Allon Road is the name given by Israel to Routes 458, 508, and 578 in the West Bank , running roughly south–north along the eastern watershed of the Judaean and Samarian Hills, between Highway 1 near Kfar Adumim east of Jerusalem and Highway 90 at Mehola in the central Jordan Valley .
85-615: The road was the first step in implementing the Allon Plan , one of the earliest Israeli initiatives to deal with the territory west of Jordan that was occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War . The plan called for the Israeli annexation of the narrow corridor of land along the west of the Jordan River up to the eastern slopes of the Samarian mountains to assure minimal strategical depth while relinquishing
170-567: A 10 to 15 kilometers-wide strip of land along the Jordan River (the border with Jordan), most of the Judean desert along the Dead Sea, and East Jerusalem. The arrangements were to be valid for generations to come. Hussein, however, rejected the plan. He stuck to UN Resolution 242 , including the statement that territories cannot be acquired by force. While Israel would remain military control over all of
255-629: A bi-national state , the Arab citizens of the West Bank should be granted a special status. A quasi-independent autonomous region was the first option. On 27 July 1967, Allon presented the first version of his plan based on the Palestinian option, which included Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank. The autonomous region consisted of two large enclaves, separated by the Greater Jerusalem area, from Israel in
340-565: A metropolitan Nablus-Jenin complex under the sovereignty of "the Arab nation east of the Jordan", an enclave smaller than the one outlined in the Allon Plan, and, unlike the provisions of the Allon Plan, internal security responsibilities would fall on the Israeli military in cooperation with Arab police. In the initial version of the Allon Plan, he envisioned the Gaza Strip being annexed to Israel. In
425-539: A result of the 1967 war and the 1970–71 " Black September " war between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordan . Investments by the Jordanian government in the region allowed the population to rebound to over 85,000 by 1979. 80% of the farms in the Jordanian part of the valley are family farms no larger than 30 dunams (3 ha, 7.4 ac). Population levels in the past are unclear. According to
510-444: A subsequent revision of the plan, however, Allon conceived of Gaza as part of a Jordanian-Palestinian state. Jordan Valley (Middle East) 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
595-492: A thousand people died in Jordan due to the conflict. In September 1970; following failed assassination attempts of the king, and the Dawson's Field hijackings in which 4 planes were hijacked and landed at a desert airstrip in Jordan; the Jordanian king ordered the army to attack and expel Palestinian militants, and declared martial law . Syria attempted to aid the Palestinian cause in Jordan by sending significant military forces across
680-591: Is administered by the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories , including approximately 2,700 people who live in small Bedouin and herding communities. Inside pre-1967 borders, 17,332 Israelis live in the independent municipality of Beit She'an , 12,000 live in 24 communities in Valley of Springs Regional Council that are located in the valley. An additional 12,400 live in 22 communities in
765-523: Is disconnected from the rest of the West Bank, and is far from the Israeli hinterland, was viewed as a suitable location for nascent Palestinian self-rule. Subsequent agreements, in the Oslo Accords , handed over additional West Bank territories, however Israel has retained control as Area C administered by Israel, with the exception of an Area A enclave surrounding Jericho and very small Area B zones around some small Palestinian settlements. In 1998,
850-477: 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). Over most of its length, the Jordan Valley forms
935-552: The Allon Road in the western and Route 90 in the eastern Jordan Valley. The Palestinians see the Jordan Valley, the most fertile part of the West Bank with important water resources, as the breadbasket for the future Palestinian State. In June 1967, Israel de facto annexed East Jerusalem and surrounding parts of the West Bank by incorporating the areas into the Jerusalem Municipality, although it carefully avoided using
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#17328558228721020-587: The Emek HaYarden Regional Council whose southern half is in the valley. In the West Bank the Israeli Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council contains 21 settlements with a total of 4,200 residents as of 2014, and the independent municipality of Ma'ale Efrayim an additional 1,206 as of 2015. The Jordan Valley is part of the Levantine corridor and constitutes a route for animal migration, including in
1105-530: The PLO , before 1967, there were approximately 250,000 Palestinians living in the part of the valley that lies in the West Bank. As of 2009, the number of Palestinians remaining in this area was approximately 58,000, living in about twenty permanent communities, mostly concentrated in the city of Jericho and communities in the greater Jericho area in the south of the valley. Of these, approximately 10,000 live in Area C which
