What are some geographical factors that have to do with the conflict between Palestinians and Jews?

Answer 1

General Geography for later reference

The former Mandate of Palestine (the area that is contested by both sides) and its surroundings have many different geographical microclimates and differences. Along the Mediterranean there is a lowland area that rises slightly in the north in the Galilee. However, in the Galilee, there are several valleys that keep the land relatively low. In the upper lobe of the West Bank (called Samaria by Religious Zionists), the terrain is much more hilly and mountainous and recalls places like Greece further inland where the elevation is (relatively) high and difficult to pass. Jerusalem is like this as well. South of Jerusalem is almost uniformly desert, called the Negev. There are natural craters called machteshim (yes, that is a Hebrew word used by English and American geologists), but otherwise the land is relatively flat. The difficulty is moving armored transport across the sandier areas because of limited traction.

Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9

There is a valley that connects Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in which the Ayalon 1 (Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway) was built during the British Period. About half of the major battles and casualties in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9 occurred defending this passageway or attempting to cut off Jerusalem from the Zionist leadership in Tel Aviv. The relatively low altitude of the Galilee and the planar nature of seashore made it possible for the Israeli Army to take these regions. As a result, the Armistice of 1949 has Israel holding onto the Galilee and seaside regions (and the Negev because of limited Egyptian resistance in the Negev). In addition, the valley connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem was in Israeli hands.

Arab-Israeli War of 1967

Israeli knowledge of the desert in the Sinai Peninsula allowed them to outmaneuver their Egyptian counterparts and effectively take that desert. Perhaps the most important geographic issue of note was the overtaking of the superior (in altitude) Syrian position in the Golan, which was a few hundred meters above the nearby Galilee area. The acquisition of the Golan meant that the Israeli-Syrian frontier was roughly even and made the north of Israel much more defensible.

The other wars rely less on geography than those two.