VISIT WADI ARA, AN HISTORIC SITE NOW, BEFORE ITS ‘DISENGAGEMENT’ - That is its falling into Muslim Hands.

With the recording of Tel Megiddo in the Wadi Ara, as a World Heritage Site, the area is receiving renewed attention.  This same area was of pivotal importance throughout ancient and modern history and Church history. The Tel served a central role in different eras of history of Israel, and is considered to be the final, decisive battleground of the greatest of all wars.according to Christian faith and it is the site of the coming Armageddon.  Here the greatest battle of all time will be fought - that between the forces of good and the forces of evil.  On Judgment Day, John the Baptist foresees as written in the Book of Revelations in the New Testament, the Battle of Amegeddon, the final battle between the forces of Good and Evil. This is the apocalyptic Christian vision of what is to take place on this hilltop. The battle between good and evil.  The name Armageddon is an Aramean/Greek mix of the name of its prophesied location: Tel Megiddo.  That book was probably written in the 1st Century C.E., when the Romans were persecuting the first Christians. That seems to have been the thematic backdrop to the world war between the armies of God and those of the earth, backed by demons.

Long before John the Baptist’s musings, ancient Israel was a narrow corridor of sorts that connected the prosperous ancient civilizations in the area of Mesopotamia and Egypt. With the development of writing and commerce, large amounts of people and goods began to move in both directions. Merchants that set out from the Egyptian kingdom, for example, went in the direction of El Arish and Gaza and from there north to Yavneh, Afek, Tul Karm and Jatt. All the way up to the area of what is today Kibbutz Barkai, and from there East over the Jordan River, ending up in the lands of Perath and Ahidekel.
That route was traversed for thousands of years by long convoys of people, bringing a wealth of goods and knowledge to the large cities that lined the route.

But there were some drawbacks to being the most important spot along that route. Some of the cities along the route were often attacked by local marauders or imperial armies that swept through the area every once in a while, destroying everything in their path.

The Pharaoh Tutenkamen, fought the first recorded battle in history of mankind in the Wadi Ara. Its description appears on victory inscriptions found in the Karnack temples in Upper Egypt. It occurred at Megiddo in the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE and was a very dramatic event in the history of the region. A confederation of Canaanite kings decides to revolt against the Egyptian hegemony, and they suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of the Egyptian pharaoh’s (Tutankhamen the 3rd) brothers-in-law.  According to the inscriptions, Tutankhamen managed to get his horsemen up from Gaza to the Megiddo area within 11 days. Shortly before he charges, Tutankhamen consults his generals over, from which point to launch the attack. From the different suggestions offered, he chooses to advance through the main road (what is today Wadi Ara) and so manages to surprise the enemy, which was expecting an attack from the flank.

More than 3,500 years later, Megiddo became the site of another decisive battle. In 1918, British General Allenby brought his cavaliers from Egypt to Megiddo, and in a daring battle crushed the Turkish army to complete the conquest of Israel. Those of you that appreciate the symbolism of the event will be happy to know that this battle was the last great battle in history that involved horsemen.

Not long after, General Allenby was promoted to Field Marshall and acquired the title ‘Lord’ from the king. It was then that he asked to be called Lord Allenby of Megiddo.

Exploring the newly declared World Heritage Site of Tel Megiddo in the lake Hula area and its wildlife is a tour through nature’s wonders that have almost completely recuperated (?) from the damages of the second Lebanon war. [Editor’s note: I would think that so quick a recovery would be  impossible.]

Reflecting on events during the second Lebanon War of 2006, says Effie Naim, manager of the Lake Hula nature reserve as he recounts the wild fires that ravaged the area during the war. “It was difficult to see the buffalos suffer, [Editor’s note: Odd priorities.]  The rockets set off large fires, the fire spread and on one occasion threatened the herd of buffalos in the fenced off area,” he adds, “once we realized we can not contain the fire, we had to open the gates and let them run away.” [Editor’s note: So if I see a stray buffalo on my upcoming trip I won’t rub my eyes in an attempt to end my hallucinations.]

