Ghassulian

Abila (Arabic: ابيلا) was an ancient city east of the Jordan River in the Plains of Moab, later Peraea, near Livias, about twelve km northeast of the north shore of the Dead Sea. The site is identified with modern Khirbet el-Kafrayn, Jordan and identified on the Madaba Map as an unnamed icon. There is a widely supported theory that in the Hebrew Bible, it is referred to as Abel-Shittim, as well as in the shorter forms Shittim and Ha-Shittim.

Beth-Nimrah or Beth-nimrah (Hebrew: בית נמרה), also called Nimrin and Bethennabris, was an ancient city in Transjordan, which features prominently the history of ancient Israel and Judah. Tell Nimrin has been identified by Nelson Glueck as the last of three sites successively occupied by the ancient city.

The 1927 Jericho earthquake was a devastating event that shook Mandatory Palestine and Transjordan on July 11 at 15:04 local time. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the northern area of the Dead Sea. The cities of Jerusalem, Jericho, Ramle, Tiberias, and Nablus were heavily damaged and at least 287 were estimated to have been killed.

Ash-Shunah al-Janubiyah (Arabic: الشونة الجنوبية, also Shoonah Janoobiyah, South Shuna or Southern Shouneh, etc.) is a populated place in Balqa Governorate, Jordan, in the eastern Jordan Valley, not far from the place where the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea. The town stretches along the Jordan Valley Highway (HW 65) north off the intersection with Route 437 (King Hussein Bridge Road), east of the Allenby (or King Hussein Bridge) and border crossing. It is the seat of the Ash-Shunah al-Janubiyah District. South Shuna is the location of the cultural heritage site known as Shunet Nimrin / Shunat Nimrin. The Tell Nimrin archaeological site is within South Shuna.There is a Monument to the Unknown Soldier to commemorate the victory at the Battle of Karameh.

Teleilat el-Ghassul, also spelled Tuleilat el-Ghassul and Tulaylât al-Ghassûl, is the site of several small hillocks (tuleilat, 'small tells') containing the remains of a number of Neolithic and Chalcolithic villages in Jordan. It is the type-site of the Ghassulian culture, which flourished in the Southern Levant during the Middle and Late Chalcolithic period (c. 4400 – c. 3500 BC). It is located in the lower eastern Jordan Valley, opposite and a little to the south of Jericho and 5-6 kilometers northeast of the Dead Sea. Teleilat el-Ghassul was occupied for a relatively long period of time during the Chalcolithic era - 8 successive Chalcolithic phases of occupation were identified there, most of them belonging to the Ghassulian culture.

Aenon (Greek: Αἰνών, Ainṓn), distinguished as Aenon near Salim, is the site mentioned by the Gospel of John (3:23) as one of the places where John was baptising people, after baptizing Jesus in Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan.Aenon is the Hellenized form of the term for 'spring' or 'natural fountain' in many Semitic languages, including Hebrew ayn (עין) and Arabic ain or ein (عين). In the water-poor Middle East, places owning a spring tend to be named after that water source, so that toponyms consisting of or containing the construct element are common. The particular site mentioned in the Gospel of John is therefore distinguished as "Aenon near Salim".The name Aenon is commonly used amongst Baptist organizations and churches.

The Allenby Bridge (English name; Hebrew: גשר אלנבי Gesher Allenby), known officially in Jordan as the King Hussein Bridge (Arabic: جسر الملك حسين Jisr al-Malek Hussein), and also called Al-Karameh Bridge by Palestinian Arabs, is a bridge that crosses the Jordan River near the city of Jericho, and connects the West Bank with Jordan. The bridge is currently the sole designated exit/entry point for West Bank Palestinians traveling abroad. Being 381 meters (1,250 ft) below sea level, it is the lowest fixed water crossing in the world.

The Battle of Hijla (21 March 1918) was fought by the forces of the British and Ottoman Empires during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Hijla (now called Makhadet Hijla', lit. 'Partridge Ford'; cf. nearby Deir Hajla) is on the River Jordan a few miles upriver from the Dead Sea. Today the river is the boundary between Jordan and the "West Bank" area presently administered by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but in 1918 it was territory of the Ottoman Empire. The British invasion had succeeded in taking Jerusalem at the end of 1917. British General Edmund Allenby attempted a "raid" across the Jordan toward Amman in an effort to sever the railroad and resistance was met at Hijla and to the north at Ghoraniyeh, where fords provided means to cross. The river crossing was resisted by the Ottomans at both sites. The 2/19th Battalion (St. Pancras) London Regiment of the 60th Division tried to cross at Hijla, sending swimmers repeatedly across with ropes to attempt the construction of a pontoon bridge. Major Vivian Gilbert reported the events later. Many of the British soldiers were shot in the Jordan before the bridgehead could be established. Once established, the bridgeheads were maintained against the Ottomans, but the raids on Amman basically failed. This was the prelude to the Battle of Megiddo farther north in what is now Israel.

