Jordan River Research Articles

Peels of Psidium Guajava Fruit Possess Antimicrobial Properties

Background: Psidium guajava (guava) leaf extracts have been extensively studied for their anti-microbial effect. Yet, very few studies investigated the antimicrobial effect of the ripe guava fruit. Aim: This study aims at examining aqueous extracts of ripe Psidium guajava fruit, bulb, seeds and peels (harvested in autumn at Jordan River valley). Materials and methods: Decreasing concentrations of water extracts of three parts of the fruit are tested against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria as well as the fungus Saccharomyces cerevesea using the agar diffusion method. Clinical isolates of MRSA are also included. Results: Water extracts of Guava peels at concentrations ≥ 10% are inhibitory to coagulase positive S. aureus and MRSAs, and at ≥ 1% are inhibitory to coagulase negative Staphylococci. Water extracts of peels acted synergistically with cell wall synthesis inhibitor antibiotics towards S. aureus and MRSA strains used. HPLC-MS-MS analysis through ion trap and subsequent fragmentation of the isolated ions from peels water extracts allowed the clear identification of two well-known phenolic compounds that are known for their antimicrobial activity: Gallic acid (957.6 I¼g/mL) and Ferulic acid(13 I¼g/mL). Conclusion: The ripe fruit of Guava is a nutritionally rich fruit with an outer covering that possess antimicrobial properties

Drinking water resources as a source of the Israeli-Arab conflicts

The Jordan river basin is a part of the Middle East which has for centuries been a site of great religious, cultural, political and other upheavals. Bearing in mind that the resources of drinking water in this arid region are naturally limited, and that since 1930s there has been a rapid increase in population, expansion of urban areas, agricultural development and increase in industrial production, along with consequences caused by climate change, it is no wonder that limited resources of drinking water are a stumbling block and a source of tension, conflicts and clashes between countries in the region, i.e. Israel on one side, and the Arab states on the other. The paper especially highlights the geographical situation and the condition of drinking water resources in the basin of the Jordan river; factors and actors that jeopardize the drinking water resources; and conflicts and consequences of Israel's hegemony applied in resolving the division of drinking water resources in this basin.

邦訳旧約聖書にみる石の用途と石をたてることの意味

Sakuteiki is the first systematic record on gardening that shows how to set stones. In traditional Japanese gardens, the usage of stones has been considered important. This paper examines the usage of stone in the Old Testament, which was written before Sakuteiki. If we find the way stones were used, it may be beneficial for people associated with landscape design. Every section of the Bible (cooperative translated version of the Japan Bible Society) is examined and parts where stones were used in different manners are identified. In several cases, it shows setting stones. The following were observed: (1) Jacob, Moses, and Joshua set up stones from their own will on the place as a memorial where they could hear God’s voice. Jacob set a stone twic e, while both Moses and Joshua set twelve stones one time. It was not God’s command. (2) God ordered to set stones for a memorial for Him to make miraculous things. God asked Joshua to take twelve stones from the Jordan River and set them up on one mountain. (3) Moses commanded the Israelis to set great stones with law after crossing the Jordan River. (4) When people made the important contract for each other, they set up a stone there as memorial. They believed God would watch and guard people from the stone. (5) God asked his alter to be made not with cut stones but natural stones. This paper describes that stones were set when God’s existence needed to be proved.

