UN Sides With Jordan in Jesus Baptism Spat
Image by Getty Images
The United Nations’ cultural agency has designated the east bank of the Jordan River as a World Heritage Site, saying Jordan’s side of the river is “believed to be” the place where Jesus was baptized.
Tourists and religious pilgrims also come to Israel to get baptized on the river’s west bank, at a site operated by Israel in Palestinian-claimed territory.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared the heritage site earlier this month, The Associated Press reported Monday.
The river, which is featured prominently in the Hebrew Bible and Christianity’s New Testament, runs through Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, serving as a border between Israel and Jordan.
Scholars interviewed by the AP said it is not possible to pinpoint the precise location of the baptism. New Testament accounts of the baptism do not specify on which side of the river it took place, and there is no historical evidence of the incident, which took place more than 2,000 years ago. Currently, two sites — one, Qasr al-Yahud, operated by Israel in the West Bank and the other in Jordan — cater to Christian tourists and pilgrims. Qasr al-Yahud attracted half a million visitors last year, while the Jordanian site, called al-Maghtas, attracted tens of thousands.
UNESCO’s favoring of the Jordan site “has nothing to do with archaeological reality,” Jodi Magness, an archaeologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill told the AP. “We don’t have any sites with evidence or archaeological remains that were continuously venerated from the first century on.”
A Palestinian Tourism Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk with journalists, told the AP that both banks of the river should receive the same treatment, but that “it’s not easy for us to defend a site we have no control over.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
