Jordan Valley

King Hussein took the controls of a camouflaged military helicopter and flew visiting Austrian President Kurt Waldheim on a tour of the Jordan Valley with a clear view of Israel today. The king flew the former U.N. secretary general over Jordan's richest farmland, giving Waldheim a look at Israel and the West Bank that Israel captured from Jordan in 1967.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent statement that Israel can't defend itself with borders drawn along pre-1967 lines has been questioned in certain foreign policy circles. These critics have noted that Israel successfully fought two wars, in 1956 and in 1967, while based within those borders. And they have claimed that borders don't matter as much in modern warfare. But Netanyahu is right. The idea that the 1967 line isn't defensible has actually been around for decades. Indeed, the architects of Israel's national security doctrine reached that conclusion soon after the Six-Day War. The main strategic problem that Israel faced at that time was the enormous asymmetry between its small standing army, which needed to be reinforced with a timely reserve mobilization, and the large standing armies of its neighbors, which could form coalitions in times of tension and exploit Israel's narrow geography with overwhelming numbers.

The fertile hills around the ancient settlement of Pella are yielding traces of a million years of human activity in the Jordan Valley. Archeologists digging here for 12 years under the direction of Prof. Basil Hennessy of Sydney University in Australia have uncovered a record of human existence reaching back to Stone Age hunters and forward to Ottoman times, and most of the years in between.

Israel's deputy minister of foreign affairs, Danny Ayalon, paints a picture of an innocent Israel yearning for peace, virtually begging the intransigent Palestinians to come negotiate so there can be a "two-states-for-two-peoples solution" ("Who's stopping the peace process?" Dec. 14). But it's one that bears no resemblance to the realities Palestinians experience and much of the world sees every day. Ayalon claims that the settlements Israel refuses to stop building on occupied land are a "red herring" and present no obstacles to peace because in the "43 years since Israel gained control of the West Bank, the built-up areas of the settlements constitute less than 1.7% of the total area.

Israel is referred to repeatedly in the Bible — 17 times, in fact — as the "land of milk and honey," but until three years ago, archaeologists had discovered little firm evidence that beekeeping was ever practiced there. Many scholars, in fact, assumed "honey" referred to a nectar from dates or other fruits. Then, three years ago, researchers found a 3,000-year-old apiary in the Iron Age city of Tel Rehov in the Jordan Valley, the oldest known commercial beekeeping facility in the world, suggesting that the word "honey" likely referred to the real thing.

Jeff Foster, 20, a Boise State basketball player from Salinas, Calif., was killed in a traffic accident east of Jordan Valley, Ore., near the Idaho border.

Dozens of Jewish settlers broke through Israeli army barricades and waded across the Jordan River into Jordan on Monday to protest increasing Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank. Two Jordanian army officers arrived at the rocky riverbank but did not interfere. Soaked demonstrators surrounded the officers and shook their hands.

Syria, aided by the Soviet Union, appears to be engaged in a major project to divert the waters of the Yarmuk River, threatening Jordan's main farming area, Israeli Agriculture Minister Arye Nehemkin said. "If reports . . . are correct, the project poses a grave threat to Jordan because all the agriculture on the Jordanian side of the Jordan Valley is based on water from the Yarmuk," a tributary of the Jordan River, he said on state radio.

Political pressure mounted Saturday on King Hussein to dismiss his government and delay further IMF-mandated economic reforms following four days of bloody rioting over price increases. Although the capital has been relatively unaffected by the unrest, several thousand heavily armed troops remained deployed throughout Salt, 13 miles northwest of Amman, where rioting overnight left at least 21 people injured and caused widespread damage. Apart from a small and peaceful demonstration by university students in Amman, no further protests were reported Saturday, although the situation in Salt, Maan, Karak and several other riot-torn towns remained extremely tense.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent statement that Israel can't defend itself with borders drawn along pre-1967 lines has been questioned in certain foreign policy circles. These critics have noted that Israel successfully fought two wars, in 1956 and in 1967, while based within those borders. And they have claimed that borders don't matter as much in modern warfare. But Netanyahu is right. The idea that the 1967 line isn't defensible has actually been around for decades. Indeed, the architects of Israel's national security doctrine reached that conclusion soon after the Six-Day War. The main strategic problem that Israel faced at that time was the enormous asymmetry between its small standing army, which needed to be reinforced with a timely reserve mobilization, and the large standing armies of its neighbors, which could form coalitions in times of tension and exploit Israel's narrow geography with overwhelming numbers.