Tel Megiddo, is the latest winner of the Oscar of archaeological sites: It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site last July.  This area is one of the earliest in recorded times being inhabited from the late Bonze period in 3500 BCE until our time.

ARCHEOLOGY
Tel Megiddo was the trigger to some of the most central events, both locally and internationally, that took place in this part of the Levant over the past few thousands of years. Tel Megiddo hides many more treasures and questions within its layers than it does answers.
Megiddo is one of the strongest brand names in the cultural history of the area. It is mentioned in just about every single early historical source, including the Bible and the New Testament, and in Egyptian, Hittite, Assyrian and other sources as well.

For the almost 7,000 years of history, the Megiddo site has been built, and then built upon, city on top of city, at least 25 times. In ancient times there were two basic principles in building cities, strategic location and water sources.” Megiddo was plentiful in both of these areas. There’s a rich spring in the area that has given water to the city’s residents for thousands of years, and the location is excellent stratigically.

The first references to the existence of the settlement of Megiddo are as far back as the dawn of history, in the Calcolithic period when agriculture was the primary form of occupation. Later on, in the Bronze period, the whole area began to quickly urbanize. Walled cities began to spring up along the route, among them Megiddo.

Archeologists and historians have trouble identifying the nations that populated these ancient cities. Franklin says, “the only thing we can say with a measure of certainty is that in the early Bronze Period, some 4,000 years ago, Megiddo was already a wealthy and powerful city-state to be reckoned with.”
It’s easy to understand the archeologist’s frustration. The Tel is a mound of dirt about 60 meters high, which contains the remains of thousands of years of civilization within it. Think of it as pieces of old, torn pages scattered on the ground.

Although reading them is fascinating and they tell an incredible story, the only way you can read it is by gathering them all up, putting them back in order and rebinding them. The binders, in this case, are the archeologists.

Binding problems

One of the many difficulties in this task of putting everything in order is between the “binders” themselves:

The archeologists who have dug and who continue to dig at Tel Megiddo are often unable to agree on the dates of artifacts found at the site or of their significance. This is of double, if not triple, importance, because it isn’t only the beginning of a Middle Eastern civilization that is at stake here, but rather one of the most important periods of Jewish history as a nation in biblical times.

Atop the Tel is a beautiful lookout point. The Tel is the gateway to the Jezreel Valley, and from this vantage you can see the Gilboa Mountains, Nazareth and of course, Mt. Tabor . Upon it sits the ruins of a magnificent altar exist.

Archeologists speak in the language of stones. Signs that don’t mean anything to us can tell them marvelous tales. The ritual altar is from the Bronze period, and bones of small animals that were sacrificed by the local priests were found nearby.

From the lookout point we can also see the northern stables, whose story have bedeviled Israeli archeologists for decades, and continue to do so.

Prof. Yisrael Finkelstein gives a gripping account of it in his book “Reshit Yisrael.” Finkelstein is one of the leaders of the Megiddo dig from the Tel Aviv University (TAU has been digging at the site since 1992), along with Prof. David Ussishkin, and Baruch Halperin from the University of Pennsylvania.

Stables?

On a dig in the 1920s and ’30s, a group of archeologists from the University of Chicago discovered a series of structures. Each building was sectioned off into three long and narrow spaces that were separated by low stone walls and arches. The structures were identified as stables and were seen by its discoverers as a clear sign of the wealth of Solomon’s kingdom.

Archeologist Yigael Yadin decided that the stables were actually from the time of King Ahab, who ruled the northern kingdom at the beginning of the 9th century BCE. Later on, Finkelstein wrote in his book that he dates the stables to the time of King Jeroboam the 2nd, from the 8th century BCE.

To add to the confusion, the main problem surrounding the discovery was that nothing to connect the place with horses or carriages was found anywhere around it. Today it seems that that can be explained by the Assyrian army’s conquest of the city, in which they likely cleaned the stables out completely. But the drama doesn’t end there.

In the early 8th century BCE, the city was recaptured and became an Assyrian province. Around 610 BCE, the city is referred to in the biblical book of Kings II. There the author recounts how the Egyptian pharaoh comes to help the Assyrians battle the rising empire of Babel, and on his way he passes through Megiddo and for reasons that are unclear, kills the Judean King Josiah. Elsewhere the canon describes it as an epic battle between kings.

