DIMENSIONAL REFERENCE

 ISRAEL IS AT WAR WITH HAMAS.  The world sees Israel at war with Palestinians.  The Gaza strip and the West Bank are the equivalent of our American Indian Reservations -  a people pushed into a designated portion of land with freedom to govern themselves within that reservation but leaving is controlled by the country surrounding.  The history of it all is long and convoluted.  Here, I only want to talk about statistics.   I hope it helps in keeping things in perspective.  Keep as a reference.

Of the 195 countries in the world, Israel ranks 149th in size.  It's just a little smaller than El Salvador and Belize in Central America.  The island of Haiti is larger and Denmark is more than twice as large.  Iran is 80 times larger than Israel.

Israel is surrounded by Egypt on the Southwest, the Red Sea to the South, Jordan on the East, Syria on the Northeast, Lebanon on the North and the Mediterranean Sea on the West.  

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.  The boundary line for the West Bank designated area actually runs through the city.  

The Gaza Strip is almost totally surrounded by Israel except for the southwest which borders Egypt. The West is all along the Mediterranean Sea.  It is 25 miles long and from 4 to 7 miles wide.  Hamilton County, Ohio is three times as large.  The West Bank is as large as southwest Ohio.

Now for distances:  Keep in mind that it's about 50 miles from Cincinnati to Dayton, 100 miles to Columbus and 225 to Cleveland.  Jerusalem to the Gaza strip is only 48 miles.  These are distances from Jerusalem to neighboring capitols:  to Ammon, Jordan 45 mi, to Beirut, Lebanon 145 miles, to Damascus, Syria 147 mi, to Cairo, Egypt 475 mi, to Tehran, Iran 966 mi, and to the Capital of Yemen 1,266 miles.