Size: About 20,700 square kilometers. Occupied territories comprise additional 7,477 square kilometers: West Bank, 5,879; Gaza Strip, 378; East Jerusalem, annexed in July 1980, 70; and Golan Heights, annexed in December 1981, 1,150.
Topography: Four general areas: coastal plain--fertile, humid, and thickly populated--stretches along Mediterranean Sea; central highlands including Hills of Galilee in north with country's highest elevation at Mt. Meron (1,208 meters), and arid Judean Hills in south; Jordan Rift Valley with lowest point (399 meters below sea level) at Dead Sea; and Negev Desert, which accounts for about half Israel's area.
Data as of December 1988