A Condensed Atlas of Water in Israel, 2010-2014
Traveling Along the Jordan – Through Time, Myth, and Secret Services
Every year, tens of thousands of Bible tourists travel to Israel to take a trip along the River Jordan, past the Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Tiberias, to the Dead Sea. These water sources were once the setting against which, or in many cases in which, Bible stories took place.
A Condensed Atlas of Water in Israel portrays the ancient basin of the
biblical Jordan. When you see the photographs of the bare mountain
landscape with that winding stream in the valley – looking in places more like a creek than a great river – the Six Day War and the politics of water seem far away. Yet that political aspect has an important part to play. On the way he crossed the Golan Heights and skirted the Sea of Galilee, ending up at the Dead Sea where the Jordan finally reaches its mouth, at 427
metres below sea level. A Condensed Atlas of Water in Israel begins on the Golan Heights. Because of its strategic importance for the country’s
national security, the modern state of Israel took the region from Syria
during the Six Day War in 1967. Water is of great importance here too. In previous years the War over Water had taken place, a series of conflicts
between Israel and its Arab neighbours over control of the Jordan as a source of water. Meltwater and rainwater from the mountains fed the rivers and underground wells with fresh water and was of considerable
importance for all the neighbouring regions, including Israel, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
A Condensed Atlas of Water in Israel begins with a black-and-white photo of a man who is almost impossible to identify. He turns out to be Eli Cohen, born in Alexandria, who is still regarded in Israel as one of the heroes of the Six Day War. Cohen adopted a false identity as Kamel Amin Thaabet, and by holding notorious parties at his home he infiltrated the highest circles of Syria’s military and political apparatus. Through his intelligence work he forestalled a Syrian plan to divert the Jordan in a way that would have
seriously impacted upon Israel’s water supply. The initiative by Cohen that captured the imagination more than any other was his suggestion that
eucalyptus trees should be planted on the Golan Heights. He advised the Syrians to plant the young trees close to every underground bunker and mortar position, to protect their soldiers against the searing heat of the mountains. Because of those eucalyptus trees, the Israeli air force was able unerringly to locate and eliminate Syrian bunkers and mortar positions.
Cohen’s cunning intervention made him one of the most appealing spies of the twentieth century. The eucalyptus trees on the Golan Heights remain as silent witnesses to Cohen’s espionage network.
Text by Kim Knoppers
