The Jordan Valley – A General Description

The Jordan Valley is part of the Great African Rift that stretches about 70 km. between the Bezek Riverbed in the north (south of Bet Shean) to the Dead Sea in the south, between the foothills of the Samarian Hills and the Judean Hills to the west, to the Hills of Gilead, land of Amon and Moab in the east. The valley divides into two parts: the northern part, which accounts for about one third of the length of the valley, stretches to where the Yabuk Stream meets the Jordan River, and the Sartaba tributary on the opposite side. At this point the Jordan Valley is mostly only about five kilometers wide. The southern part widens towards the south until it reaches a width of 52 kilometers near the Jericho Plains. The terrain gently slopes down from 275 meters below sea level in the north to 400 meters below sea level in the south. The plain that comprises the basis of the Jordan valley is called the kikar in Hebrew and or in Arabic. The Jordan Valley has cut into the marlstone plain to create a narrow valley of between 500 meters and 1,500 meters wide and is several dozen meters lower than the kikar. This valley is called Gaon Hayarden (zor in Arabic).
In the winter and early spring the Jordan Valley is a celebration of nature. The air is fresh and the whole region is a festival of contrasting colors, from the blue of the sky, to the brown and green mountains, and the low lying areas checkered with the red buttercups, yellow chrysanthemums and purple lupins. There are strong, bright colors everywhere while white egrets hover in the air, and hoopoes, swallows and sparrows squat on the electricity cables, and from to time spread their wings and set off in group glides in a celestial formation dance. This pastoral scene fronts a rich life that began in ancient times.

The Jordan Valley in the Bible

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan and Jericho, saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan you shall drive out all the inhabitants from before you and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places. And you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land, and dwell in it; for I have given you the land to possess it.” (Numbers, chapter 33, 50-53).
The Jordan Valley is cited in scripture from the earliest days of the Israelites, before they crossed the Jordan River and entered the land of Israel to inhabit the Promised Land, and throughout history up to the present day. The Book of Joshua describes how the Israelites arrive at Gilgal, after having crossed the Jordan River. Prof. Adam Zertal, of the Haifa University Department of Archaeology has unearthed structures in the shape of human feet believed to have been erected by the Israelites upon their initial entry to the Land of Canaan and manifest the biblical notion of claiming ownership of the land by setting feet on it. Since 1990, five sites shaped like human feet have been excavated in the Jordan Valley. All five date back to the early Iron Age (12th to 13th centuries B.C.E.), and their shapes indicate that they were used during ceremonies as communal gathering places. The concept of the Jewish pilgrimage to Jerusalem on three major holidays (known as "aliya la'regel" or ascending on foot) also originates from the foot-shaped sites in the Jordan Valley and Mount Ebal.

The Sartaba Mountain

Josephus described the Alexandrion Fort as: “a wonderful fort atop a high mountain”. The impressive remains of the Alexandronian Fortress depict a significant chapter in the life of the Hasmonean dynasty in the region. This site is also the place where bonfires were lit by the Second Temple court in Jerusalem, as a beacon to the Babylonian Diaspora, announcing the beginning of the new month.
The Sartaba Mountain looms above the center of the Jordan Valley, on Israel's eastern border. The fort was the most important of the Hasmonean strongholds located on the top of Sartaba Hill and named after Alexander Yanai (76-103 BCE), or possibly after his wife Shlomzion Alexandra who became queen after his death (67-76 BCE).
The hill juts out sharply and rises to a height of 377 meters above sea level, about 650 meters above the Valley. Its cone-shaped outline is visible to people traveling along the Valley road and can be seen from afar. The Sartaba Horn overlooks the eastern Trans-Jordan junction near Nablus, and this gives it its strategic importance. In the past this pass connected two international routes – the King’s Way on the eastern side of the Jordan River and the Sea Route along the shores of the Land of Israel. This branch ran from Nablus and the Tirza River to the Adam Junction (from there via the Yarbuk Valley to the ridge of the mountain, east of the Jordan River). This is the route taken by Jacob when he returned from Laban the Aramite to the Land of Israel (Genesis, Chapter 32).

The Jordan Valley in Modern History

In the midst of World War I, the British forces meet the Turkish/German armies at the "Uja line" in the Jordan Valley.
Pre-Independence the Palmach forces, attack the bridges over the Jordan River.
In the 1967 Six Day war the Israel Defense Forces reached the Jordan River and blew up the bridges preventing enemy troops from crossing. From that time, Israel's eastern border was stabilized and the region became the "Land of Pursuit".
The settlement movement in the Jordan Valley began immediately after the Six Day War, as part of the overall plan to settle the region. The plan, devised by Yigal Alon who served as Minister of Absorption and Deputy Prime Minster ‎from 1967-1969, tried to provide a solution for two important problems that arose in Israel’s new situation following the war. The first problem was to set a secure border along the Jordan River and to generate strategic control along the Jordan Valley, on Israel’s eastern border. The second problem was to deal with the new situation in which there was a large Arab population in Samaria under Israel’s control.
Minister Alon suggested establishing two rows of settlements along the border parallel to the Jordan River as the Jordan Valley had no Arab inhabitants at the time (except for Jericho and the area of the Adam Junction). The first row was set up on the level terrain of Kikar Hayarden alongside the Jordan River by what is known today as the "Valley Road" or "Gandi's Road" - part of Route 90 stretching from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat. The second row was to be built in parallel, to the west, along the foothills of the Samarian Hills that drop down into the Valley.
The Settlement Division of the Jewish Agency joined by the various agricultural movements and the IDF Nahal units and acted to create the "security belt" proposed by Alon.
The first community to be established was Mechola (January 1968) as the community connecting the Jordan Valley to the Bet Shean Valley. The pioneers who settled in Mechola worked to develop a viable agricultural economy combined with military activity, patrols and guard duty. Using this model, the rest of the communities were established in the region.
The community of Massua whose name translates as "Torch" followed and was established at the foothill of the Sartaba Moutain, thereby connecting the valley to one of its historical highlights, the torch lighting ceremonies during the Second Temple period. After Massua, Kibbutz Gilgal, whose name symbolizes the first site of Israelite habitation upon entering the Land of Israel, was established. The establishment of the rest of communities followed, totaling 21 communities.

