Israel has a significance out of all proportion to its size. Within an area equivalent to the US state of New Jersey, two nations have so far failed to find a formula for peaceful co-existence. And yet this strife-torn country can offer an almost unrivalled variety of scenery and climate, including the snows of Mount Hermon in the north, the sub-tropical fertility of Galilee and the heat and aridity of the Dead Sea, the lowest place on Earth.