Jordan Valley
The Jordan Valley forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to the lower course of the Jordan River, from the spot where it exits the Sea of Galilee in the north, to the end of its course where it flows into the Dead Sea in the south. In a wider sense, the term may also cover the Dead Sea basin and the Arabah valley, which is the rift valley segment beyond the Dead Sea and ending at Aqaba/Eilat, farther south.
The valley, in the common, narrow sense, is a long and narrow trough, long if measured "as the crow flies", with a width averaging with some points narrowing to over most of the course, before widening out to a delta when reaching the Dead Sea. Due to meandering, the length of the river itself is. This is the valley with the lowest elevation in the world, beginning at below sea level and terminating at less than BSL. On both sides, to the east and west, the valley is bordered by high, steep escarpments rising from the valley floor by between to.
Over most of its length, the Jordan Valley forms the border between Jordan to the east, and Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to the west. The details are regulated by the Israel–Jordan peace treaty of 1994, which establishes an "administrative boundary" between Jordan and the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, without prejudice to the status of that territory. Israel has allocated 86% of the land, in the West Bank portion of the valley, to Israeli settlements. Annexation of the Jordan Valley to Israel has been proposed by a variety of Israeli politicians, most recently Benjamin Netanyahu in September 2019.
Geography
According to the definition used in this article, what is elsewhere sometimes termed the Upper Jordan Valley is not considered part of the Jordan Valley. The Upper Jordan Valley comprises the Jordan River sources and the course of the Jordan River through the Hula Valley and the Korazim Plateau, both north of the Sea of Galilee.The lower part of the valley, known as the Ghor, includes the Jordan River segment south of the Sea of Galilee which ends at the Dead Sea. Several degrees warmer than adjacent areas, its year-round agricultural climate, fertile soils and water supply have made the Ghor a key agricultural area.
South of the Dead Sea, the continuation of the larger Jordan Rift Valley contains the hot, dry area known as Wadi 'Araba, the "wilderness" or "Arabah desert" of the Bible.
Demography
Jordanians
Prior to the 1967 Six-Day War, the valley's Jordanian side was home to about 60,000 people largely engaged in agriculture and pastoralism. By 1971, the Valley's Jordanian population had declined to 5,000 as a result of the 1967 war and the 1970–71 "Black September" war between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordan. Investments by the Jordanian government in the region allowed the population to rebound to over 85,000 by 1979. 80% of the farms in the Jordanian part of the valley are family farms no larger than 30 dunams.Palestinians
Population levels in the past are unclear. According to the PLO, before 1967, there were approximately 250,000 Palestinians living in the part of the valley that lies in the West Bank.As of 2009, the number of Palestinians remaining in this area was approximately 58,000, living in about twenty permanent communities, mostly concentrated in the city of Jericho and communities in the greater Jericho area in the south of the valley. Of these, approximately 10,000 live in Area C which is administered by the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, including approximately 2,700 people who live in small Bedouin and herding communities.
Israelis
Inside pre-1967 borders, 17,332 Israelis live in the independent municipality of Beit She'an, 12,000 live in 24 communities in Valley of Springs Regional Council that are located in the valley. An additional 12,400 live in 22 communities in the Emek HaYarden Regional Council whose southern half is in the valley.In the West Bank the Israeli Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council contains 21 settlements with a total of 4,200 residents as of 2014, and the independent municipality of Ma'ale Efrayim an additional 1,206 as of 2015.
Migration route
The Jordan Valley is part of the Levantine corridor and constitutes a route for animal migration, including in the past for the developing human species.Early humans
Genetic studies indicate that during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, the Levantine corridor, of which the Jordan Valley is one part, was more important for bi-directional human migrations between Africa and Eurasia than was the Horn of Africa.Birds
Nowadays the Jordan Valley still is an essential part of one of the main migration routes for birds in the world; within the region, it constitutes the Eastern Route which, together with the parallel Western Route and the Southern-Eilat Mountains Route, allow an estimated 500 million birds belonging 200 species to fly across Israel twice a year - in spring from here or from Africa towards their breeding places in Asia and Europe, and in autumn on the way back to their winter home in the Levant or in Africa.The northern Jordan valley has two adjoining and complementary Important Bird Area recognised by BirdLife International, separated only by the political boundary of the Jordan River. The Jordanian IBA on the eastern side covers some 6,000 ha, with the Israeli one covering 7,000 ha of the western side. Significant bird populations for which the IBAs were designated, including resident, wintering and passage migrant species, comprise the following: black francolins, marbled teals, black and white storks, black-crowned night herons, cattle and little egrets, collared and black-winged pratincoles, Egyptian vultures, European honey-buzzards, Levant sparrowhawks and Dead Sea sparrows.
History, geopolitics, and events
Under the Ottoman Empire
The Jordan valley was under control of the Ottoman Empire from their victory over the Mamluks in 1486, which involved a small battle in the valley en route to Khan Yunis and Egypt, until 1918. The Ottoman internal administrative divisions varied throughout the period with the Jordan river being at times a provincial border, and at times not. However the valley was contained within the group of provinces termed Ottoman Syria. Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem during some periods contained both banks of the Jordan, while during others the valley was bordered by Syria Vilayet and Beirut Vilayet.According to the PEF Survey of Western Palestine, the people who lived in the Jordan Valley in the late 19th century were almost entirely Arabs of various tribes, save for a group of Armenian hermits on the Mount of Temptation and a group of Greek monks at Mar Saba. The explorers added that fellahin from the hills come to cultivate their land for them.
World War I
In 1916, Britain and France engaged in the Sykes–Picot Agreement in which the Ottoman territory of the Levant, which divided the yet undefeated Ottoman regions of the Levant between France and Britain. Under the agreement, the Jordan valley would be entirely within the British sphere of control.In February 1918, as part of the wider Sinai and Palestine Campaign the British empire's Egyptian Expeditionary Force captured Jericho. Subsequently, during the British occupation of the Jordan Valley the Desert Mounted Corps were placed in the valley to protect the eastern flank of the British forces facing Ottoman forces in the hills of Moab. This position provided a strong position from which to launch the Battle of Megiddo which lead to the capture of Amman, Damascus, and the collapse of the Ottoman armies in the Levant.
Formation of Transjordan and Palestine
Following conflicting promises and agreements during WWI, in particular McMahon–Hussein Correspondence and Balfour Declaration, as well as a power vacuum following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire led to a series of diplomatic conferences and treaties which convened with continued armed struggle between the great powers, their proxies, and Arab elements that were part of the Arab Revolt. Following the Battle of Maysalun the Transjordan area east of the valley become a no man's land and the British, who directly controlled the area west of the valley, chose to avoid any definite connection between the two areas. Following the Cairo Conference and meetings with Abdullah bin Hussein it was agreed that he would administer the territory east of the Jordan River, Emirate of Transjordan. The area west of the Jordan river was allocated in 1922 to the Mandatory Palestine under British Administration. The Jordan river, in the middle of the Jordan valley, was the border between these two entities. This agreement split the Jordan valley, which during Ottoman times was under a single administration, to two distinct entities.Following the division, the concept of an east and west bank of the Jordan, as separate territorial units took hold. As a political example to this new reality, in 1929 Ze'ev Jabotinsky composed the political poem Two Banks to the Jordan which asserts that the Jordan river should be the central feature of Greater Israel, with the repeating refrain: "Two Banks has the Jordan/This is ours and, that is as well."