What Is The Geography Of Israel

Islamic State In Iraq And Syria

The civil war in Syria also offered an opportunity for another group in the region to gain control of territory. ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or just the Islamic State , emerged in 2014 as a Sunni extremist group opposing the United States invasion of Iraq. Iraq had been ruled by the minority Sunni population for centuries, but with the overthrow of then-president Saddam Hussein, also a member of the Baath party, the majority Shia population took control. Efforts to create a coalition government and include Sunnis as well as the other minority groups in the country broke down. Some of the Sunnis who had been political leaders or military personnel under Saddam Hussein formed ISIS and were eventually able to drive out Iraqi government forces in several key cities.

Lower Jordan Valley And The Dead Sea Regions

From 1968 the lower Jordan Valley, together with most of the un-inhabited hill slopes at its western side, formed the Jericho-Jordan district of Israel-held Judea-Samaria. In 1968 it had a population of 9,600 Arabs, most of whom lived in Jericho. Few fields are cultivated outside the Jericho oasis and the lower reaches of Fria Gorge.

Youll Better Interpret The Word Of God

B.J. Beitzel writes:

The Bible contains references to hundreds of place names, in addition to several scores of mountain names, water names, desert/wilderness names, regional names, territorial names, and the like. Even beyond these casual spatial references, there are numerous occasions when geography is tellingly employed as the interpretive axis around which the narrative itself revolves in which case geography functions as a nexus of interpretation.2

Context is king when interpreting Scripture. But often geography is not adequately explored.

Yet the geology, topography, and climate is the proper context for the biblical narrative.

It may even be the nexus of interpretation,3 and we would fare well to study it.

For further insight into biblical geographical settings, I recommend the award-winning .

Karen Engle received her MA in Biblical Studies and Theology from Western Seminary. She is an editor for Faithlife and regularly takes groups to Israel.

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Mount Meron Nature Reserve

In 1965, an 84000- nature reserve was declared. An additional 1199 dunams were declared part of the reserve in 2005. It is the highest reserve in Israel, at an altitude of 1208 meters above sea level, and the largest reserve in the north of the country.

The village of and the are on Mount Meron. Leading up to the anniversary of his death on , thousands of people camp out along the slopes near the tomb, and on Lag B’Omer itself, hundreds of thousands make .

The mountain has extensive and cannot be climbed from every direction. The main path starts at the northwest side of the Meron village. There is a gate next to the road, with a color-marked path of about 10 km. There is also a path on the west side of the mountain.

Mount Meron has a with hot and dry summers and damp and cool winters. It snows briefly on Mount Meron a few times during every winter. There are 22 days a year with a temperature of 32 °C or higher and 28 days below freezing. Mount Meron has the second highest precipitation in Israel after . Note: the chart is an average of 5 years so the record highs and lows may not be fully accurate.

Youll Better Understand Gods Placement Of The Land

The location of the land of Israel is no accident. This narrow strip along the Mediterranean coast functioned as a bridge connecting Asia and Africa. In Jesus time, the only way to travel between Egypt and Mesopotamia was by trade routes that ran through Israel.

This made Israel a means for international power, wealth, and trade.

But Gods unique design and placement of Israel also perfectly positioned its people to complete their charge to be a light to the nations .

When foreign nations passed through, Israel could either draw them to the Lord or be influenced by them.

See, I have taught you statutes and rules . . . that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

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Ethnic And Religious Groups

The most prominent ethnic and religious groups, who live in Israel at present and who are Israeli citizens or nationals, are as follows:

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2008, of Israel’s 7.3 million people, 75.6 percent were Jews of any background. Among them, 70.3 percent were Sabras , mostly second- or third-generation Israelis, and the rest are olim â20.5 percent from Europe and the Americas, and 9.2 percent from Asia and Africa, including the Arab countries. About 44.9% percent of Israel’s Jewish population identify as either Mizrahi or , 44.2% identify as Ashkenazi, about 3% as Beta Israel and 7.9% as mixed or other.

