Amid Minefields, Pilgrims Wade In
QASR AL-YAHUD BAPTISM SITE, West Bank — One by one, the pilgrims plunged under the cool, khaki- toned waters of the Jordan River, wading in from the Israeli- controlled western bank to rededicate their faith at the spot where John the Baptist is believed to have baptized Jesus.
The river here is narrow and lazy, lined with vivid green bulrushes and dotted with palm trees.
“It was freezing cold!” exclaimed Laura Ng, 58, a member of a Christian Bible study group from Singapore, as she emerged from the murky water in a purple T-shirt. “But when I got immersed, I felt cleansed all over.”
Located a few kilometers north of the Dead Sea and east of the town of Jericho in the Israeli- occupied West Bank, the baptism site drew about 570,000 visitors last year. Yet the peaceful scenes of pilgrimage today belie the area’s turbulent history as a battle zone.
The site remained off-limits for decades after Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the Arab-Israeli War of 1967. Israel and Jordan made peace in 1994, and Israel has since renovated a small portion of the site, opening it to the public in 2011.
But Israeli soldiers still patrol to make sure nobody crosses the river to or from the Jordanian side. To get to the water, pilgrims have to get through a military zone, sticking to a narrow path surrounded by minefields.
The anti-personnel and anti-tank mines were planted by Israeli military battalions after the 1967 war as part of a new defense line. In mid- February, an Israeli military jeep went over a land mine buried in the sand here; seven soldiers were injured. The blackened hulk of the vehicle is visible from the road lined with danger signs.
The churches and compounds of eight denominations built around the 1930s in the area were abandoned five decades ago and remain out of bounds.
Israeli Army engineers are believed to have booby- trapped the windows and doors of the sanctuaries and monks’ cells, mostly belonging to the Eastern Orthodox churches, because they were being used as cover for Palestinian fighters infiltrating from Jordan to attack Israelis.
Now, in an effort to rehabilitate and open up the rest of the site, the Halo Trust, a British- American mine clearance charity, has begun a mine- clearing operation.
Despite the political awkwardness of working in occupied territory, the Palestinians and Israelis share an interest in promoting Christian tourism.
The expansion of Qasr al-Yahud may heat up the competition between the two banks of the Jordan River, over which is the authentic baptism site. The Jordanian side, which boasts a church complex with a golden dome, is known as Al Maghtas, Arabic for baptism, or as Bethany beyond the Jordan.
In 2012, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or Unesco, designated the eastern, Jordanian bank as a World Heritage Site, declaring it is believed to be the location of Jesus’ baptism.
There does not appear to be any archaeological evidence on either side from the first century. But an apparent biblical reference to the eastern bank comes in John 1:28: “These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”
But Qasr al-Yahud, on the Israeli- controlled side, has already proved more popular with pilgrims. Entry is free and it is close to other Christian sites.
The land mine work, which started on March 11, is painstaking. The various Israeli units passing through left no record or maps of where they put the mines, and commanders who could be tracked down could not remember with any precision.
“War is a way of achieving a political objective,” said James Cowan, the chief executive of the Halo Trust. “Land mines remain lethal for decades after that political purpose has passed.”
Booby traps where Jesus may have been baptized.