Palestine - Geography and Climate

Palestine is very, very small. It takes one hour by train from Haifa to Tel Aviv, the two main cities in Israel. The West Bank itself is the size of the San Francisco Bay Area. Google Maps claims about 7km from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. This is certainly true for birds, but from city centre to city centre, because of checkpoints, it usually takes most of an hour, though the situation can change and often does.


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These sort of situations have the effect of making the place feel much larger than it is.

The land rises from the sea in the West to the mountains in the East, with a desert in the South and the Jordan river valley and salt seas as the Eastern border. By the sea the spring weather is almost humid, but once one goes up and East a little bit, just to Jerusalem, it becomes much more fresh and clear. During rains, the tops of the highest hills, which are populated in many areas, for example Masyoon Heights outside of Ramallah, experience howling wind. The rainy season is very late, and in the winter there is occasional snow. Spring, just after the rainy season, is by all accounts the best time to visit Palestine, in terms of weather.

The land itself is much greener than one would expect, and in many places, on the road to Jerusalem and also on the road from Jenin to the Arab American University, there are pine forests, and in the plains there are fields of crops. But the rule is hilly land, with green plants that probably turn brown in the summer, and many, many white stones and olive trees.