The Land of Israel (other names are Canaan, Judea, the Holy Land, and Palestine), is a small country located between big and powerful historical empires, between the Mediterranean Sea, the Jordan River, and the deserts. However small, its importance is enormous, and not only to its inhabitants. 

The state of Israel is only some 400 kilometers (250 miles) long, and much, much narrower. 

The Land of Israel acquired much of its worldwide fame and significance over time from the religions that developed in the area:

• when it became The Promised Land , a divine promise to Abraham , his son Isaac , and his grandson Jacob (Israel) – as the  Bible tells us. Jacob's descendants, the children of Israel (or the Hebrews ), settled here and made this country  their homeland. 

•  when the first monotheistic religion, now known as the Jewish religion ,   was formed here by Jacob's descendants. 

•  when the Hebrew Bible became the main body of the Jewish scriptures, and translations of these scriptures became part of the Christian scriptures – The Old Testament. 

•  when a new monotheistic religion,  Christianity , was formed in the Land of Israel by Jesus  and his disciples (all born Jews and living in this land) and became a worldwide faith. All major events recounted in the Gospels took place in this small  country.

• when a third monotheistic religion,  Islam, also a worldwide religion, made Jerusalem its third holiest site, after Mecca  and Medina.

This land is not only the Promised Land, the land where ideas and beliefs influencing worldwide humanity germinated; it is a land very dear to its inhabitants. Though small, the country has a variety of landscapes, climates and wildlife, and variegated cultures and ethnicities. This land is its mountains and valleys, its waters, its natural wonders with the millions of migratory birds who cross it and winter here, the flowers in the Carmel forests or in the brief rainy season in the Negev desert, its olive groves and vineyards, and its people! While you are here, don't miss the many opportunities for encounters with foreigners as well as the locals.