Hanging Tight in the Jordan Valley

Sitting in the simple caravan that serves as his office Yinon Rosenblum is relaxed and easygoing. Although he grew up in the comparatively big city of Haifa more than thirty years as a farmer on Moshav Na’ama at the southern tip of the Jordan Valley have left their mark: A strong calloused handshake; no-nonsense manner; permanent suntan. Even at first introduction it is hard to imagine him in the city.

Here in the air-conditioned comfort of his caravan the conversation revolves around political instability and market conditions with a little bit of small talk about his family and the social conditions of a tiny community more than thirty miles east of Jerusalem — which considering the terrain can be a rugged trip.

Stepping outside Rosenblum’s manner changes and he is all business. The crunch of the hard ground under his work boots gives him energy and a sense of urgency not only to show off the fruits of his labor but also to be out in the sun and out in the fields he obviously loves. As we head towards his pickup truck it is clear he is familiar with every rock and grain of sand in the area. It is a relationship with nature and with the Land of Israel that one cannot develop amid the concrete and stone of urban living.

The Jordan River Valley which Israel recaptured and repopulated after the 1967 Six Day War is now on the negotiating block once again as peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have resumed … As in Judea and Samaria Jewish residents in the Jordan Valley have lived most of the past twenty years under the threat that the region could be handed to the Palestinians as part of a final peace deal.