1190-556: The Sea of Galilee was captured by Israel opening further supply lines to the settlements in the northern Jordan valley. Throughout the entire war, Jordanian Arab Legion forces as well as Iraqi military forces crossed the Jordan valley to support the Arab effort in the central sector, the current West Bank. From the beginning of the second truce on 18 July 1948 and until the end of hostilities with Jordan on 3 April 1949 and Syria on 20 July 1949 there were no further major military operations around
1275-579: The Allon Plan, Israel would annex most of the Jordan Valley , from the river to the eastern slopes of the West Bank hill ridge, East Jerusalem , and the Etzion bloc . At the same time, the heavily populated areas of the West Bank hill country, together with a corridor that included Jericho , would be offered to Jordan. The plan also included the creation of a Druze state in Syria's Quneitra Governorate , including
1360-567: The Allon Plan. As the Plan propagated a security doctrine, the Jordan River marked the strategic border of Israel, serving as a buffer zone between Israel and the "Eastern Front". Settlements built in the Jordan Valley were designed as permanent advance-position lookouts in the 15 kilometers-wide strip along the Jordan Valley and Judean Desert to be annexed by Israel. Settlements in the Jordan Valley, which are typically agricultural settlements, are primarily located along two major north-south bypass roads :
1445-637: The British empire's Egyptian Expeditionary Force captured Jericho . Subsequently, during the British occupation of the Jordan Valley the Desert Mounted Corps were placed in the valley to protect the eastern flank of the British forces facing Ottoman forces in the hills of Moab . This position provided a strong position from which to launch the Battle of Megiddo which lead to the capture of Amman , Damascus , and
1530-569: The Ghor a key agricultural area. South of the Dead Sea, the continuation of the larger Jordan Rift Valley contains the hot, dry area known as Wadi 'Araba , the "wilderness" or "Arabah desert" of the Bible. Prior to the 1967 Six-Day War , the valley's Jordanian side was home to about 60,000 people largely engaged in agriculture and pastoralism. By 1971, the Valley's Jordanian population had declined to 5,000 as
1615-606: The Golan Heights, and the return of most of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. Broader aims of the Allon Plan in partitioning the West Bank were to enable an Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem , the Etzion Bloc , and most of the Jordan Valley (from the Jordan River to the eastern slopes of the hill ridge). All remaining parts of the West Bank, containing the majority of Palestinians , were to be returned to Jordan — connected to
1700-512: The Government, including Yigal Allon, favored the Palestinian option. In June 1967, according to journalist Reuven Pedatzur, writing in 2007 in an article in Haaretz , Allon expressed caution over the Jordanian option and declared that "The last thing we must do is to return one inch of the West Bank. We must not view Hussein as existing forever – today it is Hussein, but tomorrow it is Nabulsi , and
1785-582: The Israeli-occupied Golan Heights . After the Six-Day War, Israeli leaders considered two possibilities to end the occupation: either the " Jordanian option ", holding the transfer of control for most of the territory of the West Bank to the Jordanian monarch, or alternatively the "Palestinian option", under which the Palestinians would get autonomy or an independent state. The majority of
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#17328558228721870-596: The Jericho area. Israel has also enforced zoning rules, building permit requirements, natural reserves, and military firing zones in the territory which has restricted Arab development. Jericho, and the surrounding area in the southern valley, along with Gaza was the first territory handed over to the Palestinian National Authority , as a result of the Gaza–Jericho Agreement in 1994. Jericho, which
1955-518: The Jordan Valley remain in Israeli hands along with Gush Etzion, part of the Hebron foothills and East Jerusalem. All the remainder would be handed over to King Hussein. Most of the members of the Government then backed the Allon Plan as the basis of the policy. From February to September 1968, Eshkol held secret talks with Palestinian leaders in the Occupied Territories without result. Parallel to
2040-444: The Jordan Valley, and contact lines remained static in this area. Unlike other areas, at the end of hostilities Israel controlled roughly the same territory of the Jordan Valley that it was allotted in the partition plan. Some Jewish settlements in the Jordanian controlled Jordan Valley were abandoned, while significantly more Arab residents fled mixed cities and Arab settlements as part of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight . In
