The Arabah, Araba or Aravah ( he, הָעֲרָבָה, ''hāʿĂrāḇā''; ar, وادي عربة, ''Wādī ʿAraba''; lit. "desolate and dry area") is a loosely defined geographic area south of the
Dead Sea basin, which forms part of the border between
Israel to the west and
Jordan to the east.
The old meaning, which was in use up to the early 20th century, covered almost the entire length of what today is called the
Jordan Rift Valley, running in a north–south orientation between the southern end of the
Sea of Galilee and the northern tip of the
Gulf of Aqaba of the
Red Sea at
Aqaba–
Eilat. This included the
Jordan River Valley between the
Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, the Dead Sea itself, and what today is commonly called the Arava Valley. The contemporary use of the term is restricted to this southern section alone.
Geography
The Arabah is in length, from the Gulf of Aqaba to the southern shore of the Dead Sea.
Topographically, the region is divided into three sections. From the Gulf of Aqaba northward, the land gradually rises over a distance of , and reaches a height of above sea level, which represents the
watershed divide
A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a singl ...
between the Dead Sea and the
Red Sea. From this crest, the land slopes gently northward over the next to a point south of the Dead Sea. In the last section, the Arabah drops steeply to the Dead Sea, which is below sea level.
The Arabah is scenic with colorful cliffs and sharp-topped mountains. The southern Arabah is hot and dry and virtually without rain.
Flora and fauna
There are numerous species of flora and fauna in the Aravah Valley. Notably the
caracal
The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long tufted ...
(''Caracal caracal'') is found on the valley's
savanna areas.
Important Bird Areas
A tract of the northern Arava Valley, from the Ne'ot Hakikar Nature Reserve in the north to the Hazeva and Shezaf Nature Reserve in the south, has been recognised as an
Important Bird Area (IBA) by
BirdLife International because it supports populations of both resident and migrating bird species, including
sand partridges,
garganeys,
common cranes,
black and
white storks,
Eurasian spoonbills and
bitterns,
black-winged stilts,
desert tawny owls,
lappet-faced vultures,
Levant sparrowhawk
The Levant sparrowhawk (''Accipiter brevipes'') is a small bird of prey. It measures in length with a wingspan of . The female is larger than the male, but the difference is not as marked as with Eurasian sparrowhawk. The adult male is blue-grey ...
s,
sooty falcons,
Arabian warblers and
babbler
Babbler may refer to:
* Old World babbler, a large family of mostly Old World passerine birds
* Australo-Papuan babbler, passerine birds endemic to Australia-New Guinea
* Babbler (software), a French software company
* Babbler (''Dungeons & Dr ...
s,
Tristram's starlings,
hooded wheatears and
Dead Sea sparrow
The Dead Sea sparrow (''Passer moabiticus'') is a species of bird in the Old World sparrow family Passeridae, with one subspecies breeding in parts of the Middle East and another in western Afghanistan and eastern Iran. The eastern subspecies '' ...
s.
Furthermore, a tract of the southern Arava Valley, from Yotvata in the north to the Gulf of Aqaba in the south, including the western (Israeli) half of the valley floor and the ridge of the
Eilat Mountains, has also been recognised as an IBA, with additional significant species being
Lichtenstein's sandgrouse
Lichtenstein's sandgrouse (''Pterocles lichtensteinii'') is a species of bird in the Pteroclidae family, which is named after Martin Lichtenstein. They are nomadic, mostly nocturnal birds, which drink before dawn and after dusk.
Range
The spe ...
,
grey heron
The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more north ...
s,
great white pelicans,
slender-billed curlews,
marsh sandpiper
The marsh sandpiper (''Tringa stagnatilis'') is a small wader. It is a rather small shank, and breeds in open grassy steppe and taiga wetlands from easternmost Europe to the Russian Far East. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin name give ...
s,
black-winged pratincole
The black-winged pratincole (''Glareola nordmanni'') is a wader in the pratincole bird family, Glareolidae. The genus name is a diminutive of Latin ''glarea'', "gravel", referring to a typical nesting habitat for pratincoles. The species name ...
s,
white-eyed gulls,
white-winged terns,
pallid scops owls,
European honey buzzards,
Egyptian vulture
The Egyptian vulture (''Neophron percnopterus''), also called the white scavenger vulture or pharaoh's chicken, is a small Old World vulture and the only member of the genus ''Neophron''. It is widely distributed from the Iberian Peninsula and ...
s,
eastern imperial eagles,
lesser kestrels,
lanner falcons,
Arabian larks,
Sinai rosefinches and
cinereous buntings.
On the eastern (Jordanian) side of the southern Arava Valley is the corresponding, , Wadi Araba IBA, about long by up to wide. An additional species recorded there is the
vulnerable MacQueen's bustard, in very small numbers.
History
In Biblical times, the Arava was a center of copper production;
King Solomon is believed to have had mines here based on copper mines dating to his reign. Copper mining at the
Ashalim site even predates his reign. The Arabah, especially its eastern part, was part of the realm of the
Edomites (called "Idumeans" during Roman times). Later the eastern Arabah became the domain of the
Nabateans, the builders of the city of
Petra.