Qasr al-Yahud (Arabic: قصر اليهود, lit. "The tower of the Jews", Hebrew: קאסר אל יהוד), also known as Al-Maghtas, is the western section of the traditional site of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist on the Jordan River (Matthew 3:13–17). It has also been traditionally identified with two episodes from the Hebrew Bible, as one of the possible points through which the Israelites have crossed the Jordan river as they reached the Promised Land (Joshua 3), and as the site where prophet Elijah ascended to heaven (2 Kings 2:1–14). "Qasr al-Yahud" is actually an Arabic name given to the nearby Monastery of St John the Baptist, but is also being used for the West Bank section of the baptism site itself.The spot is located in Area C of the West Bank and it sits directly across the eastern section (on Wikipedia as "Al-Maghtas"; known officially in Jordan as "Baptism Site "Bethany Beyond the Jordan"") and close to the Palestinian city of Jericho. Since the Six-Day War in 1967, the baptism site has been under Israeli occupation, and the site and facilities are currently administered by the Israeli Civil Administration and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism as part of a national park, where baptism ceremonies can be performed.

Sweimeh (Arabic: السويمة, romanized: as-Swayma) is a village located in the southern Jordan Valley, in the Balqa Governorate of Jordan. Its population is around 5000, within 726 households. Sweimeh's economy is based on agriculture, alongside small projects of trading and tourism. The level of employment is low. In recent years, a seaside resort with hotels, bars, clubs, restaurants, and shopping was built at the northern tip of the Dead Sea near Sweimeh. It is also the site of the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Center. Sweimeh is commonly identified with the biblical town of Beth-jeshimoth.

The Battle of Karameh (Arabic: معركة الكرامة) was a 15-hour military engagement between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and combined forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) in the Jordanian town of Karameh on 21 March 1968, during the War of Attrition. It was planned by Israel as one of two concurrent raids on PLO camps, one in Karameh and one in the distant village of Safi.After Jordan lost control of the West Bank to Israel in 1967, Palestinian fighters known as fedayeen moved their bases to Jordan and stepped up their attacks on Israel and Israeli-occupied territories, taking the border town of Karameh as their headquarters. The IDF claimed that the purpose was to destroy the fedayeen camps at Karameh, and to capture Yasser Arafat, the leader of the PLO as reprisal. Israel also wanted to punish Jordan for its perceived support to the fedayeen.A large Israeli force launched an attack on the town on the dawn of 21 March, supported by fighter jets. Israel assumed the Jordanian Army would choose to not get involved in the battle, but the latter deployed heavy artillery fire, while the Palestinian irregulars engaged in guerrilla warfare. The Israelis withdrew, or were repulsed, after a day-long battle, having destroyed most of the Karameh camp and taken around 140 PLO members prisoner. The engagement marked the first known deployment of suicide bombers by Palestinian fighters. The battle resulted in the issuance of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 248, which unanimously condemned Israel for violating the cease-fire line and its disproportionate use of force.Both sides declared victory. On a tactical level, the battle went in Israel's favor, as the aim of destroying the Karameh camp was achieved. On the other hand, Arafat was not captured, and the relatively high casualties sustained came as a considerable surprise for the Israelis. They failed to retrieve three dead soldiers that were left behind in Karameh along with several damaged Israeli vehicles and tanks—later paraded in Amman by the Jordanian Army.The battle gained wide acclaim and recognition in the Arab world, and the following period witnessed an upsurge of support from Arab countries to the fedayeen in Jordan. The Palestinians had limited success in inflicting Israeli casualties, but King Hussein allowed them to take credit. After the battle, Hussein proclaimed, "I think we may reach a position where we are all fedayeen". However, as the PLO's strength began to grow in the aftermath, the fedayeen began to speak openly of overthrowing the Hashemite monarchy, and the ensuing tensions with the Jordanian authorities eventually precipitated in their expulsion to Lebanon during the events of Black September in 1970.

Al-Karameh (Arabic: الكرامة), or simply Karameh, is a town in west-central Jordan, near the Allenby Bridge which spans the Jordan River. Karameh sits on the eastern bank of the river, along the border between Jordan, Israel, as well as the Israeli-administered Area C of the West Bank. One of several Jordanian-Israeli border crossings is located here, this particular crossing is known in Jordan as the King Hussein Bridge. The town was the location of a 15-hour military engagement between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and combined forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) in the Jordanian town of Karameh on 21 March 1968, during the War of Attrition. In the aftermath of the battle, PLO's strength began to grow, and the Palestinian militant group began to speak openly of overthrowing the Jordanian Hashemite monarchy, and the ensuing tensions between the Palestinians and the Jordanian authorities eventually precipitated their expulsion from Jordan and subsequent exile to Lebanon during the events of Black September in 1970.