The Primacy of Water in the Zionist Project

IntroductionZureik slams the door in the face of anyone who continues to believe in the moribund peace process with its still birth two states solution. His comprehensive review and evaluation of both the conceptual and political literature on Palestine yields a powerful analytical paradigm and unambiguous analysis of the goals of the Zionist Project: to conquer the territory and transform it demographically into a permanent sovereign state for Jews. From its outset, the Logic of Zionism was unrelenting in its drive to appropriate the territory and make every trace of Palestinian human and material life disappear. He hammers this point across by documenting the comprehensive array of brutal and bureaucratic methods and tools used to conquer the land and to eliminate Palestinian Arabs, a process continuing today unabated.Nonetheless, there is missing piece in this extraordinary book. It is the full recognition of the saliency of water resources in the territorial and biopolitical dimensions of his conceptual paradigm. Zureik does take note of the importance of the territoriality of water resources in his reference to the work of Samer Alatout (33-34, electronic copy) and biopolitically to its limited distribution (123, electronic copy), but he does not give water its full weightiness in the Zionist project arsenal. For this reason, my essay focuses on exposing the historical primacy of water to the success of the project. I will end with a general assessment of Palestinian options to challenge and defeat Zionism.From the beginning of Zionist fixation on Palestine, water resources played a crucial role in Zionist strategy. The problematic for the Zionists was what land area constituted the Palestine they sought to make the Jewish State. The 1919 (Jewish Virtual Library, n.d.) map the World Zionist Organization presented at the Paris Peace Conference was not confined to what ultimately became the final borders of the formalized British Mandate (1923-1948, de facto, 1920-1948). Rather, the Zionists defined Palestine basically by the water resources in and around that area. Therefore, they sought to conquer, integrate, and control the territory on which they were found.The 1919 map included all of Mandated Palestine, the Syrian Golan Heights, Southern Lebanon up to Sidon, a portion of the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, and a slice of the Sinai from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. The water resources included the aquifers in Palestine, the lush confluence of water resources in the Golan Heights, the Litani River in Lebanon, and the Jordan River cutting through the Jordan Valley in Palestine and Western Jordan. The Sinai area provided strategic and trade access to the Red Sea and proximity to the Suez Canal. (Israel secured free passage in the Suez Canal in 1979 as a result of the Egypt/Israel Peace Treaty.) The map anticipated what level of water would be needed for the projected Jewish state to develop an industrial and agricultural economic base and to provide a Western style of life for Jewish immigrants. After 1967 especially, water distribution of controlled resources would become a tool to debilitate Palestinians under occupation and destroy their livelihood, health, and sanitation. Tracing the history of Zionist territorial strategy and the development of the water infrastructure demonstrates clearly the Logic of Zionism (57, electronic copy).Zionist/Israeli Water StrategyThe Zionists sought control of the water resources even before they conquered all of the territory on which they are found. It was not, however, until they completed their conquest of all of Palestine and the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967, as well as Israel's temporary occupation of Southern Lebanon (1978, 1985-2000) that they had unchallenged control over the water resources. A review of this history is instructive.After the Zionist Basel Conference in 1897 confirmed Palestine as the location for the proposed Jewish State, the World Zionist Organization encouraged Abraham Bourcart, a German engineer, to go to Palestine to study the Jordan Valley Basin and develop plans for the development of regional waters for the benefit and prosperity of the anticipated state. …

Regional Hypsometric Analysis of the Jordan Rift Drainage Basins (Jordan) Using Geographic Information System

This research is intended to assess the regional pattern of hypsometric curves (HCs) and hypsometric integrals (HIs) for the watersheds draining into the Jordan Rift (River Jordan, the Dead Sea, and Wadi Araba watersheds). Hypsometric analysis was performed on 22 drainage basins using ASTER DEM (30 m resolution) and GIS. The area-elevation ratio method was utilized to extract the hypsometric integral values within a GIS environment. A prominent variation exists in the HC shapes and HI values. The highest hypsometric values are found for the Dead Sea ( = 0.87) and River Jordan ( = 0.77) watersheds. Whereas the lowest values ( = 0.51) characterized Wadi Araba catchments, except Wadi Nukhaileh (lower Wadi Araba) which yields an HI value of 0.26. Seventeen HCs pertained to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea watersheds evince remarkably upward convex shapes indicating that such drainage basins are less eroded, and at the youth-stage of the geomorphic cycle of erosion. Catchments draining to Wadi Araba are of intermediate HI values (0.41 - 0.58) which are associated with a balance, or dynamic equilibrium between erosion and tectonic processes. Accordingly, they correspond to a late mature stage of geomorphic development. Additionally, Wadi Nukhaileh yields the lowest HI value (0.26) and is associated with highly eroded terrain of late mature geomorphic evolution, approaching an old stage therefore, with distorted concave upward curves. High HI values indicate that these watersheds have been subjected to tectonic uplift, down faulting of the Rift and intense rejuvenation. Differences in HI values can be attributed to disparity in tectonic uplift rate, base level heights, and mean heights of the River Jordan watersheds, the Dead Sea and Wadi Araba watersheds, and variation in lithology, which caused noticeable differences in rejuvenation processes, and channel incision. Regression analysis reveals that R2 values which represent the degree of control of driving parameters on HI, are positive and generally low (ranging from 0.026 to 0.224) except for the height of base level (m) parameter which contributes 0.42 (significant at 0.1% level). Such results mean that the height of base level has a significant at 0.1% level. It is obvious that the most crucial driving morphometric factor influencing HI values of the Jordan Rift drainage basins, is the height of base level (m).

