Wadi Auja

Wadi Auja (Arabic: وادي العوجا‎), also spelled Ouja,[1] known in Hebrew as Nahal Yitav (Hebrew: נחל ייט"ב) is a valley or stream (Arabic: وادي‎ wādī, "wadi"), in the West Bank, originating near the Ein Samia spring and flowing to Al-Auja near Jericho before it runs into the Jordan River.

This should not be confused with the Yarkon River in Israel which flows to the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv, known in Arabic by the name "Nahr al-Auja".

[2] The Hebrew name is based on the Israeli settlement Yitav, founded in 1970 on the northern river bank, next to the Palestinian village of Al-Auja.

[5] Two ancient aqueducts built in Wadi Auja during the late Second Temple period (and refurbished in later generations) carried water from their source at ʻAin el Aûjah ("the crooked spring") to their respective destinations, the one termed Ḳanât el Manîl ("the canal of el Manil") which led to an outlet in the Jordan valley north of Jericho, and the other termed Ḳanât Farʻûn ("Pharaoh's canal"), thought to have brought water to the fortified town of Archelais.

[6] The gorge section of the river is a natural reserve, where rows of precipitous cliffs are exposed and inside them a variety of rare birds of prey and perennial plants can be found.