Russia and Jordan have signed an agreement to search the bottom of the Dead Sea for the remains of the Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. According to the Arabic news media report, a Russian company has agreed to conduct the search in cooperation with Jordanian authorities, picking up all costs, in exchange for exclusive rights to film a documentary of the search.

The report quoted one of the Jordanian heads of the project, Zia Madani, as stating that the search would begin in late December 2010.The Russian company that was chosen as a partner for the search has special underwater exploration equipment that can stand up to the extreme salinity of the Dead Sea, the reports stated.

Biblical archaeologists have several theories as to where the Sodom and its associated cities were located. According to the Torah, G-d overturned Sodom, Gomorrah, and three other cities because of their degeneration, sin and iniquity, turning a once fertile plain into a stark wasteland.

Abraham, who prayed for the cities, was unable to prevent G-d from mandating their destruction. Archaeologists and geologists have suggested that a major earthquake or meteor storm might have been the means by which it occurred.

Research has centered on the area around the Dead Sea, and the modern city of Sodom, and nearby Mount Sodom, which is made almost completely of rock salt is considered the most likely site of the ancient cities.

However, some archaeological evidence has emerged that indicates that the site could be on the east bank of the Dead Sea, with two sites in Jordan – Bab edh-Dhra, and Numeira, both considered viable candidates. The Jordanian-Russian search will center on Bab edh-Dhra, which also has several Christian monuments.

According to Madani, further evidence that the cities remains are located on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea came after recent NASA photographs of the area indicated that the bottom of the sea is littered with debris and objects not found in other bodies of water.

According to the Jordanian, Israel recently sent a submarine down into the Dead Sea in an attempt to explore the bottom of the sea, but discovered that the objects in the NASA photos were on the Jordanian side of the sea.

Regardless of the source of Biblical history, Jordan prevented the Israelis from searching over the border, and now Jordan is seeking to discover what it believes are the remains of the cities by itself.
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Energtek announced it has received a geological survey on the Nir-am, Sa’ad block, “identifying the potential for exploitable oil and natural gas reserves.” Its subsidiary Energtek Products has the exclusive license to explore and exploit the resources in the area.A new preliminary geological survey indicates 26 million barrels of recoverable oil, worth $2 billion may be sitting underneath the sandy soil in the area of two kibbutzim in the Western Negev.

The firm added, “Current estimates will need to be confirmed by additional studies. Additional seismic analysis, modeling and further verifications are required to compile more accurate data on the fields and to provide more accurate reports on actual recoverable reserves.” Besides the estimates of oil at a depth of 2,000 meters, or approximately a mile and a quarter, the preliminary survey also reports an additional estimate of 12 million barrels of recoverable oil at depths of up to 4,000 meters, worth $900 at current prices.

The area is adjacent to the small Heletz oil field, which so far has produced more than 16 million barrels of oil. If the new field is drilled, it will be the first deep-well drilling in the area in decades. The announcement of the possible new field comes one day after Israel entered a new era with the beginning of drilling of the huge Leviathan natural gas and oil field off the northern Mediterranean Coast.

Drilling and exploration over the next five months will cost $150 million, according to Delek Energy, the parent of Delek Drilling and partner Avner Oil. American-based Noble is also part of the consortium. “The drilling is intended to examine the potential of the Levantine basin,” according to Delek chief executive officer Gideon Tadmor, chief executive officer. “If this drilling project turns out to be a success, it will significantly strengthen Israel’s energy independence.” Noble also operates the nearby Tamar gas field, which it said may hold twice the reserves of reserves in Britain and can supply Israel with enough gas for decades.

How strange it is when people who allege they are believers in the “Bible” fail to acknowledge Biblical historical places and regions of the twelve tribes of Israel also know as the Holy Land. This kind of thinking portrays the hypocrisy of monotheistic religions who give the impression that they do not believe in the word of the Hebrew Bible as authentic. Instead we could assume that these types of thinkers are in reality mythological believers in false gods, idols, and sheer fantasy. Bible Discovered recommends people review the categories on historical data and facts on this web site.

In an article, the Christian Science Monitor provides a brief look into what it calls the “five largest Israeli settlements.” Its terminology and slant are less than objective. CSM correspondent Ariel Zirulnick reveals his anti-Israel slant as early as the second sentence, when he provides the PA position on the settlements issue without a corresponding Israeli point of view.

When referring to the areas in question, Zirulnick identifies them as on “the Palestinian side of the Green Line/separation barrier,” instead of by their Israeli-Jewish name, Judea and Samaria. The list includes two hareidi-religious cities, Modiin Illit and Beitar Illit, both of which are contiguous with pre-1967 Israel, as well as Ariel, Gush Etzion, and Maaleh Adumim. Nearly 150,000 Jews live in the five, out of a total of nearly 330,000 throughout Judea and Samaria.