Between Ideology and Reality: The Right Wing Organizations, the Jerusalem Question, and the Role of Menachem Begin 1948–1949

The article examines the attitude of Menachem Begin and the Revisionist organization towards Jerusalem during 1948–49. As a political right wing entity that believed in the “wholeness of the Land of Israel on both sides of the Jordan River”, it seemed that their approach could not be anything but opposing United Nations resolution 181. This approach was accompanied by the demand for a declaration of the new state of Israel that Jerusalem should be and must be the capital of Israel. This view of Jerusalem as the capital was also shared by the pre-state undergrounds, Etzel and Lehi. There were rumors of illicit activity, such as a plot to take over the city and declare its independence in 1948. Yet the Revisionist school does not seem to have employed all the legitimate political tools at its disposal to further its goals on this issue.

The Baptism of Christ. in Muscovite Iconography. Tradition and Innovation

The Baptism of Christ in its Early Christian representations is rendered with a naked Christ immersed in the waters of the Jordan River with John the Forerunner and attending angels present. In Eastern Christian tradition this representation perseveres until the late 13th century, when a girded Christ appears in images at Mt. Athos and becomes dominant in Balkan iconography. The girded Christ makes its way to Rus, but aside from some rare frescoes in Novgorod actually ascribed to Serbian artists, the girded Christ is apparently limited to Moscow and its environs. This study attempts to account for the emergence of the girded Christ in Orthodox iconography and to account for its singular distribution in Muscovite Rus.

Elisha Typology in Jesus’ Miracle on the Jordan River (Papyrus Egerton 2, 2v.6–14)

Previous reconstructions of the ‘Miracle on the Jordan River’ (Papyrus Egerton 2, 2v.6–14) are unconvincing because they lack clear parallels with known texts. This short article proposes a new transcription, based on the apparent parallels with Elisha's miracles in 2 Kings and Josephus, Jewish War 4.460–4. It concludes that the author of the Egerton Gospel used Elisha typology in the depiction of Jesus’ miracle on the Jordan.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Reservoirs in the Lower Jordan Watershed.

We have analyzed monthly hydrological, meteorological and water quality data from three irrigation and drinking water reservoirs in the lower Jordan River basin and estimated the atmospheric emission rates of CO2. The data were collected between 2006 and 2013 and show that the reservoirs, which differ in size and age, were net sources of CO2. The estimated surface fluxes were comparable in magnitude to those reported for hydroelectric reservoirs in the tropical and sub-tropical zones. Highest emission rates were observed for a newly established reservoir, which was initially filled during the sampling period. In the two older reservoirs, CO2 partial pressures and fluxes were significantly decreasing during the observation period, which could be related to simultaneously occurring temporal trends in water residence time and chemical composition of the water. The results indicate a strong influence of water and reservoir management (e.g. water consumption) on CO2 emission rates, which is affected by the increasing anthropogenic pressure on the limited water resources in the study area. The low wind speed and relatively high pH favored chemical enhancement of the CO2 gas exchange at the reservoir surfaces, which caused on average a four-fold enhancement of the fluxes. A sensitivity analysis indicates that the uncertainty of the estimated fluxes is, besides pH, mainly affected by the poorly resolved wind speed and resulting uncertainty of the chemical enhancement factor.

