Although the Palestinian Authority had previously opposed nominating the salty lake that borders the West Bank, Israel and Jordan as one of the Seven New Wonders of the World, Haaretz reports that as of today, the PA is on board.
The New Seven Wonders is an international Internet voting competition that seeks to raise environmental awareness of the seven most stunning natural formations on the globe. The Dead Sea was listed among 77 candidates until three days ago when the Palestinians boycotted the campaign because the Israeli side includes the Jordan Valley settler council. For a site located in multiple countries to be listed, all the countries must agree to nominate it. Now that PA President Mahmoud Abbas has pushed to participate, the Sea will be reinstated. There are six more days to vote at the Seven Wonders site.
If it will help save the Dead Sea, the contest couldn’t come sooner. The Sea’s surface area has plumetted from 1,000 sq. km.in 1950 to 650 sq. km. in 2006. The water level drops about a meter a year and leads to a dangerous sinkhole phenomenon on both sides of the shore.
In 2007, New Seven Wonders picked man-made structures including Jordan‘s Petra, the Great Wall of China and Machu Picchu in Peru.
The current vote is only on natural phenomena. Other Middle Eastern sites contending include Iraq’s Mesopotamian Marshes, Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hasa Oasis and Israel’s Ein Gedi Oasis.
(Photo via http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~icecs04/tour2_views.html).
Author: Daniella Cheslow
Daniella Cheslow grew up in a car-dependent suburb in New Jersey, where she noticed strip malls and Wal-Marts slowly replacing farmland. Her introduction to nature came through hiking trips in Israel. As a counselor for a freshman backpacking program at Northwestern University, Daniella noticed that Americans outdoors seemed to need to arm themselves with performance clothing, specialized water bottles and sophisticated camping silverware. This made her think about how to interact with and enjoy nature simply. This year, Daniella is getting a Master’s in Geography from Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She also freelance writes, photographs and podcasts. In her free time, she takes day trips in the desert, drops off compost and cooks local foods like stuffed zucchini, kubbeh and majadara. Daniella gets her peak oil anxiety from James Howard Kunstler and her organic food dreams from Michael Pollan. Read more at her blog, TheTruthHerzl.com. Daniella can be reached at daniella (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
The Dead Sea is the worlds original SPA. The healing waters and also the air of the Dead Sea cure so many ailments. (It is sometimes called the Sea of Life!) It is said that the minerals of the Dead Sea in the atmosphere of that area prevent sunburn. And it’s a wonderfully relaxing sensation to just lie there and float weightlessly on the “water”.
Go there– and enjoy! you never have to worry about sunburn, sharks or stinging jellyfish!
I guess we all better hurry up and get it nominated – before it dries up!