Dead Sea Fun

Contaminated Water Flows into Major Israeli Reserve

Bureaucratic delays that have dragged on for four years now are preventing the construction of an installation to pump contaminated water from the Rotem Plain area of the Negev. This means that pollution is spreading to groundwater and to Ein Bokek, one of the most important nature reserves in the region. This month the Israel Nature and Parks Authority reported that at the reserve a number of species of rare wild plants are disappearing, apparently because of the continuing pollution.

Read the full article at Haaretz.com

Green Group Stages Mock Funeral for Dead Sea

Chanting Frederic Chopin's classic death dirge "Marche Funebre," a group of black-clothed environmental activists trudged up the Knesset hill clutching a bright orange stretcher filled with mounds of sea salt on Monday morning.

The activists, members of the green group Friends of the Earth Middle East, were mourning the cabinet's 8-7 rejection the day before of a bill that would provide for the rehabilitation and protection of the Dead Sea.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

More... YNetNews.com

Possible Dead Sea Scroll Authors

Scholars are divided about who authored the Dead Sea Scrolls and how the texts got to Qumran, and so the new finding could help clear up this long-standing mystery.

The research reveals that all the textiles were made of linen, rather than wool, which was the preferred textile used in ancient Israel. Also they lack decoration, some actually being bleached white, even though fabrics from the period often have vivid colours. Altogether, researchers say these finds suggest that the Essenes, an ancient Jewish sect, "penned" some of the scrolls.

Read the full article at LiveScience.com

More about the fabrics at Haaretz.com

Cabinet Quashes Plan to Rehabilitate Dead Sea

Barely a week after the Dead Sea failed to make the list of winners in the New 7 Wonders competition, the cabinet rejected a bill that would provide for its rehabilitation and protection in an 8-7 vote on Sunday.

"The government has chosen to stand on the sides of the factories and has failed in safeguarding the Dead Sea," said Amit Bracha, director of the Israel Union for Environmental Defense (Adam Teva V'Din), whose group was responsible for drafting the bill.

Though written by members of Adam Teva V'Din, the bill in question had originally been submitted to the Knesset by MK Dov Henin (Hadash), who called the proposed plan "historic" and gathered the official support of Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan, Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov and 11 other Knesset members.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

Restoration of Jordan River Up for Debate

Environmentalists and farmers clashed in a heated debate about whether agricultural water consumption should be significantly reduced, at a conference on Wednesday at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee.

The conference, hosted by green group Friends of the Earth Middle East, focused the organization's newly released study called "Roadmap for the Rehabilitation of the Lower Jordan River," which, among under recommendations, suggests that farmers reduce their water consumption for agriculture by 30 percent.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

Jordan's Vision Plan for the Dead Sea

The detailed master plan for the Jordan Development Zones Company (JDZ) by Sasaki Associates encompasses 40 square kilometers of land along the north and east coast of the historic Dead Sea.

Over the past 15 years, the Kingdom of Jordan has focused on a balanced approach towards development and preservation in order to capitalize on increased tourism and to provide improvements to local existing communities. In 2008, a development authority was created to establish a detailed master plan as a sustainable framework for existing committed lands, future development parcels, infrastructure provisions, and natural resources protection.

Read the full article at ArchDaily.com

Underpass for Camels Part of Israel's Southern Transportation Plan

A 900-million-shekel project to upgrade Highway 31 between the Dead Sea and the Shoket Junction, north of Be'er Sheva, was officially launched Thursday. The three-year project includes widening of the road to two lanes in each direction and improvement of safety features. The safety features include interchanges, increased lighting and shoulder space and 40 underpasses, including the state's first underpass designed for camels, which will be 2.7 meters/almost nine feet high.

Read the full article at IsraelNationalNews.com

IDF Protects Lowest Point on Earth with Low Profile

Tourists rarely see IDF activities at the Dead Sea, but soldiers are on constant watch in the area for weapons smuggling from Jordan. "While people sit on the beaches, they are in front of the frontier with Jordan. Yet, you barely notice the military presence in this area." says Cpl. Iris Morales. The Dead Sea area is both a frontier and an international health resort, but although the border with Jordan is relatively peaceful, it poses great challenges to the IDF.

Read the full article at IsraelNationalNews.com

Dead Sea drying up? That's So 120,000 Years Ago

The Dead Sea may be drying up, but research by Israeli scientists and colleagues abroad shows that the water has risen and fallen by hundreds of meters over the past 200,000 years.

