The Dead Sea Works

Hi, Sorry to be so tardy this time, but I have been busy uploaded some poems into my web site, which you may like to read as well. You'll find the address at the bottom of this posting. Also, the material I wanted to share with you was not easy to put together. It's very involved, very informative and there is a lot about it and in it. So I had to ensure it's not too long and not too confusing. So lets go,

I have seen an interesting documentary about the ‘The Dead Sea Works’ and I thought to share it with you.

As you well know the Dead Sea, which in Hebrew is called ‘The Salt Sea’ and is not dead at all, is the lowest point on earth (400 meters below sea level). It is nourished by the Jordan River and by sweet water springs that are at its bottom.

With the area being so rich with minerals, the weather so very hot and water evaporation extreme, a high concentration of minerals in the water increases.

(When you go in to bathe, you cannot drown because the water will lift you. you can even lie there and read a book I you so desire. However, I will not recommend it; this high mineral concentration will burn your skin mercilessly.)

In the 1911 the Zionist mining engineer Moshe Novomeysky, who was an expert in salt mining, visited the area and saw its great salts mining potential.

During the ensuing years, Novomeysky made several tests and examination; and with the land coming under British Mandate rule in 1917, he sought and fought hard for a concession to extract those minerals salts.

In May 22, 1929, and against all odds, after the Land of Israel was divided in 1922 with the east of the Jordan River, which was 79% of the total area, becoming Trans-Jordan, the man received his concession.

This concession granted him an area of just four square kilometers of land at the northwestern end of the Dead Sea. Here he started his project, employing Jews and Arabs alike in complete harmony.

Later in the piece, an added concession was received for a plant at the southern part of the Dead Sea.

In 1939 Kibbutz Beit HaArava was found next to the northern plant not far from the Jordan River. Its members not only worked in the plant, but also made their home there. They built, already in those days, ecological friendly buildings, and washed the clay land off its salt with water from the Jordan River; to plant trees and grow the best and the most tasty vegetables ever.

I had the privilege of visiting this place in my early teens. It was an oasis in the wilderness populated with people of great vision and foresight and courage.

With Jordan conquering the area in Israel’s War of Independence together with what is called to day the ‘West Bank’, the northern works and the kibbutz were vacated. Within few days the whole area was plundered & destroyed by the Arabs, including the mining plant and all the kibbutz’s achievements. The southern plant, which is situated where the Biblical city of Sdom (Sodom & Gomorra) used to be, continued its work.

In 1955 the Dead Sea Works, backed by the Israeli government, expended along the Dead Sea and in the Negev, and is today the world leader in the production of various minerals.

Renate

Artist, poet & the Author of

From the Promised Land to the Lucky Country

http://www.promisedland-renate.com/