- Welcome to today'sCBN News virtual tour,
where you get to see the Holy Land
from the comfort of your own home.
How would you like to takea boat ride on the Dead Sea?
It doesn't happen very often
and CBN News had a rare opportunity
to go out onto this biblical treasure.
Let's go for a ride.
- Sunrise over the DeadSea, a soothing atmosphere,
biblical landmark and mineral treasure.
It sits on the Great Rift Valleybetween Israel and Jordan,
fed by fresh water from the Jordan River
and mineral springs.
It's one of the saltiestlakes in the world.
So salty, no fish can survive in it.
Nominated as one of theSeven Wonders of the World,
the water, mud and atmospherehave healing properties.
But all this could disappear.
The Dead Sea is dropping at a rate
of five to eight feet a year.
This blue chair markswhere the shoreline was
just four years ago.
That means the lowest point onEarth is getting even lower.
- The reason is very, very simple.
On one hand, there is all thetime evaporation of water,
the surface is very large.
On the other hand, goodwater from the Upper Jordan
were taken for irrigationto develop agriculture,
to develop food for the people
and it stopped reaching the Dead Sea.
So, the balance has changed.
- [Julie] Hebrew Universityprofessor, Avner Adin, says
there's only one way to restore the sea.
- What could save the Dead Sea is actually
pouring water into the Dead Sea.
- [Julie] Adin told CBN Newsa combination of solutions
is the only way to help.
- One way which is the natural one,
meaning let the rivers flow into it.
Don't take the water from theJordan, from the other rivers.
Let it come back to its natural way.
The other way isartificial, meaning making
the Red to Dead Sea project come true.
- [Julei] Israel and Jordansigned the Red-Dead agreement
to make a 140-mile canal fromthe Red Sea to the Dead Sea.
The billion dollar projectbegins with a desalination plant
to provide much neededwater and power to Jordan,
then would drop the remainderof the water in the Dead Sea.
- Another way, that in(mumbles) could be done
would be to take waterfrom the Mediterranean
and desalinate thiswater and give this water
for drinking and for agriculture
instead of taking the water
from the Lake of Galileeand from the streams.
- [Julie] But, Adin said, "It's not easy
to get governments invested in saving it."
That's why activists like Jacob Ben Zaken
and Noam Bedein are sounding the alarm.
- I want to see the Dead Sea restored.
- [Julie] Ben Zaken,from a nearby kibbutz,
gives the only boat rideavailable on the Dead Sea.
- The purpose is to bringawareness to the Dead Sea,
to the beauty, toeverything that's going on,
including the disappearing of the Dead Sea
and the way to save it.
- [Julie] And it's working.
Over a year ago, photojournalistBedein, took the boat tour.
- And that touched me, asan Israeli, to speak up
for this enchanted,prehistorical, biblical place,
to stand up for it.
- [Julie] These salty pillars or chimneys
may be stunning, but theirappearance signals trouble.
Bedein's photos show thedrop in the water level
in just one year.
- I've been documentingthis one-of-a-kind place
like never before.
Going on this boat rideover a period of time
and documenting the beauty,the magic of this place
with a purpose to educatethe next generation
of this one-of-a-kind place but also,
showing the dramatic changes
that this place has been taking.
- [Julie] The drop hasalso caused huge sink holes
to open up along the shore,forcing beaches to close
and a nearby road to collapse.
The Dead Sea is a favoritetourist destination.
It's so salty, you can't sink, only float,
but there's much more.
In the Bible, a young David hide
in the nearby caves of Ein Gedi.
The Dead Sea Scrolls werefound in the Qumran Caves,
giving us the oldestmanuscripts of the Bible.
And the Dead Sea is actually giving life.
The waters and air at the Dead Sea
have special healing propertiesfor skin and other ailments.
And mineral mining yields potash,
a key element for fertilizerused in agriculture
to feed the world.
According to Adin, the Dead Sea is like
a very special diamondthat needs to be preserved.
Julie Stahl, CBN News, the Dead Sea.
- That really is incredible tobe out there on the Dead Sea.
Tomorrow, we'll have a look
at one of my favorite stories of all time.
It's all about the Land of Milk and Honey.
We'll see you tomorrow.
Until then, God bless and protect you.
