how to say “the center of Israel” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מרכז-הארץ-1.m4a” /]מֶרְכַּז הָאָרֶץ

Of Israel’s population of about 8 million people, almost 4 million live in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. Israelis call this large concentration המרכז[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מרכז-הארץ-2.m4a” /] – the Center.

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מרכז-הארץ-3.m4a” /]רוב המשפחה שלי גרה במרכז.

Most of my family lives in the Center.

מרכז[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מרכז-הארץ-4.m4a” /] comes from the root ר.כ.ז[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/מרכז-הארץ-5.m4a” /] meaning concentration.