2125-526: The Jordan Valley, but encloses a much larger area. While Hebron was predestined in the Allon Plan to be part of the Palestinian autonomous region, in 1968 Israel made it clear to Jordan that apart from the annexation of the Jordan Valley, it also wanted a strip of territory running to the Hebron area. Two years later, the Labor Government approved the building of the Kiryat Arba settlement, just outside
2210-533: The Jordan Valley. During and following the Six-Day War, many Palestinians, who at the time had Jordanian citizenship, fled the West Bank to Jordan due to choice, fear, and in some cases being forced to do so. In the Jordan valley the majority of the inhabitants of Aqabat Jaber (30,000) and Ein as-Sultan (20,000) refugee camps fled. In al-Jiftlik over 800 homes were razed by the Israeli army and its 6,000 inhabitants were ordered to leave; most, however, returned to
2295-570: The Jordan Valley. It was negotiated and developed by US ambassador Eric Johnston between 1953 and 1955, and based on an earlier plan commissioned by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Modeled upon the Tennessee Valley Authority 's engineered development plan, it was approved by technical water committees of all the regional riparian countries—Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Though
2380-562: The Jordan river. Israel's destruction, via airstrikes, of the diversion project in April 1967 was one of the events leading to the Six-Day War . Following commencement of hostilities of the Six-Day War on 5 June 1967, initial hostilities between Israel and Jordan were mainly around the line of contact between Israel and Jordan and around Jerusalem in particular. Following heavy fighting in Jerusalem,
2465-455: The Jordan valley were particularly disconnected from the rest of the Jewish Yishuv , were fairly small and dispersed among Arab settlements, and relied on a tenuous supply line via Nazareth . In March 1948 Haganah forces captured Samakh, Tiberias , located at the northern edge of the valley, the inhabitants fleeing to Nazareth . The Arab population of Tiberias (6,000 residents or 47.5% of
2550-517: The Jordan, while during others the valley was bordered by Syria Vilayet and Beirut Vilayet . According to the PEF Survey of Western Palestine , the people who lived in the Jordan Valley in the late 19th century were almost entirely Arabs of various tribes, save for a group of Armenian hermits on the Mount of Temptation and a group of Greek monks at Mar Saba . The explorers added that fellahin from
2635-467: The Jordanian Jordan Valley population was severe as the valley had a relatively high fraction of Palestinian population and PLO bases and fighters. According to some estimates, half the buildings in the Jordanian side of the Jordan Valley were razed and the population decreased from 63,000 to 5,000. Even though Jordan was Western aligned, and was invaded by Syrian forces just three years prior,
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2720-687: The Jordanian Police and army were losing their authority. Uniformed PLO militants openly carried weapons, set up checkpoints, and attempted to extort "taxes". During the November 1968 negotiations, a seven-point agreement was reached between King Hussein and Palestinian organizations. This agreement, however, was not adhered to, and clashes grew between the Jordanian army and Palestinian militants. In February 1970 fighting broke out in Amman resulting in approximately 300 deaths. Between February and June 1970, about
2805-441: The Jordanian government decided to intervene in the 1973 conflict a week after the beginning of hostilities, sending an armoured division as an Expeditionary Force to southern Syria to aid in the defense of Damascus . However, declassified documents show this was a token participation to preserve King Hussein's status in the Arab world, and that some tacit understandings were made with Israel. The Israeli-Jordanian contact line,
2890-410: The Jordanian side of the Jordan valley and deeper in Jordanian territory. The Jordanian valley features, namely the river and the high and steep escarpments contributed to the strength of this position. Coupled with Israeli reluctance to cross the 1948 British Mandate border in this sector, American diplomatic pressure, and needs on additional fronts the war ended with the sides opposing one another across
2975-581: The Syrian forces' defeat at the Deganias a few days later, they abandoned the Samakh village. Following the heavy fighting, the Arab inhabitants of the city of Beit She'an in the northern valley fled across the Jordan River. Following the first truce which ended on 8 July, the successful Israeli Operation Dekel captured by the time a second truce took effect at 19:00 18 July, the whole Lower Galilee from Haifa Bay to
3060-593: The Syrian-Mandate border in a series of engagement called Battles of the Kinarot Valley . The Syrians thrust down the eastern and southern Sea of Galilee shores, and attacked Samakh the neighboring Tegart fort and the settlements of Sha'ar HaGolan , Ein Gev , but they were bogged down by resistance. Later, they attacked Samakh using tanks and aircraft, and on 18 May they succeeded in conquering Samakh and occupied
