II.

The Land

Palestine lies at the head of the Great Rift Valley, which runs up from Africa. The region has an extremely diverse terrain that falls generally into four parallel zones. From west to east they are the coastal plain; the hills and mountains of Galilee, Samaria, and Judaea; the valley of the River Jordan; and the eastern plateau. In the extreme south lies the Negev, a rugged desert area. Elevations range from 395 m (1,296 ft) below sea level on the shores of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the surface of the Earth, to 1,020 m (3,347 ft) atop Mount Hebron. The region has several fertile areas, which constitute its principal natural resource. Most notable of these are the Plain of Sharon, along the northern part of the Mediterranean coast, and the Plain of Esdraelon (or Jezreel), a valley north of the hills of Samaria. The water supply of the region, however, is not abundant, with virtually all of the modest annual rainfall coming in the winter months. The River Jordan, the region's only major stream, flows south through Lake Tiberias (the region's only large freshwater lake) to the intensely saline Dead Sea.