Zarqa

Government

Zarqa (Arabic الزرقاء az- Zarqā ʾ, locally also ez- Zerga or ez- Zer'a, German Zarka sometimes translated, " The Blue " ) is a city in Jordan, just to the northeast of Amman. It has 395 227 inhabitants ( 2004 census ). Zarqa is capital of the governorates ( Arabic: muhafazat az- Zarqā ).

Zarqa is the industrial center of Jordan (50% of Jordanian industry are based in the city). This is primarily near the city became the capital Amman to thank all at a great rock bottom prices.

The name Zarqa became known to a wider public for the first time by the almost simultaneous hijacking of three planes of Swissair, TWA and BOAC on September 6, 1970, through the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. All three had on the disused airfield Dawson 's Field near Zarqa, which was called by the Palestinians ' aerodrome of the revolution " to land. It developed into a grueling war of nerves around the release of the hostages in exchange for Palestinian terrorists, including the sat because of the attack of 18 February 1969 in Kloten in Switzerland in prison. Ultimately, all the hostages were released unharmed, the planes were blown up. The events culminated in the then so-called " Black September ".

Today Zarqa is also known as the birthplace of terrorist Abu Musab al -Zarqawi.