Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 91, July 2009, pp. 1-31. | Page 7

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the Sharon Plain Sedge Cyperus sharonensis, the Palestine Bedstraw Galium philistaeum,
the Israel Orchid Anacamptis israelitica, the Tel Aviv Stork's Bill Erodium telavivense, a
sorrel Rumex aeroplaniformis, the Jaffa Groundsel Senecio joppensis, the Har Ramon
Buffonia Bufonia ramonensis, the Naqab Alkanet Hormuzakia negevensis, the Danin Fennel
Ferula daninii, the Naqab Onion Allium negevense, and Allium tardiflorum. Mosheovia is
sometimes considered an endemic genus distinct from the widespread Scrophularia.
Palestine and Israel are included in the Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot.
Important terrestrial ecoregions include the Eastern Mediterranean Conifersclerophyllous-broadleaf Forests (WWF) and the Southern Anatolian Montane Conifer
and Deciduous Forests (WWF).

Fauna in Palestine:
As in many Western countries, a growing population and increasing industrial
development in Palestine and Israel are destroying natural habitats, propelling
biodiversity into a decline. Palestine and Israel have responded by pronouncing a fifth
of the land area as nature reserves.
The history of animal life in Palestine stretches back some 60 million years, when the
sea covering the area finally retreated. It was duri