Israel’s Military Geography

Israel is a tiny country of about 10,000 square miles, approximately the size of New Jersey in the United States or slightly smaller than Belgium. Compounding Israel’s small size is the fact that 70 percent of its population and 80 percent of its industrial capacity are concentrated in the narrow coastal strip sandwiched between the Mediterranean Sea and the West Bank. To make matters worse, the adjacent hills of the West Bank topographically dominate the coastal plain, which is a relatively flat and exposed area. This provides distinct advantages to an attacker for observation, fire, and defense from an Israeli ground response. And there are many targets located along Israel’s coastal plain: Ben-Gurion International Airport, the Trans-Israel Highway (Route 6) which runs north-south only tens of meters west of the West Bank, Israel’s National Water Carrier, and its high-voltage electric power lines. If the West Bank were to fall into hostile hands, the resulting situation would pose a constant threat to Israel’s national infrastructure.