Al-Karameh (), or simply Karameh, is a town in west-central

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, near the

Allenby Bridge The Allenby Bridge (), known officially in Jordan as the King Hussein Bridge (), is a bridge that crosses the Jordan River near the city of Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the town of Al-Karameh in Jordan. The bridge is currently ...

which spans the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

. Karameh sits on the eastern bank of the river, along the border between Jordan,

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, as well as the Israeli-administered

Area C Area C (; ) is the fully Israeli-controlled territory in the West Bank, defined as the whole area outside the Palestinian enclaves (Areas A and B). Area C constitutes about 61 percent of the West Bank territory, containing most Israeli settle ...

of the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. 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 The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

(IDF) and combined forces of the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

(PLO) and the

Jordanian Armed Forces The Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) (, romanized: ''Al-Quwwat Al-Musallaha Al-Urduniyya''), also referred to as the Arab Army (, ''Al-Jaysh Al-Arabi''), are the military forces of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. They consist of the ground forces, ...

(JAF) in the

ian town of Karameh on 21 March 1968, during the

War of Attrition The War of Attrition (; ) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from 1967 to 1970. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, no serious diplomatic efforts were made to resolve t ...

. 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 The Hashemites (), also House of Hashim, are the royal family of Jordan, which they have ruled since 1921, and were the royal family of the kingdoms of Hejaz (1916–1925), Syria (1920), and Iraq (1921–1958). The family had ruled the city of Me ...

, 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 Black September (), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was an armed conflict between Jordan, led by Hussein of Jordan, King Hussein, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by chairman Yasser Arafat. The main phase of the fight ...

, or Jordanian Civil War, in 1970.

References

External links

Photos of Karameh
at the

American Center of Research The American Center of Research (ACOR) is a private, not-for-profit scholarly and educational organization. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, with a facility in Amman, Jordan, ACOR promotes knowledge of Jordan and the interconnected region, past an ...

Populated places in Balqa Governorate {{Jordan-geo-stub