Entry
Is water the solution to a holy land?
Jun 29th, 2008 18:57
mark stallon, farji kumar, Harish Kohli, http://www.awimaway.com
Is water the solution to a holy land?
Walking through Korazim, a small national park on a hillside
overlooking the Sea of Galilee, I met Brigitta, a German economist and
ex-resident of Bethlehem, with an unparalleled knowledge of Israel. It
was a hot summer day and we sat down under a tree to talk. The tree
happened to be a Zizyphus spina Christi, from whose branches it is
said that a crown of thorns was prepared for Jesus. Not just any
shade. Biblical shade.
Brigitta was of the opinion that the patchwork that is Palestine
cannot last. The economy, the statal system, the land itself cannot
support the nearly ten million people that live in Israel and the
Palestinian Authority, yet Israel continues to encourage immigration.
The country’s present course is unsustainable.
WATER – FLASHPOINT OF THE FUTURE
Up there in cloud-cuckoo land, then, what is her solution? A holy
land, comprising Israel, Palestine and Jordan, in which power and
resources are shared. Chief among the resources is water, now in
severely short supply. Water is the oil of this geographically
unpromising and politically uncompromising corner of the Middle East.
Both Israel and, subsequently, Jordan have been systematically
draining the Dead Sea for irrigation. Its level has fallen ten metres
in the last thirty years and at the present, faster rate it will fall
a further 100 metres over the next century.
Palestinians and Israelis alike want land, livelihood, security – and
neither side has anywhere else to go. Water will be the flashpoint of
the future.
WATER AROUND THE SEA OF GALILEE
There’s not much water at Korazim now, that’s for sure. But it wasn’t
always so. Up until about 1,500 years ago, this whole region was far
wetter and more fertile. There are ruins of a ritual bath and an oil
press.
Korazim is one of Israel’s 54 national and nature parks. We were
trying to see as many as we could in the two weeks we were spending
there. Most of the parks are archaeological sites. But then, so is
much of the region itself. There are sites dating back to Neolithic
times, there are wonderful fortresses and palaces from the Crusader
period – Yehi’am, Belvoir, The Castel, Nimrod and Herodion. Although
most of the parks are havens of peace and beauty, even at the worst of
times, some of the national parks are in Palestinian territory and it
is wise to take advice before going there.
The synagogue at Korazim is a monumental structure with broad stairs
and a huge pediment (now resting on the ground beside the entrance).
It is made of hard black basalt, a stone that is difficult to carve,
yet it was impressively engraved with many patterns. Unlike later
synagogues, which usually had mosaic pavements; early ones like this
had floors of stone. And although the Jewish Commentaries (tosafta)
prescribe that doorways to the synagogue should always face east, most
of the synagogues in the Galilee, including this one, face south
towards Jerusalem.
According to the New Testament, Korazim was one of the villages whose
inhabitants refused to accept the teachings of Jesus and was cursed by
Him.
WATER AROUND EASTERN GALILEE
Kursi, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, is also directly
associated with the life of Christ. The place is mentioned in the New
Testament as the scene, ‘in the country of the Gadarenes’, at which
Jesus exorcised the devils from the body of a man and transferred them
to a herd of pigs. The pigs then purportedly hotfooted it down to the
water, where they drowned. Left at the site today are the remains of
the largest known Byzantine monastery in the Holy Land, measuring 145
by 123 metres.
WATER AROUND LOWER GALILEE
Zippori, in lower Galilee, ‘perches on top of the mountain like a
bird’, according to the Talmud (zippor in Hebrew means ‘bird’). The
chalk hill was described as ‘as most assuredly a land flowing with
milk and honey’. A settlement is confirmed from the days of the First
Temple (eighth to seventh century BC). But the city had an extremely
troubled history and changed hands several times. It became a Jewish
city, a bishopric, a Crusader stronghold and an Arab town before
falling to the fledgling Israel Defence Force in July 1948.
Zippori’s Christian significance lies principally in the fact that it
was the birthplace of the Virgin Mary, whose parents, Ann and Joachim,
lived there. Today its most remarkable artefacts are the coloured
mosaics dating back 1,700 years. One depicts the life of Dionysos and
measures 1.5 metres across. Another, the Nile Mosaic, depicts Egyptian
festivals celebrating the high-water peak of the Nile, coupled,
unusually, with a variety of hunting scenes. Most famous of all is the
mosaic portrait of a beautiful woman, nicknamed the ‘Galilean Mona
Lisa’, framed with medallions, on the floor of a luxurious Roman
residence.
WATER-SUPPLY SYSTEMS
A testament to the technological skills of the residents in the second
century AD is the water-supply system, consisting of two aqueducts and
an enormous reservoir 260 metres long, between two and four metres
wide and about ten metres deep. The capacity of the reservoir was
4,300 cubic metres, and at its end was a gate valve which regulated
the water flow passing into the city through a tunnel 235 metres
long., You can climb down some steps and walk through the reservoir,
which winds through the Tunnel of the Shafts, its golden stone walls
worn smooth by the action of the water.
At Tel Hazor, Tel Megiddo and the still more famous Masada, gigantic
water systems are also among the most stunning features – with
cisterns as big as aeroplane hangars sunk into mountaintops or carved
into hillsides and openings the size of the First Temple itself.
At Masada the thirty or so cisterns kept the 968 Zealots supplied with
water throughout the four-year Roman siege that eventually ended with
their mass suicide.
On Brigitta’s advice, we visited Bet Shean, where excavations have
revealed this ancient city dating back to the fifth millennium BC. The
area, it is said, once enjoyed plentiful water and the first Hebrew
historian wrote, as recently as 1322, that it ‘is situated on many
sweet waters … and is fruitful like the Garden of Eden.’
Albeit dry as dust now, the city boasts glorious, mosaic-floored
bathhouses and a hypocaust bigger and better-preserved than any I’ve
seen.
ARMAGEDDON
Traveling back again another six thousand years, you may come to Tel
Megiddo, or Armageddon, a hilltop city that commanded the strategic
highway from Egypt to the north. It was fortified by King Solomon and
turned into a chariot centre by King Ahab in the ninth century BC. The
excavations look like a broad, gently rising staircase, representing
twenty-five layers of civilization, with the oldest structures at the
foot of the flight. At one point there are three temples, one on top
of the other.
Christian teaching holds that Armageddon is the place where the battle
of good and evil will be fought ‘at the end of days’. As we strolled
down the hillside, a couple of doves flew over our heads – a sign,
perhaps, that the end is not yet nigh.
TRAVEL BRIEF
When to go: Spring, when flowers are in bloom, and autumn are the best
times. Not only is the weather extremely hot in summer (minimum
daytime temperatures in August around 30°C) but also the countryside
is not at its best, looking brown and parched. Also avoid times of war.
Where to stay: Youth hostels are basic but adequate and cheap, from
about £32 per night for a double room with breakfast. For information
www.youth-hostels.org.il; for reservations e-mail samy@iyha.org.il.
Many kibbutzim offer accommodation too, e.g. Ginnosar Inn on the Sea
of Galilee (fax 00 972 6 672 2991).
Further information: General information: Israel Government Tourist
Office (tel. 020 7299 1111; fax 020 7299 1112); www.holytravel.com;
www.inisrael.com; Israel Nature and National Parks Protection
Authority (tel. 00 972 2 500 5444; fax 00 972 2 652 9232;
www.parks.org.il) offers various deals, including the Green Card,
which costs $40 and permits entry to unlimited parks within a 14-day
period. Admission to the parks otherwise costs between about IS8 and
IS18 (£1.30-6.00).
from Harish Kohli
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