The Judean Mountains, (Hebrew: הרי יהודה; Transliteration: Harei Yehuda) also referred to as the Judean Hills, is the Israeli name for the mountain range of the Judea region upon which Jerusalem and several other biblical cities are located. Running generally north-south, the mountains extend both to the west and east of Jerusalem, the southern end known as Mount Hebron. Other important cities in the mountain range are Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah. The range forms a natural division between the Shephelah coastal plains to the west and the Jordan Rift Valley to the east, as well as causing the rain shadow responsible for the Judean desert. In prehistoric times, animals no longer found in the Levant region were found here, including elephants, rhinoceri, giraffes and water buffalo.[1] The range has karst topography including a stalactite cave in Nahal Sorek National Park between Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh and the area surrounding Ofra, where fossils of prehistoric flora and fauna were found. The Judean Mountains have an Israel Railways line which from Bet Shemesh along the Brook of Sorek and Valley of Rephaim into Jerusalem's southern train station. Currently, a plan for development of the Judean Mountains region is in progress. Politically, the Judean Mountains are partly in sovereign Israeli territory and partly in the West Bank.
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