Jericho - Pictures of Palestine

When you enter the West Bank over the King Hussein Bridge from Jordan, Jericho is the first town you come to. This is the only way Palestinians may enter and leave the country. For many exiles abroad, it's their first sight of their homeland when they return - if they may return, that is.

It's a town of about 50,000 with a few distinctions to it. It's the world's oldest continually-inhabited city. It is located in the lowest place on Earth - in the Jordan Valley, not far from the Dead Sea. It's a significant biblical site. It was always on the old trading routes from Syria and Mesopotamia, passing down the Jordan Valley toward Egypt and Arabia, and pilgrims on the hajj to Mecca, and also pilgrims heading for Jerusalem, met here on their journeys, for many centuries. Jericho has seen a lot of history walk past.

Also, in modern times, apart from Gaza, it was the first place that was returned to the Palestinians after the 1993 Oslo Accords. When Yasser Arafat and the PLO returned to the West Bank from exile in Tunisia (and previously in Lebanon and Jordan), they came to Jericho. Later, Ramallah became the administrative capital of the Occupied Palestinian Territories - a country which isn't a country.

There's an abundant perpetual spring in Jericho, which makes it a significant place for farming, famous for its dates. This spring was obviously one of the factors giving rise to ancient Jericho, 10,000 years ago - the site of which is called Tell es-Sultan, or the Mound of the King.

Above Jericho, on the escarpment forming the western wall of the rift valley, is the Mount of Temptation, a major Jesus site and early monastic site, where there is a Greek Orthodox monastery today, much visited by Greek and Russian pilgrims.

It's quite a cheerful place. In winter it is warmer than the rest of the West Bank, though in summer it can be hot and clammy. The air is denser here. I like visiting Jericho, but I'm not sure I'd want to live there because of its lowness, in a crack between two separating continental plates.

NEXT: Nablus, a city wedged between two holy mountains

© Copyright Palden Jenkins 2011. All text and photographs on this website are copyright Palden Jenkins. You may not use these pictures in print or on websites without  permission of the author.  The book's website is at   www.palden.co.uk/pop