Officially the state of Israel, it is in the Middle East on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest. Also there is the west Bank to the east and the Gaza Strip to the southwest. The total area under Israeli Law, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights is around 28000 sq km. There are a number of areas in Israel from the Negev Desert in the south to the mountains of Galilee, Carmel and the Golan in the north.
70% of the 7.28 million population of Israel live on the Coastal plain on the shores of the Mediterranean. Then in the centre there are two rift valleys - the Jordon River runs along one of them, to the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the surface of the earth. Further south is the Gulf of Eilat - part of the Red Sea. Coastal cities have a Mediterranean Climate, with cool rainy winters and long hot summers, other areas of the mountainous country do vary, and Jerusalem usually has at least one snowfall.