Ghost churches on the western bank of the Jordan River, near where Jesus is believed to have been baptised, could be reopened to pilgrims as part of a project to remove booby-traps and land mines.
The river banks were once a war zone between Israel and Jordan, and were littered with thousands of mines and unexploded ordnance. The two neighbours made peace in 1994 but it took many years before some mine clearing began.
Both claim that the site where John the Baptist and Jesus met is on their side of the river. The Gospel of John refers to "Bethany beyond the Jordan" without further details.
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