World Discoveries III: Dead Sea also shares the Dead Sea's Biblical history. Located on the border of Israel, King Herod used it as his spa, and King David made it his retreat. But more ominously, the Dead Sea is said to have witnessed the extreme, supernatural fire that violently destroyed the sinners in Sodom and Gomorrah. Centuries later the climate surround the Dead Sea is still arid and parched. The filmmaker asks how the blessed Jordan River, which the Hebrews crossed to get into the Promised Land and is surrounded by beautiful banana groves, could feed into this unholy, salty lake. Other documentaries concerning Israel:
Dead Sea balsam tree, which could be made into perfume. By the 19th century, Jericho's fertility had disappeared. There are several small communities near the Dead Sea. These include Ein Gedi, Neve Zohar and the Israeli settlements in the Megilot Regional Council: Kalya, Mitzpe Shalem and Avnat. There is a nature preserve at Ein Gedi, and several Dead Sea hotels are located on the southwest end at Ein Bokek near Neve Zohar. Highway 90 runs north-south on the Israeli side for a total distance of from Metula on the Lebanese border in the north to its southern terminus at the Egyptian border