3145-403: The West Bank and annex about one-third of the territory, Jordan would get political control over the remaining two-thirds. Eventually King Hussein broke off the talks. Israel wanted to keep Gaza, but did not rule out discussions on its future. The return of East Jerusalem was not open for discussion. During the first decade of the occupation, the Israeli settlement policy was largely based on
3230-505: The West bank portion of the Jordan valley in three main phases: Two of the settlements, Kalya and Beit HaArava , were reestablished on the sites of settlements that were evacuated in the beginning of the 1948 war. Concurrently, as it has done elsewhere , Israel has sought to settle migrant Bedouin pastoral communities, who roamed the arid plateau above the valley without regard to land ownership, into permanent communities particularly around
3315-462: The abandoned Sha'ar HaGolan . On 21 May, the Syrian army was stopped at kibbutz Degania Alef , at the northern edge of the Jordan valley. where local militia reinforced by elements of the Carmeli Brigade halted Syrian armored forces with Molotov cocktails , hand grenades and a single PIAT . The remaining Syrian forces were driven off the next day by four Napoleonchik mountain guns. Following
3400-503: The aftermath of the war, a Palestinian Arab state was not formed in the West Bank, and the Jordanians retained control of both sides of the Jordan Valley along the West Bank – Jordan border due to the Jordanian occupation and annexation of the West Bank . The Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan , commonly known as the " Johnston Plan ", was a plan for the unified water resource development of
3485-528: 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. Israel has allocated 86% of the land, in the West Bank portion of
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3570-476: The border, though nominally under the Palestine Liberation Army command, which were repulsed after some initial successes as a result of Jordanian air force strikes. After a protracted campaign, lasting 10 months, and claiming more than 3,400 Palestinian deaths the king reasserted Jordanian sovereignty. Yasser Arafat and remaining fighters fled to Southern Lebanon . The effect of Black September on
3655-459: The city was captured on 7 June. The Israeli Harel Brigade advanced on the Jordan Valley and Israeli sappers blew up sections of the Allenby Bridge and King Abdullah Bridge in the south of the valley, and forces 36th Division blew up Damia Bridge located in the middle of the valley. As it became clear that the Jordanian position, from the get-go a salient with limited supply routes from
3740-648: The collapse of the Ottoman armies in the Levant. Following conflicting promises and agreements during WWI, in particular McMahon–Hussein Correspondence and Balfour Declaration , as well as a power vacuum following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire led to a series of diplomatic conferences and treaties ( Treaty of Sèvres , San Remo conference , Paulet–Newcombe Agreement ) which convened with continued armed struggle between
3825-416: 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
3910-522: The country by a corridor through Jericho — or reorganized as Palestinian autonomous territory. However, the Allon Plan was rejected by Jordanian king Hussein . Allon died in 1980 and his proposition was never implemented, though the Sinai Peninsula had been returned as part of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in 1979. In 1981, the Israeli government passed the Golan Heights Law , effectively annexing
3995-643: The course of the Jordan River through the Hula Valley and the Korazim Plateau , both north of the Sea of Galilee . The lower part of the valley, known as the Ghor (from the Arabic Ghawr or Ghōr , غور ), includes the Jordan River segment south of the Sea of Galilee which ends at the Dead Sea. Several degrees warmer than adjacent areas, its year-round agricultural climate, fertile soils and water supply have made
4080-473: The day after that some Syrian will take hold of them and following that they will make a defense pact with the Soviet Union and China and we'll find ourselves in a much more difficult position. We are talking about a matter that is not forever, and we are placing it on a phenomenon that is flesh and blood, and perhaps will remain for a maximum of 60 years, if he does not get shot before that." . Allon said that he
4165-513: The day hostilities formally commenced with Arab states, an Iraqi brigade invaded via Naharyim in an unsuccessful attempt to take Gesher. After the Tel Or village and the power plant were overrun by the Arab forces they were destroyed. To prevent Iraqi tanks from attacking Jewish villages in the Jordan Valley, the sluice gates of the Degania dam were opened. The rush of water, which deepened the Jordan river,
4250-493: The division, the concept of an east and west bank of the Jordan, as separate territorial units took hold. As a political example to this new reality, in 1929 Ze'ev Jabotinsky composed the political poem Two Banks to the Jordan which asserts that the Jordan river should be the central feature of Greater Israel , with the repeating refrain : "Two Banks has the Jordan/This is ours and, that is as well." in 1926 Pinhas Rutenberg