The goal is to study the region's climactic history and forecast possible changes in the future. The project should also provide rich information on the region's seismic history and conditions in the area that influenced human development.

At the center of the sea, the researches drilled 460 meters below the seafloor and extracted salt and other materials that had settled there as much as 200,000 years ago. Plastic tubes containing centuries of climactic history are now in Germany for testing.

In laboratories in Potsdam near Berlin, Israeli and German scientists are examining the stuff in the tubes.

Read the full article at Haaretz.com

Dead Sea Not Chosen as One of New 7 Wonders of Nature

The Dead Sea was not among the winners in the New7Wonders of Nature contest despite a high profile campaign by the Israeli government, according to a list of provisional results released at about 9:30 p.m. on Friday.

Among the winners, were the Amazon of South America, Halong Bay of Vietnam, Iguazu Falls of Argentina and Brazil, Jeju Island of South Korea, Komodo of Indonesia, Puerto Princesa Underground River of the Philippines and Table Mountain of South Africa.

Knesset members that had been involved with promoting the Dead Sea's cause stressed that Israelis must continue to fight for the salty body despite the loss.

"Precisely because it didn't win, we must restore the Dead Sea and preserve its status as a world wonder of nature," said MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz). "We urgently need to deal with the dropping level in the northern basin as a result of dehydration and over-pumping, and rapidly performing the harvest of salt in the southern basin. If the government does not do this and continues to bury its head in the sand, the Dead Sea will gradually disappear."

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

From Israel's Minister of Tourism: VoteDeadSea.com

Side Trip to Timna Park

Continuing south from the Dead Sea, Timna Park is located about 25 km (about 17 miles) north of Eilat, in Israel's Negev Desert. One of the largest attractions in the south of Israel. The park is in a beautiful desert setting combining the scene with amazing history and a number of other unexpected activities including those on the lake (yes, a lake in the desert!).

Timna Park covers about 15,000 acres in a horseshoe-shaped valley surrounded by steep cliffs, with Mount Timna, the world's first ever copper mine, standing tall in the center.

From the Timna Park Website

Description of Timna Park

New Israeli-Palestinian Land Dispute Rises as Dead Sea Water Levels Drop

The retreat of the Dead Sea is a problem not only for environmentalists, but for the [Israeli] Civil Administration's legal experts who must establish who owns the land uncovered by the receding coastline.

In some parts, the coast has retreated by as much as half a kilometer, necessitating the relocation of parking lots, stores and other tourist facilities that are now too far from the water. Since the sea's northern section lies in the West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces Civil Administration is responsible for approving plans to relocate the facilities.

Read the full article at Haaretz.com

Netanyahu: Voting for the Dead Sea Will Help Tourism

In a last effort to encourage votes for the Dead Sea as one of the new seven wonders of nature, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has released a video in which he emphasizes the wonderful effect that having the Dead Sea win will have on tourism.

From IsraelNationalNews.com

Also Bar Refaeli tweets for public to secure Dead Sea win.

1 Day to Go - Israel in Top 10 for New 7 Wonders of Nature Campaign

The Dead Sea is among the top 10 finalists in the international New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign, which will conclude on Friday 11.11.2011 at 11:11 Zurich time (13:11 Israel time), the contest organizers announced on Sunday.

Joining the shared Israeli- Palestinian-Jordanian contestant in the leading group are the Grand Canyon (United States), the Great Barrier Reef (Australia), Halong Bay (Vietnam), Jeita Grotto (Lebanon), Jeju Island (Korea), Komodo Island (Indonesia), Puerto Princess Underground River (the Philippines), Sundarbans (Bangladesh and India) and Mount Vesuvius (Italy).

Until the contest's conclusion, those interested in Israel can send SMS messages casting their Dead Sea votes by texting the words "Dead Sea" in English, Hebrew or Arabic to the number 2244, or by visiting www.new7wonders.com or votedeadsea.com.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

Buy a Personalized Official New7Wonders Voting Certificate

Each personalised voting certificate includes:

One vote for the chosen Finalist, which will be counted by N7W towards the election of the New7Wonders of Nature.

A personalised colour PDF certificate which will be sent by e-mail to you, which can be printed and displayed to show your support for the chosen Finalist.

Read the full article at New7Wonders.com

New 7 Wonders Vote Nears End

Dead Sea in top 10; organizers expect site to be flooded with last minute voters.

As the New 7 Wonders of Nature competition winds down to its final two days, people around the world are making last-minute efforts to see their favorite sites surge ahead while the competition organizers are encouraging voters to cast their ballots as soon as possible, to avoid a server disaster.

