Jesus Baptism Site Soon To Be Uncovered

Jesus Baptism Site Soon To Be Uncovered

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Efforts to clear thousands of landmines and
other ordnance around the site where many
believe Jesus was baptised have reached a
milestone and officials allowed a rare
glimpse Sunday of abandoned churches
there.
The church grounds around the site in the
occupied West Bank have sat empty and
decaying for around 50 years, though
pilgrims have been able to visit a nearby
restricted area at the traditional baptismal
spot on the banks of the River Jordan.
Work at the site just north of the Dead Sea is
being overseen by Israel’s defence ministry,
de-mining charity Halo Trust and Israeli firm
4CI.
According to the ministry, the project covers
around one square kilometre (250 acres) as
well as some 3,000 mines and other
explosive remnants.
It is expected to cost 20 million shekels
($5.3 million, 4.7 million euros).
The work began in March and would require
another eight months to a year to complete,
said Moshe Hilman of Israel’s defence
ministry.
Mines and other ordnance have been cleared
from Ethiopian and Greek Orthodox
monastery sites as well as a Franciscan
chapel, organisers said.
Other grounds belonging to Russian, Syrian,
Romanian and Coptic Orthodox churches are
yet to be cleared.
The plan once complete is to return the plots
to the various church denominations and
allow visits.
At the crumbling, brick-and-concrete
Ethiopian monastery on Sunday, a fading
fresco of Jesus being baptised by John the
Baptist could still be seen inside.
Signs hung on the walls with notifications
that the location had been cleared of
explosives.
A collection of pieces of mortars and other
explosive remnants sat alongside a nearby
roadside as a demonstration of some of what
had been found.
“The Halo Trust has reached a pivotal point
in our work to clear the baptism site of
landmines and other remnants of war,” the
charity’s CEO James Cowan said in a
statement.
He added that “we have completed clearance
of the Ethiopian, Greek and Franciscan
churches.”
The majority of the mines were laid by Israeli
forces after the country seized control of the
West Bank in 1967 from Jordanian troops.
Other unexploded ordnance from both Israel
and Jordan has remained lodged in the
ground, including around the churches,
which were evacuated by Israel in the 1970s.
Israel’s control of the West Bank has never
been recognised by the international
community, which considers the land
occupied Palestinian territory.
**AFP
Source:
https://guardian.ng/life/jesus-baptism-site-
soon-to-be-uncovered/