The History of Jericho
Jericho is the site of the oldest town that has ever been discovered, with significant archeological ruins dating back as far as BC 10000. This period marks the transition from nomadic age to agriculture age. It's located about 2Km (1.25 mile) from today's city center, the original settlement of Jericho was excavated sometime in the 20th century. Ruins include an impressive hill, the oldest known stairs in the world, the oldest wall and the massive round, defense tower established before BC 7000.
Jericho is well-known for its biblical history as the site of siege by Joshua and the Israelites.
According to the account in the Book of Joshua, Jericho was captured from the Cananites by Joshua and was destroyed. The city functioned as an administrative center for the Persians in the 6th century BC and became a royal resort in the time of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Around BC 30, Jericho was awarded to Herod the Great by the Roman emperor Augustus. Herod laid out new canals and built a theatre and a winter palace there.
Between the 4th and 7th centuries AD Jericho attracted many pilgrims and the population went up considerably.
The city was annexed to the Muslim Arab in the 7th century, and during the 13th century, the Crusaders ruled over Jericho and greatly expanded the cultivation of sugar cane in the region.
After that, the Crusaders were defeated by the Muslim leader Saladin. In 1840 the Egyptian General Ibrahim Pasha destroyed the city when he withdrew his army to Egypt. In 1920 Jericho became part of the British mandate in Palestine. By the terms of the 1947 United Nations (UN) resolution calling for the partition of Palestine into two separate Jewish and Arab states, Jericho was allocated to Arab control. Shortly after the state of Israel declared its independence in 1948, war broke out between Israel and the Arab neighbors. This war, known as the first Arab- Israeli war, which lasted until 1949, resulted in an influx of homeless Palestinians to refuge in Jericho. A number of refugee camps were built by the UN in and around the city, boosting Jericho's population and expanding its economy. The city was under the rule of Jordan from 1949 until 1967; during that time the Palestinian nationalist Musa Alami founded an agriculture school and experimental farm there to provide training for the Palestinian refugees.
Following the six-day 1967 war, Jericho and the rest of the West Bank were occupied and administered by the Israeli government.
In 1993 Jericho was chosen as the starting point for Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank under the provisions of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In May 1994 an implementation accord was signed in Cairo, setting out details concerning the transfer of authority from the Israeli military administration to the PLO-directed Palestinian National Authority (PNA). By the terms of the accord, the PNA is responsible for managing Palestinian affairs in the Jericho area, which consists of the town proper and the nearby refugee camps, its immediate environs, and a small corridor stretching north to the town of Al Auja. The Israeli government has authority over matters concerning external security and foreign affairs.
Jericho's final status should have been determined in the broader context of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over the West Bank, which were scheduled to be concluded by May 1999.
