria, in the east to Jordan and to Egypt in the southwest. The Palestinian territories are located mostly in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the southwest. The country extends south through the Negev desert after Eilat, a resort on the Red Sea. The fertile Sharon level lies on the Mediterranean coast. Inland, parallel to the coast, lies the mountainous region with fertile valleys in the west and desert to the east. The big Senkgraben starts behind the source of the Jordan River and extends south through the Dead Sea (lowest point on earth) and further south through the Red Sea to East Africa.