Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
[note 6] One of Israel's Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the country's undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset (Israel's parliament), the residences of the Prime Minister and President, and the Supreme Court.
Israel's proclaimed capital is in Jerusalem, [22] while Tel Aviv is the country's largest urban area and economic center. Israel is located in a region known to Jews as the Land of Israel, synonymous with the Palestine region and the Holy Land. In antiquity, it was home to the Canaanite civilisation followed by the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Israel became a member of the United Nations the following year and has since been recognised by most countries. [18] The countries recognizing Israel did not necessarily recognize its sovereignty over Jerusalem generally, citing the UN resolutions which called for an international status for the city. [19]
According to Jewish tradition, Jerusalem is Mount Moriah, the location of the binding of Isaac. The Hebrew Bible mentions the name "Jerusalem" 669 times, often because many mitzvot can only be performed within its environs. The name "Zion", which usually refers to Jerusalem, but sometimes the Land of Israel, appears in the Hebrew Bible 154 times.
East Jerusalem is the familiar term in English. Arabs largely use the term Arab Jerusalem for this area in official English-language documents, emphasizing the predominance of the Arabic-speaking Palestinian population while Israelis call the area East Jerusalem because of its geographic location in the east of the expanded Jerusalem. [26]
The Kingdom of Judah was located in the Judean Mountains, stretching from Jerusalem to Hebron and into the Negev Desert.The central ridge, ranging from forested and shrubland-covered mountains gently sloping towards the hills of the Shephelah in the west, to the dry and arid landscapes of the Judaean Desert descending into the Jordan Valley to the east, formed the kingdom's core.
The Sea of Galilee (also called the Kinneret) is Israel's largest and most important freshwater lake, located in the northeast of the country. The pear-shaped lake is 23 kilometres (14 mi) long from north to south, with a maximum width of 13 kilometres (8 mi) in the north, covering 166 square kilometers (64 sq mi).
It also varies in rainfall, starting with about 400–500 millimetres (16–20 in) in the western hills, rising to 600 millimetres (24 in) around western Jerusalem (in central Judea), falling back to 400 millimetres (16 in) in eastern Jerusalem and dropping to around 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in the eastern parts, due to a rain shadow: this is ...