ASIANOVERLAND.NET SYDNEY TO LONDON  DAY 297/136/48: JERUSALEM TO DEAD SEA, JORDAN

The Dead Sea  is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank of Jordan to the west. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

Its surface and shores are 430.5 metres  below sea level, Earth's lowest elevation on land. It is 304 m deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With a salinity of 342 g/kg, or 34%, it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water – ten times as salty as the ocean – and has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea's main, northern basin is 50 kilometres (31 mi) long and 15 kilometres (9 mi) wide at its widest point.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean Basin for thousands of years, and is one of the world’s first health resorts.

In 1922, the League of Nations entrusted the United Kingdom to administer Palestine, neighbouring Transjordan, and Iraq beyond it, broadly in line with the Sykes-Picot agreement between Britain and France.

From 1922 to 1948 the total population of Jerusalem rose from 52,000 to 165,000. Relations between Arab Christians and Muslims and the growing Jewish population in Jerusalem deteriorated.

The 1947 UN Partition Plan recommended "the creation of a special international regime in the City of Jerusalem, constituting it as a corpus separatum under the administration of the UN." The international regime (which also included the city of Bethlehem) was to remain in force for a period of ten years, whereupon a referendum was to be held in which the residents were to decide the future regime of their city. However, this plan was not implemented, as the 1948 war erupted, the British withdrew from Palestine and Israel declared its independence.

In contradiction to the Partition Plan, which envisioned Jerusalem separated from the Arab state and the Jewish state, Israel took control of the area which later would become West Jerusalem, along with major parts of the Arab territory allotted to the future Arab State; Jordan took control of East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank. The war led to displacement of Arab populations in Jerusalem. By the time of the armistice that ended active fighting, Israel had control of 12 of Jerusalem's 15 Arab residential quarters. More than 30,000 Palestinian people became refugees.

The war of 1948 resulted in the division of Jerusalem, so that the old walled city lay entirely on the Jordanian side of the line.

Our overland trip books record July 1980 and “4 November, 1980

Dead Sea

Guess who floats the highest in the water?

Floatable genitals

Les – 10 green bottles hanging on the wall (Les lying on the floor)

Inauguration of the “Dale” award.

First honours go to Dennis – someone has to hold his hand next time he tries to cross the road! (Hah – it wasn’t a very big transit van.

Sunset over the Dead Sea is really worth seeing”

↑ Day 296 ↓ Day 298