Technology marvels

The best part now, for the modern visitor, is clearly the large water cisterns. In Tel Megiddo, as in Hazor and other places, the citizens had to create a safe underground passage to the water springs that originated out of the city. Franklin leads me to a deep shaft and takes us 30 meters down a set of modern stairs, to a rocky platform. Then we set off along a tunnel large enough to fit several people in at a time, leading to the natural cave along the side of the Tel.

I imagine for a moment the slow, grinding and dusty work that must have gone into this tunnel without the benefits of modern technology, but the reality is very different. The tunnel was dug out by people with a great deal of imagination and knowledge about building, with technologies and tools that are as yet unknown to us today. And they reached the exact spot they were headed to.
There are several versions to the dating of this tunnel as well. The Chicago group that discovered the platform dated it to the late Bronze period, around 1300 BCE. Yadin, however, claimed that it was dug out in the 9th century BCE during the biblical kingdom of Omri.

Interestingly, the kings of that period, Omri and Ahab, are given a bad name in the bible. But according to archeologists they are the kings who brought about unprecedented advances and made the kingdom highly influential in the area.

Finkelstein says the water system was built later than that, possibly in the time of Jehoash or Jeroboam II. Franklin feels it was likely built before that - perhaps early Bronze, around 1600 BCE.
A quick calculation shows a disparity of up to 800 years among the various assessments of the water system’s date of origin. That fact alone shows how Megiddo continues to guard her secrets carefully beneath the earth, and that there is much to still discover.

Tel Megiddo National Park

• To get there: From Megiddo junction (from the west, road #65) turn left (north) to road #66. After two kilometers (1.2 miles) turn left and then immediately left again.
• Opening hours: April-September: Sat- Th: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Fri until 4 p.m., October- March: the park closes at 4 p.m. weekdays, and Fridays at 3 p.m.
• Fees: Adults NIS 23, kids 5-18 years NIS 12. Group rates available
• Handicapped access to the water system is available, but must be arranged in advance.
• Other facilities: exhibit, short movie about the Tel, signs and detailed explanations about the site. Guided tours are available for a fee and with advance reservations.
• Tel’s tel: +972.4.649.0316

If the site is put under Muslim control, we know from countless past experiences that all archeological study will end, all artifacts will trammeled, forever lost will be a portion of the history of mankind – because it existed outside the Muslim realm.

Russia and the Kyoto Protocol, St. Petersburg, 24 – 25 May, 2007.
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Pincas Jawetz, author of The Promptbook on Sustainability presented by the U.N. Reform Center to the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development, founder of www.SustainabiliTank.info and U.N. Correspondent for Culture Change.

The Petrocollapse Conference, “Petrocollapse, Social Isolation or Solidarity?”, 40 East 35th Street, New York, NY 10016, October 5, 2005.

The use of renewable sources to answer our needs for energy implies the use of the energy available from the sun. The carriers are different and include mainly direct solar energy, wind energy, sea wave energy, and energy stored in biomass. Further related sources can be seen in hydropower and geothermal energy. Even though, initially, this energy is made available by the sun, its conversion does not come free and we must see to it that we reduce our total dependence on energy by changing our lifestyles to the point that we live healthier and happier lives while using less energy. The remaining need for energy is then supplied by our use of these renewable sources.

The recent Katrita events (the Katrina and Rita hurricanes and predictable future similar high intensity occurrences) should have finally opened our eyes to the danger of leading lifestyles that earth cannot sustain. But this was not yet the case. I would like thus to mention here recent statements by Professor David Begg, director of the Centre for Transport Policy at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland, and former chairman (1998 until March 2004) of the Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) of the UK.

Professor Begg said, as reported by Jenifer Johnston in the Sunday Herald, September 18, 2005, “When I was advising the government I didn’t focus as much as I should have on climate change, and I regret that”. He said that the government failed to meet its objectives set in a 1998 White Paper on transport. He mentioned that while the Executive aimed at freezing car use it continued road-building plans — “We have to wean people off their cars, not supply them with more ways to use them. We are mobility junkies in the UK”.

