Qasr al Yahud

Qasr al-Yahud is the western section of the traditional site of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist on the Jordan River. It has also been traditionally identified with two episodes from the Hebrew Bible, as one of the possible points through which the Israelites have crossed the Jordan river as they reached the Promised Land, and as the site where prophet Elijah ascended to heaven. Qasr al-Yahud is actually an Arabic name given to the nearby Monastery of St John the Baptist, but is also being used for the West Bank section of the baptism site itself.Today it is located on the West Bank and directly across the eastern section and close to the Palestinian city of Jericho. Since the Six-Day War in 1967, the baptism site has been under Israeli occupation, and the site and facilities are currently administered by the Israeli Civil Administration and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism as part of a national park, where baptism ceremonies can be performed.