The Regional Council

In 1980 the Regional Council of the Jordan Valley was established on an area of 860,000 dunams. To the north lie the city of Bet Shean and the Regional Council of the Bet Shean Valley. To the south are the city of Jericho and the North Dead Sea-Megilot Regional Council. In the west is the town Maale Efraim, the Shomron and Binyamin Regional Councils.
The major roads that cross the region are, Route 90 (north-south) and Route 505 and 508, known as the Alon Road (Trans Samaria).
The Communities: Most of the community names are derived from the original Biblical reference or on honor of army commanders killed in the line of duty.

Name	Year Established
Argaman	1968
Bekaot	1972
Fazael	1970
Gilgal	1968
Gitit	1974
Hamra	1971
Hemdat	1979
Maskiot	1982
Massua	1968
Mechola	1968
Mechora	1976
Mevot Jericho	2001
Na’Aran	1970
Naama	1982
Netiv HaGedud	1975
Roi	1976
Rotem	1982
Shadmot Mechola	1979
Tomer	1976
Yafit	1980
Yitav	1977

Agriculture in the Jordan Valley

The special geographic-climatic conditions of the Jordan Rift Valley are what make agriculture the leading economic sector of the region.
• The high temperature yields early ripening in the spring and late ripening in autumn, allowing for high financial gains.
• The strong sun radiation favorably affects the fruits and vegetables and encourages their growth.
• The below average rainfall and moisture contribute to low infestation resulting in high quality crops.
   On the other hand, some of these conditions create burdensome difficulties for the farmers:
• Salt content – below most of the Jordan Valley's soil is lime-rich marlstone, sediment left from salt water that covered the Jprdan    Valley in the past. This makes it difficult for vegetables and vineyards to grow and requires sluicing the soil and using large  mounts     of irrigation. 
• Climate- the high temperatures are an advantage in the winter (18-200 C), but become a serious disadvantage in the summer (37- 380 C). The harsh climate causes strong winds to blow from the western hills, increases the amount of evaporation and dryness (2000 mm a year), and limiting possibilities in the summer.
• Water- agriculture depends entirely on artificial irrigation. The farmers have four sources of water:
1) good water from the wells of the Mekorot Company which are inadequate during the demanding season. In addition, the water level drops from year to year due to intense pumping and causes saline water and stops the pumping. The other source of water is inferior quality water, including;
2) winter floodwater that flows from the Nablus region to the Tirza reservoir;
3) water from the Jordan River which has a high saline level and is appropriate only to irrigate date palms;
4) recycled sewage water from East Jerusalem from the Kidron stream.

Agriculture Today

The modern agriculture of the Jordan Valley has gone through many changes throughout the years and a variety of crops have come and gone, sometimes causing economic crises. About 30% of the households in the Jordan Valley are economically based directly on agriculture and an additional 30% give agriculture related services – packing houses, refrigeration, transport, office services etc.
The value of agricultural production in the Jordan Valley is about 500 million NIS and the cultivated area is about 33,000 dunam.
The rapid development of the agro-technical technologies, high quality professional guidance and an independent research and development unit, have brought stability in the past five years to many of the major crops and allowed them to expand each year:
Dates – The Jordan Valley is the major producer of dates. There are about 14,000 dunam, mostly of the Medjoul variety, which are the most sought after in export markets. Over 80% of the date harvest is exported.
Table Grapes – There are 4,600 dunam of table grapes in the Jordan Valley. In the past, this crop suffered from ongoing crises, but is now expanding from year to year. About 70% of the yield is exported and is half of the grape export of the State of Israel. The SBS (Early Sweet) brand was developed in the local R&D and is preferred in the export market. Growing grapes under netting, unique to the SBS brand, was developed by crop supervisors and R&D in the Jordan Valley.
Peppers- The major vegetable produced in the region on 3,100 dunam is growing substantially from year to year. A variety of brands and colors result in a high yield, grown primarily in the local soil and in different types of structures. Peppers are also grown in the open field during the autumn and winter months. The extended growth period of the pepper plant results in marketing for eight months a year (from November to June) mostly for export, but for the local market in the fall and the beginning of the summer.
Herbs and Spices- The fresh herbs and spices are grown in about 3,000 dunam and comprise 40% of Israel's yearly export. The herbs are grown all year round and with the help of the professional supervisors and R&D have developed methods appropriate for cultivation in the Jordan Valley summer heat. As a result Israeli produce is the only one to be marketed all year round. The growers have to meet the stringent standards of the export agencies, with a stress upon completely bug-free crops, controlled usage of chemicals and strict requirements for packing houses and refrigeration. The major herbs grown are; basil, arugula, spearmint, tarragon and chives.

Other agricultural crops include; cherry tomatoes, eggplants, flowers, citrus fruits, olives, pomegranates, chicken, turkey, dairy, goats and sheep. 

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