Three bridges, one Arab village, three Jewish settlements, a railway station, and a hydroelectric plant. How did a single bend in the River Jordan generate so much activity?

Where To?

Kibbutz Gesher
Restored site of Kibbutz Gesher and Naharayim power plant visitors’ center

 

Here’s a fascinating bit of trivia: the word “bridge” doesn’t appear in the Bible. That’s because, with no major rivers, the land of Israel wasn’t exactly conducive to meeting the engineering challenge of bridge-building. Even the Jordan is no Danube and can be easily forded during the summer months in several places. Wherever it can’t be crossed on foot, it’s still narrow enough for a ferry pulled by rope from one side to the other – a simple enough solution and one soon adopted by the ancient inhabitants of the Holy Land. 

Then the Romans arrived on the scene, introducing aqueducts, sanitation, medicine, irrigation, education, law and order, public baths, and roads – which required bridges. 

These structural marvels completed a vast system of roadways spanning the Roman Empire and bringing the primitive Middle East firmly into the second century CE. 

 

A History of Gesher 

The Romans discovered that bridges were best constructed at a river’s narrowest point – allowing for the shortest possible span – and between high cliffs to provide support. Of course, there had to be a nearby thoroughfare to justify the effort; there was little point in a bridge with no one to cross it. 

One such spot was located by Roman architects twelve kilometers south of the Sea of Galilee, where the Jordan River curves voluptuously and is then forced through a high, narrow gorge of black basalt rock less than ten meters wide. This setting was the ideal place to connect Tiberias with the east bank of the Jordan, on the main caravan route to the Jordanian cities of Irbid, Jerash, and Amman. 

The resulting bridge lasted hundreds of years, until it was destroyed by an earthquake, leaving only some pitiful foundations. In the 12th century, these remnants got a new lease on life as the base of a Crusader bridge.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Mamluks gave the bridge concept a substantial makeover. Built of black basalt blocks, their bridge measured seventy meters long and six across. Its central arch soared ten meters over the Jordan, leaving room for the winter floods, when the river’s level peaked. Two lower arches flanked the main one, allowing floodwaters to pass without washing the entire structure away. 

The Mamluks’ substantial infrastructural investment was part of their ruling strategy, which required a network of roads linking every part of their empire. The Mamluk postal system was the fastest in history (until Amazon), combining horsemanship with road and bridge maintenance to provide delivery from Cairo to Damascus in just four days.

The Mamluks evidently gave the bridge its Arabic name as well: Jisr el-Majami, bridge of assembly. Some associate this appellation with the conjunction of the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers three kilometers to the north, but it might also refer to the ample hospitality of a large and well-appointed khan built in the same period just west of the bridge. Weary messengers would have relished a night’s rest here – and the possibility of exchanging mail with fellow couriers to reduce the miles each had to cover. 

Much water has flowed under the bridge since then, but let’s jump to 1905, when the Mamluks’ Ottoman heirs chose to run the Jezreel Valley railway over the Jordan. In order not to disrupt foot and wagon traffic, they added another bridge a few dozen meters south of the old one, just for the train. Ably assisted by 20th-century technology, the Ottomans soon heaped packed-earth ramps up against the riverbanks and built a younger, slimmer version of the Mamluk bridge over five arches.

After conquering the Ottomans’ Mesopotamian territory, including the land of Israel, the British constructed a third bridge in 1925. This one, cast from humble concrete, was part of a highway connecting Beth Shean and Tiberias. It ran alongside the Mamluk bridge and was designed to divert heavier traffic (particularly trucks) from the elderly stone original, saving on wear and repair.