Question: When was the region immediately north of the region where Israel is located and the site of the most growth in desalination for agricultural use established?

Passages:
Israel (/ ˈɪzreɪəl /; Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל ‎, Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل ‎), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל ‎, Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل ‎), is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. The country contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel's economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, although the state's sovereignty over East Jerusalem is not recognised internationally. The population of Israel was estimated in 2017 to be 8,777,580 people, of whom 74.7% were Jewish, 20.8% Arab and 4.5% others. Desalination is an artificial process by which saline water (generally sea water) is converted to fresh water. The most common desalination processes are distillation and reverse osmosis. Desalination is currently expensive compared to most alternative sources of water, and only a very small fraction of total human use is satisfied by desalination. It is usually only economically practical for high-valued uses (such as household and industrial uses) in arid areas. However, there is growth in desalination for agricultural use, and highly populated areas such as Singapore or California. The most extensive use is in the Persian Gulf. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a country situated in Southwest Asia, the largest country of Arabia, bordering the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, north of Yemen. Its extensive coastlines on the Persian Gulf and Red Sea provide great leverage on shipping (especially crude oil) through the Persian Gulf and Suez Canal. The kingdom occupies 80% of the Arabian Peninsula. Most of the country's boundaries with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and the Republic of Yemen (formerly two separate countries: the Yemen Arab Republic or North Yemen; and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen or South Yemen) are undefined, so the exact size of the country remains unknown. The Saudi government estimate is at 2,217,949 square kilometres, while other reputable estimates vary between 2,149,690 and 2,240,000 sq. kilometres. Less than 1% of the total area is suitable for cultivation, and in the early 1990s, population distribution varied greatly among the towns of the eastern and western coastal areas, the densely populated interior oases, and the vast, almost empty deserts. The area of modern - day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four distinct regions: Hejaz, Najd and parts of Eastern Arabia (Al - Ahsa) and Southern Arabia ('Asir). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud. He united the four regions into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud. Saudi Arabia has since been an absolute monarchy, effectively a hereditary dictatorship governed along Islamic lines. The ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement within Sunni Islam has been called ``the predominant feature of Saudi culture '', with its global spread largely financed by the oil and gas trade. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called`` the Land of the Two Holy Mosques'' in reference to Al - Masjid al - Haram (in Mecca) and Al - Masjid an - Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam. As of 2013, the state had a total population of 28.7 million, of which 20 million were Saudi nationals and 8 million were foreigners. As of 2017, the population is 33 million. The state's official language is Arabic.

Supporting sentences:
Israel (/ ˈɪzreɪəl /; Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל ‎, Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل ‎), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל ‎, Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل ‎), is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The most extensive use is in the Persian Gulf. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a country situated in Southwest Asia, the largest country of Arabia, bordering the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, north of Yemen. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud.