Allenby Bridge גשר אלנבי جسر الملك حسين |
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King Hussein Bridge from the Jordanian side
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Carries | Pedestrians, vehicles |
Crosses | Jordan River |
Locale |
Jordan West Bank |
Official name | Allenby/King Hussein Bridge מסוף אלנבי جسر الملك حسين |
Maintained by |
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Israel Airports Authority |
History | |
Construction begin | 1918 |
Construction end | 1919- destroyed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War |
Opened | 1994 |
Rebuilt | 1964 |
Statistics | |
Daily traffic | 1.2 million pedestrians in 2007 and 12,000 trucks |
Toll |
₪176.00 (Outbound West Bank) ₪155.00 (Outbound West Bank - Palestinians only) JD10.00 (Outbound Jordan) |
Location of the Allenby Bridge at West Bank-Jordan border
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Coordinates: 31°52′27″N 35°32′27″E / 31.87417°N 35.54083°E The Allenby Bridge also known as the King Hussein Bridge (Hebrew: גשר אלנבי Gesher Allenby, Arabic: جسر الملك حسين Jisr al-Malek Hussein), is a bridge that crosses the Jordan River, and connects the West Bank with Jordan. The bridge is currently the sole designated exit/entry point for West Bank Palestinians traveling in and out of the region.
The original bridge was built in 1918 over a remnant of an old Ottoman colonial era bridge by the British general Edmund Allenby. The original bridge had been built in 1885 by the Ottoman government of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem.
It was destroyed once in the Night of the bridges operation by Palmach at June 16, 1946. It was destroyed again during the Six-Day War, but was replaced in 1968 with a temporary truss-type bridge. This bridge is still called the Allenby Bridge by Israelis, although it is also known as Al-Karameh Bridge to Palestinian Arabs, and the King Hussein Bridge to Jordanians. In the late 1990s, and subsequent to the Israel-Jordan peace treaty, a new modern paved crossing was constructed adjacent to the older wooden one with the aid of the Japanese Government.