Alex Lubin.Geographies of Liberation: The Making of an Afro-Arab Political Imaginary.

What was Malcolm X’s speech called “Racism: the Cancer that is Destroying America” doing in the Egyptian Gazette? Why did the Black Panthers take up residence in Algeria once the attack on them in the United States became too hot? Many readers will not even know that these things happened. Most will not see the point in the questions, thinking that these are marginal events that play a negligible role in the worlds of either the United States or the Arab lands. Reading Alex Lubin’s Geographies of Liberation: The Making of an Afro-Arab Political Imaginary should disabuse them of such dismissal. This wide-ranging study of the “Afro-Arab political imaginary” traces the linkages between African American lives and Arab lives over the course of the past two hundred years. It shows that these connections are not merely circumstantial, but deeply meaningful. They are part of what Lubin calls “an abolitionist geography,” (24) one that sees the tearful waters of the Mississippi River flow into the sorrowful waters of the River Jordan. Connections of oppression, Lubin suggests, produced connections of struggle.

Down to the River: Identity, Citizenship, Security, Borders and Water in the Occupied Golan Heights

Currently there is no coherent or sustainable water cooperation among the five states—Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian territories and Syria—that share the Jordan River. Why do people not cooperate on sustainable river basin management, even if it seems the most rational course from the perspective of economic benefits? I hypothesize that the political uses of citizenship, identity and security at the local level hamper cooperation at the basin level and ignore cognitive dimensions of violence and conflict. In this article, I have chosen the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as a case study to illustrate hydropolitics in praxis, because the political future of this particular area in many respects affects the sustainable future of the Jordan River Basin and the entire Levant.

On citizenship and citizenship education: a Levantine approach and reimagining Israel/Palestine

This article argues in favor of a Levantine approach to citizenship and citizenship education. A Levantine approach calls for some sort of Mediterranean regionalism, which accommodates and promotes overlapping and shared sovereignties and jurisdiction, multiple loyalties, and regional integration. It transcends the paradigmatic statist model of citizenship by recasting the relationship between territoriality, national identity, sovereignty, and citizenship in complex, multilayered and disaggregated constellations. As the case of Israel/Palestine demonstrates, this new approach goes beyond multicultural accommodation and territorial partition. It proposes, among other things, extending the political and territorial boundaries of citizenship to take all the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River as one unit of analysis belonging to a larger region.

Water quality and discharge of the Lower Jordan River

Summary The fresh surface water of the Lower Jordan River (LJR) has been limited in the past several decades due to damming of its main tributaries, which reduced the annual flow by 90%, leaving a mixed flow of polluted and saline sources. A monitoring and sampling hydrometric station was installed on the southern LJR to track the temporal variations of its discharge (Q) and hydrochemistry. In addition to manual water sampling, the station includes an automatic water sampler and cellular transmitting pressure and EC sensors, allowing real time observation. All samples were analyzed for major ions (Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Cl−, SO42−, NO3−, Br−) and several samples were analyzed for selected isotopes (34Ssulfate, 18Osulfate, 15Nnitrate, 18Onitrate, 2Hwater, 18Owater) as tracers. A general inverse seasonal trend was found between EC and water level although extreme values relate to flood events during the wet period. High values of EC (up to 40.3 mS/cm), high concentration of major ions, and flood events characterized by clockwise EC–Q hysteretic relations likely relate to the dissolution of precipitated salts in the basin. Isotope analyses reveal lithology and sewage as the respective major contributors of salinity; they were used to identify events unrelated to runoff (i.e., to precipitation in the area). The continuous monitoring is an essential tool for understanding long term changes of such a dynamic system but is critical for identifying extreme events occurring rarely and rapidly, possibly having a drastic effect on fauna and flora.

