The Naharayim hydroelectric power station, at the confluence of the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers, was one of the most ambitious engineering projects in Mandate-era Land of Israel. Built by the Russian-Jewish engineer Pinhas Rutenberg between 1927 and 1932, the station harnessed the power of the two rivers to generate electricity for the entire Jewish community in the Land of Israel, and its construction was a landmark in the economic development of the Yishuv.
Rutenberg and the Concession
Pinhas Rutenberg, a former revolutionary who had participated in the Russian Revolution of 1905, obtained a concession from the British Mandatory government in 1921 to generate and distribute electricity in the Land of Israel. He founded the Palestine Electric Corporation (later the Israel Electric Corporation) and built the Naharayim station at the point where the Yarmuk River meets the Jordan, creating a dam and canal system that diverted water through turbines. The station powered the growth of Tel Aviv, Haifa, and the agricultural settlements of the Jezreel Valley.
Border
After the 1948 war, Naharayim fell on the Jordanian side of the armistice line. Under the Israel-Jordan peace treaty of 1994, the area was designated a special zone where Israeli farmers could continue to work land they had cultivated before 1948. In 2019, Jordan declined to renew the arrangement, and the area reverted to full Jordanian sovereignty. The ruins of the power station, with its Art Deco architecture and rusting turbines, are visible from the Israeli side of the border.
Tragedy
On March 13, 1997, a Jordanian soldier opened fire on a group of Israeli schoolgirls visiting the Island of Peace adjacent to Naharayim, killing seven girls and wounding six others. The massacre shocked both nations. King Hussein of Jordan flew to Israel, visited the bereaved families, and knelt before the grieving parents, an extraordinary gesture that became a defining moment in Israel-Jordan relations.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Naharayim tells the story of Zionist engineering, border politics, and the complex peace with Jordan. Hoshen Tours includes the border viewpoint in Jordan Valley itineraries.