Because of some of the posts in here I started educating myself on the
Middle East.

It appears to me that BEFORE oil was discovered everyone wanted a piece
of that area around the dead sea.

There are or have been more countries that have interfered, attempted to
snatch, fought over, and killed for that small piece of the earth close
to Jeruselem than ANY other part of the earth.

What is so important about that part of the earth.

it is the cradle of creation.

Or more than likely they all think that when the last trump sounds
whoever is in control of it will be the ones to rule.

How short sighted.

The current situation between Palestine and Isreal is nothing more than
a delibretly set up squabble.

Both sides were promised perty much the same area.

Both were given guns and bullets.

Both started feeling the squeese from all the nations that wanted a
piece of it.

Both declared their independence from the factions that were seeking to
control them almost on the same day. (one on the 14th of May, the other
on the 15th of May in 1948).

What they should have done was merged and told every one to kiss their
butts.

Not sure. Gotta say Hmm on that one.

should have.........s.....keep reading sweetheart! lol

and good luck

Its dead?

your starting to sound like one of those radical peace loven
radical hippies AB.

some people insist there is a star gate there...that will be activated
and opened at the time of the second coming..(or 2012, take your
pick)...
interesting that Saddam Hussein declared himself the reincarnation of
King Nebuchadnezzar...

who knows what is really going on over there...

A star gate, hmmmmmm... I think I want some of those funny cig's. :)

science fiction has a habit of becoming fact ...shouldnt dismiss the
impossible so easily..

some curious oddities

http://xfacts.com/old/

hashish ????

I'm in. Beam me up.

Yes, as soon as possible, Mr. Spock

not sure why an open mind incurs the mockery of others...maybe jealousy
of some kind...recommended scholarly reading:

the 12th planet...zacharia sitchen....a great read about the cradle of
civilization & the sumerians...

nothing can live in the ead sea right? maybe the dead sea ends and hell
begins?? not sure?

economically important, and religiously significant...
The two are the same and yet different. Tourism makes them the same, but
the salt it provides stands alone as an economic necessity. There are
other minerals that it provides as well.

Sodom and Gamora are somewhere on their banks, and the Masada fortress
where the jews were defeated by the Romans is also nearby!!

parts of the area resemble an old nuke site...history repeats as we all
know...

The dead sea is actually young. wasnt there till thousands of years
after the dinasours died. I think!!!!Its created by a rift! (two tetonic
plates moving in different directions)
It is the same rift that exists in Eastern Africa. The dead sea is the
northern end of it!!

The Dead Sea is located in the Dead Sea Rift, which is part of a long
fissure in the Earth's surface called the Great Rift Valley. The 6,000
km (3,700 mile) long Great Rift Valley extends from the Taurus Mountains
of Turkey to the Zambezi Valley in southern Africa. The Great Rift
Valley formed in Miocene times as a result of the Arabian Plate moving
northward and then eastward away from the African Plate.

Around three million years ago what is now the valley of the Jordan
River, Dead Sea, and Wadi Arabah was repeatedly inundated by waters from
the Red Sea. The waters formed in a narrow, crooked bay which was
connected to the sea through what is now the Jezreel Valley. The floods
of the valley came and went depending on long scale climatic change. The
lake that occupied the Dead Sea Rift, named "Lake Sodom", deposited beds
of salt, eventually coming to be 3 km (2 miles) thick.

According to geological theory, approximately two million years ago the
land between the Rift Valley and the Mediterranean Sea rose to such an
extent that the ocean could no longer flood the area. Thus, the long bay
became a long lake.

The first such prehistoric lake is named "Lake Gomorrah." Lake Gomorrah
was a freshwater or brackish lake that extended at least 80 km (50
miles) south of the current southern end of the Dead Sea and 100 km (60
mi) north, well above the present Hula Depression. As the climate turned
more arid, Lake Gomorrah shrank and became saltier. The large, saltwater
predecessor of the Dead Sea is called "Lake Lisan."
Mount Sedom, on the southwest side of the lake, is a giant mountain of
halite.
Mount Sedom, on the southwest side of the lake, is a giant mountain of
halite.
In prehistoric times great amounts of sediment collected on the floor of
Lake Gomorrah. The sediment was heavier than the salt deposits and
squeezed the salt deposits upwards into what are now the Lisan Peninsula
and Mount Sedom (on the southwest side of the lake). Geologists explain
the effect in terms of a bucket of mud into which a large flat stone is
placed, forcing the mud to creep up the sides of the pail. When the
floor of the Dead Sea dropped further due to tectonic forces the salt
mounts of Lisan and Mount Sedom stayed in place as high cliffs. (see
salt domes)

During 70,000 to 12,000 years ago the lake level was a 100-250 m higher
than its current level. This lake was termed "Lake Lisan", which
fluctuated dramatically with rising to highest level around 26,000 years
ago, indicating very wet climate in the Near East. Sometime around
10,000 years ago the lake level dropped dramatically, probably to levels
even lower than today. During the last several thousand years the lake
has fluctuated approximately 400 m with some significant drops and
rises.

The Jordan River is the only major stream flowing into Dead Sea. There
are no outlet streams.

The northern part of the Dead Sea receives scarcely 100 mm (4 in) of
rain a year. The southern section barely 50 mm (2 in). The Dead Sea
zone's aridity is due to the rainshadow effect of the Judean Hills. The
highlands east of the Dead Sea receive more rainfall than the Dead Sea
itself.

The mountains of the western side, the Judean Hills, rise less steeply
from the Dead Sea than do the mountains of the eastern side. The
mountains of the eastern side are also much higher. Along the
southwestern side of the lake is a 210 m (700 ft) tall halite formation
called "Mount Sedom".