Original sentence: Altough unlikely at the present time, if and when true peace in the Middle East takes hold, some people hope that Israel could become an important railway junction in this region of the world, thanks to being strategically situated on the Mediterranean Sea, at the crossroads of Africa and Asia, as it was before Israel became a state
Edited sentence: Altough unlikely at the present time, if and when true peace in the Middle East takes hold, Israel could become an important railway junction in this region of the world, thanks to being strategically situated on the Mediterranean Sea, at the crossroads of Africa and Asia, as it was before Israel became a nation