4335-567: The eastern municipality border. Kiryat Arba both marked the western border of the Israeli-claimed territory in the Allon Plan and blocked the Palestinian build-up area of Hebron in the east. In the following years Jewish settlements were established at the southern outskirts of the Old City. In 1994, Israel closed the Palestinian shops in Al-Shuhada Street and prohibited Palestinian access. In
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#17328558228724420-528: The exception of Ramallah's and Bethlehem's inhabitants, "who would become Israeli citizens." Yaacobi further stated that the media had misrepresented Dayan as being prepared to return most, if not all, of the West Bank to Jordan; he was not. Dayan felt it was important for Israelis to settle outside the lines of the Allon Plan, though not within Arab municipalities. The Greater Jerusalem area should be expanded to include Ramallah and Bethlehem , with Israeli citizenship granted its Arab inhabitants. Dayan envisaged
4505-417: The fact that almost all the settlements on the Allon Road (E.g.: Alon , Rimonim , Gitit ) are on the east side. 32°05′26″N 35°22′47″E / 32.09056°N 35.37972°E / 32.09056; 35.37972 Allon Plan The Allon Plan ( Hebrew : תָּכְנִית אַלּוֹן ) was a political proposition that outlined potential next steps for Israel after the 1967 Arab–Israeli War . It
4590-406: The great powers, their proxies, and Arab elements that were part of the Arab Revolt . Following the Battle of Maysalun the Transjordan area east of the valley become a no man's land and the British, who directly controlled the area west of the valley, chose to avoid any definite connection between the two areas. Following the Cairo Conference (1921) and meetings with Abdullah bin Hussein it
4675-421: The hills come to cultivate their land for them. In 1916, Britain and France engaged in the Sykes–Picot Agreement in which the Ottoman territory of the Levant, which divided the yet undefeated Ottoman regions of the Levant between France and Britain. Under the agreement, the Jordan valley would be entirely within the British sphere of control. In February 1918, as part of the wider Sinai and Palestine Campaign
4760-406: 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. 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. The valley, in
4845-424: The main portion being the Jordanian valley, remained quiet during the war. Israel and Jordan did however deploy units in a defensive posture on each side of the Jordan valley. Since the end of the 1967 war, many Israeli governments have treated the western Jordan Valley as the eastern border of Israel with Jordan, intending to annex it or keep deployment of Israeli forces in the valley. An early example of this view
4930-426: The other side of the Jordan river, was collapsing due to lack of suitable supply and reinforcement routes most of the remaining Jordanian units able to retreat did so, crossing the Jordan river to Jordan proper and the remaining West Bank cities were captured with little resistance by the Israelis. These retreating units, as well as two brigades that were held in reserve in the Jordan Valley, formed defensive positions on
5015-408: The past for the developing human species. Genetic studies indicate that during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, the Levantine corridor, of which the Jordan Valley is one part, was more important for bi-directional human migrations between Africa and Eurasia than was the Horn of Africa. Nowadays the Jordan Valley still is an essential part of one of the main migration routes for birds in
5100-455: The plan was rejected by the Arab League, both Israel and Jordan undertook to abide by their allocations under the plan. The US provided funding for Israel's National Water Carrier after receiving assurances from Israel that it would continue to abide by the plan's allocations. Similar funding was provided for Jordan's East Ghor Main Canal project after similar assurances were obtained from Jordan. The Israeli National Water Carrier of Israel
5185-619: The political boundary of the Jordan River. The Jordanian (North Ghor) IBA on the eastern side covers some 6,000 ha, with the Israeli one covering 7,000 ha of the western side. Significant bird populations for which the IBAs were designated, including resident, wintering and passage migrant species, comprise the following: black francolins , marbled teals , black and white storks , black-crowned night herons , cattle and little egrets , collared and black-winged pratincoles , Egyptian vultures , European honey-buzzards , Levant sparrowhawks and Dead Sea sparrows . The Jordan valley
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#17328558228725270-402: The population) was evacuated under British military protection on 18 April 1948 following clashes in the mixed city. The Battle of Mishmar HaEmek in April 1948 a strategic settlement located on the route to the valley was successfully defended by Jewish forces, and Arab positions surrounding it were captured in a counter-attack. The Jewish supply route to the Jordan Valley and Galilee Panhandle
5355-512: The rest of the West Bank to Arab-Jordanian control. The next step was to establish residential and agricultural settlements as well as military outposts along this strip of land to assure a minimal buffer zone that would hold up in the event of a Jordanian attack until Israeli Army reserve units could mobilize to the area. Between 1967 and 1977, the Israeli Labor Party governments created 21 settlements, mostly agricultural cooperatives in this area. The effects of this plan can be easily seen from
