Using the gospels as his guidebook, Waheeb, a top Jordanian archaeologist, began digging in what until 1994 had been a no man's land laced with land mines, patrolled by soldiers, swarming with flies and broiling in 115-degree summer heat. What he has found, he claims, is the likely site of Jesus' baptism. According to John for Jesus' baptism. But as he oversees 20 archaeologists and 100 workers, Waheeb is stirring up a new, albeit non-lethal, conflict between Arabs and Jews. With a mass of Christian tourists expected for the millennium, this is not some musty academic debate.
Serious cash is on the line.
More than 3 million visitors, including Pope John Paul II, are expected in the Holy Land next year. At least a third of them are likely to be on the pilgrimage trail, retracing Jesus' path from his birthplace in Bethlehem to his haunts in Nazareth, Jerusalem and Galilee. All those sites are in Israel or on the West Bank of the Jordan, and they will translate into millions of dollars in tourism revenues. If Waheeb can make a convincing case that Jesus was baptized just over the border on the east bank of the river, Jordan might attract at least some of the tourists. Although the land mines have been removed, Wadi Kharrar is an unlikely place for a tourist mecca.