The
Israel–Jordan Peace Treaty was signed in the Arava on October 26, 1994. The governments of Jordan and Israel are promoting development of the region. There is a plan to bring sea water from the
Red Sea to the
Dead Sea through a canal (
Red–Dead Seas Canal), which follows along the Arabah. This (long envisioned) project was once an issue of dispute between Jordan and Israel, but it was recently agreed that the project shall be constructed on and by the Jordanian side.
Archaeology: Kingdom of Edom
The existence of the biblical Kingdom of
Edom was proved by archaeologists led by Ezra Ben-Yosef and Tom Levy, using a methodology called the
punctuated equilibrium
In evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolutionary change for most of ...
model in 2019. Archaeologists mainly took copper samples from the
Timna Valley and
Faynan
Wadi Feynan or Wadi Faynan ( ar, وادي فينان) is a major wadi (seasonal river valley) and region in southern Jordan, on the border between Tafilah Governorate and Aqaba and Ma'an Governorates. It originates in the southern Jordanian H ...
in Jordan's Arava valley dated to 1300–800 BCE. According to the results of the analyses, the researchers thought that Pharaoh
Shoshenk I of Egypt (the Biblical "
Shishak
Shishak, Shishaq or Susac (, Tiberian: , ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, an Egyptian pharaoh who sacked Jerusalem in the 10th century BCE. He is usually identified with the pharaoh Shoshenq I.Troy Leiland Sagrillo. 2015.Shoshenq I and bib ...
"), who attacked
Jerusalem in the 10th century BC, encouraged trade and production of copper instead of destroying the region.
Tel Aviv University professor Ben-Yosef reported “Our new findings contradict the view of many archaeologists that the Arava was populated by a loose alliance of tribes, and they’re consistent with the biblical story that there was an Edomite kingdom here”.
Demography
In 2004, the Jordanian administrative district of Wadi Araba had a population of 6,775.
[Jordan Department of Statistics. 2004] Five major tribes comprise eight settlements on the Jordanian side: Al-S'eediyeen (), Al-Ihewat (), Al-Ammareen (), Al-Rashaideh (), and Al-Azazmeh (), as well as smaller tribes of the Al-Oseifat (), Al-Rawajfeh (), Al-Manaja'h (), and Al-Marzaqa (), among others. The main economic activities for these Arabah residents revolve around herding sheep, agriculture, handicrafts, and the Jordanian Army.
Landmarks
Timna Valley Park is notable for its prehistoric rock carvings, some of the oldest copper mines in the world, and a convoluted cliff called King Solomon's pillars. On the Jordanian side is
Wadi Rum, famous among rock climbers, hikers, campers, and lovers of the outdoors. There is the Jordanian copper mining area of
Wadi Feynan, including the site of
Khirbat en-Nahas, corresponding to the one from Timna Valley in the west.
Feynan Ecolodge was opened in
Wadi Feynan by the
Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature in 2005.
Jordanian localities
Below is a list of Jordanian population clusters in Wadi Araba:
*
Aqaba
*
Feifa
*
Safi
*
Al Mazraa
The total Jordanian population in the region is 103,000, of whom 96,000 live in
Aqaba.
Israeli localities
Below is a list of Israeli localities in the Arava, from north to south.
*
Ein Tamar
*
Neot HaKikar
*
Ir Ovot
*
Idan
*
Ein Hatzeva
*
Hatzeva
*
Ein Yahav
*
Sapir
*
Tzofar
*
Tzukim
*
Paran
*
Yahel
*
Neot Smadar
*
Neve Harif
*Kibbutz
Lotan
*
Ketura
*
Grofit
*Kibbutz
Yotvata
*
Samar
*
Elifaz
*
Be'er Ora
*
Eilot
Eilot ( he, אֵילוֹת; is the southernmost kibbutz in Israel. It is located in the Aravah valley, near the border with Jordan. Eilot is less than a kilometer north of Eilat, and just over 3 kilometers north of the Red Sea. It falls un ...
*
Eilat
The Israeli population of the region is 52,000, of whom 47,500 live in
Eilat, and just over 5,000 live in 20 small towns north of Eilat, the largest of which is
Yotvata, with a population (as of 2019) of 717.
See also
*
Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) is an academic studies and research institute located at Kibbutz Ketura on the Israeli side of the Arava Valley. Under the motto that "nature knows no borders", AIES seeks to train future l ...
, academic program in Israel
*
Nahal HaArava, a wadi in the northern part of the Arava
*
Negev
*
Sands of Samar, an expanse of sand dunes in the southern Arava
*
Southern District (Israel)
*
Wadi Araba Crossing, southernmost border crossing between Jordan and Israel
References
External links
WadiFeynan Eco-LodgeThe Arava Institute for Environmental StudiesRoyal Society for the Conservation of NatureWadi Araba Archaeological Research Project Integrating Investigations of the Cultural Landscape of Wadi Araba since 1996. For Publications, see http://wadiaraba.tripod.com/waarpubs.htm
Wadi Arabah Project: Crossing the RiftFrench Institute of Oriental ArchaeologyPhotos of Wadi ‘Arabaat the
American Center of Research
{{Coord, 30, 25, 01, N, 35, 09, 05, E, region:IL_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title
Deserts of Israel
Deserts of Jordan
Great Rift Valley
Israel–Jordan relations
Edom
Important Bird Areas of Israel
Important Bird Areas of Jordan