The town today
The modern town of Jericho was built as a winter resort in the early 1920s, but it was expanded and became part of the country of Jordan in 1949. Within Jericho, two enormous camps were established for Arab refugees who fled from the nearby regions after the State of Israel was created in 1948. The refugees were dispersed in 1967, however, when Jericho and the rest of the West Bank region was taken by Israel during the Arab-Israeli War known as the Six-Day War. Modern Jericho is an Arab town where bananas, dates, and oranges are grown.
History
Considered the world's oldest city by some, Jericho was settled in about 9000 BC. By about 8000 BC, it had become an organized community with a population of nearly 2,000 to 3,000. Jericho's early residents probably farmed wheat and barley in irrigated fields. They built a massive stone wall around the settlement for protection. The wall of Jericho was rebuilt many times during the town's history.
Jericho is famous in biblical history as the first town attacked by the Israelites under Joshua after they crossed the Jordan River. According to the biblical account, after the town's destruction by the Israelites, it was abandoned until about the 9th century BC.
Jericho is mentioned several other times in the Old and New Testaments. Herod the Great established a winter residence in Jericho, where he died in 4 BC. Excavations in 1950–51 revealed ruins that were probably part of Herod's palace.