Island of Peace

The Island of Peace massacre was a high-profile shooting attack that took place on 13 March 1997, when a Jordanian soldier opened fire on a group of young Israeli schoolgirls and their teacher at the Island of Peace. Seven of the girls were killed, while five more and the teacher were injured; all of the girls in the group were aged 13–14. The perpetrator of the attack was Ahmad Daqamseh, a corporal serving in the Royal Jordanian Army. He had been stationed at the international border between Jordan and Israel, and encountered the girls while they were visiting Jordan's Island of Peace as part of a field trip from their AMIT school in the city of Beit Shemesh. Shortly after the attack began, Daqamseh's M16 rifle jammed and he was subdued by nearby Jordanian soldiers, who then rushed to help the victims. Daqamseh was arrested and later diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder by a Jordanian medical team. He was tried and convicted by a five-member military tribunal, which sentenced him to 20 years in prison with hard labour. Shortly after the attack, Jordanian king Hussein bin Talal personally visited the families of the victims and offered his condolences. His trip was seen as a sincere and unusual act in the history of the Arab–Israeli conflict, deeply moving the mourning Israeli public and helping to further improve the relationship between the two countries in light of the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty. Several Jordanians reacted positively to the attack; Daqamseh was called a "hero" by Jordanian politician Hussein Mjalli, and in 2013, a petition began to circulate in the Parliament of Jordan, as the overwhelming majority of MPs (110/120) alleged that he had finished his sentence and advocated his release. Nonetheless, Daqamseh served his sentence in full, being released on 12 March 2017. His family expressed pride for his actions and Daqamseh himself showed no signs of remorse, having told Jordanian interrogators in prison that he would have killed all of the girls had his M16 not jammed halfway through.

The Yarmuk River (Arabic: نهر اليرموك, romanized: Nahr al-Yarmūk, Hebrew: נְהַר הַיַּרְמוּךְ‎; Greek: Ἱερομύκης, Hieromýkēs; Latin: Hieromyces or Heromicas; sometimes spelled Yarmouk) is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It runs in Jordan, Syria and Israel, and drains much of the Hauran plateau. Its main tributaries are the wadis of 'Allan and Ruqqad from the north, Ehreir and Zeizun from the east. Although the Yarmuk is narrow and shallow throughout its course, at its mouth it is nearly as wide as the Jordan, measuring thirty feet in breadth and five in depth. The once celebrated Matthew Bridge used to cross the Yarmuk at its confluence with the Jordan.

Naharayim (Hebrew: נַהֲרַיִים literally "Two rivers"), historically the Jisr Majami area (Arabic: جسر المجامع literally "Meeting bridge" area), is the area where the Yarmouk River flows into the Jordan River. It was the site of the "First Jordan Hydro-Electric Power House", constructed between 1927–33, and located near an ancient Roman bridge known as Jisr Majami. The site was named by the Palestine Electric Company which assigned "proper names" to the "different quarters of our Jordan Works", one of these being the "works as a whole including the labour camp" to be called "Naharaim", and another being the site of the "Power House and the adjoining staff quarters, offices" to be called Tel Or (Hebrew: תל אור - Hill of Light). Most of the plant was situated in the Emirate of Transjordan and stretched from the northern canal near the Ashdot Ya'akov in Northern Mandatory Palestine to the Jisr el-Majami in the south. The plant, now no longer in use, was built by Pinhas Rutenberg. It produced much of the energy consumed in Mandatory Palestine, until the 1948 Palestine war. The channels and dams built for the power plant, together with the two rivers, formed a man-made island. The residential area is known today as Qaryet Jisr Al-Majame (Arabic: قرية جسر المجامع - Community Bridge Village). The 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty recognized part of the area – known as the Naharayim/Baqura Area in the treaty or, according to the map annexed to the treaty and authenticated by both Israel and Jordan, the Baqura/Naharayim area – to be under Jordanian sovereignty, but leased Israeli landowners freedom of entry. The 25-year renewable lease ended in 2019. The Jordanian government announced its intention to end the lease; the treaty gives Jordan the right to do so only on one condition – that one year prior notice is given, which coincided with the announcement in October 2018. Jordan reclaimed Al-Baqoura in November 2019 after a one-year notice of termination submitted by the Jordanian government.

