Dawson Field

In September 1970, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked four airliners bound for New York City and one for London. Three aircraft were forced to land at Dawson Field, a remote desert airstrip near Zarqa, Jordan, formerly Royal Air Force Station Zarqa, which then became PFLP's "Revolutionary Airport". By the end of the incident, one hijacker had been killed and one injury reported. This was the second instance of mass aircraft hijacking, after three aircraft from communist Czechoslovakia were hijacked and taken to Munich, West Germany, in 1950. On 6 September, TWA Flight 741 from Frankfurt (a Boeing 707) and Swissair Flight 100 from Zürich (a Douglas DC-8) were forced to land at Dawson's Field. On the same day, the hijacking of El Al Flight 219 from Amsterdam (another 707) was foiled: hijacker Patrick Argüello was shot and killed, and his partner Leila Khaled was subdued and handed over to British authorities in London. Two PFLP hijackers, who were prevented from boarding the El Al flight, hijacked instead Pan Am Flight 93, a Boeing 747, diverting the large aircraft first to Beirut and then to Cairo, rather than to the small Jordanian airstrip. On 9 September, a fifth aircraft, BOAC Flight 775, a Vickers VC10 coming from Bahrain, was hijacked by a PFLP sympathizer and taken to Dawson's Field in order to pressure the British to free Khaled. While the majority of the 310 hostages were transferred to Amman and freed on 11 September, the PFLP segregated the flight crews and Jewish passengers, keeping the 56 Jewish hostages in custody, while releasing the non-Jews. Six hostages were kept because they were men and American citizens, not necessarily Jews: Robert Norman Schwartz, a U.S. Defense Department researcher stationed in Thailand; James Lee Woods, Schwartz's assistant and security detail; Gerald Berkowitz, an American-born Jew and college chemistry professor; Rabbi Avraham Harari-Raful and his brother Rabbi Yosef Harari-Raful, two Sephardi Brooklyn school teachers; and John Hollingsworth, a U.S. State Department employee. Schwartz, whose father was Jewish, was a convert to Catholicism. On 12 September, prior to their announced deadline, the PFLP used explosives to destroy the empty planes, as they anticipated a counterstrike. The PFLP's exploitation of Jordanian territory was an example of the increasingly autonomous Arab Palestinian activity within the Kingdom of Jordan – a serious challenge to the Hashemite monarchy of King Hussein. Hussein declared martial law on 16 September and from 17 to 27 September his forces deployed into Palestinian-controlled areas in what became known as Black September in Jordan, nearly triggering a regional war involving Syria, Iraq, and Israel. A swift Jordanian victory, however, enabled a 30 September deal in which the remaining PFLP hostages were released in exchange for Khaled and three PFLP members in a Swiss prison.

The Hashemite University (الجامعة الهاشمية), often abbreviated HU, is a public university in Jordan. It was established in 1995. The university is located in the vicinity of the city of Zarqa. As regards the study systems, it applies the credit hour system. Each college has its own number of credit hours. It is the first university in Jordan to apply the Two-Summer-Semester system. The Hashemite University offers a variety of different master programs. It also offers an international admission program which allows non-Jordanian students to enroll at the university.

Khirbat Khaww is a town in the Amman Governorate of north-western Jordan.

Zarqa University (Arabic: جامعة الزرقاء) is a university in the city of Zarqa, in Jordan's Zarqa Governorate. It was established in 1994, about 6 km to the east of the city center. At the university's first academic semester, there were only 150 students. In the scholastic year 2013/2014 the number of students was over 9,000 in 43 majors. The university campus houses the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Colleges of Computing and Information Society of the Association of Arab Universities. It is also the permanent residence of the general secretariat of the International Arab Conference on Information Technology (ACIT).

The Prince Mohammed Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Zarqa, Jordan. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 11,400 people after the installation of seats.

Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company (Arabic: شركة مصفاة البترول الأردنية) runs the only oil refinery in Jordan and was established in 1956. The idea of establishing Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company dates back to more than half a century when the idea was adopted by the then Ministry of National Economy, and there was a consensus on the importance of refining industry as a main source of energy for most of the economic activities and as a contributor to raising the Kingdom's revenues. Although it is the only Refinery in Jordan, it managed to supply the local market with all its needs of various petroleum products, and its establishment had led to complete dependence on the imported high-cost oil derivatives; this had saved the Jordanian economy significant amounts of foreign currency, made available thousands job opportunities to citizens, opened the door to other new industries, and contributed to supporting important economy sectors such as the sector of electricity, transportation, industry and constructions. In 2021, JPRC recorded the highest net profit in company history, JD52.2 million. The profits are the combination of JD20.6 million from activities at the refinery and from filling gas cylinders, than JD7 million from the lubricant factory, and the remaining JD24.3 million from the Jordan Petroleum Marketing Company (JoPetrol). In June 2022, JPRC finalized the financial settlement for the dues owed to them from the National Electric Power Company, with the Ministry of Finance, in which the government will repay JD105 million during 2023 first quarter. Further negotiations are still on going with the government for the 2019 and 2020 gas activity commissions, in which annual return of 12 percent on investments is to be taken into consideration. In October 2022, JPRC was working together with project managements contractors and financial, technical and legal advisors on the implementation of the fourth expansion project at the refinery. Various international companies came together to make three different offers in which the JPRC needs to chose from. JPRC began discussions with one of the consortia consisting of three companies from China, Italy and Japan, the bidding time for the project ended in December 2022. The expansion is expected to cost more than $2.6 billion. In January 2023 came the announcement about a $3 billion contract with Sinopec Engineering Co, Technimont and Itochu Corp. for the joint development of the fourth phase expansion at the Zarqa refinery. The expansion is expected to increase daily capacities from 60,000 barrels to 150,000. In 2023, JPRC signed an agreement for the termination of its concessions with the government, in which they made a payment of JD20.4 million for stake in their assets and those of the airports and city of Aqaba.

Qaṣabah az-Zarqā' is one of the districts of Zarqa governorate, Jordan.

Al-Hāshimiyah (Arabic: الهاشمية) is one of the districts of Zarqa governorate, Jordan.

Zarqa Camp (Arabic: مخيم الزرقاء) is one of the 10 officially recognized UNRWA Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan. It is located outside of Zarqa. It was the first Palestine refugee camp to be established in Jordan, in 1949, and one of the four camps founded to accommodate the refugees of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. The others were Irbid camp, Al-Wehdat refugee camp and Jabal el-Hussein camp. When it was founded, it housed 8,000 refugees in an area of 0.18 square kilometers. Although the camp initially consisted of tents, UNRWA eventually replaced these with concrete shelters. As of 2013, 19% of Palestine refugees in the camp were below Jordan's national poverty line, 15% suffered from chronic health problems, and 68% were uninsured. Over time, camp residents moved to other parts of Zarqa city, and what had initially been a separate refugee camp has now become part of Zarqa city itself, sharing the same municipal services.

The 1957 alleged Jordanian military coup attempt refers to violent confrontations on 13 April 1957 at the large army barracks in Zarqa between royalist, mostly Bedouin units, loyal to King Hussein, and Nasserist-style Arab nationalist units. A military maneuver named "Operation Hashem" was initiated on 8 April and it encircled the capital Amman. When Hussein asked Ali Abu Nuwar (Army chief of staff) about the maneuver he claimed that it was a normal military exercise. Hussein, suspicious that this was a show of strength by Abu Nuwar to overthrow him and enter a union with Nasserist Egypt, ordered Abu Nuwar to withdraw the unit which he heeded. The Arabist government of Suleiman Nabulsi was forced to resign on 10 April after its policies clashed frequently with that of the Palace. On 13 April, rioting broke in the Zarqa barracks, Hussein (aged 21) went to end the violence between royalist and Arabist units after the Arabists spread rumors that Hussein was killed. A 3,000-man Syrian force started moving south in support of what they perceived as a coup attempt, but turned around after the army units showed their loyalty to the King. Two principal accounts emerged regarding the events at Zarqa, with the royalist version holding that the incident was an abortive coup by Abu Nuwar against King Hussein, and the dissident version asserting that it was a staged, American-backed counter-coup by Hussein against the pan-Arabist movement in Jordan. In any case, Abu Nuwar and other senior Arabist officers resigned and were allowed to leave Jordan for Syria where they incited opposition to the Monarchy. Hussein imposed martial law and disbanded Palestinian-dominated military units after the incident. Although he eventually relaxed some of these measures, namely military curfews and severe press censorship, Hussein's moves significantly curtailed the constitutional democracy that existed in Jordan in the mid-1950s. The alleged conspirators were sentenced to 15 years in absentia, but later on were pardoned by Hussein in 1964 as part of his reconciliation efforts with his exiled opposition, and were given senior posts in the government.

Zarqa (Arabic: الزرقاء) is the capital of Zarqa Governorate in Jordan. Its name means "the blue (city)". It had a population of 635,160 inhabitants in 2015, and is the second most populous city in Jordan after Amman.

Sokhna camp (sometimes transliterated 'Sakhna' or 'Sukhna')' is a Palestinian refugee camp established in Jordan in 1969 on an area of 68,745 dunams, in the village of Sukhna, in the north part of Zarqa Governorate. Its population according to the International Relief Agency's 2017 survey was then 6,300. This included 680 families among the 500 residential units. All the residential units are connected to the drinking water network. Facilities include the Office of the Palestinian Affairs Service, a Camp Services Committee, a Bakery, a Mosque, and 40 shops. The camp has two schools of the International Relief Agency (male and female), one kindergarten, but no government schools under the Ministry of Education.