Driving north through the Jordan valley on route 90, an immense rainbow straddled the broad low valley on our right. The sky was bright as usual westward, but dark clouds billowed over the valley en route to the eastern hills. The contrast continued in the topography: a desert landscape westwards featuring bare brown hills, while the valley below had date plantations and large green swathes of cultivation. The Jordan River beyond meanders unseen through the deep cleft of the valley, its chalky marlstone banks fringed with thickets of reeds, thorns and tamarisk trees. On the eastern horizon above the Jordanian villages are the hills of Moab.

Since a relentless summer sun raises temperatures to 45^oC, the winter months are a comfortable time to visit this arid region that is part of the Afro-Syrian rift valley – a quiet, sparsely populated area that rarely attracts attention. Soon the spring flowers will appear in a riot of red, yellow and sapphire blooms.

Though political uncertainty has always dogged its future, the Jordan valley recently celebrated forty years of settlement. Regional council director Dubi Tal oversees a cultivated area of 33,000 dunams, over an 82 kilometer expanse of land from Bet Shean to the outskirts of Jericho. It is preferable, Tal stated from his Shadmot Mehola home base, for the Jordan valley to remain a low profile area avoiding publicity. Jerusalem-born Tal, who fills a mayoral type role, is the son of former Supreme Court judge Tzvi Tal.

The area west of the Jordan fell into Israeli hands during the Six Day War. Since then the river has divided the two countries, creating a far more defensible border. In 1968 the Jewish Agency, the settlement movement and the Nahal command of the army decided to set up a populated security zone in the Jordan valley. Security remains an ongoing issue though, as the long border cannot be sealed hermetically against terrorist infiltration.

The first settlement was Hapoel Hamizrachi’s Mehola (1968) established a few hundred meters from the Jordan. It is an example of a military outpost that gradually developed into an agricultural settlement with large tracts of land. (In 1982 some residents established Shadmot Mehola a few kilometers away.) Argaman was another early settlement, with Massua a little further south. Its name, meaning beacon or torch, links it to the period of the Mishnah when beacons on the hills proclaimed the sighting of the new moon. Today there are 21 settlements, the last one set up in 2002. Of the 1,100 households, totaling 4,000 residents, 30% are engaged in agriculture and another 30% in crop-related services.

Agricultural Champions

The valley has been cultivated since Canaanite times and agriculture still thrives today. It had noteworthy antecedents: in the second temple period, especially in the times of the Hasmoneans and King Herod, sophisticated aqueducts were constructed so farmers could grow irrigated crops, aromatic herbs, orchards and date palms.

Nowadays agriculture depends totally on irrigation, whether from wells, low quality winter floodwater from the Nablus region, or recycled sewage water from the Kidron stream of East Jerusalem. High salinity Jordan River water is used only for date palms, whose trunks act as filters. Due to lack of rain there are ongoing problems with water shortages and saline soil.

The hot climate ripens the fruit, such as 4,600 dunams of table grapes, very early with 70% going for export. SBS, an early sweet brand, is especially popular and grown under netting. A dazzling variety of peppers (3,100 dunams) is harvested here eight months a year. Though the dryness is consistent with low infestation, the high evaporation rate in summer is not a plus. The advanced agricultural techniques that are employed enable the export of high quality produce. The Jordan Valley boasts 14,000 dunams of medjoul dates, an abundance of cherry tomatoes, and 3,000 tons a year of organic herbs. Other branches include citrus fruit, flowers, fish farming, livestock and poultry.

Problems

Besides the water shortages, there are security problems that may involve sporadic violence and terrorism. Stealing and sabotage by Palestinians are major hazards. Widespread theft occurs in residential areas, cattle are stolen from farms, produce and equipment disappear from hothouses and plantations.

Because of the reluctance of Jews to work in agriculture, admittedly in difficult climatic conditions, thousands of Palestinian workers are bussed in at harvest time. Though farmers rely on them, this uneasy dependence carries with it a constant security threat. Tal comments ironically on how workers undergo meticulous checks for knives and weapons but then are handed machetes to go work on the date palms.

Shulamit Kaminsky of Shadmot Mehola’s sheep farm explained the tense situation farmers contend with:

“Sheep farms are a target for stealing, as the animals are small and can be quickly and easily removed from their pens by following the leader. This is a major concern for sheep farmers all over the country.  In the Jordan Valley there have been a number of instances where entire flocks have been stolen, and we lose sleep over the possibility that it could happen to us at the Shokek family farm.  The jeep that patrols the moshav at night checks up on the sheep every so often, the army also travels the patrol road a few times a day.  We have sheep dogs that alert us whenever a stranger approaches the pens and a system of closed circuit cameras that allow us to see what's happening at all times. All that, and a lot of trust in the help of heaven is what keeps us going.”

And yet there are brighter notes. Recent years have seen former residents returning to their homesteads and building homes for their children. Also, new Nahal groups have been set up.

Tourism Potential

Some tourist sites in the Jordan valley are nature reserves, others are connected with biblical personalities who frequented them. A prime example is Elisha the prophet who was born and raised at Abel-mehola.  He was busy plowing with a team of oxen when Elijah came and laid his mantle upon him.

In this region where even planting a date palm is an act of faith, Tal’s optimistic dream is to bring tourism to the Jordan Valley. The date palms, he mentioned, only yield fruit six or seven years down the line. He spoke enthusiastically about Mount Sartaba in the north of the valley, which he envisions as a future tourist magnet. A cable car is needed to bring tourists effortlessly to its summit, saving them a hot and strenuous climb.

www.goisrael.com calls the view from Sartaba’s summit “breathtaking”.

“Below is the green Jordan Valley with its modern farming communities contrasting with the surrounding wilderness, to the east across the Jordan are the mountains of Moab and Gilead, west takes in Samaria, and to the north is Galilee.”

It then describes the fascinating finds on the hilltop. “You can see the remains of huge water cisterns, a Hasmonean-era wall that collapsed in an earthquake, heart-shaped stone column-drums from a Herodian terrace, and part of the water system.”

At the peak of this impressive mountain, rising over 2,300 feet above the Jordan Valley, Hasmonean king Alexander Yannai built the fortress of Alexandrium for his wife Shlomzion in the first century BCE.  It was located at a strategic spot overlooking the eastern Trans-Jordan junction near Nablus. Sartaba subsequently served the Hasmoneans in their battles against the Romans. After the latter destroyed the fortress, it was restored by Herod, who eventually buried his two sons and his Hasmonean wife Mariamne there after putting them to death.

Mishnah Rosh Hashanah says that in Second Temple times, Mount Sartaba was the first of a chain of beacon stations which transmitted signals from Jerusalem to the Babylonian diaspora, announcing the new month and religious holidays (2:4). Though it is not easy to sight the new moon, or see the shape of things to come, let us hope that the Jordan Valley will prosper.

Susan de la Fuente is a freelance writer, editor, and translator from Hebrew, French and German to English sdlfsusan@yahoo.com