Challenging hydro-hegemony: hydro-politics and local resistance in the Golan Heights and the Palestinian territories

Hydro-hegemonic praxis defines much of Israel’s occupation that has continued since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Two empirical case studies of hydro-hegemony and counter-hegemony at local level are compared in this paper: the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Both case studies show that control over water resources and supply provides political power over others at local level. Yet non-violent resistance can be observed in these border areas. In border areas between Israel, Syria and Palestine, control over access and water supply plays an important role in the ability of Israel to exercise hegemonic power in daily hydro-politics, which in the long term is detrimental for the people and the environment and disrupts the hydrological balance in the entire Jordan River basin.

The Charophytes (Charophyta) Locality in the Milkha Stream, Lower Jordan, Israel

First study of new locality the Milkha Stream, the Lower Jordan River tributary, with charophyte algae, in semi-arid region of Israel has been implemented for revealing of algal diversity and ecological assessment of the water object environment by bio-indication methods. Altogether forty seven species from five taxonomic Divisions of algae and cyanobacteria including one of them macro-algae Chara gymnophylla A. Braun were revealed in the Milkha stream. Chara was found in growth in the lower part of studied stream but away from community in followed years. Bio-indication and chemical variables characterize the charophyte site environment as fresh, low alkaline, and low to middle organic pollution with mainly eutrophic state. Saprobity index S is fluctuated in small range (1.32-2.06) and reflect low to middle organic pollution, Class II-III of Water Quality. Statistical analysis divide environmental variables to natural and anthropogenic and found that charophyte-related species prefer natural, whereas diatom dominants prefer polluted waters which increased during present study. The Milkha Stream studied site is recommended for regularly monitoring of chemical and biological variables in purpose the watershed protection.

Application of GIS-based SCS-CN method in West Bank catchments, Palestine

Among the most basic challenges of hydrology are the prediction and quantification of catchment surface runoff. The runoff curve number (CN) is a key factor in determining runoff in the SCS (Soil Conservation Service) based hydrologic modeling method. The traditional SCS-CN method for calculating the composite curve number is very tedious and consumes a major portion of the hydrologic modeling time. Therefore, geographic information systems (GIS) are now being used in combination with the SCS-CN method. This paper assesses the modeling of flow in West Bank catchments using the GIS-based SCS-CN method. The West Bank, Palestine, is characterized as an arid to semi-arid region with annual rainfall depths ranging between 100 mm in the vicinity of the Jordan River to 700 mm in the mountains extending across the central parts of the region. The estimated composite curve number for the entire West Bank is about 50 assuming dry conditions. This paper clearly demonstrates that the integration of GIS with the SCS-CN method provides a powerful tool for estimating runoff volumes in West Bank catchments, representing arid to semi-arid catchments of Palestine.

Impacts of Large-Scale Stormwater Green Infrastructure Implementation and Climate Variability on Receiving Water Response in the Salt Lake City Area