The paternal lineage of the Jewish population of Israel as of 2015 is as follows:

Arab citizens of Israel are those Arab residents of Mandatory Palestine, who remained within Israel’s borders following the 1948 ArabâIsraeli War, and the establishment of the state of Israel. It is including those born within the state borders subsequent to this time, as well as those who had left during the establishment of the state , who have since re-entered by means accepted as lawful residence by the Israeli state .

Arab Muslims

Ahmadiyya

Arab Christians

People from post-Soviet states

Finns

BaháʼÃs

Possible Solutions For Israelis And Palestinians

The future of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has been the focus of talks and negotiation for decades. There are various ways to approach this issue a one-state solution and a two-state solution have been proposed. The one-state solution proposes the creation of a fully democratic state of Israel and the integration of all the people within its borders into one country. Integration of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank into the Jewish State of Israel is part of this plan in other words, Take the walls down and create one state . Many Palestinians support the one-state solution, but most of the Jewish population does not. Family size is much more abundant in the Palestinian side, so it would be only a matter of time before the Jewish population would be a minority population and would not have full political control with a democratic government. To have the Jewish State of Israel, the Jewish population needs to keep its status as the majority.

In the past decade, most of the PLOs operating budget has come from external sources. Arab neighbors provide millions of dollars annually. Though Iran is not Arab, they have provided aid to the Palestinian cause in support of fellow Muslims against the Jewish State of Israel. The PLO has received the bulk of its funding from the European Union. Russia has also provided millions of dollars in aid. The United States provides millions in direct or indirect aid to the Palestinians annually.

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The Jordan And Dead Sea Rift And Its Jezreel Valley Branch

A side branch of the Rift, composed of the arod and Jezreel valleys, leads from the Beth-Shean Valley northwest-ward. The Harod Valley, 11 mi. long and 3 mi. wide, is a narrow corridor separating the eva’im Ridge in Lower Galilee from Mt. Gilboa in Samaria. Naal Harod runs through it from its source at the foot of Mt. Gilboa toward Beth-Shean and the Jordan River. The Jezreel Valley is triangular in shape, its apex pointing south to the town of Jenin.

Soils in the Jordan Rift Valley change from dark, heavy alluvium in the uleh Valley and alluvium of partly basaltic origin around the northern shores of Lake Kinneret to pale, marly lashon soils, predominant from Lake Kinneret southward through the Beth-Shean and Succoth valleys to the Jericho region.

In the past, extensive swamps and waterlogging excluded human settlement from the larger part of the uleh Valley. In the Beth-Shean Valley, the success of farming was dependent on the readiness of settlers to prevent flooding of fields by spring waters and watercourses when this was not done, thorny brush spread and soils became increasingly saline. In the lower Jordan Valley, agriculture is essentially oasis farming, of which Jericho is the most striking example. The heavy, alluvial soils of the Harod and Jezreel valleys resemble those of the northern parts of the Jordan Valley, as did, until the recent past, their swamps and their waterlogging problems. All the swamps are now drained.

What Does Judaization Mean And How Is It Implemented

What is Judaization? Judaization is a policy through which the Israeli government aims to drive out any non-Jewish religious influences in Jerusalem in order to reinforce the Israeli claim to the area. This policy includes the significant alteration or destruction of various landmarks that are holy, historical, or cultural

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Negev Hills Paran Plateau And Arabah Valley

The vast area, extending over 3,793 sq. mi. , comprises the Negev Hills, Paran Plateau, and Arabah Valley . It has 16 inhabited places, among them the towns of Dimonah and Eilat and the development centers of Yeroam and Mipeh Ramon. In addition, there are important mining and industrial sites with no resident population. Phosphates, copper, clay minerals, and the Dead Sea minerals are extracted and treated. Oasis-type farming is to be found in the Arabah Valley settlements , where tropical fruit and out-of-season export vegetables and flowers are prominent. The region contains 80,600 residents, most of them in Dimonah and Eilat.