Only a month into a new round of peace talks, the Obama administration is drawing criticism from allies and veteran diplomats that it is giving away too much just to keep negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians from collapsing. Administration officials have offered an assortment of inducements to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a freeze on Jewish construction in the West Bank for two months. Palestinian officials have threatened to break off the talks unless Israel extends the freeze that expired Sept.

Israel is referred to repeatedly in the Bible — 17 times, in fact — as the "land of milk and honey," but until three years ago, archaeologists had discovered little firm evidence that beekeeping was ever practiced there. Many scholars, in fact, assumed "honey" referred to a nectar from dates or other fruits. Then, three years ago, researchers found a 3,000-year-old apiary in the Iron Age city of Tel Rehov in the Jordan Valley, the oldest known commercial beekeeping facility in the world, suggesting that the word "honey" likely referred to the real thing.

Effie Crassac, a tour guide by profession, recently took on a new job: cheerleader for the remaining residents of her withering settlement in the Israeli-occupied Jordan Valley. The regional government hired the tiny, intense Crassac to plan get-togethers and outings to lift her neighbors' spirits. The 26-year-old is upbeat about a visit she has planned to a Jerusalem restaurant.

Even as the Arab League condemned his expansion of Jewish settlements, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday approved construction of hundreds of homes in the occupied Jordan Valley and vowed that Israel will retain control of the area in any permanent accord with the Palestinians.

Dozens of Jewish settlers broke through Israeli army barricades and waded across the Jordan River into Jordan on Monday to protest increasing Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank. Two Jordanian army officers arrived at the rocky riverbank but did not interfere. Soaked demonstrators surrounded the officers and shook their hands.

When he heard the news Wednesday morning, D'Mond Carrington felt like shedding a tear. So did his buddies at Chatsworth High School. "Me and my friends were talking about it, and we said, 'Man, can you imagine basketball without him?' " Carrington asked. Clearly, they couldn't. But Michael Jordan, who for many people transcended the game of basketball to become a cultural icon, had announced his retirement from the Chicago Bulls. He simply lacked the desire to continue playing, Jordan said.

Senior Israeli military officers said Thursday that the nation's armed forces are in a "stepped-up" state of alert, and they noted that the Jordanian army also appears to have accelerated its activity. The quicker military pace came a day after the failure of the U.S.-Iraqi talks in Geneva to reach any accord on how to avert a military clash in the Persian Gulf. After those talks, Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz warned that if war breaks out in the gulf, Iraq will strike Israel.

All is quiet on Israel's eastern front. Well, not quite. Huge Merkava (Chariot) tanks of the crack 7th Armored Brigade fired their main guns with echoing explosions as the vehicles maneuvered in an easterly direction toward the Syrian border. But it was only a training exercise by the armored unit that once faced the entire Syrian tank onslaught during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and staved off invasion. Otherwise, the Israeli border with Syria from Mt.

Senior Israeli military officers said Thursday that the nation's armed forces are in a "stepped-up" state of alert, and they noted that the Jordanian army also appears to have accelerated its activity. The quicker military pace came a day after the failure of the U.S.-Iraqi talks in Geneva to reach any accord on how to avert a military clash in the Persian Gulf. After those talks, Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz warned that if war breaks out in the gulf, Iraq will strike Israel.

All is quiet on Israel's eastern front. Well, not quite. Huge Merkava (Chariot) tanks of the crack 7th Armored Brigade fired their main guns with echoing explosions as the vehicles maneuvered in an easterly direction toward the Syrian border. But it was only a training exercise by the armored unit that once faced the entire Syrian tank onslaught during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and staved off invasion. Otherwise, the Israeli border with Syria from Mt.