The transition between paganism and three major monotheistic religions in the southern Levant is one of themes that intrigues Professor Robert Schick from the University of Mainz in Germany. Pagans were very connected to the cycles of the earth, and like all ancient people reckoned with nature to understand why they exist and how to survive.
Thanks to drought and over-pumping underground water reserves in the western region of Tehran, Iran’s capital city, fissures also known as sinkholes are opening up, causing Iran’s major city and capital city to sink. The sinkholes threaten people’s homes and the local infrastructure. While some Middle Eastern countries like Israel are seeing record rain, Tehran […]
A landmark law was just passed in Israel this year. The Israeli Parliament, known as the Knesset just passed a new law on January 1, that allows both public and non-profit organizations to file a civil suit against any person or organization that damages the environment in general. The law was put into effect after […]
Dip a dowdy dress into one of the world’s saltiest lakes and see what happens. Artist Sigalit Landau did, and ended up growing a crystalline gown straight out of Frozen. Take a look at these images. It’s unlikely you can “Let it go”.
He’s coming back! In 2011, artist Spencer Tunick incited hundreds of people to shed their inhibitions (and their clothes) to raise awareness to the environmental threats facing the Dead Sea. This September, five years after that mass naked photo shoot, at the request of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, he will return to check […]
Oil prices have fallen considerably over the past two years. But this isn’t the first time the price of a core society resource has dropped so drastically. The economic history of salt is an interesting lesson for our time. Middle Eastern countries spend millions of dollars and consume more than one hundred million kilowatt-hours of […]
Israel and Jordan have signed a historic deal to press ahead with a plan to save the Dead Sea. The ‘Red-Dead’ project will build a plant near the Jordanian tourist resort of Aqaba that will desalinate water to be shared by Israelis and Palestinians. The brine left over from the desalination process will be channeled […]
The Dead Sea is an amazing place to float, meditate, and to heal your aching body. But some guys hanging out on its shores show it is an awesome place to discover natural phenomena.
Flash floods are very dangerous; they come quickly, often catch people by surprise, and their force is formidable. This is especially true of Israel’s Wadi Zin, a deceptively dry riverbed most of the time. Visitors to the Dead Sea captured rare footage of a recent flash flood – a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Sunday was Mawlid an-nabī, the observance of the birth of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed, but unlike Eid al-Fitr (Little Eid) or Eid al-Adha (Big Eid), Mawlid is a low-key celebration marked by a quiet focus on the prophet’s life and an uptick in eating and charitable acts.
See the images: These very rare textiles were found in the Wadi Murabba’at caves south of Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Why is this ancient find so exciting for the Jews?
Some good news out of the Middle East region for a change: It was announced at the Israel Business Forum that Israel has signed an historic water-sharing agreement with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. But not all parties are happy with political manoeuvrings around the announcement.
Watch your step, kibbutzniks and spa-mavens! Diminishing water levels in the Dead Sea are causing changes to surrounding groundwater flows. Freshwater moves through the aquifer, dissolving subterranean salt deposits and creating underground voids, which cause surface collapse. Dramatic and unpredictable, sinkholes appear at the alarming rate of nearly one a day.
Israeli activist Ari Leon Fruchter has launched a new Kickstarter campaign, but instead of getting Israelis naked with Spencer Tunic, this time he is raising funds for Naked Sea Salt – a sustainable new brand of salt from the Dead Sea.
Jordan’s Minister of Water and Irrigation and Agriculture, Hazim Al Naser, disclosed that the controversial Red-Dead Water Conveyor project may now be shelved in favor of a series of smaller schemes to provide the kingdom with drinking water. His statements mark the first time that a ranking official questioned the project’s viability. Al Naser spoke […]
Biking enthusiasts in Palestine have welcomed the construction of the first cycle lane in the Palestinian territories on the main road leading from Jericho to Jerusalem. The 1,200-metre two-way cycle lane on the west side of Jerusalem Street in Jericho was completed in July at a cost of 179,000 euros and will be formally opened […]
At one of the most famous natural spas in the world, the shores of the Dead Sea, Veronica begins her much-anticipated skin care treatment.The 34-year-old Italian tourist rubs the famous black mud on her pale white skin and waits under the hot sun for nature to do its work.
Jordanian craftswomen near the southern Dead Sea are creating unique market bags, placemats and quilts colored with naturally sourced dyes, then painted and embroidered. The project was built by a Canadian woman and artist living worlds away.
A tiny collective of rural women at the southern tip of the Dead Sea in Safi is creating art that’s omni-sustainable. Since 1999, with catalytic infusions from a remarkable Canadian painter, this Jordanian sisterhood has been crafting unusual “eco” fabric items bespoke to their salty seaside village.
Built at the lowest elevation on earth, and less than a year old, this jewel-box of a museum showcases the Dead Sea region’s rich past. After Israel, no nation has as many Biblical sites as Jordan. The Dead Sea gets several mentions in the Bible, and it’s where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. Jesus […]
An Israel Chemicals Dead Sea mining plant; Photo by Haaretz/Ofer Vaknin Despite the recent heavy rains and flooding in Israel that helped replenish water in the Dead Sea, the salt lake in the ‘lowest point on earth ‘ is still suffering from a sharp decline in water levels due in part to the ongoing mineral […]
It was about a decade in the making: without much fanfare the World Bank has released a report stating that the Dead Sea – Red Sea Canal project (also called the Red Dead Conduit) will work. The basic idea is to take salty water from the Red Sea, pump it up to a channel, desalinate it […]
Sketch of the map of the Red Dead Canal commissioned by Jordan. While we don’t celebrate the energy crisis and financial woes in Jordan, it is poor finances that’s reportedly putting the highly controversial Red-Dead Canal on hold, Israel’s Maariv newspaper reported on Wednesday. The original plan which called for a canal between the Red […]
A personal account of celebrating the Naked Sea event anniversary last Thursday night. In September of last year year Spencer Tunick came down to the Dead Sea and brought along with him throngs of reporters, environmentalists and 1500 people loaded on buses from around Israel who bared all in the hot sun in the name of […]
Renowned nude photographer Spencer Tunick and Daphne Leef, the leader of last year’s tent protests in Tel Aviv, are teaming up to promote creative social activism in Israel. In support of Save our Sea, a grassroots organization that strives to raise awareness of the Dead Sea’s declining ecological health, the pair have organized an overnight […]