The city of Acre is in the Western Galilee district in northern Israel.
According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), at the end of 2003 the city had a total population of 45,600. It stands on a low promontory at the northern extremity of the Bay of Acre, 152 kilometers (95 miles) N.N.W. from Jerusalem.
It was long regarded as the "Key of Palestine," on account of its commanding position on the shore of the broad coastal plain that joins the inland plain of Esdraelon, and so affords the easiest entrance to the interior of the country.
