Jericho: The great ancient city gripped by turmoil and struggle for control, by Gift Luckson
Jericho is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. The city is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west.
An Ancient City
Jericho is among the oldest cities in the world. Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of more than 20 successive settlements in Jericho, the first of which dates back 11,000 years (to 9000 BCE), almost to the very beginning of the Holocene epoch of the Earth’s history.
READ ALSO: Cuffy, Kofi Badu: A bold symbol of resistance against slavery, by Gift Luckson
Copious springs in and around the city have attracted human habitation for thousands of years. Jericho is described in the Bible as the “city of palm trees”.
Following the era of Mandatory Palestine, the West Bank was annexed and ruled by Jordan starting in 1950, then was occupied by Israel in 1967.
Administrative control of Jericho was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in 1994. The city had a population of 20,907 in 2017. In 2023, the archaeological site in the centre of the city, known as Tell es-Sultan / Old Jericho, was inscribed in UNESCO’s list as a World Heritage Site in the State of Palestine, and described as the “oldest fortified city in the world”.
Clash
Jericho has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967 along with the rest of the West Bank. It was the first city handed over to the Palestinian Authority’s control in accordance with the Oslo Accords.
The limited Palestinian self-rule of Jericho was agreed on in the Gaza–Jericho Agreement of 4 May 1994.
Part of the agreement was a “Protocol on Economic Relations”, signed on 29 April 1994. The city is in an enclave of the Jordan Valley that is in Area A of the West Bank, while the surrounding area is designated as being in Area C under full Israeli military control.
Four roadblocks encircle the enclave, restricting the movement of Jericho’s Palestinian population through the West Bank. The Jericho synagogue was controlled by Israel after the Six-Day War, but after the handover to Palestinian Authority control per the Oslo Accords, it has been a source of conflict.
Prolonged Conflict
On the night of 12 October 2000, the synagogue was vandalised by Palestinians who burned holy books and relics and damaged the mosaic. In response to the 2001 Second Intifada and suicide bombings, Jericho was reoccupied by Israeli troops.
A 2 m (6 ft 7 in) deep trench was built around a large part of the city to control Palestinian traffic to and from Jericho.
On 14 March 2006, the Israel Defence Forces launched Operation Bringing Home the Goods, raiding a Jericho prison to capture the PFLP general secretary, Ahmad Sa’adat, and five other prisoners, all of whom had been charged with assassinating the Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001.
READ ALSO: The Menace of Child Maltreatment: A growing threat to Nigeria’s future, by Gift Luckson
After Hamas assaulted a neighbourhood in Gaza mostly populated by the Fatah-aligned Hilles clan, in response to their attack that killed six Hamas members, the Hilles clan was relocated to Jericho on 4 August 2008.
In 2009, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs David Johnson inaugurated the Presidential Guard Training Centre in Jericho, a $9.1 million training facility for Palestinian Authority security forces built with U.S. funding.
In 2024, a Jericho street was named after Aaron Bushnell, a U.S. soldier who self-immolated in support of Palestine.
Economy
In 1994, Israel and Palestine signed an economic accord that enabled Palestinians in Jericho to open banks, collect taxes and engage in export and import in preparation for self-rule.
Agriculture is another source of income, with banana groves ringing the city. The Jericho Agro-Industrial Park is a public-private enterprise being developed in the Jericho area.
Agricultural processing companies are being offered financial concessions to lease plots of land in the park in a bid to boost Jericho’s economy.
Follow the Neptune Prime channel on WhatsApp:
Do you have breaking news, interview request, opinion, suggestion, or want your event covered? Email us at neptuneprime2233@gmail.com
