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Jordan Valley

This article is about the physical and human geography of the lower Jordan Valley. For the upper Jordan Valley, see Hula Valley. For the geology of the valley, see Jordan Rift Valley. For other uses, see Jordan Valley (disambiguation).
Jordan Valley

The Jordan Valley (Arabic: غَوْر الأُرْدُنّ, romanized: Ghawr al-Urdunn; Hebrew: עֵמֶק הַיַרְדֵּן, romanized: Emek HaYarden) 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.[1] 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, 155 km (96 mi) farther south.[2]

The valley, in the common, narrow sense, is a long and narrow trough, 105 km (65 mi) long if measured "as the crow flies", with a width averaging 10 km (6.2 mi) with some points narrowing to 4 km (2.5 mi) over most of the course, before widening out to a 20 km (12 mi) delta when reaching the Dead Sea. Due to meandering, the length of the river itself is 220 km (140 mi). This is the valley with the lowest elevation in the world, beginning at −212 m (−696 ft) below sea level (BSL) and terminating at less than −400 m (−1,300 ft) BSL. On both sides, to the east and west, the valley is bordered by high, steep escarpments rising from the valley floor by between 1,200 m (3,900 ft) to 1,700 m (5,600 ft).[3]

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.[4] Israel has allocated 86% of the land, in the West Bank portion of the valley, to Israeli settlements.[5][6] Annexation of the Jordan Valley to Israel has been proposed by a variety of Israeli politicians, most recently Benjamin Netanyahu in September 2019.

  1. ^ Mo 'Awiyah Ibrahim; Sauer, James Abbott; Yassine, Khair (1976). "The East Jordan Valley Survey, 1975". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 222 (222): 41–66. doi:10.2307/1356299. JSTOR 1356299. S2CID 163704234.
  2. ^ Moawiyah M. Ibrahim (2009). Eva Kaptijn; Lucas Petit (eds.). The Jordan Valley during the Early Bronze Age (PDF). Archaeological Studies Leiden University (ASLU). Leiden University Press. ISBN 978-908-72-8076-5. Retrieved 19 March 2015. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. ^ Salameh, Elias. "Sources of water salinities in the Jordan Valley Area/Jordan." Acta hydrochimica et hydrobiologica 29.6/7 (2002): Introduction on page 330 (2 in PDF)[permanent dead link‍]
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference peacetreaty_annex_1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ 'Israel: Settlement Agriculture Harms Palestinian Children,' Human Rights Watch 13 April 2015
  6. ^ 'Ripe for Abuse:Palestinian Child Labor in Israeli Agricultural Settlements in the West Bank,' Human Rights Watch 13 April 2015.

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