A prime and unoccupied location

Ancient Jericho is not very picturesque as a ruin.

When Joshua marched around it seven times, some three thousand years ago, and blew it down with his trumpet, he did the work so well and so completely that he hardly left enough of the city to cast a shadow.

The curse pronounced against the rebuilding of it, has never been removed.

One King, holding the curse in light estimation, made the attempt, but was stricken sorely for his presumption.

Its site will always remain unoccupied; and yet it is one of the very best locations for a town we have seen in all Palestine.

Source: The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain