About Israel
The map shows Israel, officially the State of Israel, a country in the Middle East with a coastline at the
Mediterranean Sea in the west and access to the
Red Sea in the south. Jews, Christians, and Muslims regard the region as the biblical Holy Land.
Israel is bordered by
Egypt,
Jordan,
Lebanon,
Syria, and the Palestinian territories (
West Bank and the
Gaza
Strip;) it shares maritime borders with
Cyprus. The borders with Syria (Golan Heights), Lebanon (Shebaa farms) and the Palestinian territories (declared as the State of Palestine) are still disputed.
With an
area of 22,072 km², the country is slightly larger than half the size of
Denmark, or somewhat larger than the US state of
New Jersey.
Israel has a
population of 8.95 million people (Nov 2018), spoken
languages are Hebrew and Arabic.
Designated capital is
Jerusalem, the country's largest and most populous city. However, Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem is internationally disputed. The country's second largest city is
Tel Aviv; it is Israel's economic capital; the city is host to almost all foreign diplomatic missions, embassies, and consulates in the country.
Ben Gurion International Airport (IATA code: TLV) near Tel Aviv is the largest and busiest international airport in Israel, Ovda Airport (IATA code: VDA) in the southern Negev desert is Israel's second international airport.
Israel is divided into six main administrative districts (in parentheses: District Capital):
1. Northern District (Nazareth), includes the Israeli-occupied territory of the Golan Heights; 2. Haifa district (Haifa); 3. Central district (Ramla); 4. Tel Aviv district (Tel Aviv);
5. Jerusalem District (Jerusalem), includes East Jerusalem; 6. Southern district (Beersheba.)