The Jordanian army is speeding up its fortifications along the east banks of the Jordan River facing Israel’s Beisan. Valley and in the area between Beisan and Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, Israel is also carrying out major fortification work on its side of the border in these regions and on the Golan Heights, it was reported today.
Tractors and heavy earth-moving equipment of the Jordanian Engineers Corps are in full view from the Israeli side clearing roads, digging trenches and building earthwork barriers. The Jordanians are also building fortifications in the region of Naharayim, site of the old Palestine Electric Corp, hydro-electric station which Jordan seized in 1948.
On the Golan Heights, a group of Russian Jews from the remote Total region of the southern Caucasus is employed building Israeli fortifications. They speak a special dialect of their region which is located near the junction of the Russian, Turkish and Iranian borders, They say working for Israel’s defense is a great privilege for them. There are about 500 families of Total Jews now in Israel.
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