Citizenship And Entry Law

The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law 5763 was first passed on 31 July 2003, and has since been extended until 31 July 2008. The law places age restrictions for the automatic granting of Israeli citizenship and residency permits to spouses of Israeli citizens, such that spouses who are inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are ineligible. On 8 May 2005, the Israeli ministerial committee for issues of legislation once again amended the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, to restrict citizenship and residence in Israel only to Palestinian men over the age of 35, and Palestinian women over the age of 25. Those in favor of the law say the law not only limits the possibility of the entrance of terrorists into Israel, but, as Ze’ev Boim asserts, allows Israel “to maintain the state’s democratic nature, but also its Jewish nature” . Critics, including the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, say the law disproportionately affects Arab citizens of Israel, since Arabs in Israel are far more likely to have spouses from the West Bank and Gaza Strip than other Israeli citizens.

During the 1970s about 163,000 people of Jewish descent immigrated to Israel from the USSR.

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About The World Travel Guide

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List Of Countries And Dependencies By Area

This is a list of the world’s countries and their by area, ranked by total area.

Entries in this list include, but are not limited to, those in the standard, which includes and dependent territories. All 193 plus the two observer states are given a rank number. not in ISO 3166-1 are included in the list in ranked order. The areas of such largely unrecognised are in most cases also included in the areas of the more widely recognised states that claim the same territory see the notes in the “notes” column for each country for clarification.

Not included in the list are to parts of the continent of or entities such as the that have some degree of sovereignty but do not consider themselves to be sovereign countries or dependent territories.

This list includes three measurements of area:

• Total area: the sum of land and water areas within international boundaries and coastlines.
• Land area: the aggregate of all land within international boundaries and coastlines, excluding water area.
• Water area: the sum of the surface areas of all inland water bodies within international boundaries and coastlines. Coastal may be included. are not included unless otherwise noted. Contiguous zones and are not included.

Data is taken from the unless otherwise noted.

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The Influence Of The Geography Of Ancient Israel On Daily Life

• The Ecosystems in Temperate Rainforests

Israel has a distinct geographical identity that heavily influenced its early settlers. Ancient Israel began in an area known as Canaan, which became modern day Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. The area was bordered by the Mediterranean Sea on the west and included desert and mountains, creating a contrast between arid and fertile zones. The geography influenced everything from the settlers’ diets to where they lived.

Reasons To Study The Biblical Geography Of Israel

The geography of Israel is more than side trivia for the events in the Bibleits the stage God chose to place the characters of his story.

The narrative unfolds across many different landscapes, from the Mediterranean coastal region to the lower Galilee to the southern desert and beyond. Its an epic story of Gods kingdom expanding from a garden to the whole known world.

The Bibles original audience wouldve known these places and regions and why they were important to the story.

But todays Bible readers often skip over details about the land. They read the names of places, but theres no meaning attached.

And when we dont know the land, we dont really know the whole story. Its like watching a play without a backdrop or props.

Geography drops you right in the middle of the setting of Gods grand narrative and brings it to life.

Here are three specific benefits of studying biblical geography.

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The Arab Spring And Syrian Civil War

Syria has experienced protests and demonstrations similar to those that swept through North Africa in the Arab Spring of 2011. Citizens expressed dissatisfaction with the government because of the lack of democratic reforms, high unemployment, and the loss of civil rights, which had been taken away when the government declared a state of emergency in 1963. Student protests escalated to massive citizen demonstrations that emerged in various Syrian cities in the spring of 2011. The government cracked down on protesters, killing some. After extensive demonstrations on March 15, the government arrested more than three thousand people. Hundreds have been killed in violent clashes between the people and government security forces.

The lack of democratic processes by President Bashar al Assads government has continued to prompt protests and demonstrations in Syria. The US government eventually placed sanctions against Assad and several high-level Syrian officials. A new cabinet was installed in Syria, and the decades-old state of emergency was rescinded. Unrest and protests by the people continue, and the government responds by cracking down on them with harsher methods. Syrias neighbors and various European nations have increased sanctions and denounced the Assad regime, which has increased the pressure on Syria. While on the other end of the Middle East Cold War, Russia has been supporting the Syrian government.

Where History Is Part Of Religion

Ancient Israel is considered the birthplace of the three prominent religions since each one follows certain beliefs from Abraham. There are many different stories as to the real history of Israel, from the Bible to archaeological finding. One thing is for sure it was a land that stood the test time and has seen its fair share of bloodshed.

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