Simplify the following text for a Grade 8 native English-speaking person.
Original: Most of the cities of the Palatinate ( Ludwigshafen , Speyer , Landau , Frankenthal , Neustadt ) lie in the plain rhine rift in the east of the region , near the Rhine River , which forms the eastern border of the Palatinate .
Simplified: Most of the cities of the Palatinate ( Ludwigshafen , Speyer , Landau , Frankenthal , Neustadt ) lie in the Rhineplain in the east .