I used an actual heightmap of Israel, then scaled it down to 1:72 scale. I used worldpainter to customize the terrain and place schematics for cities and towns. I used MCEdit to paste some special builds in Jerusalem and Bethlehem (which only looks like part of Jerusalem because of how close they are at this scale).

You can also preview the map here:
https://www.minecraftworldmap.com/worlds/JP5iq/full#/1453/64/64/-8/0/0