The First Jordan Hydro-Electric Power House, also known as the Rutenberg Power Station or the Naharayim Power Plant or the Tel Or Power Plant, was a conventional dammed hydroelectric power station on the Jordan river, which operated between 1932 and 1948. It was situated in the Emirate of Transjordan (modern Jordan), but built to supply power to Mandatory Palestine (modern Israel). The plant was built in an area known as Jisr el-Majami, later renamed by Pinhas Rutenberg's Palestine Electric Corporation as Naharayim, and following the Israel–Jordan peace treaty it is today part of the Jordanian area of Baqoura. The plant was constructed – under concession from the Mandatory government – by the Palestine Electric Corporation based on a plan put forward in 1926. It followed his original 1920 Rutenberg plan to build ten reservoirs and fourteen hydroelectric plants on the Jordan river. Financial capital for the project came from the worldwide Jewish community, organized with limited publicity in order to allow Rutenberg to be presented as an "entrepreneur" rather than part of the Zionist Organization.

Jisr el-Majami or Jisr al-Mujamieh (Arabic: جسر المجامع, romanized: Jisr al-Majami, lit. 'Meeting Bridge or "The bridge of the place of assembling"', and Hebrew: גֶּשֶׁר, Gesher, lit. "Bridge") is an ancient stone bridge, possibly of Roman origin, over the Jordan River on the border between Israel and Jordan. The name is derived from the bridge's location 200 m (660 ft) south of the confluence of the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers.

Ashdot Ya'akov (Hebrew: אַשְׁדוֹת יַעֲקֹב, lit. 'Ya'akov Rapids') is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Originally founded in 1924 by a kvutza of Hashomer members from Latvia on the land which is today Gesher, it moved to its current location between 1933 and 1935. It was named after the rapids of the nearby Yarmouk River and James "Ya'akov" Armand de Rothschild.

Gesher (Hebrew: גֶּשֶׁר, lit. Bridge) is a kibbutz in the Beit She'an Valley in northeastern Israel. Founded in 1939 by Jewish refugees from Germany, it falls under the jurisdiction of Valley of Springs Regional Council. It is situated 10 km south of kibbutz Deganya Aleph and 15 km south of Tiberias. The population is approximately 500 inhabitants. It is named after the neighbouring Roman bridge over the Jordan River ("gesher" means bridge in Hebrew), known as Jisr Majami, 1 km to the east in what is now known as the Naharayim area. The original site of the kibbutz, depopulated during the 1948 war, known as Old Gesher, was located immediately north of the old Roman bridge. In 2022 it had a population of 462.

Ashdot Ya'akov Ihud (Hebrew: אַשְׁדוֹת יַעֲקֹב אִחוּד) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located to the south of the Sea of Galilee near the Jordanian border and covering 4,200 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 1,011.

Ashdot Ya'akov Meuhad (Hebrew: אַשְׁדוֹת יַעֲקֹב מְאֻחָד) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located to the south of the Sea of Galilee near the Jordanian border and covering 4,300 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 693.

Menahemia (Hebrew: מְנַחֶמְיָה) is a village in the Jordan Valley in north-eastern Israel. Located near Highway 90 between Beit She'an and Tzemah Junction 5 km south of Tzemah, it falls under the jurisdiction of Valley of Springs Regional Council. With an area of 6,000 dunams, the village had a population of 1,065 in 2022.

Al-Dalhamiyya (Arabic: الدلهمية) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Tiberias Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on April 15, 1948, under Operation Gideon. It was located 14 km south of Tiberias, on the north bank of the Yarmuk River, on the border between Mandatory Palestine and Transjordan.

Afikim (Hebrew: אֲפִיקִים) is an Israeli kibbutz affiliated with the Kibbutz Movement located in the Jordan Valley three kilometers from the Sea of Galilee. It is within the jurisdiction of the Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 1,488.