Churches near Jordan River to be cleared of land mines

Pilgrims will be able to visit the churches on the western bank of the Jordan River soon after the area is cleared of booby-traps and land mines.

The Halo Trust, a Scottish-based charity that has cleared minefields across the globe, is raising $4 million to make the site safe for visitors.

The river banks were littered with thousands of mines when Israel and Jordan were at war. The two nations made peace in 1994, but many years have passed before mine clearing began.

While the Gospel of John refers to "Bethany beyond the Jordan" without further details, both nations have claimed that John the Baptist met Jesus on their side of the river. In an attempt to bolster its claim, Jordan opened its site in 2002, showing remains of ancient churches and writings of pilgrims down the centuries. It was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO In 2015.

The site in the West Bank, which was opened in 2011, has more visitors than the Jordanian site, but its churches remain off-limits to pilgrims.

The Halo Trust stated that it would take two years to clear the small churches along 100 hectares (247 acres) of land that belongs to Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. The charity noted that the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities have expressed their support for the project.

Christians already flock to be baptized on the cleared area at Qasr al-Yahudi, which is about a kilometer (half-mile) away from the mined area. In recent years, on the Jordanian side of the river, where Christians also conduct baptisms, several churches from different sects have been built to welcome pilgrims.

"Over 450,000 tourists from all over the world come to visit this site every year and Halo believes that after (the church area) is cleared and rebuilt, the local economy will benefit," Halo's West Bank project manager Ronen Shimoni told Reuters.

Last week, about 4,000 Catholics attended a special mass on the Jordanian side of the river in an annual pilgrimage to the site.

"This is a religious and national holy day, the anniversary of the baptism of Jesus Christ," Archbishop Maroun Lahham, Patriarchal Vicar for Jordan, told the worshippers, according to AFP.

According to Halo, some of the seven church buildings were boobytrapped by Israel after it captured the West Bank in the 1967 war. The bombs were planted to help secure its frontier against infiltration from Jordan.

"We are expecting to find around 4,500 targets. Most are anti-tank mines, but there are also anti-personnel mines and a few hundred unexploded ordnances, abandoned explosives, and improvised devices inside the churches," said Michael Heiman of Israel's Defence Ministry.