The
Judaean Desert (
Midbar Yehuda, both
Desert of Judah or
Judaean Desert;
Sahara Yahudan) is a desert in
Israel and the
West Bank that lies east of
Jerusalem and descends to the
Dead Sea. It stretches from the northeastern
Negev to the east of
Beit El, and is marked by
terraces with
escarpments. It ends in a steep escarpment dropping to the Dead Sea and the
Jordan Valley. The Judaean Desert is crossed by numerous
wadis from northeast to southeast and has many
ravines, most of them deep, from 1,200 feet in the west to 600 feet in the east. The Judaean Desert is an area with a special morphological structure along the east of the
Judaean Mountains.