5440-416: The talks, secret conversations with Jordan started in London in May 1968, ending in November that year. Although the Allon Plan was never officially endorsed by the successive Israeli Cabinets, the peace plan Israel offered to King Hussein in September 1968 was based on it. The conditions included demilitarization of the West Bank, deployment of Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley, and Israeli annexation of
5525-420: The term annexation. In the following years, extensive construction of settlements took place in the Greater Jerusalem area, resulting in a ring of Israeli settlements that separates Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. During and after the failed 2013-14 Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, renewed discussions appeared in the press about ideas from Israeli politicians to annex Area C . Area C includes
5610-406: The territory captured from Syria. The Allon Plan was based on the doctrine that Israeli sovereignty over a large part of the Israeli-occupied territories was necessary for Israel's defense. On the other hand, Allon wanted Israel to return populated territories, and most of the Sinai Peninsula as well, to Arab control, in order to progress towards a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The plan
5695-536: The total Jordanian was always high, and the 1967 refugees further increased their number. After the Six-Day War in 1967, the PLO and Fatah stepped up their guerrilla attacks against Israel from Jordanian soil, using the Jordan Valley town of Karameh as their headquarters. The Israeli army attacked this base in March 1968 in the Battle of Karameh which ended in the destruction of the PLO base, deaths on both sides, destruction of property, and an Israeli withdrawal. In Palestinian enclaves and refugee camps in Jordan,
5780-411: The valley, to Israeli settlements . Annexation of the Jordan Valley to Israel has been proposed by a variety of Israeli politicians, most recently Benjamin Netanyahu in September 2019. According to the definition used in this article, what is elsewhere sometimes termed the Upper Jordan Valley is not considered part of the Jordan Valley. The Upper Jordan Valley comprises the Jordan River sources and
5865-443: The village. The population of the Jordan Valley fled in disproportionate numbers compared to the rest of the West Bank. According to some estimates, the population of the Jericho sub-district which is in the Jordan Valley area decreased from around 79,407 in May 1967 to 10,800 in the September 1967 census or 83% compared to an estimate of 850,343 to 661,757 or 23% for the entire West Bank. The proportion of Palestinians in Jordan of
5950-400: The west to the Jordan Valley in the east. A vast majority of the ministers rejected the plan when it was brought before the plenary session of the government on 30 July. At the beginning of 1968, Allon abandoned the Palestinian option and instead adopted the Jordanian option. He adapted the Allon Plan by adding a corridor between the West Bank and Jordan through the Jericho area, proposing that
6035-564: The world; within the region, it constitutes the Eastern Route which, together with the parallel Western Route and the Southern-Eilat Mountains Route, allow an estimated 500 million birds belonging 200 species to fly across Israel twice a year - in spring from here or from Africa towards their breeding places in Asia and Europe, and in autumn on the way back to their winter home in the Levant or in Africa. The northern Jordan valley has two adjoining and complementary Important Bird Area (IBAs) recognised by BirdLife International , separated only by
6120-1045: The years from 2002, the Worshippers Way from Kiryat Arba to the Cave of the Patriarchs was built. With the creation of a Palestinian-free route between Kiryat Arba and the Shuhada region, the planned strip from the Jordan Valley to Hebron was finished. On 18 May 1973, the American Embassy in Israel sent a diplomatic cable to the Secretary of State in Washington DC on the subject of then-Defence Minister "Dayan's Thinking on Possible Peace Arrangements with Jordan and Egypt". The cable contained accounts of discussions with Dayan's close political ally, Deputy Transportation Minister Gad Yaacobi , that Dayan
6205-470: Was "taking the maximum possibility. Not a canton , not an autonomous region, but an independent Arab state agreed on between us and them in an enclave surrounded by Israeli territory – independent even in its foreign policy." In July 1967, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol stated that there was no choice in order to ensure Israel's security needs but to continue to control the entire area as far as the Jordan River, militarily. But in order to avoid turning Israel into
6290-514: Was agreed that he would administer the territory east of the Jordan River, Emirate of Transjordan . The area west of the Jordan river was allocated in 1922 to the Mandatory Palestine under British Administration. The Jordan river, in the middle of the Jordan valley, was the border between these two entities. This agreement split the Jordan valley, which during Ottoman times was under a single administration, to two distinct entities. Following
