page_title: Jordan Valley
section_title: Post-1967 Israeli settlements and long-term views of the Jordan Valley
hierarchical_section_title: Jordan Valley / History, geopolitics, and events / Post-1967 Israeli settlements and long-term views of the Jordan Valley
caption_attribution_description: English: The Allon Plan, proposed to Jordan by Yigal Allon
context_page_description: The Jordan Valley forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to the lower course of the Jordan River, from the spot where it exits the Sea of Galilee in the north, to the end of its course where it flows into the Dead Sea in the south. In a wider sense, the term may also cover the Dead Sea basin and the Arabah valley, which is the rift valley segment beyond the Dead Sea and ending at Aqaba/Eilat, 155 km farther south.
  The valley, in the common, narrow sense, is a long and narrow trough, 105 km long if measured "as the crow flies", with a width averaging 10 km with some points narrowing to 4 km over most of the course, before widening out to a 20 km delta when reaching the Dead Sea. Due to meandering, the length of the river itself is 220 km. This is the valley with the lowest elevation in the world, beginning at −212 m below sea level and terminating at less than −400 m BSL. On both sides, to the east and west, the valley is bordered by high, steep escarpments rising from the valley floor by between 1,200 m to 1,700 m.
context_section_description: Since the end of the 1967 war, many Israeli governments have treated the western Jordan Valley as the eastern border of Israel with Jordan, intending to annex it or keep deployment of Israeli forces in the valley. An early example of this view was the Allon Plan formulated in 1967–1968. This Israeli position (which has also been held by the Yitzhak Rabin government that signed the Oslo Accords) stems from the narrowness of the Israeli coastal plain, the geographic defensive barrier created by the Jordan valley, and the demographic realities (lack of a significant Arab population in the valley that would impact the overall demographics of Israel).
  Israel has constructed settlements in the West bank portion of the Jordan valley in three main phases:
  1967–1970: construction of five settlements along highway 90 which runs through the valley.
  1971–1974: construction of six settlements to the west of the road.
  1975–1999: construction of 18 additional settlements, which further reinforces the two settlement lines in the previous phases.
  Two of the settlements, Kalya and Beit HaArava, were reestablished on the sites of settlements that were evacuated in the beginning of the 1948 war.
  Concurrently, as it has done elsewhere, Israel has sought to settle migrant Bedouin pastoral communities, who roamed the arid plateau above the valley without regard to land ownership, into permanent communities particularly around the Jericho area. Israel has also enforced zoning rules, building permit requirements, natural reserves, and military firing zones in the territory which has restricted Arab development.
caption: The 1968 Allon Plan: note blue Israeli zone along the Jordan valley
exif: {}