[Leica] IMG: Northern Israel border areas

[pklein at threshinc.com (Peter Klein)]

Marty:  Thanks for commenting. Yes, everybody in the region has 
exploited the river and its watershed to the max, and it hasn't been 
good for the ecology. There's been some growing understanding of this in 
Israel, though blunted by the needs of seven million people crammed into 
a habitable area half the size of New Jersey (if you subtract the Negev 
Desert in the south).  Recently they allowed a lake that they had 
drained to regenerate. That area has now become a major bird sanctuary 
and stop-off point for the major north-south migrations.

On the other hand, the Dead Sea is getting smaller and smaller.  From 
the top of Masada (pictures coming soon), you can see vast areas that 
were obviously underwater before.  Climate change is partly to blame.  
But like the Colorado River here in the USA, there's not much left of 
the Jordan by the time it gets to its terminus.

--Peter

> This is geopolitical, but not in the way you might expect.  If the
> Israelis, Syrians and Jordanese hadn't dammed, diverted, extracted and
> strangled the Jordan almost dry, it would be a lot bigger than it
> currently is.  Water is a valuable commodity in arid climates (where I
> live is about as dry as this part of the middle east and I work with
> water, so I am acutely aware of this) and it's rivers that always
> suffer.
>
> The photos are very nice, it's a beautiful area.
>
> Marty
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 9:14 AM, Peter Klein <pklein at threshinc.com> 
> wrote:
> > Note: These images include border and disputed areas. Please, no 
> politics.
> >
> > Jordan River from the pre-1967 Syrian side. It's much smaller than your
> > would expect.
> > 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/israel/7-North/L1007569.jpg.html>
> >
> > Pre-1967 Syrian fortifications about 100 feet/30 meters up the lower
> > slopes of the Golan Heights, which begin rising just east of the river.
> > The second pictures shows why the barbed wire is still there.
> > 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/israel/7-North/L1007576.jpg.html>
> > 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/israel/7-North/L1007582.jpg.html>
> >
> > A view of part of the Israeli Hula valley from the Golan Heights (same
> > vantage point as above). We're about 100 feet (30m) up the slopes.
> > 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/israel/7-North/L1007580.jpg.html>
> >
> > Looking back at the Golan Heights from an Israeli farm in the center of
> > the Hula Valley. The top is about 3000 feet (915m) up. ?You can see how
> > the Golan Heights dominate the valley. From up there, if you can see it,
> > you can shell it.
> > 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/israel/7-North/L1007585.jpg.html>
> >
> > Tel Hai/Kiryat Shemona: Memorial to eight Israeli reserve soldiers, 
> and a
> > fragment of the Katyusha rocket that killed them on this spot during the
> > beginning of the 2006 war in Lebanon. See my shadow on the left for 
> scale.
> > 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/israel/7-North/L1007597.jpg.html>
> >
> > Looking into Syria (still lit by the sunset) from a viewpoint near the
> > current armistice line. The white buildings in the foreground are a UN
> > compound.
> > 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/israel/7-North/L1007611.jpg.html>
> >
> > Local Druze farmer, from the same viewpoint. ?He had some of the best
> > apples and honey I've ever tasted.
> > 
> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/israel/7-North/L1007617.jpg.html>
> >
> > --Peter
> >
> >