"People should try to vote online today or tomorrow, because all the indications are that traffic at new7wonders.com during the final 48 hours before voting closes on Friday at 11:11:11 a.m. GMT will be phenomenal," Eamonn Fitzgerald, head of communications at New7Wonders, posted on the competition's website on Monday.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

Israel Chemicals to Set up Special Salt Harvesting Company

Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) will set up a designated company to harvest the salt in the southern basin of the Dead Sea as part of the region's rehabilitation. The company is still in talks with the government over the financing of the rehabilitation.

The designated subsidiary will create the infrastructure for the salt harvesting, including procurement of the dredge, construction of the conveyor belt that will carry the dredged salt to the northern basin, and procurement of a dredge for the northern basin which will bury the salt.

Read the full article at Globes.com

Thursday to be 'Dead Sea Day'

Thursday will be 'Dead Sea Day' across Israel, in an attempt to promote the Dead Sea in the New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign. Voting booths will be put up in cities nationwide in which citizens can vote for the Dead Sea in the '7 Wonders' campaign, which is to end next Friday.

Read the full article at IsraelNationalNews.com

Fashion for the Dead Sea

Eleven fashion designers have joined forces on this special production by the fashion channel, calling to vote for the Dead Sea.

Read the full article at VoteDeadSea.com

Arkia to Operate Dead Sea Line

Arkia Airlines intend to expand their local travel network by adding new flights to the Dead Sea, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday.

The airline's 72-seat ATR planes will carry passengers from the Sde Dov and Ben Gurion airports to the Masada Airfield. The expansion will include sales of spa packages, tickets to cultural events and trips in Masada and the Dead Sea region.

...a flight from the center of the country to the Masada Airfield takes about 25 minutes – a considerable improvement over the two-and-a-half-hour drive.

Read the full article at YNetNews.com

Spencer Tunick Publishes First Image of Dead Sea Shoot

After completing his impressive nude Dead Sea shoot last month, photographer Spencer Tunick said that he would only publish the first photo of the installation in six months.

But it appears that the international campaign to help select the Dead Sea as one of the New 7 nature wonders of the world persuaded him to publish the first image much earlier than planned.

Read the full article at YNetNews.com

Please vote for the Dead Sea.

Grisly Theory for Holy Land Mystery

RUJM AL-HIRI, Golan Heights (AP) — A newly proposed solution to an ancient enigma is reviving debate about the nature of a mysterious prehistoric site that some call the Holy Land's answer to Stonehenge.

Some scholars believe the structure of concentric stone circles known as Rujm al-Hiri was an astrological temple or observatory, others a burial complex. The new theory proposed by archaeologist Rami Arav of the University of Nebraska links the structure to an ancient method of disposing of the dead.

[Archaeologist Rami] Arav found a clue in a trove of Chalcolithic artifacts discovered to the south, near the Dead Sea: a small copper cylinder with a square opening like a miniature gate and, crucially, figures of birds perched on the edge.

Read the full article at Yahoo.com

Henin Launches Dead Sea Protection Bill in Knesset

MK Dov Henin (Hadash) submitted a bill to the Knesset on Monday morning that outlines a plan for the future protection and rehabilitation of the Dead Sea.

Rooted in four main principles, the bill aims to preserve the Dead Sea and its internationally treasured natural resources, maintain the salty waters for the benefit of the next generation, curb the plunging water levels of the northern basin and determine new terms of management for the region, which will provide for continued reasonable extraction of minerals while protecting the ecosystems and biodiversity, according to the text.

Read the full article at JerusalemPost.com

An update (9 November, 2011)... Haaretz.com

PA Tells UNESCO Dead Sea an Arab 'Heritage Site'

The Palestinian Authority (PA) intends to use its new UNESCO membership to claim the Dead Sea as a "heritage site." It also is using the "New Seven Wonders" contest to claim part of the "lowest point on Earth."

Bethlehem, Hevron, and other ancient Jewish sites in Judea and Samaria also are on the Authority's list to become PA heritage sites.

Read the full article at IsraelNationalNews.com

The Spielberg Jewish Film Archive - "A Promise to Masada"

A film has been uploaded to the virtual cinema site of the Spielberg Archive depicting the agricultural development of the first settlements along the Dead Sea...rarely seen historical footage of the area!

The Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive, located at Jerusalem's Hebrew University on Mount Scopus, was founded in the late 1960s by Professor Moshe Davis and other historians at the university.