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The Jordan Valley.
The Jordan Valley. 
 

Western Mail, Thursday, 21 November 1929, p. 2.

The Jordan Valley.

"Abe Aarons" (Perth) writes:-"Plugstreet" Wood was no doubt interesting but I believe that Palestine was on its own in providing sectors rich in interest, historical and otherwise. Early in 1918, as a unit in the Desert Mounted Corps, we occupied the line in the valley of the Jordan, near Jericho, and not far from the Dead Sea. The Jordan is over 1,000 feet below sea level. Hills on either side are 4,000 feet above the river. This dread depression is avoided by even the Arab in summer-time but it was occupied all one summer by the Aussies and other troops. Many monasteries have been founded in the area. The cave where Elijah was supposed to have been fed by the ravens, is in the Greek monastery of St. George, on the cliffs not far from Jericho. Our Saviour is said to have fasted for 40 days in a grotto thereabouts which is now used as a chapel. Nearby is the white Monastery of St. John, where it is believed Jesus was baptised. The sites of Sodom and Gomorrah and the high knoll from which Moses viewed the Promised Land across the Jordan can all be seen from Jericho. Jericho itself recalled Joshua and his trumpeters, Antony and Cleopatra and Herod; the glory of the Roman City of Palms; Christ and the publican. A walled garden on a nearby hill marks the traditional spot of the Temptation. Truly the land we fought in furnished us all with a wealth of historical detail full of interest. We appreciate it the more as we grow older; as our reading expands our minds. Most of us mourn the opportunities we let slip for exploring sacred places. At Jericho we had to explore or go mad. Stationary warfare in France was probably bad enough; the few times we tasted it in Palestine it was hell.