Jordan River: Rich in holiness, poor in water

People bathe in the Jordan River near Kibbutz Karkom in northern Israel on Saturday, July 30, 2022. [AP Photo]

Standing at the Jordanian baptismal site Bethany Beyond the Jordan, Burckhartt, a Presbyterian, said the river's water felt cold on her skin, offering a respite from the sweltering heat around her. In the jumble of emotions, she grappled with, she could also feel sadness for the river's dwindling.

"I am sure God above is also sad."

The Bible says Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River.

The river's eastern bank, modern-day Jordan, and its western one both house baptismal sites, where rituals of faith unfold, a reflection of the river's enduring religious, historical and cultural allure.

The river holds further significance as the scene of miracles in the Old Testament; after years of wandering the desert, the ancient Israelites are said to have crossed the Jordan on dry ground after the water was stopped for them to pass.

At the Jordanian baptismal site on the eastern bank recently, a woman dipped her feet in the waters and then cupped some with her hands, rubbing it on her face and over her head. Others touched the river and crossed themselves or bent over to fill empty bottles.

Charlie Watts, a tourist from England, submerged a wooden cross -- a gift and a blessing for his Christian mother back home. "I took a video ... so I can show her that it was true," Watts said.

While he is not as religious as his mother, the 24-year-old still considered his visit to the Jordanian site special: "What made it surreal is to think that this is what started the world movement of Christianity."

In an interview, Rustom Mkhjian, director general of the Baptism Site Commission in Jordan, spoke passionately about the Jordanian site's claim to authenticity and its preservation as it was in the time of Christ and John the Baptist. UNESCO has declared it a World Heritage Site "of immense religious significance to the majority of denominations of Christian faith, who have accepted this site as the location where Jesus" was baptized.

"Every year we celebrate interfaith harmony, and among my happiest days in my life is days when I see Jews, Christians and Muslims visit the site and the three of them cry," Mkhjian said. "The present spot where we are is a site with a great message needed: Let us build human bridges of love and peace."

The Jordanian and West Bank sites both give visitors access to the river, where they come face to face, a narrow stretch of the waterbody between them. An Israel flag at the West Bank's Qasr al-Yahud serves as a reminder to those in Jordan that the river is a frontier separating the two worlds.

That site is also billed as where, according to tradition, Jesus was baptized. Jordan and Israel compete for these people's tourism dollars.

Several people in flowing white robes waded in from the West Bank recently, posing in a semicircle for photos. Visitors in another group stood on riverbank steps or in the water itself as two men in black, apparently clerical attire poured river water over their heads.

In the background some sang, their voices heard back on the Jordanian side:

"Oh, Brothers, let's go down. ... Down in the river to pray."

Such serene moments contrast with the military hostilities that have played out on the river's banks as part of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The river's history and its water have been as politically fraught as holy, and for decades land mines have lurked menacingly on banks that were once a war zone.

On the eastern bank, demining of the area where the Jordanian baptismal site now sits began after a 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel.

"Politics, sometimes, interferes and also budget issues and the trust... between the parties," Zandberg said.

A regional rehabilitation and development master plan announced in 2015 by EcoPeace and others was adopted by the Jordanian government but not by the Israelis or Palestinians due to outstanding "final-status" peace process issues, according to the group.

That plan said the lower part of the Jordan River will require at least 400 million cubic meters of freshwater per year to reach "an acceptable rehabilitation level."

Creation of a trust fund to finance de-pollution projects -- an effort that EcoPeace had viewed as less politically controversial -- stalled after a 2017 diplomatic crisis between Israel and Jordan and amid years of strained ties under the government of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There have been signs of improved ties since.

Not everyone in the region welcomes, or trusts, EcoPeace's calls for cooperation.

"Our job is tough. Our messages are challenged," said Abu Taleb, the group's Jordanian director.

"Because of having that, you know, Israeli chapter, we're always accused of being 'normalizers,'" or having normal relations with Israel, Abu Taleb said. That is a contentious topic, unpopular among many ordinary Arabs, citing factors such as Israel's open-ended occupation of lands it captured in 1967 and a lack of a resolution to the Palestinian issue. "The water knows no borders," Abu Taleb said.

Bromberg said he, too, has run into criticism from what he said was a vocal minority in Israel "inappropriately" branding their work as benefiting Jordanians and Palestinians at the expense of Israeli interests. "Sadly, there are people who think that if you're working with the other side, you must be working for the other side exclusively," he said.

Politics aside, the strain on some governments to meet water needs complicates calls to add water to the river.

Jordan, for instance, is one of the world's most water-scarce nations, and its challenges are compounded by a growing population swelled by waves of refugees.

"We are under stress, so we don't have a surplus to add to the Jordan River and to revive it despite the great importance of this to the Jordanians," said Khalil Al-Absi, an official with the Jordan Valley Authority.

"Solutions require concerted (regional) effort and the international community's" help, the Jordanian official said.

"We have many beautiful ideas for the Jordan River but there are limitations."

Climate change threatens to exacerbate such problems. "The impact of the climate change is seriously influencing the water resources," Al-Absi said.

According to the World Bank, the Middle East and North Africa region faces the greatest expected economic losses from climate-related water scarcity, estimated at 6% to 14% of GDP by 2050.

Advocates, like Bromberg, acknowledge that climate change makes a Jordan revival harder-- but argue that restoring the river and its banks offers economic incentives.

"The climate crisis brings home the issue of urgency that rehabilitating the river is perhaps the only way to prevent further instability in the valley," Bromberg said, "because it can create alternative revenues through tourism."

For all the river's challenges, Al-Absi, the Jordanian official, said he remained optimistic. The alternative could be grim.

"If there is no water, people won't come despite (the presence) of religious sites," he said. "Water is life. Without water, there is no life."

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.