This study evaluated impacts of Green Infrastructure (GI) as a stormwater management practice on return flows and the further Implications of climate variability. The goal was to create a model to explore the impacts that bioretention and Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) representing GI had using goldsim and Stormwater Management Modeling (SWMM) software. The software was used to represent impacts that climate variability individually and combined, may have on downstream stakeholders and receiving water systems in Salt Lake city, Utah, USA. Primary stakeholders included downstream water rights users, Farmington Bay waterfowl management area and the migratory birds that rely on Farmington Bay and the advocates that represent them. The steps to reach this goal were broken down incrementally to: (1) Characterize daily inflows to Farmington Bay, (2) Provide daily inflows from natural and urban runoff to the Jordan river, (3) Create a daily water balance model of Farmington Bay, (4) Demonstrate the model with and without stormwater GI and climate variability scenarios and (5) Determine trends of inflow to the Jordan River, duck clubs and Farmington Bay under various scenarios. The simulation results demonstrated that bioretention and RWH individually and combined had minimal impact on downstream water users, Jordan River flows and ultimately Farmington Bay water levels. Bioretention reduced the flow in the Jordan River minimally, with reductions primarily during peak flow. RWH actually kept more water in the natural system on average because less water was needed from the water treatment facilities when outdoor irrigation was supplemented with rainwater. The user reliability did not differ for any of the bioretention and RWH scenarios. The climate variability scenario had the greatest impact to Jordan River flows, Farmington Bay water levels and user reliability. When analyzed without GI implementation, the climate variability induced reduction in tributary flows and precipitation led to an average decrease of 11% in the Jordan River streamflow when compared to average baseline scenario over a 25 year simulation. The user reliability decreased by 5% and most importantly there was found to be an average of 36% decrease in the water levels in Farmington Bay. The resultant of the decrease in Farmington Bay water level is a loss of up to 61 square kilometers (15,000 acres) of open bay that would impact bird habitat, brine shrimp grounds, recreationalists, bird watchers, hunters and more. For this case study the implications of climate variability on the water system are much greater than implementing GI.

Ancient Water System in Tel Mar Elyas during the Byzantine Period: A Study

Recent archeological survey and excavations conducted in Tel Mar Elyas (Bethany Beyond the Jordan) confidently provide explicit answers about early ecology and history of Christian community east of Jordan. Churches, caves, prayer halls and water system installations were recovered in and around Tel Mar Elyas. The discovered remains of elaborate water system include pools, cisterns, wells and aqueducts refer to skilled engineering water system built during the Byzantine period. The author of this paper with his team systematically surveyed and excavated some 20 sites along both banks of the perennial Wadi Kharrar, covering an area of several square kilometers east of the Jordan River. This work has confirmed the location of the main settlement of Bethany at the head of the Wadi Kharrar, about 1.5 kilometers east of the river. Here, the team uncovered a 1st century AD settlement with plastered pools and water systems that were almost certainly used for baptism, and a late Byzantine settlement (5th-6th century AD) with churches, a monastery and other structures that probably catered to religious pilgrims. The present study includes also the results of field survey which has documented the ancient pilgrimage route that linked Jerusalem, via the Jordan River and Bethany in Jordan, to Mt. Nebo. Several Byzantine churches and other structures have been identified between the river and Bethany and are under publication. Some of them commemorate Jesus' baptism while other structures were monasteries for ascetic monks. The paper concluded with conclusion and recommendations aiming to preserve the remaining fragile water system installations.

From the Jordan River to Lake Titicaca: Paintings of the Baptism of Christ in Colonial Andean Churches

The arts of the colonial Andes bear witness to a complex and contested story of evangelization that involved a variety of actors, including priests, artists, indigenous congregations, and confraternities. Sculptures of saints, sumptuousretablos(altarpieces), canvas paintings with elaborate gilded frames, and mural cycles devoted to a variety of biblical themes were employed in the religious instruction of indigenous communities, and as catalysts for sensorial modes of communication. The visual arts provided a tangible analogue to sermons and printed catechisms, offering parishioners a lens through which to envision the sacred. Adapted from European iconographic models and infused with local references and symbolism, religious art throughout the colonial Americas introduced new visual vocabularies to indigenous congregations, who quickly became conversant in these images of conversion.

Estimating desalination requirements in semi-arid climates: A Mediterranean case study

A simple method for determining desalination requirements in semi-arid regions is described and illustrated by a case study for the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Analysis of a 78year series of regional recharge values derived from rainfall measurements showed a large inter-annual variability with no evidence of a significant trend. The fitted gamma distribution was used to estimate the probabilities of the annual regional water consumption exceeding recharge leading to a need for desalination. Near-future water consumption was estimated from current trends and used to assess the probabilities of regional water deficits arising and the volume of desalination required. The economic and environmental costs of using desalinated sea water and rain-fed ground water are briefly reviewed and the need for a stochastic approach to planning desalination requirements in semi-arid zones is emphasized.