Blazing hot Jericho could be flashpoint for Mideast conflict

"We are simply saving energy," he says, white teeth flashing happily, as he beckons a potential customer crossing into the only remaining patch of the Palestinian-controlled area in the West Bank.

Jericho is unique for its "onlys."

The idiosyncrasies of geography, history (it is the world's oldest town) and climate (most residents only leave the shelter of their homes well past dark) are well-known. But it also possesses the only Palestinian departure point abroad from the West Bank, has the only remaining Israeli-Palestinian District Coordination Office and it is free of violence.

According to Shimshon Arbel, head of planning at the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Israel "sees Jericho as a pilot program, a model for other cities. Since the violence there has been relatively light, though by no means nonexistent, we've eased restrictions." Included in this are entrance permits for eastern Jerusalem Palestinians, a freer hand in "back-to-back" transfer of goods from Palestinian trucks to Israeli trucks, and a concerted effort to keep the Allenby crossing between the West Bank and Jordan open at all times.

Arbel adds that Jericho has historically acted differently. "It has a small-town feel and most of its citizens are pastoral, depending mostly on agriculture. But more importantly, aside from the battering heat, its people have, since 1967, been open to the outside world, largely working in the tourism and restaurant industries."

Consequently, they had much more contact with Israelis and foreigners than other Palestinian population centers, and most have a smattering of English and/or Hebrew.

Absently playing with his box of Gauloise ultralight cigarettes, Jericho's Palestinian Authority political director, Saeb Nazif, tries to explain Jericho's conspicuous quiet.

"First, it is the policy of the P.A. to keep the city functioning as normally as possible, and we try not to give Israel a reason to close it," he says, noting the city's strategic advantage as the single West Bank outlet to Jordan and from there to the world.

Greater Jericho has a population comparable to Jenin, but it has produced not a single suicide bomber during the conflict.

Considering that close to 1,700 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, Jericho's 11 fatalities, all combatants, seem to confirm an Israel Defense Force officer's musings that the last serious action seen in Jericho was when Joshua brought the city's walls tumbling down.

There is one solid reason for this: Hamas membership is so small that "you can fit the entire Jericho chapter into one minivan," says Nazif. "And there is no Islamic Jihad here; well, perhaps one member."

"This fact is key," says Arbel.

Since 1994, the Palestinian Authority is firmly ensconced in the city, despite Israeli incursions and increasing hardships, says Mayor Abdel Karim Sidr.

Often referred to as the cradle of civilization, Jericho was the cradle of the nascent Palestinian state-to-be, and heralded the birth of a historic reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.

In some cases, fruitful contact between Israelis and Jericho residents continues. Nazif says Palestinian workers continue to work in the nearby settlement Vered Yeriho. And an Israeli factory owner who still maintains friends in the city recently donated about $7,500 to the building of a new mosque in the city.

Despite these contacts, Jericho remains the quiet, sleepy, even provincial town Israeli forces left that May, but its luster is gone. The Oasis luxury casino, which once employed 2,000 workers, is smashed and deserted. The red cable cars that once whisked tourists to the Monastery of the Temptation -- said to be the place where Jesus fought the devil -- now dangle listlessly on their wires. They contrast starkly with the dusty-brown biblical Judean Hills and camels loping in the background.

In fact, the town's tranquillity is so undisturbed that one of the world's major news stories -- the assassination of terrorist leader Salah Shehada, which also killed several children -- plays second fiddle to a local item: Jordan is barring entrance to Palestinians, even those with Jordanian passports. This is causing a huge backlog of humanity at the Allenby crossing.

Hundreds of Palestinians, some in need of vital operations or waiting for permission to visit their families in Amman, are cursing Jordanian officials, not Israelis, for their lack of cooperation.

Jericho residents, Nazif adds, are inundated with relatives in need of shelter. Because about 500 people have been waiting up to three weeks for permission to cross to Jordan, hotels have opened their doors, dusted off their guest books and filled their pools, in giddy preparation for this unexpected boon.

"This is actually the most full our hotels have been since the start of the intifada," says Sidr.

Jericho has one X-factor, and that is a balding, portly lawyer who rose through the Palestinian ranks in the late 1990s to become the most recognizable Palestinian voice in the Western media: Saeb Erekat.

While Palestinian experts note that he has little chance of rising to power, he is a trusted negotiator. He's close to the United States and has also maintained his Israeli contacts.

Some say Erekat's politics have sunk deep into the behavior of the people of this ancient valley. While meeting recently with Jesse Jackson's American delegation, Erekat said, "Sooner or later these people [Israelis] must make up their minds. We can be no match for them in terms of guns, fighting capability and the ability to manipulate the press."

It is for this reason that negotiations with the man he calls "my friend Shimon [Peres]" ranks as one of his highest priorities.

But even this city's single celebrity is watching the power he once yielded being pulled slowly but steadily from his hands.

While city infrastructure remains intact, and food plentiful, the three pillars of the once-thriving Jericho economy -- tourism, agriculture and trade -- have been whittled away. Today, tourism is a farce, agriculture is abandoned as exporting produce is nearly impossible and the local market is already inundated, and trade is vastly diminished.

Jericho's lethargy has not prevented it from being a haven for at least several gunmen. Israeli troops entered the city as recently as July 5 to arrest three Palestinians suspected of terrorist activity. But even this action was relatively uneventful and sedated given Jericho's temperatures and temperaments.

Despite the quiet and stability, Sidr, the mayor, is skeptical that the Jericho model could work elsewhere. "We are a simple people in a hard, flat, isolated place. The quiet here is historical, and it is unique."