From - Letter from Mukawir by Mark Power-Stevens

[...]
The view from the fortress is of seemingly soft, untouched undulating hills fading out to the shores of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, which has witnessed the passing of many armies and many tragedies. In the early evening the sea is serene, covered by a faint mist and the remnants of the hazy heat as yet another hot, dry day ends.

On the other side of the Dead Sea, as the sun begins to set, the lights of the southern reaches of Palestine become visible. Jerusalem is off to the right, Bethlehem directly opposite and Hebron away to the south. Many Palestinians today still visit the hills on this side of the Valley to glimpse their homeland, distant spectators of the changes taking place on the other side.

My fellow travellers and I argue over which lights belong to which town. As the scene becomes clearer with the setting of the sun, it becomes obvious that some of the lights we originally thought belonged to Bethlehem and Hebron are in fact from a number of Israeli settlements lining the Jordan Valley, surrounding this side of Jerusalem and, most noticeably, the Gush Etzion bloc; an illuminating lesson of the continuing conflict over this land's control.

from Middle East International, no. 512, 3 November 1995.