Philadelphia Is in Jordan
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scrap lumber, metal, pipes, and assorted machinery from the
direction of the Dead Sea. I decided to investigate.
In an Armenian barbershop on Jericho's main street, I met
a young refugee from Jerusalem named Torkom. Together
we got into a bus going in the direction of the Dead Sea, then
walked the remaining distance over the semi-arid baked earth.
Vast brine evaporation-beds, dazzling white under the sun,
met the eye in all directions, connected by miles of pipelines.
Beyond them was the huge plant of Palestine Potash, Ltd.
(a once highly profitable British corporation owned jointly
by English and Jewish capital), which converted the fabulous mineral wealth of the Dead Sea into common salt, bromides, and chlorides of magnesium, potassium, and calcium.
Photographing as I went along, I saw, with Torkom, a
sight that sickened me. The huge plant, stretching over many
acres, with its generators, transformers, pumps, and a thousand and one irreplaceable items of machinery—transported
at tremendous cost from England and the United States—
was systematically being looted and destroyed: building by
building, machine by machine, board by board. Hundreds of
Arab scavengers, working with teams of donkeys, mules, and
trucks, had already stripped away most of the vital working
parts, and were now tearing at the corrugated tin, pipes, wire,
boards, and small machines. What they could not take apart
they smashed with sledge hammers. Instead of utilizing the
giant plant, or at least expropriating some of the equipment
for constructive purposes—in a land so desperately in need
of lumber, glass, ironwork and all else that was in such abundance here—they were destroying everything, ruthlessly, coldbloodedly, insanely.
The plant already looked like a miniature Hiroshima, minus
the ravages of fire. And this wanton destruction was more or
less officially sanctioned by Trans-Jordan officials. A dozen
Arab Legion guards were on hand to keep law and order
among the looters.
Further on, I saw the remains of Hotel Kallia, a noted win-