Jordan Valley tour
On Sunday we went on a tour (tiyul) to the Jordan Valley. It has magnifient scenery, with high mountains on both sides of the very wide and very deep valley where the Jordan River flows. But since most of the river's water is taken for human use now it is no more than a stream.
In order to reach the Jordan Valley we had to enter the West Bank, but we could not take the shortest route going due East (on Route 57) because that would take us through very hostile Arab areas, notably the cities of Tulkarm and Nablus, so instead we went south on Route 6 until we came to Route 5 that goes east from Tel Aviv towards the Israeli town of Ariel that is located in Shomron (Samaria, the northern lobe of the West Bank). After passing the checkpoint we briefly entered Ariel to look around. It's a nice looking town on a promonotory with a population of ca. 35,000 and was founded in 1988. It is the largest Israeli community in the Shomron.
Beyond Ariel, the road begins to descend past the settlement of Ma'ale Ephraim. This reminds us that this region and that over the other side of the Valley now in the country of Jordan, in ancient times was the area of the Tribe of Ephraim, and there are many Biblical references to the area. It is a semi-arid region and as one goes further down into the Valley it becomes essentially rocky desert, with few trees and little vegetation.
The Valley is divided geologically into three levels or steps, the first is at the level of the River itself, one of the lowest and hottest points on earth (called the Zor). Then there is the level of the white soft sedimentary rock that is gouged by periodic floods. Above this are the foothills topped by a plane, and finally the plane at the top of the mountains that leads to the coast. The whole Valley is part of the Syrian-Africa rift valley that stretches from Syria to Ethiopia, and includes the Red Sea
We went through the intermediate plane along Route 60 that is known as the Allon Highway, since it was planned by Yigal Allon, former Israeli Foreign Minister, who proposed a plan back in the 1970s that would have given the West Bank to the Palestinians, but Israel would keep the Jordan Valley as a barrier to attack from the east. He proposed this because the Jordan Valley is so arid that it had a very small population of Arabs, and he thought that by settling Jews there it would protect Israel from an alliance between a Palestinian State and Arab countries to the east. We stopped at a small settlement called Rotem, named after the small "broom" plant that grows in this area. This has only twenty families and specializes in the production of all-organic products, such as cosmetics.
From there we drove down to the lower level of the Valley and went along Route 90 which traverses the length of the Jordan Valley. This road is named after former tourism Minister Rechavam Zeevi (nicknamed "Ghandi" because of his gaunt appearance), who planned it, but was assassinated by Palestinian terrorists in Jerusalem. We drove thru a military security area with permission and then had a good view over the lowest level of the Valley, that suprisingly is very fertile because of the water of the river, with large groves of date palms stretching in all directions. The high rose-coloured mountains of Jordan towered on the opposite side of the Valley.
You can tell the Israeli date groves from the Arab ones because they have straight lines and the palms are usually of the same height/age. Then we drove down into the lowest level of the Valley and visited a date packing house and sampled the delicious plump dates. It was extremely hot down there and I don't know how people bear it. Among the people who work there permanently there is a woman from Ohio and a man from Manchester. On the way back on Route 90 we stopped at a cafe established by a young man who was killed in the Lebanon War, but the place is kept open by his family.
Finally we went up a narrow, winding road to visit the spring at Fasael. This was the site of a large fortress in the time of Herod, which he built and named after his brother Fasael. Later on he murdered all his brother's children. The fortress no longer exists, but the site has a spring, that unfortunately we were unable to visit because the bus driver was afraid to venture too far up the road and those who walked up could not locate the main water source. Finally we came home via the same route we took out.
In order to reach the Jordan Valley we had to enter the West Bank, but we could not take the shortest route going due East (on Route 57) because that would take us through very hostile Arab areas, notably the cities of Tulkarm and Nablus, so instead we went south on Route 6 until we came to Route 5 that goes east from Tel Aviv towards the Israeli town of Ariel that is located in Shomron (Samaria, the northern lobe of the West Bank). After passing the checkpoint we briefly entered Ariel to look around. It's a nice looking town on a promonotory with a population of ca. 35,000 and was founded in 1988. It is the largest Israeli community in the Shomron.
Beyond Ariel, the road begins to descend past the settlement of Ma'ale Ephraim. This reminds us that this region and that over the other side of the Valley now in the country of Jordan, in ancient times was the area of the Tribe of Ephraim, and there are many Biblical references to the area. It is a semi-arid region and as one goes further down into the Valley it becomes essentially rocky desert, with few trees and little vegetation.
The Valley is divided geologically into three levels or steps, the first is at the level of the River itself, one of the lowest and hottest points on earth (called the Zor). Then there is the level of the white soft sedimentary rock that is gouged by periodic floods. Above this are the foothills topped by a plane, and finally the plane at the top of the mountains that leads to the coast. The whole Valley is part of the Syrian-Africa rift valley that stretches from Syria to Ethiopia, and includes the Red Sea
We went through the intermediate plane along Route 60 that is known as the Allon Highway, since it was planned by Yigal Allon, former Israeli Foreign Minister, who proposed a plan back in the 1970s that would have given the West Bank to the Palestinians, but Israel would keep the Jordan Valley as a barrier to attack from the east. He proposed this because the Jordan Valley is so arid that it had a very small population of Arabs, and he thought that by settling Jews there it would protect Israel from an alliance between a Palestinian State and Arab countries to the east. We stopped at a small settlement called Rotem, named after the small "broom" plant that grows in this area. This has only twenty families and specializes in the production of all-organic products, such as cosmetics.
From there we drove down to the lower level of the Valley and went along Route 90 which traverses the length of the Jordan Valley. This road is named after former tourism Minister Rechavam Zeevi (nicknamed "Ghandi" because of his gaunt appearance), who planned it, but was assassinated by Palestinian terrorists in Jerusalem. We drove thru a military security area with permission and then had a good view over the lowest level of the Valley, that suprisingly is very fertile because of the water of the river, with large groves of date palms stretching in all directions. The high rose-coloured mountains of Jordan towered on the opposite side of the Valley.
You can tell the Israeli date groves from the Arab ones because they have straight lines and the palms are usually of the same height/age. Then we drove down into the lowest level of the Valley and visited a date packing house and sampled the delicious plump dates. It was extremely hot down there and I don't know how people bear it. Among the people who work there permanently there is a woman from Ohio and a man from Manchester. On the way back on Route 90 we stopped at a cafe established by a young man who was killed in the Lebanon War, but the place is kept open by his family.
Finally we went up a narrow, winding road to visit the spring at Fasael. This was the site of a large fortress in the time of Herod, which he built and named after his brother Fasael. Later on he murdered all his brother's children. The fortress no longer exists, but the site has a spring, that unfortunately we were unable to visit because the bus driver was afraid to venture too far up the road and those who walked up could not locate the main water source. Finally we came home via the same route we took out.
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:44 PM
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