“A key objective was to stop the need for car journeys - but instead we have seen the rise of centralized hospitals, centralized shopping, so people still need to travel by car”.

Looking at the fact that in the UK 67% of the total cost of fuel is tax, when in the wake of Katrina the prices rose, the government was pushed to reduce the tax, Professor Begg stated that he is concerned that relatively low-priced fuel is hastening global warming. “I feel like starting a protest because petrol is too cheap,” he said. “In real terms petrol has fallen in price. When things become expensive we start making more efficient use of them - that is not happening with car use”.

“My fear is that what we are seeing on TV is people grumping about the price of fuel, not that the hurricane and its repercussions are the result of global warming. Hurricane Katrina is a prime example - 14 of the most important cities in the world are on seaboards - they are disasters waiting to happen”.

“Fuel protesters need to learn that THE REAL COST OF FUEL IS CLIMATE CHANGE. Increasingly around the world lives and livelihoods are being lost BECAUSE OF OUR ADDICTION TO OIL”. We need to break this deadly addiction by demanding sustainable alternatives, not demanding cheaper oil”.

Following Professor Begg’s statements, a spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: “The Executive recognizes that climate change is the single most important long-term threat facing our planet and is committed to contributing to international efforts aimed at curbing harmful emissions of greenhouse gasses”. The Executive in Washington DC has yet to declare that it also recognizes this simple truth!

I decided to use Professor Begg’s statements as an introduction to this presentation in order to point out that PETROCOLLAPSE may start happening sooner then expected, and not because we will be short of oil - rather because we will finally understand that KATRITA and the melting ice-caps mean that we create the disasters, and that these disasters are not natural indeed. This is rather like smoking and the culprits will eventually end up in court. In this respect I feel paying homage to an unsuspecting personage - to Sheik Yamani - who already many years ago remarked that the stone age did not end because of the lack of stones and the oil age will not end because of the lack of oil.

Further, I just returned from a trip to Bhutan, a country whose King has coined years ago the term GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS in his effort to tell the world that this is a more desirable goal then chasing the figures of Gross National Product (GNP) which we in the west worship as lighthouses when sailing the economy through the straights of unsustainability. More on this will appear on www.SustainabiliTank.info — mentioned website is dedicated to the essence of the technologies to be used when answering our energy needs from renewable sources in a sustainable way. None of the renewable sources can be seen as a replacement to the foolish use of oil; rather, these sources can answer particular needs with well directed favored technologies. Here we will just give a few examples of such technologies.

My favored topic is the introduction of ethanol from biomass as an octane boosting additive to gasoline replacing the heavy metal compounds, such as tetraethyl lead, previously withdrawn for environmental reasons. In the late 70’s-early 80’s I testified about 20 times before US Congressional committees and other Washington fora. The US refiners wanted no part of this, but today ethanol is to be found in nearly every gas-tank. Now, this is a good example of a sustainable alternative. When mixing about 10% ethanol - 90% gasoline from the refinery, one enhances the octane number of the gasoline by 3 numbers. Ethanol was a winner, considering that all other potential additives, predictably, had negative side-effects, and the preferred way by the refiners - a secondary “reforming” process at the refinery - that would have changed the molecular structure to increase in marketed gasoline the percentage of carcinogenic aromatics, was also an energy intensive process that consumes further 6% crude. Ethanol has thus even a hidden financial advantage to the refiner, while at the same time, to the environmentalist reduces the need for oil.

A different example is the success of using wind-power as a source of electricity. The present offshore windmills are so successful that in the State of Ceara, in the Northeast of Brazil, they consider using the present incoming electrical lines in order to send back electricity to the interior of Brazil.

Considering global Greenhouse Gas emissions, according to Michael Grubb, the Chief Economist for UK Carbon Trust: Buildings, Appliances, the house amount to 36%; Industry, Manufacturing, Construction amount to 35%; and Transport amounts to 25%. Our reconsidering lifestyles will have thus to consider all those areas, not just transport, and the eventual application of Renewables will touch many further areas such as the use of natural materials in construction.