Regarding Maaleh Adumim, the city just east of Jerusalem, Zirulnick gives short shrift to the Israeli stance, but explains at length why the PA opposes Israel’s retention of it. He writes that Maaleh Adumim “extends far into the West Bank, leaving only a narrow corridor of land in the eastern West Bank to connect the northern and southern regions of the territory” for a future Palestinian state. In fact, however, the bloc takes up less than half of the width, forcing north-south Arab travel to take a much smaller detour than the one most Israelis have long been forced to take in order to avoid the dangerous Shechem-Jenin route.

Palestinian Authority leader Abbas states “Our State Will be Judenrein”: The presence of Jews and Arabs living in the same small area of land is admittedly a complex problem. But if the goal of the current peace talks is, as Zirulnick writes, “two separate, sovereign states,” negotiators would find it much easier if the PA would allow Jews to live within its designated borders. “I will never allow a single Israeli to live among us on Palestinian land,” PA chief Mahmoud Abbas declared at a recent Arab League conference.

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CSM correspondent Ariel Zirulnick writes the following below;
The end goal of the current Israeli-Palestinian peace talks is two separate, sovereign states. Palestinians say that the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, deemed illegal by the United Nations, influence the outcome of such talks. With more than 300,000 Israelis now living in such settlements, Israel expects to keep at least some of them under a final peace deal – possibly as part of a land swap.

An estimated three-quarters of Israeli settlers live on a relatively small percentage of the West Bank, most of them in communities adjacent to Israel proper. Some of them are ideologically driven and some are attracted by the low cost of living; many are motivated by a combination of the two.

Here are the five most populous settlements in the West Bank.

5. Ariel Founded in 1978 Population: 16,716

Of the five largest settlements in the West Bank, Ariel is located the furthest from the Green Line – more than 9 miles. It lies east of Tel Aviv and north of Jerusalem. Though it remains on the Palestinian side of the separation barrier, it is considered a strategic bulwark protecting Israel’s narrow middle. It is home to the Ariel University Center of Samaria, which enrolls 8,500 students, both Jews and Arabs.

4. Gush Etzion bloc First post-1948 settlement was founded in 1967 Population: 20,532 (excluding Betar Illit)

Gush Etzion is the collective name used for a group of Israeli settlements in the vicinity of the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The Foundation for Middle East Peace counts 15 settlements as part of the bloc, including Betar Illit. The settlements lie on both sides of the separation barrier, but entirely on the Palestinian side of the Green Line.

Jews first attempted to settle the area now part of the Gush Etzion bloc in the 1920s. The first attempt was unsuccessful, and later attempts were destroyed in the 1948 war. Efforts began again in 1967, when Israel took over the West Bank in the Six-Day War.

3. Betar Illit Founded in 1985 Population: 34,829

Betar Illit is situated about six miles south of Jerusalem and west of Bethlehem, and is located less than a kilometer within the Palestinian side of the Green Line. It is an Orthodox Jewish community with one of the fastest-growing populations in the West Bank. Because much of the population is engaged in religious study, rather than employed in nearby cities, it is relatively self contained. Betar Illit is often considered part of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.

2. Maale Adumim Founded in 1975 Population: 33,821

Maale Adumim lies east of Jerusalem, about 2.5 miles from the Green Line. Considered by many Israelis to be a suburb of the city because of its close proximity, it began as a planned community and commuter town for Israelis working in Jerusalem. A mix of religious and secular Jews live there.

Israel values the “strategic depth” Maale Adumim offers against an army coming from the east. But Palestinians and their international supporters have criticized Israel’s efforts to incorporate Maale Adumim, as well as an adjacent area known as E-1, because those plans threaten the territorial contiguity of a future Palestinian state. The Maale Adumim bloc extends far into the West Bank, leaving only a narrow corridor of land in the eastern West Bank to connect the northern and southern regions of the territory.

1. Modiin Illit Founded in 1996* Population: 41,869

Modiin Illit sits about halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. With more than 42,000 settlers today, Modiin Illit alone has about four times the number of settlers that were in the entire Gaza Strip before the 2005 disengagement. Most of its residents are Orthodox Jews.

Modiin Illit is encompassed by the Israeli separation barrier – designed to protect Israeli citizens from Palestinian militant attacks – even though it lies outside the pre-1967 Israeli border known as the Green Line. Just on the other side of the wall from Modiin Illit is Bilin, where Palestinians have held weekly protests against the wall for several years.