Joseph Krauss; 26/9/08
As Israeli holidaymakers watch the Dead Sea retreating, leaving massive sinkholes in its wake, Palestinian farmers farther up the valley pry crops from increasingly parched soil. The Jordan Valley is in the grip of a severe water crisis, exacerbated by the region’s various conflicts, that threatens the livelihoods of its Israeli and Arab residents. And it is transforming the landscape before their eyes. The Ein Gedi spa, built 40 years ago on the shore of the Dead Sea – the lowest point on Earth – now offers a tractor shuttle to carry bathers across the kilometre of salt flats that separate it from the water’s edge. A few kilometres up the shore, a campsite that used to rent out cabins by the sea has been sucked underground by the opening of cavernous sinkholes, some more than 30 metres wide.
See: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=11011
Tags: Environment, Israel, Jordan