6375-517: Was completed in 1964, and coupled with increased closing of Degania Dam , greatly decreased the flow of water from the Sea of Galilee down to Jordan Valley. The Jordanian East Ghor Main Canal was completed in stages between 1961 and 1966, and likewise diverts a significant amount of water from the Jordan river. While providing benefits elsewhere by utilization of fresh water, the combined result of both of these projects and subsequent management and usage,
6460-478: Was designed to include as few Arabs as possible in the areas claimed for Israel. Israeli leaders ruled out the possibility of incorporating the West Bank Palestinian population into a greater Israel because it would have dramatically changed the state's Jewish demographic orientation. Yigal Allon presented the plan when he served as Minister of Labor under Mapai Prime Minister Levi Eshkol . According to
6545-559: Was drafted by Israeli politician Yigal Allon following Israel's seizure of territory from Syria , Jordan , and Egypt ; the Israeli military had come to occupy Syria's Golan Heights , the Jordanian-annexed West Bank and the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip , and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula . Allon advocated a partitioning of the West Bank between Israel and Jordan , the creation of a sovereign state for Druze in
6630-672: Was founded in the vicinity of the power plant. The plant remained in operation until the war of 1948. Under the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine the northern portion of the western side of the valley would have been assigned to the Jewish state, and the southern portion to an Arab state. However hostilities between the Arabs and Jews commenced soon after the UN resolution as 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine . The Jewish settlements in
6715-601: Was further secured by the Battle of Ramat Yohanan and a modus vivendi agreed with Druze in the Galilee . Subsequently, Operation Yiftach further opened up supply lines via Safed . In the lead up to the full 1948 Arab–Israeli War , Naharayim, Tel-Or, and Gesher were shelled on 27–29 April 1948 by the Arab Legion . The power plant workers and their families without a Jordanian ID card evacuated into Mandatory Palestine. On 15 May 1948,
6800-667: Was granted a 70-year concession for the construction of hydroelectric plants along the Jordan River; the only plant built was the First Jordan Hydro-Electric Power House in the Jordan valley at the confluence of the Yarmouk River with the Jordan River near Naharayim . The Naharayim plant was a major source of electricity to the British Mandate and the Emirate of Transjordan. An adjacent company town, Tel Or ,
6885-526: Was instrumental in blocking the Iraqi-Jordanian incursion. On 20 May 1948, after a failure to reach an agreement with Transjordan 's King Abdullah , the southern Jordan valley Beit HaArava and the nearby north Dead sea Kalia were abandoned due to their isolation amidst Arab settlements. The residents and fighters of the villages evacuated via boat over the Dead Sea to the Israeli post at Sodom . Concurrently, on 14 May Syrian forces began attacking via
6970-410: Was preparing to expand the autonomy of Arab municipalities in the former West Bank of Jordan, which Israel had captured from Jordan in the Six-Day War . According to Yaacobi, Dayan was "preparing" for a greater "degree of autonomy for West Bank municipalities", while Dayan envisaged the "rest of the West Bank population though living under Israeli sovereignty as being fullfledged Jordanian citizens", with
7055-516: Was the Allon Plan formulated in 1967–1968. This Israeli position (which has also been held by the Yitzhak Rabin government that signed the Oslo Accords ) stems from the narrowness of the Israeli coastal plain , the geographic defensive barrier created by the Jordan valley, and the demographic realities (lack of a significant Arab population in the valley that would impact the overall demographics of Israel). Israel has constructed settlements in
7140-477: Was to greatly reduce the flow of water through the Jordan valley. The flow rate of the Jordan River once was 1.3 billion cubic meters per year; as of 2010, just 20 to 30 million cubic metres per year flow into the Dead Sea. The Arab League which objected to Israeli National Water Carrier approved in 1964 the Headwater Diversion Plan (Jordan River) which would have diverted two of the three sources of
7225-598: Was under control of the Ottoman Empire from their victory over the Mamluks in 1486, which involved a small battle in the valley en route to Khan Yunis and Egypt , until 1918. The Ottoman internal administrative divisions varied throughout the period with the Jordan river being at times a provincial border, and at times not. However the valley was contained within the group of provinces termed Ottoman Syria . Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem during some periods contained both banks of
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